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[kalenath]

"Captain Anya. Private Crado." Commander Mornis said quietly as the pair entered his office. "Who did you get for witnesses?"

 

"General Vakarian, Spectre Williams and Doctor Lawson." Anya said just as  quietly. "They should be here shortly. But... before they do. I need something else from you." Crado looked confused as Anya took a step forward, placing herself a little away from him.

 

"What?" The Turian commander asked.

 

"I have evidence of large scale illegal genetic manipulation on a human. Me. I violate the Council's ban on genetic
manipulation." Anya said softly. Mornis froze and then nodded slowly. Crado stared at Anya, his face ashen. "My family...made me... They... engineered me. They did in vitro modifications before I was born. The designed me to be a powerful biotic. That violates at least three and possibly five Council statutes."

 

"Anya..." Crado's voice was horrified. "Oh no."

 

"You have proof?" Mornis asked slowly. Anya nodded jerkily. "What kind?"

 

"The docs did a lot of tests." Anya said slowly. "They scanned my genes but couldn't figure out what they were seeing. That was the 'odd' that Doctor Chakwas spoke of when I first met her. I... I am not human..." She said with a shudder. "I don't know what I am." She said.

 

"Anya." Crado said soberly. "You ARE human."
 

"Am I?" Anya snapped. "I DIED, Crado! I bled out on the floor of that lab on Sanctum. I was dead when you scanned me! Humans don't come back from that!"

 

"Captain..." Commander Mornis said sternly. "Calm down."

 

"Yes sir." Anya said softly. "Sorry sir." She took a deep breath.

 

"You JUST found out about this?" Anya nodded and Mornis sighed. " I hadn't heard anything about this, so I assume they hadn't had time to brief me. You just had a hell of a shock, Captain." He said sadly. "Who else have you discussed this with?"

 

"Doctor Lawson." Anya said soberly. "No one else. I bet Obligatha heard it if it was monitoring, but we were alone in sick bay. I..." She shook her head. "I assume I will be placed in custody." Crado stiffened but relaxed when Mornis shook his head.

 

"No." Mornis said quietly. Anya blinked and looked at him.

 

"But..." She stammered.

 

"Captain..." Mornis said gently. "Things have changed. But even if they hadn't... YOU did not do these things to yourself, did you? As I recall, that kind of thing has to be done before birth." He said with a shudder that Anya and Crado shared. "That makes you a VICTIM, not a perpetrator, or an accessory. A tool. Not a criminal."

 
"I..." Anya shook herself. "I don't know, commander."

 

"Anya, you are stressed." Mornis said gently. "Do you trust me?" The older Turian asked.

 

"Yes." Anya said with hesitation. "Crado does and he is a better judge of character than I will ever be." Crado wrapped an arm around his fiancé and she leaned into his embrace.

 

"Then let us do what we set out to do this morning." Mornis said quietly. "Part of your stress will go away once
you and Crado are wed. Other parts will appear to take it's place unfortunately." He said with a sad smile. "At least this is an active military ship and...well...Crado has no clan." Anya looked sad, but both Mornis and Crado nodded to one another. "That simplifies things SIGNIFICANTLY. If he had a clan, well, you would have to meet their approval, be tested by them, have  a ceremony on clan property, all kinds of hoops. Since he doesn't... Well..." Mornis sighed. "It is simpler." Anya slumped a little and Crado spoke softly.

 

"It's not your fault Anya." The private said gently. "My clan was small, and almost totally on the base when it was hit. I miss them, of course. But they wouldn't want me to mope any more than you do. And I think they would have liked you. What happened to them was not YOUR fault by any stretch of the imagination."

 
"I know." Anya said softly. "But..." Whatever she was going to say was cut off by the chime asking for entry. Crado gave her a another squeeze and stepped away.

 

"Enter." Mornis called and three VERY concerned looking beings came in. Spectre Williams made a beeline towards Anya. She stopped just out of reach, her face searching Anya's.

 

"Anya...?" She asked, concerned. "Are you okay? Miranda just told us what she found. She said you told her to."
Miranda grimaced but remained silent. Garrus just took a place at the wall, his arms folded.

 

"No. I am not okay." Anya admitted. "My entire world was just turned upside down. But I am not going to lie about it.
Not now, not ever. My family did this to me. They will do it to others. They have to be stopped."

 

"Anya..." Spectre Williams said slowly. "This is going to be a HUGE mess. This is one thing that ALL of the Council members agree on. Genetic manipulation on this kind of scale is BAD."

 

"I know." Anya said soberly. "Miranda doubts they will have me euthanized..." Hisses of horror came from almost every throat. Miranda just looked angry. "But no matter WHAT comes, I want to face it as Anya Solinus." Crado inhaled, but did not speak. Instead, he reached out and touched her unsplinted arm gently. Ashley's glowing eyes
shimmered as if she were about to cry. "Please?" She asked the commander.

 

"Spectre?" Commander Mornis asked formally. Williams nodded and stepped back to the wall with Miranda and Garrus. "Very well. I received word from High Command. They gave us the go ahead." He beckoned Anya and Crado forward. "Do you want Gail here?"

 

"Please." Anya said after a look at Crado who gave a minute nod. Mornis nodded and hit a key on his terminal. Less than a minute later, Gail Horniliy ran in, her holo camera at her shoulder.

 

"Am I late?" She asked, out of breath.

 

"No, Miss Horniliy." Commander Mornis said with a smile. "You didn't need to run, we were not going to start without you." He said in a calm tone that was somehow slightly teasing.

 

"It's not every day two bona fide heroes get married." Gail said with a smile. Then she paused as she saw Anya's face. "Captain Anya? Is something wrong?"

 

"Yes." Anya said slowly. "But for now, I can't talk about it." Gail looked to the side and nodded as Spectre Williams did. "Do you need anything?"

 

"No." Gail said with a smile. "My camera is self contained. I'll stand off to the side so I am out of the way." Spoectre Williams nodded to her and made space along the wall. Gail moved to the wall, checked her camera and nodded. "Ready."

 

Commander Mornis nodded to the reporter, then to the witnesses. Finally his eyes turned to Crado and Anya who braced to attention under his gaze. When he spoke it was slow and measured.

 

"Since antiquity, commanders of ships have possessed a great deal of power." Mornis said slowly. "Most of that power concerns the operation of the ship. A good commander will keep his or her crew happy, healthy and well trained. Warship or garbage scow, it made no difference in the long run. In human history, a ship's captain was the master and commander of everyone aboard, with the responsibility for everything and everyone aboard. Our own history has similar traditions. It all goes back to the earliest days of travel on planet, when ship captains might be out of contact with their high command for days, weeks, months or more." He shook his head slightly. "They were autonomous. Powerful. Most of the time, the commander is the parent figure. The disciplinarian, the person who gets called when members of the crew mess up spectacularly. The taskmaster who makes people suffer through drills endlessly to get it right the FIRST time. The hard nosed, hard headed being who sees the big picture. It is a lot of responsibility, but it is a job that needs doing. Often it is hard. But occasionally..." Now he smiled. "We do something that makes it all worth it. Anya, Crado, step forward."

 

The human woman and Turian commando stepped forward and braced back to attention.

 

"At ease, you two." Mornis said with a sigh. "You are not going to a hanging, for the Spirits sake!" Anya actually
chuckled at that and both of them relaxed a little. Mornis continued. "This is one of the FEW times when decorum is less important on a ship of the Turian navy. Discipline is needed in any military, but especially one that travels in space. There are few second chances with vacuum all around us. But..." He grinned. "We don't want either of you passing out either, so relax." Anya took a deep breath and nodded as she unbent a little. Crado just stood, still as death.

 
"When two beings decide they want to share their lives, it is cause for both celebration and trepidation." Mornis said with a sigh. "Marriage is not easy. When you have two people with two different views of the world, you are GOING to have disagreements. When they are disagreements between soldiers, it can get VERY messy. So the hierarchy, in typical Turian fashion, have created a series of tests for the prospective couple to determine their compatibility." Anya looked worried at that and Mornis smiled. "You passed, Anya. Crado..." He shrugged. "He could use some refresher courses in etiquette I think."

 

"I like him the way he is, Commander." Anya said slowly. "He is just serious enough, and just crazy enough to balance me. We fit." Crado looked at her and there was a wealth of information in that short glance.

 

"Captain Anya." Mornis said slowly. "You have asked for this. You know this being, very well. You know many of his faults, his strengths, his... lapses in judgment." Anya nodded. "I ask this formally, in the presence of witnesses. Do you wish to marry Crado Solinus?"

 

"I do." Anya said simply. Mornis nodded to her and turned to Crado. He sighed.

 

"Crado Solinus. You are... insubordinate, insufferable, pig headed and just plain nuts." Mornis said softly. "But a better soldier, I do not think I have ever met. You have lost so much, endured so much. I look at you and I see all the families that lost someone. All the hate, the fear, the rage, all contained within you. You are not safe, Crado Solinus."

 

"No sir." Crado said quietly. "I am not."

 

"And yet, you wish to marry this human woman?" Mornis inclined his head to Anya who did not move. "You both know you cannot expect children without a great deal of help from medical technology. So why?"

 

"I do want to marry her. Because we fit." Crado said slowly. "We keep each other sane, we keep each other safe. She is no wilting flower. She is stronger than any female I have ever met. She makes me feel...good." He shook his head. "As trite as that sounds, she does." Mornis made a  humming noise for a moment as he thought about that.

 

"You both have known loss." Mornis said gently after a moment. "You both have known horrors that most sentients can only imagine, even soldiers such as myself. Despite everything, you found each other." He smiled. "I am not stupid enough to stand in your way. I like my health." He said as Garrus smothered a laugh in an totally unconvincing cough. He held out both his hands, one to Crado and one to Anya. They reached out. Anya with her left, Crado with his right. Mornis took the hands and held them for a moment. "Here are two who will become one."
He pressed the hands, human and Turian, together.

 

"By my authority, granted by the Hierarchy and the Navy, watched over by the Spirits... I now pronounce you to be Anya and Crado Solinus." Mornis said with a wide smile. "May the Spirits defend anyone who gets in your way. They will need all the help they can get." Crado nodded as Anya looked poleaxed.

 

"That's it?" Anya asked softly, confused.

 

"What can I say?" Mornis said with a shrug. "No time for much pomp and circumstance on a military ship. If you want a big formal ceremony with a white dress and all like I remember reading about, I am sure you can do it again. But this IS legal. Everything by the book."

 

"Everything, sir?" Crado asked as he hugged Anya.

 

"Ah, yes..." Mornis said with a smile as Garrus grinned ear to ear. Crado and Anya looked at from Mornis to Garrus who nodded. "General Vakarian?"

 

"Yes Commander." The scarred Turian smiled at the newlyweds. "Anya, Crado... Any marriage is supposed to be a meeting of equals." Garrus said in a quiet voice. "And while the Private here DESERVED his demotions... The Hierarchy decided he has suffered long enough as enlisted. I...umm... MAY have had a hand in that..." He hemmed and hawed a bit. The Spectre and Miranda both rolled their eyes. "Commander?" Garrus said quietly in the silence that fell.

 

"Right." Mornis said with a wide grin. "CAPTAIN Crado, you may kiss your wife." Crado's eyes went wide but
Anya just smiled, pulled him close and kissed her new husband. "I understand the chief has put together a celebration of sorts in the mess hall." The commander said with a grin that faded. "But NO Dragonforce!" He said sternly.

 

"A moment..." Gail asked as Anya and Crado both sputtered a laugh. "If I could get a shot of the newlyweds?" She half  asked, half begged.

 

"We can do better than that." Mornis said with a smile. "Soldiers! ABOUT! FACE!" He commanded. Anya and Crado both jerked to attention and spun in place, turning so they faced Gail and her camera. "At ease!" He barked. "Allow me to be the FIRST to introduce Anya and Crado Solinus. Anyone who DARES try to break these two up is in for a WORLD of hurt." He shrugged as the three witnesses laughed. He didn't. "It's the truth." He said with a grin. "What are you waiting for, Captain Crado? An invitation? Kiss her already!" Crado sputtered a laugh and kissed Anya strongly. After a long moment, they both came up for air.

 

"You make a good couple." Gail said as Anya and Crado smiled at each other. "Congratulations Captain Anya Solinus, Captain Crado Solinus." She reached up and shut down her camera. "This is not what I expected, but it works."

 

"That is Turians for you. We don't waste time." Garrus said with an odd catch to his voice. "Now, I understand there is a celebration of sorts laid out in the mess hall..."

 

"We need to talk." Anya said quietly to Lawson and Williams. "But later." They nodded as Anya led the way out of the room.

Modifié par kalenath, 14 novembre 2012 - 07:33 .

[kalenath]

Anya entered the mess hall and came to a sudden stop as she saw what was there. Crado bumped into her and then froze as well. The hall was PACKED. And not just with Turians.

 

"To the Captains Solinus!" Chief Mudok called from the side. "Long may they be together!"

A cheer sounded from many throats as the assembled beings saluted. All wore distinctive red and black armor. Anya had selected those colors for the team during the war, to form esprit de corps and because the colors were distinctive. It was always easy to tell where the team was on the battlefield, especially on places like Noveria. Any armor with the proper gear could change colors at any time, for camouflage.But Reapers rarely used the visual spectrum. Armor had jammers built in of course, so colors mattered very little. Except to make people feel like part of a team, part of something greater than themselves. It had been...interesting convincing various people to use the colors, but it HAD worked. Even the Krogan had eventually taken part. Indeed, the final colors had been a Krogan idea. They liked the intimidating look.

 

"Chief?" Anya asked slowly. "How the hell...?" She stammered, looking at all the smiling faces around her.
Humans, Batarians, Asari, Krogan, even... She paused. "Raan'ita?" She asked, incredulous. "Is that you?"

 

"Hello Captain." The female being wearing what LOOKED like a Quarian exo suit without a face plate said with a smile. "It is good to see you." She said as she came up to where Anya and Crado stood, stunned.

 

"Things... have changed..." Anya said slowly as she looked the other female over. The Quarian's eyes were glowing, indeed, everyone's were. But this was the medic she had known. "Your immune system?" She asked cautiously.

 

"I am taking several enhancements. But I can be without the helmet for some time now. I had some help strengthening my immune system." The Quarian that Anya had known as Raan'ita vas Orenli replied. "And someone would like to talk to you." She opened her omni tool interface and  a Geth's head appeared on the screen.

 

"Captain Anya." The Geth said in the mechanical tone that their kind used. But it was familiar. "I am pleased to see you corporeal again. While I cannot be there in person, I wanted to send my well wishes and the well wishes of the Consensus to you and Captain Crado." Anya froze.

 

"T-9-001?" Any asked, feeling a bit faint. "Is that you?"

 

"Yes, Captain." The machine intelligence said quietly. "My hardware is in storage aboard the Merciful Flight and I reside currently within Captain Raan'ita's secondary suit processor."

 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..." Anya said, holding up  a hand in a 'pause' gesture. "Merciful Flight? Captain?" Raan'ita nodded, her face grave.

 

"The Merciful Flight is my ship." Raan'ita replied evenly. "My name is Raan'ita vas Merciful Flight now. Joruz is my XO. He wanted to come, but we had to leave SOMEONE to mind the place. We have three cases still in recovery."

 

"Huh?" Anya asked slowly. "A hospital ship?"

 

"Yes." Raan'ita said with a smile. "She was an Alliance cruiser. After the war ended, she was going to be scrapped. There was NOTHING wrong with the ship." The youthful captain protested. She shook her head. "I asked for the ship, would have paid for it. Then T-900-1 got involved, had the crazy idea for a fast response med ship. I liked it, and we ran with it."

 

"You didn't LIKE Geth as I recall..." Anya said slowly aware that a crowd was forming around her. "So what happened?"

 

"Things changed." Raan'ita said sadly. "I was in a separate fleet when the fleets sent the Crucible to Earth. The science and hospital ships were not geared to fight."


"Earth?" Anya paused and then nodded. "Someone said something about the Citadel being at Earth, but..." She
shook her head. "History later." She smiled widely. "May I?" She asked, opening her arms.

 

"Try and stop me. Oh Anya!" Raan'ita sobbed as she embraced the human woman. "I missed you! You made us what we became. We owed you our lives and we failed you."

 

"Oh not you TOO!" Anya snapped. She sighed deeply and stepped away from Raan'ita before speaking again, this time in a louder voice. "Ok, let's have it out. Who ELSE here thinks they failed me somehow?" Every hand in the room went up and Anya sighed. "Dang it, people, I thought I taught you better than that! I lost situational awareness and I got caught and shot because I did. My fault!"

 

"Anya." An ageless voice sounded from nearby and Anya smiled as an Asari moved sinuously through a crowd. Lorinia, as always, drew attention to herself just by moving, but then again, she WAS poetry in motion. It was easy to forget exactly how dangerous she was. "Brutiz, Crado and T-9-001 all blamed themselves because they could not save you. The rest of us blamed ourselves because we were not there to help. You made us what we were. Many of us had given up hope and you kicked it back into us. After Thessia I wanted to DIE and you wouldn't let me. You just..." The young looking commando (she was three hundred and seven) sighed. "You just wouldn't quit pestering me to get up, to fight, to stop moping. And then, you were gone..." Anya stiffened. Was the Asari crying? Yes. Yes she was. "It is not logical, but you CANNOT expect us NOT to blame ourselves for what happened. IF we had been there..."

 

"You probably would have died. They were set up to catch or kill biotics. I think they were targeting me specifically, but I have NO idea why." Anya said sadly. "Brutiz?" She said to a Krogan who seemed to be trying to hide near the back. "Come here."

 

"Captain." The Krogan said slowly as he eased his way through a path that was made for him. He froze as Anya embraced him. "Wh-?" The Krogan stammered, taken off guard.

 

"Thank you." Anya said soberly. "Thank you for saving Crado. Thank you for obeying my orders." Her smile turned into a smirk. "For once." A soft laugh circled the crowd around them.

 

"They were not worthy opponents. Skulking and hiding and those pesky exploding human things!" Brutiz did not move, as if afraid to hurt the small form that was hugging him. "And you always said the mission came first."

 

"It did." Anya said, tapping him gently on the head with hers. He stared at her, dumbfounded. Anya paused and spoke softly. "Gnarlz? Kolmro?" The Krogan shook his head and she sighed. "So many lost." She said sadly. "So many sacrificed. In the end, we won, so I guess it was worth it..." She said dubiously. "But it doesn't feel worth it." She shook herself, stepped back and slapped Brutiz hard on the shoulder. "What have YOU been up to? Causing trouble I bet." She asked in a knowing tone.

 

"Well..." He said slowly. "I..." He actually looked embarrassed. Anya hadn't known that Krogan could look that way.

 

"Do I want to know?" Anya asked slowly.

 

"Brutiz is a dad." Lorinia said from the side. "Twins." Anya's eyes went wide and she smiled as she hugged the seriously embarrassed Krogan again.

 

"I bet you make a great father." Anya said gently as she retreated to give the Krogan time to recover. "You always were a rock, a stable place in a turbulent world."

 

"Wasn't always." Brutiz said with a sigh. "Didn't care before you recruited me. Just a wandering killer. You made me better, made me see a better way."

 

"Huh? Has someone ELSE dropped you on your head recently?" Anya asked acidly. Brutiz looked pained at that and several people who knew the story laughed. Anya relented after a moment. "What are their names?"

 

"We...compromised." Brutiz said with a shudder that almost hid a grin. "My mate Pordila wanted to name them after Shepard and Mordin, the doctor who cured the genophage. I wanted to honor you." He said quietly. Anya groaned.

 

"You didn't..." She asked, almost begging. "What a  horrible thing to do to a child. Saddle a poor kid with MY name..."

 

"My daughters' names are Mordina and Anya." Brutiz said softly. Anya stiffened and Brutiz smiled. It was a surprisingly tender look on the huge alien. "It is traditional, on Tuchanka, Captain." He said soberly. "When a great leader passes, we remember them in our children."
 

"I was NOT a great leader, Brutiz." Anya started to say, but was cut off by a rap on the head. She spun in place only to be swept up in a hug. Lorinia held her tight.

 

"Begging the captain's pardon." The Asari said gently. "But you are wrong Anya. You were. You were what we needed. A bluff, no nonsense, no political BS person who could kick us in the tails and get us to do what had to be done. It was a war, Anya. There were casualties." She broke off and her face fell. Anya remembered that Lorinia's daughter had been on Thessia when the Reapers had hit.

 

"I am sorry." Anya asked slowly. "Did you ever find out what happened to Liselle?"

 

"Yeah." Lorinia said sadly. "She held the line, held her position until it was overrun. Then she detonated a series of
mines, took a bunch of bad guys with her. They only found traces of her DNA, nothing else but blast residue. She was bound and determined not to wind up a banshee." She shook her head. "She wouldn't want me to mope any more than YOU did." The Asari said with a small smile.

 

"Well, no catfights this time." Anya said with a smirk. "Besides, you cheat."

 

"If you are not cheating, you are not trying hard enough." Lorinia said with a grin. "WHO taught us that?" She asked the room.

 

"ANYA!" A loud cry came from every throat. Anya stood, flabbergasted as the crowd suddenly started to applaud.

 

"I..." Anya felt her eyes start to burn and suddenly she was crying. "I..." Several pairs of arms hugged her and others touched her, offering support.

 

"We are here for you." Raan'ita's gentle voice sounded from nearby. "As you were there for us. Any single being -no
matter how powerful- is vulnerable. But a team, a group that works WITH each other, is mighty beyond belief. YOU taught us that. We learned. Easy, Anya..." Raan'ita crooned. "We are here for you."

 

"So many lost." Anya said, shaking herself. "So many missions..." Then she was shaking and couldn't stop.
"So many dead and hurt..." Her breath was coming in short gasps and she couldn't see past her tears.

 

"Too many shocks." Raan'ita's voice seemed to come from far away. "Here, Anya. This will help..." A hiss and soothing numbness spread from her unsplinted arm, calming her body. "You are not healed yet." Disapproval sang in the medic's tone.

 

"Too much to do." Anya said slowly. "I..." She took a deep breath and sighed. "You are ALWAYS putting me back together, Raan'ita."

 

"Once more unto the breach, Anya." Raan'ita said gently. "THEN I am going to take you home and put you to bed."

 

"Gotta talk to people." Anya protested through the soothing numbness. "Lots to do."

 

"Well, as your medical practitioner..." Raan'ita said in a haughty voice. "It is MY opinion that you are overstressing
yourself and should..."

 

"Stuff a sock in it, Raan'ita." Anya said after a moment. "I love you, but GEEZ you are a bossy boss. I am not IN your sick bay."

 

"Yet." Raan'ita said with a grin as she stepped back. The crowd around Anya slowly dispersed. "Chief?" She called. "We need to make this quick. She is tiring."

 

"Right." The voice of the chief came from nearby. "Make a hole, people" He called and a wide space appeared in front of Anya. "Anya... This is a gift from the from the N7 Special Ops Team Dark Storms to their commander congratulating her on her escape from oblivion." He smirked. "AND on newly wedded bliss."

 

Anya stared as he stepped aside and a large cake appeared on a table behind him. It was shaped and colored like an Alliance frigate and on the top of the sensor cluster that was at the back of it... Her eyes went wide as she saw the two figures there. The human female and Turian male were NOT standing side by side, or even clothed. Indeed, it looked like they were acting out a scene from Veaenia.

 

"CHIEF!" Anya snapped, shaking off the waves of lethargy that were seeping through her.

 

"What?" The chief asked, hurt innocence in his tone. "Don't TELL me you two haven't TRIED that yet."

 

"I am SO going to HURT you..." Anya said in a soft, dangerous voice.

 

"Wasn't MY idea." The chief said, backing up a hasty step. Anya looked at Lorinia who smirked but shook her head with a smile. Then Anya's eyes were pulled to the wall, where Crado stood, his face a mask. A slow wink graced one eyes and she felt her face heating. Later... She told herself.

 

"Well..." Anya said with slightly savage grin. "Whoever it WAS I am going to have to EXPLAIN some things to. Later."
More than one person laughed at that. "Who does the honor?"

 

"Your cake, Anya." Lorinia said with a smile. "Tonight, you are the boss again. "

 

"Tomorrow, we may all go our separate ways." Anya said as she strode for the table, feeling rather than seeing Raan'ita pacing her. "But nothing can take our memories from us. We ARE a family. An odd one." A snorted laugh followed her from almost every throat. That was so true. "But a family. We went through the firestorms and came out changed, but mostly intact." She paused as the chief held out something to her. A big knife. No it wasn't knife! It was a Cerberus Phantom's sword! "You and your trophies, Chief." She took it gingerly and with a smile, cut the cake.

Modifié par kalenath, 24 novembre 2012 - 04:05 .

[kalenath]

Later

 

Anya came back to consciousness slowly. What was wrong? She felt fuzzy. She tried to move and pain lanced through her skull. She could not restrain a groan.

 

"Anya?" A concerned voice sounded from nearby. "Whoa, easy..." A gentle three fingered hand touched her cheek. "It's okay, Anya. You are okay."

 

"What?" Anya asked slowly. "What happened?" She thought back. She had been eating the cake that she had
cut. Everyone had been smiling and laughing, a far cry from her memories of the team, memories of horror, blood and bone deep fear. "Raan'ita?" She asked, amazed that her voice was so weak.

 

"You collapsed." Raan'ita said gently. "I am glad I was there." The medic said in a sick tone. "You scared the hell out of me, us. You just... went down and..." Was Raan'ita crying? "Don't DO that."

 

"Didn't mean to." Anya said slowly. "So stressed, so many things." She sighed and paused as she tried to open her eyes and couldn't. "Raan'ita!" She sad sharply.

 

"I covered your eyes and taped them closed, Anya. They are still hurt." Raan'ita said in a soft tone. "You were shaking and your eyes were not closed and... Anya... I saw the scars when I tended you. What the HELL happened to you?" Raan'ita demanded. Anya winced. "Anya..." The Quarian asked, concerned.

 

"I don't know." Anya admitted. "No one does. I was a prisoner and whoever had me experimented on me." She cautiously tried to move her arms and legs and sighed in relief as they moved unhindered.

 

"If you do not relax, I AM going to strap you to the bed." Raan'ita warned. "I know you."

 

"Tyrant. Where am I?" Anya asked as she did as instructed, forcing her body to relax. Arguing with Raan'ita did not work. "I feel... light..."

 

"Your body's equilibrium is all messed up." Raan'ita said soberly. "I talked with Doctors Chakwas and Lawson, and we moved you to my ship, the Merciful Flight. We have much better gear here. The Turians did what they could, but they are not geared the way we are." Anya shivered a little and that gentle three fingered hand rubbed her unsplinted arm. "You are okay, Anya. You will be okay. You need more rest. The restorative fluids I have you on will help too. Headache?" She asked when Anya grimaced slightly.

 

"Minor throbbing." Anya said after a moment. "Not too bad."

 

"Yeah, like I should trust you not to lie to me." Raan'ita said sourly. "Hold still." A scanner whirred close and hand
and Anya tried to hold as still as she could. "This should help a bit." Something hissed against her neck and the pain in her head vanished. "Not that you will TELL me if you still hurt."

 

"I never LIED to you." Anya said quietly. A scoffing noise came from nearby and Anya protested. "I didn't."

 

"No." Raan'ita snapped. "You just never bothered to MENTION things. Like the time that some of that goop from a Ravager got into an open wound. Idiot woman. You are NOT supposed to roll through toxins like that. Even Alliance supercommandos should know that acids are NOT a good thing in the bloodstream."

 

"How many times must I apologize for that?" Anya asked sourly. "I WAS a little distracted by the OTHER THREE of them shooting at me!"

 

"Excuses, excuses." Raan'ita said with a snarl. "Then there was the time you came in, complaining of a minor pain in the left leg. When I took off your calf armor, there was a BRUTE SPIKE stuck THROUGH it! How can you MISS that?"

 

"Was busy trying not to let it squish me..." Anya said softly. "I am sorry, Raan'ita. You were so good to me, to us. And I never.. I..." She heaved, her grief coming out. She felt wetness seeping out of her eyes.

 

"Ah crap. Hold still." Raan'ita's voice turned gentle as the gentle fingers slowly pulled something sticky from her face. Then soft things were pulled from her eyes. Something damp and soft rubbed her eyes, cleaning the tears that were falling. "It's okay, Anya. It's okay.." The medic said with a sigh. "I had forgotten, you know." The Quarian
said sadly. "I guess I had wanted to forget how often you scared me. How often you came in with parts of your body torn to pieces, your armor the only thing holding your bits together. But I put you back together. It was what I did. Then you went out and got torn up again. I wasn't a line soldier. I knew that after the first mission I went on, where Rilma died. But I couldn't just leave you all to do it alone."

 

"They called me the leader." Anya said after a moment. "But YOU were our heart, Raan'ita. You kept us sane. Or ...well..." She laughed a little. "As sane as you could."

 

"Do you want to talk about it?" Raan'ita asked softly. "We have been asked to remain on station for a bit. Apparently several people want to talk to you."

 

"I am a mess, Raan'ita." Anya said with a sigh. "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder at the VERY least. Probably more. And then, whatever was done to me." She cracked her eyes and found Raan'ita sitting beside her bed. She was, as Raan'ita had said, in a standard hospital room. It DID look like an Alliance ship too. Not a lot in the way of amenities. The bed, a desk, a couple of chairs. She smiled at the Quarian and the medic smiled back. Then Anya frowned. "Raan'ita... I have to tell you something. Actually, I have a confession."

 

"You were genetically engineered before birth." Raan'ita said quietly. Anya stiffened.

 

"Have you talked with Doctor Lawson?" Anya asked, concerned. "I... I guess I should..." She paused as Raan'ita laid a gentle hand on her left one.

 

"You should rest." Raan'ita said gently. "And no, I knew after the third series of scans I did on you. You heal a bit faster than normal human. I saw enough baseline human scans working on the team members to know the difference."

 

"But..." Anya stammered, unsure. "You never said anything..."

 

"Anya." Raan'ita said gently. "You are my friend. You gave me and my husband a place when we were stuck. Our ship was gone, we had no money, and no chances to get any or get back to the Flotilla. You looked at us and saw US. Not the suits, not the stigmas, but US. Raan'ita and Joruz. We didn't know what to expect. You took us in, gave us a place, made us feel WELCOME. You made us feel needed, desired, treasured even." Raan'ita shook her head. "Did you REALLY think I was going to tattle to ANYONE about you?" She asked crossly.

 

"When you put it that way..." Anya said in a small voice. "I guess not." She looked at the Quarian and smiled.
"Your hair looks nice." Indeed, the medic's luxurious brown hair was all the way down her back.

 

"Thanks." Raan'ita said with a smile. "The suit tended it of course and it grew to an absurd length in the tubes. That was what they were there for after all. I prefer the suit to tell the truth, taking care of it the way you humans do? It takes FOREVER." She stopped and looked at Anya expectantly.

 

"But you love it." Anya smiled and then sighed. "I am trying to distract you but you are not going to let me, are
you?" She asked half whimsically.

 

"Nope." The medic said quietly.

 

"Wait..." Anya said suddenly. "Crado!" She snapped, starting to rise. She froze as Raan'ita glared at her. "Raan'ita, I..."

 

"Don't even THINK about getting up. He is in the next room." Raan'ita said with a smile. "I dosed his drink. He was almost hysterical." Then the medic turned stern. "You have tubes in, girl." Raan'ita indicated a series of IV lines running to Anya's unsplinted arm. "Do not even THINK about pulling them out, or I WILL sedate you. Clear?"

 

"You are SUCH a tyrant." Anya complained. "How does ANYONE heal around you?"

 

"I scare them into healing." Raan'ita said with a straight face. "And if you want to get out of here as fast as possible, you WILL listen to me."

 

"And talk to you." Anya said with a sigh.

 

"Only if you want to." Raan'ita said gently. "But before you do, someone would like to meet you." Anya looked at her friend, puzzled. Raan'ita hit a key on her omni-tool and the door nearby hissed open. Anay froze as a small form in Quarian dress came in. The youngster was about... ten... She inhaled sharply. The boy's eyes were bright and he nodded to Raan'ita and Anya.

 

"You called, mother?" The child asked quietly. Then his eyes lit on Anya and he smiled. "Are you Anya?" He asked softly, obviously unsure. "Mom said you were sort of an aunt..."

 

"My name is Anya." Anya agreed. Then she turned her head to Raan'ita and asked carefully. "Aunt?"

 

"It's appropriate. We were sisters of a sort." Raan'ita said with a smile. "Cado, come here, greet the reason your dad and I survived the war." The boy came to the bed side and nodded to Anya gravely.

 

"I am Cado'Nya Vas Merciful Flight." The boy said in a somber voice.

 

"Do you mind if I just call you Cado?" Anya asked softly. "I am a bit fuzzy still."

 

"You will get better." Cado said with a nod. "Mom always makes people better." He said with the ironclad certainty
of youth. "I was coming to ask about Milina, mother, do you want me to tend her?"

 

"If you could, Cado." Raan'ita said with a smile. "I would appreciate it. I know it is not your favorite work, but she IS your sister."

 

"I just wish she would grow up faster." The boy said sourly. "All she does is eat, sleep and make messes." Anya
stifled a giggle at his aggrieved tone.

 

"Cado..." Raan'ita said, her demeanor turning stern. "She is less than a year old. It wasn't that long ago YOU were the same way."

 

"Nine years." The boy protested, but then smiled and nodded. "I will, mother. It is good to meet you, Miss Anya. I hope you feel better."

 

"I don't think I have a choice." Anya said with a smile. "Your mother is not one to trifle with."

 

"I know THAT." The boy said with an urchin-like grin, and quickly stepped away as Raan'ita made a playful swat at him. Then he turned serious. "Mom? Dad said he will be done shortly on the starboard junction."

 

"Right." Raan'ita said with a nod. "Go on, you KNOW how Milina gets when her meals are delayed." The boy dashed from the room. Anya shook her head.

 

"You have two?" She asked carefully.

 

"Three." Raan'ita said with a grin. "I had twins for my first time. Cado and Tado" Anya stared at her and Raan'ita sighed. "It was very nearly an ONLY... Man they were a lot of work." She said with a grin.

 

"Worth it?" Anya asked softly.

 

"Yeah." Raan'ita said with a smile. One that faded. "Do you want to talk?"

 

"I don't want to." Anya said sadly. "But I know I need to deal with this. I am too powerful to be going around on hair
trigger. I could have killed Crado when I first woke up on the Turian ship even without an amp. I wasn't...quite awake..." Raan'ita laid a gentle hand on Anya's and gave a squeeze.

 

"What is bothering you?" The medic asked, sitting back in her chair.

 

"I am scared." Anya said softly. "My family made me, made me for some nefarious purpose, and apparently at the behest of an evil man who worked for Cerberus. I have no idea...."

 

Anya forced herself to relax as she opened her heart to her best friend. This would be a long day, but hopefully a good one.

Modifié par kalenath, 19 novembre 2012 - 06:42 .

[kalenath]

Later that day


"And then Miranda here repaired my eyes." Anya finished in a quiet voice. "The rest you know." Miranda snorted from the chair she was sitting in. She and Ashley had come aboard that morning, and Raan'ita had allowed Anya out of the bed to sit at a small table. The Alliance soldier felt VERY weak still, but better. Talking with Raan'ita had helped, a lot. It always did. Raan'ita was an excellent listener. Crado sat beside Anya, his hand holding hers. She took comfort in her husband's strength. Husband. She couldn't -quite- get over the giddy feeling that swept through her when she looked at the male she loved. Not that she tried very hard. Raan'ita sat on the other side of her, watching her like a hawk.

 

"Ah..." Williams groaned softly as she leaned back in her chair. "This is a mess. Captain Raan'ita? Your professional opinion?"

 

"Captain Anya has been stressed beyond her limits by this ordeal." Raan'ita said calmly. "Her body is still in flux. She needs time to recuperate, to get used to all the changes." She nodded as Anya made a noise of disagreement. "Yes, I KNOW you SAY it is okay. I ALSO know that trying to get you to talk about yourself or your feelings when you are not fuzzy is like trying to get water from a rock. Possible, but VERY hard." The Quarian said with a grin. One that vanished as she looked at Anya. "You have been through hell, Anya. We -I- can help you, Anya. But it is your choice. After everything that was done to you, I have no RIGHT to do anything without your informed consent."

 

"Thank you, Raan'ita." Anya said with feeling. "But we really need to find out what happened. If my family WAS involved, they will try and get me back, or do similar horrors to another unsuspecting girl. Laws, ethics... None of those mattered to my family. Only money mattered." Hate colored her tone and then she flushed as Raan'ita looked at her. "Sorry." Anya said in a sad voice. Raan'ita sighed and reached across to pat Anya's hand.

 

"It's okay, Anya." Raan'ita said gently. "You scared me when we first met and you scare me now. But I am here for you. You made the team a family of sorts. So you have to put up with nosy family members butting into your affairs." She smiled at Anya's expression, but then sighed. "The readings I got from you really worry me, Anya. Doctor Lawson?" Miranda nodded to the medic. "Can you make sense of the endocrine readings?"

 

"No." Miranda said with a sigh. "The medical staff of the Wings of Xenobia, Doctor Chakwas and myself have all been trying to sort them out. We did some scans, but we need more." Anya looked a little green at that, but nodded solidly. Miranda shook her head and explained. "The endocrine system maintains the body's state, Anya. Yours is in flux. That is likely one reason you are so out of sorts. Your body doesn't know which way is up."

 

"Would you mind if we did it here?" Anya asked softly. "Nothing against the Turians, but this place is... more familiar. Less..." She sighed. "I don't know." Raan'ita gave her hand another squeeze.

 

"Anya." Miranda said gently. "We are here for YOU. Until and unless the Council ORDERS Spectre Williams to bring you in for questioning on what she reported, we have latitude." Ashley nodded at that. "If it makes you more comfortable to be here, on this ship, with an old friend, then I don't see the problem."

 

"I kinda thought you two would be butting heads." Anya said slowly. She was not expecting both Raan'ita and Miranda to laugh. "What?" She demanded.

 

"We have dealt with each other before." Miranda said with a wide smile. Anya's eyes went wide at that and Miranda sighed. "And YES, there was a bit of... Um..."

 

"Friction?" Raan'ita suggested with a smile. "I wasn't ABOUT to trust a former Cerberus person." She sighed sadly. "That changed."

 

"What happened?" Anya asked softly.

 

"There was a mutation of a plague virus on Mindoir." Miranda said with a shudder. "A NASTY one. 90% mortality and it mainly targeted the elderly and children." Anya looked VERY green at that. "I was close, but had few resources. She showed up a day after me and we...well..." Miranda looked embarrassed.

 

"Butted heads." Raan'ita said with matching embarrassment. "It took my SON coming in and asking me to stop disturbing the patients before we cooled off. I managed to look beyond our history. I did and I do consider her a colleague, if an arrogant one."

 

"Well, I consider you a colleague too." Miranda retorted evenly. "If a naive and foolish one." Anya had to laugh at
the tone of voice. She was using the same tone Raan'ita had! "We stopped that plague and have been in touch ever since." Now Miranda's face softened. "She delivered Eran." Anya stared at Miranda and then at Raan'ita who nodded.

 

"That WAS foolish of you, Miranda and you know it." Raan'ita said soberly. "You KNEW you were close to your time. You had no BUSINESS travelling at that time. Certainly without a doctor."

 

"I know." MIranda said sadly. "But I had a line on that Cerberus remnant and I had to make sure we got them."

 

"Miranda." The Quarian said quietly. "If you had been ANY slower getting to me..."

 

"I know." Miranda said softly. "But you saved the day." Anya had to smile at the other human female's tender smile.

 

"So..." Anya said slowly. "Cerberus is still around?" She asked.

 

"Yeah." Miranda said with a scowl. "That is why they called ME when you showed up. I head a team with Council support tasked with tracking and eliminating their cells and support networks. I think they should have been called 'Hydra' through..." She said with a sigh. "Every time we lop off a head, another pops up. And their methods..." She sighed deeply. "I thought they were bad during the war, but now they REALLY have gone off the deep end. Abducting civilians, brainwashing them into killing machines and turning them loose to wreak havoc." She shuddered and Anya shared it.

 

"And you thought they had done the same to me." Anya said. It wasn't a question.

 

"We didn't know." Miranda said with a shrug. "Better safe than sorry. I didn't..." She started to apologize only to pause as Anya waved it away.

 

"I understand." Anya nodded. "I saw what they did during the war and read a bunch of reports. So they didn't do all this to me?"

 

"None of the methods that they are commonly using have shown up." Miranda said. "We checked for those first."

 

"So something uncommon." Anya said, then shivered.

 

"Anya?" Crado spoke for the first time. "You okay?" He asked, concerned.

 

"No." Anya said slowly. "I feel..." She shook her head. "The oatmeal that Raan'ita got me for breakfast didn't taste bad going down, but now...My stomach..." She shook her head, grimacing. Then she paled. "Raan'ita! I think I am going to barf!"

The two medics in the room swung into action. Miranda running for a nearby locker while Raan'ita stood and moved to Anya's side. Then Miranda was there as well. Just in time.

 

"Crado." Raan'ita said softly as Anya convulsed. "Hold her gently. She can't control this. Humans have no control over gag reflexes." Crado nodded and held Anya as her body reacted.

 

"Most humans." Miranda corrected quietly as she held a bag to Anya's mouth, catching the nastiness that came. "Some I have met can, but not always."

 

"Never..." Anya gasped as she sagged in Crado's arms. Then she expelled more and croaked a bit. "Never had this happen. Not even during the war. Not even the nastiness we waded through..." She started to cry as her body betrayed her again. "No..." She said as she recovered.

 

"Anya..." Raan'ita's voice was gentle as she stroked the shuddering human female's hair. "Shh... Easy. I know it's
embarrassing. But it's okay. Don't fight it, just let it happen. We will find out what is causing this and fix it, okay?" She paused as Miranda hissed. The woman had been holding the bag with one hand and scanning Anya with the
omni-tool in her other. "Miranda?" The Quarian asked.

 

"You two had intercourse the night before your wedding." Miranda said softly to Crado. He looked confused, but nodded. "Then I know what is causing this. It's not abnormal actually."

 

"What?" Anya gasped. Then she stiffened. "No... I... It can't be..."

 

"You are right, Anya. It can't be." Miranda said with a look of confusion. She showed the display to Raan'ita who stiffened in shock as well. "But it is. You are pregnant."

 

"Oh... crap..." Anya said as her stomach rebelled again. "Why do I get the feeling this is going to be a VERY long
day...?" She asked no one in particular before burying her face in the bag again.

Modifié par kalenath, 20 novembre 2012 - 10:32 .

[kalenath]

"Anya? How you doing?" Raan'ita's concerned voice came over the speaker. Anya tried to shrug but the form fitting enclosure she was in wouldn't let her move even that much.

 

"Peachy." Anya replied sourly. She opened her eyes, but of course didn't see anything but the white cylinder enclosing her head. She shut them again. "I knew this was going to be unpleasant, but... Is this some kind of revenge?"   She asked.

It was actually comfortable. She had to give Raan'ita that. She was warm, dry and clean. She was covered by a more than regulation size hospital gown. One that was much thicker than a normal one, and warm. But not being able to move for long periods of time had ALWAYS freaked her out. The huge list of scans that Miranda and Raan'ita had shown Anya that they would be performing had necessitated the full body enclosure though. At least the medication they had come up with had soothed her stomach. The tubes and wires didn't bother her. Much.

 

"Revenge?" Raan'ita asked in a too innocent tone. "Now WHY would I do that?"

 

"I dunno." Anya said with a snap. "Because you are EVIL?" She asked with a smile. "Because you always LOVED it when I was in your power? Because you LIKE having me tied up..." She couldn't help it, she smiled as she thought of Crado's jokes about bondage and her face heated little.

 

"Stop right there, Anya." Raan'ita cautioned. "Your heart rate just spiked. Calm, Anya. Calm..." Her voice was gentle soothing. "Easy, girl... Easy...Shhh..." She crooned gently. "We are almost done with this set. Then you get a break."

 

"You are a such a wet blanket, Raan'ita." Anya complained whimsically as she focused her mind and calmed her body. "But okay. How much longer in this THING?" She asked sourly.

 

"Not much." Raan'ita said gently. "Almost done. With this series anyway."

 

"GAH!" Anya groaned. "Don't remind me. Three days worth of scans. Three days encased in this thing."

 

"We give you breaks, Anya." Raan'ita said in a chiding tone. "And you will be sleeping in a real bed. But until we know HOW it happened and WHY..." She trailed off and Anya sighed before responding.
 

"I know." Anya said softly. "We don't know if I CAN bear the child without harm to it or me." She slumped in the cocoon. "I just... This feels odd, Raan'ita." Anya said slowly.

 

"I know it's hard being out of control, Anya." The Quarian doc started and then paused when Anya made a noise of disagreement. "Anya?" She queried.

 

"I don't LIKE being out of control..." Anya said in a musing tone. "But this feels...familiar..." She said slowly. "All of this..." She said in a curious tone. "This type of scan isn't standard, is it?"

 

"No." Raan'ita admitted. "This is a new technique, developed since the end of the war. With the aid of... um..." She broke off, seemingly embarrassed.

 

"You CAN say 'The Reapers'..." Anya said, her tone resigned. "I am not COMFORTABLE with that, mind you, but I can accept it. Especially since you and Crado accept it."

 

"We learned a lot." Miranda's voice was calm and cool. "There was -is- a lot of information stored in the Reaper shells. They remember what happened, and want to help."

 

"Obligatha was kind." Anya said softly. "Not at ALL what I expected from a Reaper."

 

"Obligatha is different." Miranda agreed. "But all of them, with the exception of Harbinger which seems to just shut
down completely -and GOOD RIDDANCE-" She snarled. "...they all seem to want to help. To assist us. Even IF their assistance is VERY uncomfortable at times. Having Husks doing EVA repairs is just...wrong..."

"Better than Banshees moving piles of rubble." Raan'ita said sourly. "Or Brutes working as bulldozers. Cannibals and Marauders are at least a LITTLE easier to stomach. "

 

"What do the Ravagers do?" Anya asked, curious despite herself.

 

"Demolition." Miranda said with a sigh. "There is a lot of heavy scrap that needs to be demolished to make way for
new construction and they do it well. The Rachni queen is NOT happy about her lost children, but..." She sighed sadly. "Once they were taken from her, they could not be saved."

 

"Like the mad drones that Shepard encountered on Noveria when she was hunting Saren?" Anya asked softly. A silence ensued and she sighed. "Yes, I had access to those reports. ESPECIALLY when the Rachni appeared and started working on the Crucible. I asked for intel on the Ravagers."

 

"Yes." Miranda said sadly. "Just like that. With the eggs taken from the queen and modified before they could be taught, they were insane. The only thing controlling them was the Reapers. So now, the Reapers want to help rebuild, so their slaves help too."

 

"No coming back?" Anya asked softly.

 

"No." Miranda said heavily. "We have tried a number of things over the years. But once the transformations were done, nothing can undo them. And unfortunately, the trauma of the change either destroyed or damaged the memories of the beings being changed, so we cannot help them." Anya cursed softly in Spanish and Miranda sighed. "Yeah, well, there IS one bit of good news."

 

"Oh?" Anya asked as she tried not to squirm.

 

"With the Reaper's help, we have managed to isolate the roots of Indoctrination." Miranda replied easily. "We can undo it."

 

"That is a good thing." Anya said soberly. "But FINDING Indoctrinated people..." She paused. "Wait, the Reapers would be able to do that, right?"

 

"They can and they have." Raan'ita said, a smile in her voice. But then it faded. "Anya?"

 

"Yes, Raan'ita?" Anya asked slowly.

 

"I need you to do something for me." Raan'ita said slowly. "It will probably hurt." Anya tensed but then relaxed.
Raan'ita wouldn't ask unless it was important.

 

"What?" Anya asked slowly, taking a deep breath to calm herself.

 

"You have no amp connected, but your implant is still intact." Raan'ita said slowly. "I...think... Miranda?" She
asked. "Is that...?"

 

"What?" Anya asked, a little worried.

 

"We are looking at your L5X3 implant..." Miranda said slowly. "It's...different from what is on file."

 

"DIFFERENT?" Anya snapped. "What do you mean 'different'?" She opened her eyes and then closed them.

 

"Anya, be calm." Raan'ita said gently. "It's okay. Your implant seems undamaged, but... Miranda? What IS that?" She asked, concerned.

 

"Miranda?"" Anya called. "Raan'ita?" She asked, her tone turning worried. "What is going on?"

 

"There is something attached to your implant, Anya." Miranda said gently. "It doesn't show up on any scans except the most refined one. Obviously you can use your powers."

 

"I haven't tried." Anya admitted. "Not since I woke up blind and nearly fried Crado. I was too scared to." She confessed.

 

"Understandable." The Quarian medic soothed. "Can you access the implant diagnostics?" Raan'ita asked.

 

"I think so." Anya said, confused. She did and made a sour noise as her brain interpreted the results. "According to the diagnostics, everything is working as intended. What do you see?"

 

"There is a tiny small silver sphere attached to the implant, Anya." Miranda said slowly, her tone cautious. "If I didn't
know better... No... It couldn't be..."

 

"Couldn't be WHAT?" Anya asked, her tone somewhere between irritation and fear.

 

"I saw something once that looked similar, Anya." Miranda said calmly. "But it was MUCH larger. It was the size of a tank, at first anyway. Then it shrank to the size of a basketball."

 

"SHRANK?" Anya demanded. She took a moment to calm herself. "What was it?" She asked when she could speak calmly again.

 

"A Prothean artifact Shepard and I found on Kopis while we were hunting the Collectors." Miranda said slowly. "A sphere. A perfectly round, perfectly smooth sphere. Just like this. Much larger, but..."

 

"What would I be doing with a Prothean artifact inside my skull?" Anya asked, her tone turning fearful. "And is it going to expand?"

 

"I don't know." Miranda admitted. "And there is really only one way to find out. Anya, can you access your implant?"

 

"The diagnostics worked." Anya said slowly. "So probably. What do you want me to do?"

 

"Can you generate a barrier field around PART of your body?" Miranda asked. Anya made a sour noise and Miranda laughed. "Sorry, silly question. I want to you generate a barrier around your feet. When you use your implant, I will try and access the artifact. I have some codes that should allow for analysis."

 

"Is it likely to pulse or grow or something?" Anya asked slowly. The silence she got in return answered her question. "If anything DOES happen to me, take care of Crado, please?" He had been so worn out by the revelations of the day that she had sent him to bed when she had climbed into the scanning machine. He had
argued, but in the end, he had acquiesced. "Better yet..." She said with a sigh. "Crado, don't blame them." A gasp from outside confirmed her suspicions.

 

"I won't." Crado asked, uncomfortable. "How did you know I was here?"

 

"Because you RARELY obey orders." Anya said with a sigh. "Even when they make sense. Miranda... I am ready." She opened her mind as she had been trained, letting power flow to coat her feet with energy. "Barrier is up."

 

"Ok." Miranda's voice was gentle. "Probing now."

 

A sudden stab of pain erupted in Anya's skull. The last thing she heard before passing out was a scream of agony. It sounded like her voice, but... not...

Modifié par kalenath, 21 novembre 2012 - 10:41 .

[kalenath]

"ANYA!" Crado snapped as his wife screamed in pain.

He jerked from his chair but froze as both medical professionals moved almost as one. The scanner table that Anya was enclosed in swept out of the device as Raan'ita hit an emergency override. Before the lid of the enclosure was up, Miranda was there, a scanner in hand. Crado stayed where he was, despite every instinct demanding he run to his wife's side, he knew he would just be in the way. It rankled, but he knew it was true. He was a Turian, bred for service, trained to be part of a whole. He was not a good Turian, but he WAS a Turian. He waited while the docs worked, trying to strangle his impatience. Finally, he could take it no more.


"Doc?" He asked softly.

 

"She is alive, Crado..." Raan'ita said, distracted. "But this is...Miranda?" The other doc shook her head, focusing on her readouts. Crado shook himself. He had to know.

 

"Crado." Another voice spoke from nearby as Crado took an involuntary step towards where the docs were working. "Step back." Garrus' soft words were a command. Crado turned to look at Garrus who sat against the wall where Crado had been sitting a moment before. The other Turian shook his head. "The ONLY reason I let you in here as you said you wouldn't crowd the docs. So don't." Crado stiffened, but then nodded and moved back to the short bench he had been sitting on. Sitting down and remaining quiet was one of the hardest things he had ever done.
 

There was not a lot of space in the room. Besides the two chairs at the sensor console, the room was normally bare. There simply wasn't SPACE for the enclosure to extend into the room and any other furniture. The actual scanner took up the entirety of the next room, the only access to it from this room the slot for the patient enclosure. The lid of the enclosure rested against one wall as the docs worked. Anya had taken one look at the device and nearly freaked. She had said it look like a coffin. It had taken both Raan'ita and Miranda the better part of thirty minutes to calm Anya down enough to get her in. But then she had relaxed a bit. Crado and Garrus had come in during the third set of scans. The docs had both glared at him, but he had sat quietly so they had ignored him, focusing on Anya. Garrus had remained by his side. Crado looked helplessly at the docs working and then at Garrus who sighed and nodded.

 

"Doc?" Garrus asked quietly.

 

"There was a pulse of energy from the artifact in Anya's head." Miranda said, her tone distracted as she worked on Anya's still form. "When I probed it, it responded. The feedback from the pulse hurt Anya. I am not sure how bad yet." Crado stiffened, but then slumped in place. Garrus laid a gentle hand on Crado's shoulder, a comrade's sympathy. "She is alive, Crado." Miranda reassured him. "We will NOT let her die."

 

"Should I leave?" Crado asked, manifestly against his will.

 

"No." Raan'ita reassured him as she rocked back on her heels. "She will need support when she wakes. We better get her to a regular bed. This thing scared her enough when she was coherent. I will call for a gurney."

 

"Do you need to?" Crado asked. Both docs paused and looked at him. "I can carry her IF she isn't hurt too badly."
Raan'ita and Miranda shared a glance. "But ONLY if it won't hurt her."

 

"It shouldn't." Raan'ita said slowly and Miranda nodded. "There seem to be no physical injuries."

 

"It will probably help." Miranda said with a frown "Even unconscious, she can feel you, know you. I never expected THIS to happen, or I wouldn't have done it." Crado rose slowly and move to stand by the enclosure, his face falling as he saw Anya's pale face within. His wife looked so lost and alone.

 
"Not your fault, doc." Crado said quietly. "She knew the risks or she wouldn't have asked you to take care of ME. Any connections?" Miranda nodded and disconnected various tubes and wires before stepping back and nodding again. "Oh Anya..." Crado said sadly as he scooped her up gently. She didn't react as he cradled her to his chest.

 

"Come on..." Raan'ita said quietly. "Let's get her to a bed. You need more sleep too." She led the way to the door
and palmed it open. Miranda and Garrus moved to follow as Crado stepped towards the door, careful with his burden.

 

"I haven't been able to sleep for longer than thirty minutes at a time since the war, doc." Crado said with a sigh. "My body seems to have adapted to that."

"That is NOT normal, Crado." Raan'ita said sourly. "You want something to help you sleep?" Crado didn't answer and Raan'ita sighed. "And here I thought you knew better than to argue with me."

 

"I..." Crado slumped a little as he walked, conscious of Anya's legs hanging loose, careful not to bump her into anything. "I don't want to argue, but the drugs make me dream." He admitted softly. "I don't like my dreams."

 

"Oh Crado." Raan'ita said sadly. "Let's get her to a bed and I will see what I can do. I CAN make your sleep dreamless and you need it." She laid a hand on his shoulder as they walked. "I love you as much as I love her. Don't you DARE hurt yourself. She would flay me with her mind."

 

"Yeah." Crado said with a smile. "She would." He paused as Anya murmured in her sleep. "Anya?" He asked gently but she did not respond. Raan'ita moved to a door and opened it. Inside was a standard hospital room. A bed, two chairs and a host of medical gear were the only furniture.

 

"She is still asleep. Get her on the bed." Raan'ita ordered. "I will connect the tubes and monitors. Then you and I
will have a talk." 

 

"Thanks, doc." Crado said as he eased his burden down onto the bed. He stepped back as Raan'ita connected tubes and wires with the ease of long practice. Then he motioned towards a folded blanket that lay on one chair. Raan'ita smiled and nodded, moving the pillow that sat on the bed under the sleeping human's head. Then he bent down and kissed Anya's cheek. Then he paused. "What the-...?" He asked nobody, stunned.

 

"Crado?" Raan'ita asked.

 

"She is talking in her sleep." Crado said slowly. "She never did that before that I know of. And in Spanish...?" He
shook his head, perplexed.

 

"What is she saying?" Raan'ita asked slowly, her omni-tool up and scanning Anya again.

 

"I studied up on Spanish, but I am no translator." Crado said softly. "Something about a 'Scholar' and 'children',
and..." He froze as Anya's eyes shot open, but the gaze that focused on his was not loving. There was no recognition in that look. It was terrified.

 

"NO!" Anya screamed, her voice odd. "Monstruos! No me hagas daño! NO!" She screamed again, her voice
childlike. She curled up, trying to recoil away from Crado who stared at her, shocked. (Translation: NO! Monsters! Don't hurt me! NO!)

 

"Anya mi amor..." Crado said gently. "Está bein. No estás in pelegro. Tranquilo. Estás seguro." Raan'ita stared at
him, confused. "¿Que es la problema, Anya?" ((Translation: Anya my love. It's okay. You are in no danger. Easy. You are safe. What is the problem, Anya?))

 

"Amor?" Anya asked, obviously confused. "No te conozco." Crado recoiled as if slapped and Anya cringed. "¿Quién es usted? ¿Donde está?" She asked. ((Translation: Love? I don't know you. Who are you?
Where am I?))

 

"What is she saying, Crado?" Raan'ita asked quietly. "She is talking too fast and in an odd dialect. My translator is having fits with that." She hushed when Crado made a sharp gesture.

 

"¿Quién es usted?" Anya snapped. "¿Donde está?" She screamed. She froze as Crado made a 'calm down' gesture at her. When he spoke it was slow but clear.

 

"Anya, está in un hospital. Fue herido. Mi nombre es Crado. Mantenga la calma." Crado said gently. "Esta bein.
Tranquilo." He made a shhing noise and patted her hand gently. Anya slowly relaxed. "Anya..." His eyes watered as she stared at him. "Oh Anya..." ((Translation: Anya, you are in a hospital. You were hurt. My name is Crado. Be
calm. It's okay. Easy. Anya... Oh Anya..."

 

"¿Te conozco?" Anya asked, confused. "No te acuerdas." ((Do I know you? I don't remember you.))

 

"Sí. Me conozco." Crado said gently as he rubbed her hand. He waved his free hand at the Quarian who stood stock still nearby. "Ella es médica. Ella te ayudará." ((Yes. You know me. She is a doctor. She can help you.))

 

"¿Dónde está mi familia?" Anya asked after a moment. "Mi madre, mi padre? Mis hermanas?" ((Translation: Where is my family? My mother? My father? My sisters?))

 

"Ask her how old she is." Raan'ita asked, her face tight. Crado stared at her but then nodded.

 

"Anya." Crado said softly. "¿Cuántos años tienes?" The woman in the bed stared at him and then sighed.

 

"Tengo doce." Anya said, mystified. Both Crado and Raan'ita stared at each other. "¿Por qué?" She asked. ((Translation: I am twelve. Why?))

 
"Kaela..." Raani'ta said, horrified.


"That translated." Crado said softly. Raan'ita nodded, her face ashen. "Oh Anya."

 

"¿Que es la problema?" Anya asked softly. "¿Qué es eso?" She demanded sharply. Crado took a deep breath before speaking. ((Translation: What is the problem? What is it?))

 

"Anya." He said quietly, rubbing her hand gently. "Tienes treinta seis años." Anya stared at him and shook her head slowly. ((Translation: Anya, you are thirty six years old.))

 

"No..." She breathed, horrified. "No es verdad! Es imposible! TENGO DOCE!" She screamed. Crado sat on the bed and held out his hands to her. She stared at him. ((Translation: No! That is not true! That is impossible! I am TWELVE!))

 

"Está bien, Anya." Crado said softly. "Estoy aquí y voy a dejar que nada te duele." ((Translation: It is okay, Anya. I am here and I will not let anything hurt you.))

 

"¿Quién es usted?" Anya asked, her tone calming. "Usted es agradable." She said as he held out his arms and she swarmed into them and snuggled close. ((Translation: Who are you? You are nice.))

 

"Soy tu marido." Crado said softly. Anya stiffened in shock, but then relaxed as he hugged her. "Va a estar bien. Lo
haremos bien." ((Translation: I am your husband. It will be okay. We will make it okay.))

 

"Tengo miedo." Anya said softly. ((Translation: I am scared.))

 

"Sé que, Anya." Crado said, holding her. ((Translation: I know, Anya.)) "Do you understand me when I speak English?" She looked at him and he smiled at her. "You told me you studied English at an early age."

 

"Yes." Anya said slowly and carefully. "Me feels... No..." She paused and then spoke with more conviction. "-I- feel strange."

 

"You were hurt." Raan'ita said gently from her spot. "You do not remember me then, either, Anya?" Sadness colored her tone.

 

"No." Anya's voice was small. "What happens? No, that is not right." She snarled at herself. "What happened?" She asked carefully.

 

"We don't know, Anya." Raan'ita stepped close to the bed and laid a hand on Anya's splinted arm. She smiled and Anya stared at her before smiling hesitantly back. "We WILL find out."

 

"Anya." Crado said, hugging her again. "It's okay. We will make it okay."

 

"Please?" Anya begged as she hugged Crado tight.

Modifié par kalenath, 23 novembre 2012 - 12:59 .

[kalenath]

Two hours later


"She is WHAT?"

Garrus' voice was a bit on the sharp side. But no one blamed him. The briefing room was not small, but it  seemed full with Lawson, Raan'ita, Vega, Williams and Garrus in it. None were sitting despite the chairs laid out.

 

"The pulse that occurred when I attempted to access the device attached to her implant seems to have regressed her to childhood." Miranda said heavily. "I accept full-" She broke off as Raan'ita snapped at her.

 

"Oh hush, Miranda. NONE of us had a clue what that thing was or what it could do." The Quarian medic said with a snarl.  "Anya KNEW the risks. None of us expected this, but she wouldn't blame you. So don't blame yourself." She paused, then grimaced, looking around the room at the faces that were goggling at her. "Sorry..." She said, slumping a little.

 

"Oh, don't be sorry." Garrus said with a smile. "I have wanted to see Mrs Lawson here rendered speechless since the day I met her." Miranda made a rude gesture in his direction and Garrus smiled wider. Both Spectre Williams and Lieutenant Commander Vega seemed to be fighting smiles as well.



"Jokes aside." Miranda said quietly. "We hurt her. We have NO idea why it happened or how. We need more information and since it seems to be a Prothean device. We need an expert in Prothean..." She broke off as Garrus snarled.

 

"No." The Turian general snapped.

 

"Garrus." Ashley said slowly. "If she CAN help..."

 

"NO." Garrus said with flat finality.

 

"Garrus." The Spectre said softly. "I KNOW your feelings. I know WHY you feel the way you do..."

 

"Do you?" Garrus asked coldly. "Do you indeed?" Ashley sighed and looked helplessly at the others. Miranda finally shook herself and spoke.

 

"Garrus, please..." Miranda said heavily. "I don't like it either. I said it at the time, and I say it now. What she did was
WRONG. The WAY she did it was worse. To just DO it like that, without explaining, without offering Shepard the right to CHOOSE... Even the Asari were and are mad at her."

 

"It's not the same." Garrus said slowly, turning away from the group to stare at the wall. "NEITHER of us would have minded, IF she had just ASKED." He shook his head. "She didn't. She couldn't be BOTHERED to. To give Shepard the CHOICE. That is what rankles the most. Shepard fought for all of us to have a choice! That blasted Asari took that choice from Shepard and just... just..." He snarled and spoke quickly. "Part of me wishes Grunt or Wrex had been there when we found out. They would have killed her. Not let themselves be disarmed before they could more than wound."

 

"Scars..." Vega said softly. "We were all mad at her. We ARE all mad at her. You are right." The N7 said with a sigh. "What she did was unforgivable. None of us are going to forgive it. None of us are going to forget it. But that is  immaterial." Garrus stiffened as Vega snarled slightly. "What would SHEPARD do in this case, dude? Think." Garrus shook his head. "Come on, Scars. You KNOW what the Commander would have done."

 

"Yeah." Garrus said softly. "I do." Pain sounded through his voice now. "I just..." He shook his head savagely. "She would do whatever the hell it took to help Anya. No matter the cost to her." The others nodded soberly. "It was always about OTHERS with her. Helping OTHERS, never a thought about herself. When I heard what that blasted AI told her in the recording, the choices it gave her on the Citadel to fire the Crucible, I knew what she was going to choose before she started moving. She couldn't let EDI and the Geth be destroyed. And she couldn't trust HERSELF to control such power without being corrupted by it. That left her with only one choice." He shook his head and tears were falling. "Always helping others..."

 

"Garrus." Ashley stepped to his side and laid a hand on his shoulder. He jerked away from her and walked to the wall where he turned and glared at all of them. "Garrus..." She said in warning.

 

"You are going to do it no matter what I say. So..." Garrus snapped. " Keep her away from me. I see her and I am going to shoot her again, and THIS time I will aim for the head." With that, he stalked out of the room. The others looked at each other and then Miranda sighed deeply.

 

"That went...about as well as I expected." The others nodded to her sad words. Raan'ita nodded to her and Miranda shook her head. "I don't think we should do any more scans until we can figure out WHAT happened to Anya. The enclosure freaked her out."
 

"She has said we should. But... We got a lot of information. Your Prothean specialist can...Um..." Raan'ita said slowly. "Um... DO I want to know WHY General Vakarian reacted like that?"

 

"No, but you need to." Williams said with a sigh. "It is GOING to come up. Right before the final battle on Earth kicked off, the attack on London and the diversions, Shepard talked to Doctor Liara T'soni. According to the few witnesses who survived, T'soni said she had a 'gift' for Shepard. After the battle ended, after the Normandy was found..." The female human took a deep breath and spoke carefully. "Doctor T'soni told us that she had...taken some of Shepard's DNA to make a child. Without Shepard's knowledge."

 

"SHE WHAT?" Raan'ita snapped, aghast.  "NONCONSENSUAL?"

 
"Yeah." Vega said softly. "That was our reaction, minus the cursing. Garrus was...irate."

 

"Garrus shot the doc." Willaims said slowly. "Three rounds from his Vindicator, center mass. If she hadn't been armored, it would have killed her. She didn't have barriers up, she never expected him to shoot her. None of us expected him to react so strongly. We grabbed him, I mean... Gunplay aboard ship is bad." Williams said with a sigh. "He nearly killed her. The doc healed her up and then we threw her off the ship. None of those of us who were there  have talked to her since that I know of. Miranda?"

 

"I... have..." Miranda said slowly. "Hunting Cerberus, I needed the her contacts, her assets. I saw her...kid and yeah... I knew the moment I saw the little one." Miranda shook her head. "You bring her anywhere NEAR the Normandy and there will be fireworks. If she runs into Garrus, there WILL be bullets and biotic effects flying."


"Keala..." Raan'ita said in a tone of total consternation. "I have other patients aboard. I CAN NOT have a firefight break out on this ship."

 

"I know. We will make sure that doesn't happen." Williams said with a sigh. "James?" She asked and he nodded, his face remote. "I hate to ask it of you, but can you?"

 

"We never get easy jobs. Probably wouldn't know what to do with them if we did." James replied with a snort. "I can do it. I can keep them apart." The huge Alliance Marine continued with a matching sigh. "I respect him and he respects me. I will stay with him, keep him away from wherever the witch is."

 

"If they DO encounter each other..." Miranda started softly then paused as Williams grimaced.

 

"We knock them both the hell out, separate them, and go on from there." The Spectre clarified. "This is a hospital ship. I will NOT see it turned into a war zone. Miranda?" The other human woman nodded to the Spectre and Williams continued. "Give her a call. If she just has information, all well and good. If not? Get her here as soon as you can. The last transmission I got from the Council said they were debating the merits of sending a team of their own." Raan'ita stiffened and Ashley spoke quickly. "Nothing against you, doc. They are planning to send investigators, but they ALL want to see Anya healed first. They are going to flip when they hear about this. They MAY want to take her back to the Citadel." Miranda nodded and left the room.

 

"More infrastructure there." Raan'ita agreed, manifestly against her will. "I want Anya given the best care available. I have the best care HERE, but THEY have better. More of everything. One thing... Might there be any OTHER Prothean experts around?" Raan'ita said after a moment. "I don't know if I want that being around my kids."

 

"None with her expertise or resources." Williams said with a groan. "I will be her shadow. I won't let her out of my sight."

 

"Why do I get the feeling we are going to regret this?" Raan'ita asked sourly as they all moved to leave. "Anya said
that she wants to get better and will cooperate in any way before she fell asleep. She has essentially demanded to have the next series of scans done soon."

 

"Aside for the thing in her skull..." Ashley mused. "You and Miranda haven't found anything else wrong in the scans have you?"

 

"We didn't get it all done." Raan'ita admitted. "I DO want to focus on the surrounding tissue, see what that thing
attaches to."

 

"Carefully." Williams said with a shudder.

 

"Oh yeah." Raan'ita agreed with a matching shudder. "And Crado won't leave her side..." She paused. 'He is going to be a problem."

 

"How so?" Williams asked cautiously.

 

"He is not sleeping." When James opened his mouth, Raan'ita continued quickly. "And no. Alcohol would be a BAD idea for him, commander." James shut his mouth with a click and nodded. "That is one reason he is such a mess, lack of sleep. I am TEMPTED to sedate him, hook him up to support and let him sleep for several days, but..."

 

"He would not react well." Ashley stated.

 

"No." Raan'ita agreed.

 

"I will talk to him." Ashley said with a sigh. "If all else fails, I can ORDER him to sleep, and have you dose him."

 

"You KNOW about him and orders." James said sourly.

 

"Which is why I am going to talk first." Ashley said with a nod.

Modifié par kalenath, 24 novembre 2012 - 10:58 .

[kalenath]

"Crado?"

 

The soft voice pulled Crado out of his doze. He sat up in his chair and he looked around. Anya was still asleep. In sleep her face relaxed it's habitual mask, showing the marks of pain and fear. He consoled himself that even if she did not remember him, she DID know him. His touch relaxed her. He stroked her arm gently. She smiled and murmured in her sleep but did not wake.

 

"Crado." The voice pulled his gaze to the door where Spectre Williams stood, a soft, sad smile on her face. "We need to talk."

 

"I can't leave her." Crado said in an undertone. "She needs me."

 

"Come here so we can talk without disturbing her." Williams waved to the door and Crado rose reluctantly. "Docs have the intercom open one way so if she DOES wake, we will hear, but anything WE say won't bother her. I can set your omni-tool to receive."

 

"I would appreciate that." Crado said, shaking off the feelings that accompanied sitting in one place for a long period of time. "I don't mean any disrespect Spectre, but I lost her once." He looked down at the sleeping woman and his gaze was tender. "Somehow I got her back. I can't lose her again."

 

"She needs you now more than ever." Williams said quietly as he bent to kiss his wife's cheek. She murmured in her sleep again, but did not wake. Then Crado walked to the door and Wiliams waved him out. She waited until the door shut to speak again. "She needs you WHOLE."

 

"I can't, Spectre." Crado said, leaning against the wall, his head hung low. "I don't know what broke, or how to fix it. She makes me feel... better. But I am not as I was."

 

"None of us are, Captain." Williams said as she keyed the door closed. "Here." She hit her omni-tool and his lit up. "This will notify you if her vitals spike or she speaks louder than she has been."

 

"Thanks." Crado said as he examined the holo display, then nodded. "I spent so much time drunk... I think this is the longest I have been sober since the war ended."

 

"I know the feeling." Williams said with a sigh. "I read your record, the public and non-public parts."

 

"Figured you would." Crado grimaced but did not move.

 

"You were a decorated vet BEFORE the war." Williams said in a conversational tone. "What changed?"

 

"I have talked with docs, shrinks, all kinds of people..." Crado said softly. "I don't know."

 

"You sat in all the doc's appointments and didn't say a word." Williams corrected him. "They tried to talk to you and you never responded. And then what you said to Victus... Geez..." She shook her head, rueful admiration flaring.

 

"I am no politician, Ma'am." Crado said softly. "I never was."

 

"That is obvious." The Spectre said with a smile. Then she sobered. "You are teetering on the edge. I am one step away from ordering you sedated."

 

"I figured." Crado said with a sigh. "In your place I likely would have done it already."

 

"Maybe." Williams said with a small nod. "Maybe not. You know... I never wanted this job. Everything I heard about
Spectres gave me the creeps. Even Shepard did on occasion." Crado looked at her and she shrugged. "That mess with Saren was just part of the whole 'black ops are bad' mentality. People who were or thought they were above the law always rubbed me the wrong way." The human woman explained and Crado nodded. "And then to be offered the job... Well... I wasn't ready." She said with a frown.

 

"I don't think anyone worthy of the job would be." Crado said when she stopped talking. "Everyone knows how hard the job of a Spectre can be."

 

"Not really." Ashley said with a shudder. He looked at her and she made a face. "Did you know I nearly shot Shepard the day I got out of the hospital?" Crado jerked and stared at her, shaking his head dumbfounded. "To this day, I think Udina made me a Spectre because I was easy to manipulate." She mused.

 

"I never heard about that." Crado said slowly "The coup, yes. One of our people -Mei- was caught by Cerberus in the hospital while defending patients and killed. They didn't like us much."

 

"Mei?" Ashley asked and then nodded. "Met her in the hospital. Tough little lady. Didn't know she was one of yours. I heard she held off a squad of Cerberus while the staff evacuated the critical cases. And didn't they raise a stink about her keeping her weapon?"

 

"C-Sec got involved." Crado said with a sad smile. "She said she didn't want to be vulnerable. Half her guts blown out and she was STILL ready to fight. The entire Citadel if needed. That girl never DID have the sense of a gnat."

 

"Yeah." Williams said slowly. "I remember hearing about some of that. They found twenty Cerberus bodies in the hallway she chose for her stand. Most of them dead with headshots. It took two Atlas rockets to kill her and even THEN they used grenades to make sure. Blew out that whole floor of the hospital. She scared the HELL out of their goons. Was she military?"

 

"No." Crado said sadly. "She was a farmer, a member of a civilian militia on Inta'sei. They were overwhelmed early on, most of them killed. We found her and two others while doing recon for an op. She was sneaky as all hell, but angry, so angry..." He sighed. "Kind of like me."

 

"You are alive." Williams contradicted him softly.

 

"Am I?" Crado asked, his gaze far away. "Without Anya... I would have died with my men, or later. She just kept kicking me into shape. At first I thought she was just a cold heart, the mission was everything. Then I saw past her mask, the side she tried not to show. The pain that she carried with her everywhere. The regret that she could not do more, save more. She took people like me and Mei, made us better, made us BELIEVE we could be better."

 

"I know." Ashley said with a sigh. "Shepard was the same way. She just...expected you to be the best you could and you did. You didn't want to disappoint her." She shook her head and then cut right to the chase. "Captain, do you WANT to get better? If you don't then nothing anyone does will help. I can order you scanned, drugged, to talk to docs, whatever, and it won't help." Crado looked at her and she shrugged again. "Just because you are a Turian and raised in military service doesn't mean you can't break. I have seen WAY too many vets of the war just fall apart. I don't want to see that happen to you too. I like you and I like Anya. I do NOT want to lose either of you."

 

"I..." Crado paused, stunned by the total sincerity in the human woman's voice. He suddenly seemed to crumple a little. "I don't know what to do. This was never covered. Duty, honor, loyalty... All of that was. Regulations, procedures, plans... No one ever had a class on 'What To Do After Surviving A War 101'."

 

"No." Williams agreed. "For the longest time, no one understood the guilt that comes, the mix of emotions that comes when the fighting is done. But now, we know more. We CAN help. IF you let us. IF you want us to."

 

"I want to get better." Crado said softly, his hands now coming up to cover his face. "But... Anya..."

 

"I know. She needs you." Ashley said soberly. Then she stepped close and gently moved Crado's hands from his face so she could look him in the eye. "She needs you whole. Do you trust me?"

 

"I...I don't know you." Crado said slowly, not moving a muscle. "Nothing against you, but I don't know you except by
reputation."

 

"But you DO trust Raan'ita." Williams said gently. Crado nodded slowly. "Then here is what we are going to do. I will stay with Anya. Raan'ita or her husband Joruz will stay with us. Your omni-tool will be set to go off to wake you if Anya calls for you. I give you MY word, Crado Solinus, one soldier to another, that I will allow NO ONE to harm your wife while you are recovering. Anyone who tries, I will kill, hospital ship or no." Crado was breathing hard as she stepped back. "Is that good enough?"

 

"The word of a Spectre?" Crado said with a smirk. "Should be." Then he slumped a bit. "Where do I go?"

 

"Next door down." Ashley said with an encouraging smile. "Raan'ita is expecting you. She is going to run some scans and then prescribe something that will knock you out for four hours."

 

"Four hours?" Crado asked, looking down the hall. "Why not longer?"

 

"Because Anya is expected to wake around five hours from now." Williams replied evenly. "And I THINK she will trust you more than me." She said with a mock pout. "We will need you. We have a specialist coming, I think and that will be... rough."
 

"What kind of specialist?" Crado asked. "And why rough?"

 

"A Prothean specialist." Ashley said with a grimace. "Her name is T'soni." Crado inhaled sharply and  the Spectre nodded. 'You heard about that."

 

"Garrus was...not quiet in his rants. It was all over the Hierarchy in a day. Most of us were...not happy with her decision." Crado said softly. "Is she the only choice?"

 

"She knows more about the Protheans than any three or four others I know of put together." Williams said sourly. "if there were ANY others with that kind of expertise, I would take them gladly. There aren't."

 

"If Garrus is aboard..." Crado swallowed heavily. "It's going to get messy."

 

"I know." The Spectre said, her face grave. "We will TRY to keep them apart. When you wake up, you will stay with Anya. I iwll stay glued to T'soni. James is going to ride herd on Garrus."

 

"We can do this, Ma'am." Crado said, then turned towards the next door down the corridor as it opened and Raan'ita stood there, smiling gently. He paused and looked back at Ashley before smiling a little forlornly. "Thank you."

 

"Rest well, Captain." Spectre Williams said softly as he walked to the door. Raan'ita laid a gentle hand on his arm and guided him into the room. The Spectre took a deep breath and entered Anya's room again. She took a seat by the sleeping woman's bed and pulled a small book out of a pocket. She opened her mouth and spoke very softly so as not to disturb the hurt woman.

 

Break, break, break,

On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!

And I would that my tongue could utter

The thoughts that arise in me.

Modifié par kalenath, 24 novembre 2012 - 08:04 .

[kalenath]

Five hours later

 

Anya woke up and immediately regretted it. Her head hurt, her tongue felt like it was two or three sizes too big for her mouth, but it was something else that had her start to writhe. Her stomach was doing flip flops.

 

"Anya?" The voice of the odd being who called himself her husband came from nearby.

 

"Mr. Crado?" She called, trying with all her might to control her stomach. She kept her eyes tightly shut. "I am sick... I am going to..."

 

"Let it happen, Anya. Don't try to fight it or you could hurt yourself." The kind voice of the woman who called herself Williams came and gentle hands eased her up and over as Anya's stomach rebelled. The woman's voice was gentle as Anya barfed into something. "It's all right, Anya. It's okay. This is normal."

 

"Normal?" Anya croaked. English came easy to her now. "This- is NOT- normal." She complained in between bursts of nastiness.

 

"Actually it is." Anya felt the fear that had been growing dissipate as the soft voice of the female healer came from nearby. Raan'ita was her name. An odd name, but...familiar to Anya. Somehow she knew that Raan'ita, like Crado, wouldn't let anything happened to her. "You slept for several hours, your stomach is empty and it wants food, but the chemicals your body is producing are competing with each other. Let me see..." A whir close by said that the doc was scanning her again. The sound didn't bother her anymore.

 

"Chemicals?" Anya asked when the she HOPED the disgusting part was done. Her stomach flipped again and she gasped, but nothing else came up. "This is humiliating." She complained.

 

"Yeah. But we are all friends here. Let me check your temperature." A gentle three fingered hand touched her forehead as somenthing hard entered her ear. She held very still. It surprised her that the medic wanted to touch, but then again, she didn't mind. She liked Raan'ita and the touch was cool and soothing. After a moment, the hand withdrew and Raan'ita spoke again. "Everything looks okay. The problem is that your body is creating a number of new chemicals to facilitate your condition. They don't always agree with each other."

 

"Like me and my sisters." Anya said softly. "Wait...My condition?" Anya asked slowly. That was new information. Or was it? It didn't FEEL new. Everything about her felt off, the size of her hands, her feet, her whole body. If she really WAS thirty six, instead of the twelve she thought she was, then it made sense. But she didn't REMEMBER any of what had brought her here.

 

"Ah, yes." Raan'ita sounded embarrassed. "I think... we could use some privacy, Crado." Anya's eyes snapped open and she stared from the medic to the alien who claimed to be her husband. He smiled at her.

 

"Anya, it's okay." Crado said gently, his hand tracing hers. "But this is a female thing. If you need me, hit the call button."
 

"A female thing?" Anya asked suspiciously. "Like gooey stuff?" Both Raan'ita and Williams looked like they were
about to choke on smiles while Crado looked embarrassed. How did she KNOW that? His face didn't change color. How did she know he was embarrassed?

 

"Yeah." Crado said with a smile. "Like gooey stuff. I won't go far. This is partly my fault." He said with a smile. "No matter WHAT happens, I am NOT going to leave you to face it alone." He bent down and kissed her cheek before straightening and striding quickly for the door. She smiled after him and then focused on the doc and the... What had Crado called Williams? A Spectre? Anya wasn't sure about that. Williams was no ghost.

 

"So..." Anya said slowly. "A female thing?"

 

"Yes." Raan'ita said softly as she sat by Anya's bedside. "You know that males and females are different, right?" Anya glared at her and Raan'ita shrugged. "Just want to know what you remember."

"Yes, I know males and females are different." Anya said, her tone somewhat sour. "My mother always said to be careful, that bad men wanted me. But never WHY. I read in a class that males provide the genetic material for procreation and females bear the children." She said in a perplexed voice. "But no one ever said HOW it worked. I CERTAINLY wasn't going to ask my mother and everyone else I asked told me not to." She said with a confused look. "That I would find out when I got older."

 

"Oh boy." Raan'ita said with a sigh. "Anya, you are thirty six years old, that means you are a full adult, even if you do
not remember BEING a full adult. So..." She looked at Williams who shrugged.

 

"Don't look at ME." Williams said whimsically. "I am not a parent." But she did sit down in the other chair, the one
Crado had vacated. "Anya, we will be telling you some things. They may be hard to believe."

 

"I am going to be a mommy?" Anya asked caustically, only to pause as both women did not react. "Ah..." She stammered. "That was a joke." She said slowly, fear darkening her eyes.

 

"You are." Raan'ita said gently, her left hand coming down to touch Anya's now shaking right one. "And that is no joke. It is not funny in the slightest." She rubbed Anya's hand gently.

 

"I..." Anya shook her head slowly. "You all say I am an adult, but I feel like a kid. I don't..." She shook herself. "I can't..."

 

"Anya." Raan'ita's voice was soft as new lamb's wool now. "Look at yourself." She held out a mirror to the young woman and Anya took it gingerly as if afraid it would bite her.

 

"I..." Anya stared at her reflection. The face that stared back at her was hers, but not. The scared face was old! The eyes were the same dark brown she remembered, but the rest... Her dark brown hair was cut short, so very short. There were marks on her face, scars of old wounds. Marks of pain and fear, but also... the creases of laugh lines around her eyes. The face looked like it smiled as much as it screamed. It smiled at her hesitantly when she did, so she had to accept that it was, indeed, her face. Then the image in front of her changed and she stared transfixed as an image of horror appeared in front of her.
 
"NO!" She screamed as she threw the mirror away and cowered back on the bed. "Nonononononono..." She said as she tried to curl up in a ball, only to be stymied by the tubes and wires that were connected to her.

"ANYA!" Raan'ita's voice was sharp with worry as she jumped up and sat on the bed beside the cowering woman. She gathered Anya's unresisting from up in her arms and crooned gently until Anya relaxed a little. Williams remained where she was. "What happened? What did you see?" She asked as she held Anya's quivering form close. Anya took strength from the medic's calm.

 

"I don't know." Anya stammered, her fear making her words run together. "I saw my face, older. Hurt and scared,
but..." She paused. "It was me. "I didn't believe, but you are right... I AM old..."

 

"No, you are not." Williams said sourly. "Middle aged, not old." She said with a smile. But that faded. "Then what?"

 

"I don't know." Anya said slowly, burrowing into Raan'ita's arms. "My face changed as I looked at it. It was still my face, but I wasn't human." Her voice cracked. "I wasn't!"

 

"What did it look like, Anya?" Williams asked after Raan'ita had calmed Anya down a little. "The face?"

 

"Two glowing eyes." Anya said slowly. "Not like yours, yellow. There was no nose or mouth... And the skin..." She
shuddered again. Raan'ita hugged her. "I looked like a BUG!" Williams recoiled, but then leaned forward, her fingers flying over her omni-tool and the display flaring as she pulled up files.

 

"Anya? Like this?" Williams asked as a holo-display appeared. She oriented it so Anya could see. Anya took one look and with a sharp cry, buried her face in Raan'ita's shoulder again. "I guess that is a yes." Williams said. Anya nodded savagely, her face still buried as Raan'ita tried to calm her down.

 

"What is that?" Raan'ita asked, not able to look at the holo while tending Anya.

 

"A Collector." Williams said coldly.

 

"Kealah..." Raan'ita said softy as she worked to calm Anya down. "Anya, it's okay. We will make it okay."


"What am I?" Anya cried as Raan'ita held her. "What am I?" She demanded.

 

"You are my friend, Anya." Raan'ita said in a tone that brooked no argument. "Williams?"

 

"Right." The Spectre hit her omni-tool and Crado's face appeared. "Crado, we need you."

 

"On my way." Crado said and moments later the door opened. Crado strode in and froze on taking in the scene. "What happened?" He demanded as he walked towards the bed.

 

"Anya saw something in her reflection that scared her." Raan'ita said softly as Anya cried. "We were explaining that she was older than she thought." She made space on the bed and Crado sat down as well, taking Anya's arms in his. She curled onto him with an inarticulate cry. Raan'ita let her go and then started scanning the terrified woman with her omni-tool. It was unlikely Anya noticed as distraught as she was. "She looked at herself and screamed, threw the mirror away."

 

"What did she see?" Crado asked, his hands stroking, gently calming. "Anya?" He asked, but Anya was beyond speaking. He sighed and held her while she sobbed.

 

"Herself as a Collector." Williams said, her face stony. "Small wonder she freaked."

 

"Yeah." Crado said, his voice stunned. "Small wonder."

 

"I want to know what happened to me." Anya said in the silence that fell. "Do whatever you have to, for as long as you have to. I will do whatever you want me to. Just... find out!"

 

"Anya..." Raan'ita said slowly. "The scans distressed you, before. We don't want to stress you too badly. Your body is in a delicate condition at the moment. Any gross changes, emotional or physical, can hurt you OR your baby."

 

"I need to know." Anya said slowly, her face coming out from Crado's arms. "I trust you. I don't REMEMBER you, but I trust you. Please?" She begged.

 

"All right." Raan'ita said with a sigh. "We can set up a new scan cycle for this afternoon." Anya nodded and cuddled
Crado again. Raan'ita glanced at the Spectre and both shared a grim look. But nothing untoward was heard in Raan'ita's voice when she spoke again. "We have an expert on technology like we told you that we found in your skull coming, probably tonight. She will want to talk to you."

 

"Anything you want me to do." Anya promised.

 

"I will go tell Miranda while you unhook her, Raan'ita." Williams said, rising. "Do you want me there, Anya?"

 

"If... If you don't mind." The younger woman said.

 

"I don't." Williams said gently, coming close to touch Anya's sleeve. "I DO need to report this, but... It can wait." Then she paused as the intercom chimed.

 

"Yes?" Raan'ita asked.

 

"Captain." Her husband's voice was coldly formal. "We have a new arrival in system." Something about his voice put everyone on guard. "We need you and Williams on the bridge."

 

"Right." Raan'ita said softly. "Anya, I will send Miranda with a nurse. They will unhook you, get you to the scanner room and start the scans. Crado..." He looked at her and she nodded to him. "...will not leave your side until you go into the scanner. He will be in the room at all times. I should be in shortly."

 

"I will be okay." Anya promised. "Take care of YOUR problems."

 

"My friends come first." Raan'ita said with a sigh. "But we WILL tend you, Anya. I promise we will be gentle."

 

"Thank you." Anya's voice was small as she burrowed into Crado's arms again. Raan'ita patted her arm again and then rose. Williams followed. Neither spoke until they were outside the room and the door had shut.

 

"Do I want to know?" Williams asked softly.

 

"There is only ONE reason that Joruz wouldn't have SAID who it was." Raan'ita said, her mouth taut in a grim line. "Only ONE group that he would want kept from Anya that badly. We heard a lot about them, especially when she was sedated. The crap that we have been getting from them since she was found hasn't changed our opinion of the boshtets." Williams blinked at the unaccustomed profanity from the normally kind and gentle medic. Then she winced.

 

"Oh crap..." Williams said with a gulp. "Her family..."

 

"Yeah."

Modifié par kalenath, 25 novembre 2012 - 09:15 .

[kalenath]

"...and I am afraid there is no one by that name aboard this ship, sir."

 

The male Quarian in the captain's seat did not acknowledge the two females when they entered the bridge. He wore a full envirosuit, like many Quarians. Many had not adapted to life outside the suits even when their bodies COULD. All of his attention was on the holo screen in front of him and the fiery faced human who dominated it. The human's dark hair and face proclaimed his relation to Anya. They looked at the plot where a small ship, a small yacht of some kind -barely the size of a frigate with less than half a frigate's power or shields- was closing with the Merciful Flight.

 

"Don't try to lie to me, suit rat!" The man snapped. "I KNOW my daughter is aboard that ship. I want her. Now." Raan'ita made a growling noise under her breathe. She subsided when Williams shook her head.

 

"Did you just insult the XO of this ship, Mr. Wilson-Fuentes?" Williams asked mildly as she stepped into range of the camera pickup. " I suggest you apologize."

 

"You." The man on the screen's glowing eyes narrowed as he looked at Williams. "Where is my daughter, you alien loving...?" He broke off as Williams shook her head.

 

"If you finish that sentence, I can and will have you in a cell by the end of the day. You may not STAY there long, but I WILL put you in one." Williams said in the same mild tone. "Insulting people may get you what you want in YOUR world, Mr Wilson-Fuentes. But in MINE? It gets you in trouble."

 

"You wouldn't DARE." Pedro Wilson Fuentes said with a cold laugh. "You know who I am."

 

"And you know who I am." Ashley Williams said quietly. "What makes you think I CARE who you are?" She asked calmly. "I know you have more money than I am ever likely to see in my life. And you know what? I don't give Vorcha's behind." She treasured his pole-axed expression for a moment and then nodded to Joruz.  "Who is this...person...demanding we turn over to him anyway?" She asked Joruz who nodded to her.

 

"Someone named Anya Wilson-Fuentes." Joruz said clearly. "We have no patients by that name aboard." He said with a shrug. Williams nodded. Anya was listed in all the files under her married name or just as Anya. Everyone aboard knew how she felt about her family.

 

"You are lying!" The patriarch of the Wilson Fuentes family snapped. "Give me my daughter!"

 

"None of your children are aboard." Williams said calmly. "And since that is the case, I suggest -respectfully of
course-..." There was precious little respect in her tone. "...that you back your ship away from this one. This is a hospital ship and therefore- by Council decree- is sacrosanct. That decree has been acknowledged by every remaining space faring community. It is unarmed. Not that your 'supposedly' unarmed yacht is going to be able to do anything but muss the paint if you hit it with the two mass drivers you have hidden aboard that junket of yours. This WAS an Alliance cruiser and still has the armor plating."

 

"Best be careful, SPECTRE." The man on the screen said snidely. "Accidents happen way out here."

 

"That they do." Williams said calmly. "Which is why MY ship is trailing YOURS. You activate anything that even LOOKS like a weapon and the Normandy will blow you out of space. Regretfully, of course." Raan'ita looked at her but Williams did not take her eyes off the man on the screen.

 

"You are bluffing." But the man looked uncomfortable.

 

"Am I?" Williams asked him, her voice about as warm as an ice cube. "Well, then. Feel free to do something dumb. Please." Her tone changed to barely suppressed contempt now. "You are an idiot. Your insults are as asinine as your agenda. You came all the way out here to get someone who does not exist. Go away, Mr. Wilson-Fuentes. SOME of us have real work to do." With that, she cut the transmission before he could utter a word.

 
 
"Was that wise?" Raan'ita asked slowly. "I mean, if his ship IS armed...? We have armor but we don't have the crew of a warship and very few of my people are trained for combat."

 

"I know Joker." Williams replied with a small smile. "He and EDI will have been monitoring. He is not going to let that idiot do anything too stupid. Won't even have to kill anyone. EDI can handle that moron's ship better than any of his people can in all likelihood."She smiled widely as the plot changed. "And speak of the devil..."

 

She watched with no small amusement as the small yacht seemed to jump. Having a fully armed Alliance frigate simply appear within cosmic knife fighting range would do that to any reasonably sane pilot. Additionally, the Normandy had her main gun deployed, but it obviously was not charged. Not that she expected any civilians to  know that. The yacht backed away from the hospital ship swiftly, the Alliance ship matching it's every move, seemingly without effort.

 

"We are being hailed by the Normandy. Voice only. In clear..." Joruz said in astonishment. "Respond?" He asked Raan'ita who looked at Williams who shrugged.

 

"He wants Mr. Wilson-Fuentes to hear it. On speaker." Raan'ita said. Jorus tapped a control and a familiar male voice sounded from the speakers.

 

"Merciful Flight, this is SSV Normandy." Joker's tone was a little too cool, Williams realized. Had he ever met Anya? Known about her history with her family? That MIGHT be a problem. "Is everything all right over there?"

 

"Yes." Raan'ita replied evenly. "A misunderstanding. The owner of the yacht thought we had one of his family aboard. We have checked our records and we do not."

 

"For a moment, we thought they were going to attack you." Joker's voice turned serious. "As that would be a breach of seventeen Council statutes, we thought it best to be ready to assist." Raan'ita turned to Williams and mouthed 'Seventeen'? Williams shrugged. "Is Spectre Williams there? You need any help?"

 

"Stand down, Joker." Williams said calmly. "The Thanix cannon is overkill anyway. It killed that Collector cruiser
and more than a few Reapers. The barriers on that overgrown teakettle wouldn't stand up to the Normandy's GARDIAN system, let alone anything heavier."

 

"Yes, Ma'am." Joker replied. "We will be around." With that, the ship seemed to vanish as it activated it's stealth
systems again. The com clicked off and Raan'ita turned to Williams, an inquiring expression on her face.

 

"Seventeen?" The Quarian asked incredulously.

 

"More or less." Williams said with a smirk. "Joker HAS been known to exaggerate a bit on occasion."

 

"I see his reputation, and yours..." Joruz said from his seat. "...are well earned." He chortled a bit.

 

"Eh..." Williams shrugged. "That guy irritated me with his demands over the com. Did he REALLY think that coming out here in PERSON was going to change my responses? The girl who was his daughter no longer exists. Her choice. Nothing HE says is going to change that."

 

"I think Anya put it best." Raan'ita said sadly. "'His own little world'."

 

"Yeah." Williams said with a sigh. "He obviously has little grasp of the real one. There are some things money just
can't buy. Not that HE will ever figure that out." She paused as the plot changed again.  "What the-?" She said as she saw a ship decelerate from faster than light travel and approach. This one however...

 

"Asari shuttle." Joruz said after checking his instruments. "Broadcasting an Alliance code. It's the one we were told to expect." He looked at Williams who nodded.

 

"I guess we should let her land." Ashley said after taking a deep breath. "I will meet her. Raan'ita?"

 

"I will go check on Anya, see how the scans are coming." Raan'ita said with a sigh. "Where is Garrus?"

 

"I let him use the range." Joruz said quietly. "He wanted some target practice. Vega was with him."

 

"I better check." Williams said as she started for the door, then paused. "With your permission, captain?"

 

"Go." Raan'ita said with a grimace. "The LAST thing I want is for those two to run into each other by surprise." She
watched as the shuttle moved into a landing pattern. "I will head down in a minute."

 

"Right." Williams said as she exited the bridge. She keyed her com. "Vega?"

 

"What's up, Poet?" The laconic rely came. Williams grimaced. His nomiker for her was fitting, she had to admit. But it DID bother her sometimes.

 

"Our expected guest is landing." Williams said as she keyed the elevator panel. "Where is Garrus?"

 

"Scars is knocking out the eyes of holo targets." Vega replied. "I will keep him here. Lots of guns that need
calibration." Williams had to smile at that. Garrus had always been neck deep in calibrations every time she had seen him. The Mako on the SR-1, the Thanix cannon on the SR-2, various and sundry firearms everywhere else.

 

"If we get anywhere near there, I will let you know." Williams replied. "Let me know when he leaves and stay with him."

 

"ROE?" Vega asked formally. Rules of Engagement.

 

"Keep it non-lethal and quiet if you absolutely have to. We don't want to disturb the patients aboard." Williams said softly. "Oh and Vega?"

 

"Yeah?" Vega asked.

 

"Don't underestimate him OR his anger." Williams warned. "He loved Shepard. And he DID shoot the doc once already."

 

"I know." For once the Lieutenant Commander's voice was totally serious. "I won't. But you watch YOUR back, chica. That blue witch is dangerous too."


"I know." Williams said as she hit the button to take her to the hangar bays. "I know..." She repeated, checking her rifle, her sidearm and her armor's systems. She hoped she wouldn't need any of it, but if she did, she wanted to be ready. For anything.

Modifié par kalenath, 08 décembre 2012 - 12:51 .

[kalenath]

Well, she THOUGHT she was ready for anything. Williams stood, stock still as the Asari commando in full armor who had gotten out of the shuttle first looked her over. Williams knew she was good, but Asari commandos were NOT to be trifled with. The light armor and seemingly average Avenger rifle on the Asari's back did not mean this female was a rookie. From how she moved? She was anything but.

 

"Spectre Williams." The ageless warrior said calmly. "I figured I would come out first, save any... misunderstandings." Williams nodded. "My name is Oeia." Williams eyes narrowed and the Asari nodded. "Yes, I was one of Anya's people for a while. I owe her my life, so when I was asked if I could work as a bodyguard, work that got me here, I said 'sure'."

 

"You were not here for the party." Williams said slowly.

 

"Party?" Oeia asked slowly, her face then turned sad. "Oh yeah, I heard when I got back to my ship. I was...occupied. A feral Vorcha infestation on Cyone. The unit I was with was sent to clean them out of the reactor spaces."

 

"Oh not AGAIN." Williams said with a groan. "Is that planet EVER going to be cleaned out?"

 

"Maybe this time." Oeia said with a smile. "We were relieved by a team of Krogan. They were talking about mounting Kalkliosaur expeditions into the badlands to find the nesting grounds and burn them."

 

"If anyone can do it, Krogan can." Williams nodded. "So why are YOU here?" She asked bluntly.

 

"To put it plainly, I am here as an apology." Oeia said with a sigh. "Almost every Asari who has heard about what T'soni did is ashamed. What she did cuts to the HEART of our culture, our beliefs, everything we are." She shook her blue head and sighed again. "We understand your anger. We understand it very well. What Liara T'Soni did is unforgivable."

 

"Then why are you her bodyguard?" Williams asked, confused.

 

"I am not." Oeia said with a nod. "I am Jani's."


 

"Jani?" Williams asked and then froze as a small blue form appeared at the shuttle hatch. Her breath left her body in a solid whoosh as she saw the small Asari's face. "Oh my god..." She said softly, shocked. She had heard, but seeing it...

 

"Jani..." The bodyguard did not turn, but the words were to the small Asari. "You should not be out here yet."

 

"You are Spectre Williams? You knew my father?" The small Asari asked. Her skin was the normal Asari blue, if very dark due to her youth. But her face was Shephard's! "Mother is sorry." She said forlornly.

 

"Jani." Oeia said sternly, a wealth of disapproval in that single word.

 

"I had to say that, Oeia." The little Asari said stoutly, but her face was sad. "Punish me as you will, but I had to say that. Mom is crying again."

 

"I know." Oeia said, her face losing it's sternness for just a moment. "But she messed up, Jani."

 

"So everyone has said." The young Asari said soberly. Then she bowed to Williams who stood transfixed. "My name is Janusea. But everyone calls me Jani. I am pleased to meet you and I am sorry to be such a cause for anger."

 

"I am pleased to meet you, Jani." Williams replied automatically. "I am not angry with you. Shocked, confused, worried, all that. But not angry." She looked at Oeia who smiled and nodded. Williams bent down and held out her arms. Jani looked at her for a moment and then came into her arms, tears starting to fall. "Don't cry, Jani. It's okay."

"No it's not." Jani said softly. "I love my mother. I don't want to leave her!"

 

"What?" Williams asked, her confused gaze going from Jani to Oeia who nodded slowly.

 

"The matriarchy have made a decision. Hence why I am here." Oeia said sadly. "I would have jumped at the chance to see Anya again. But this... They decided they needed a delicate touch. I have done bodyguard work for centuries. I know how to be diplomatic when needed. Not all Asari can say that." She said with a frown. "I had planned to tell you in private but I guess now is as good a time as any. I assume we are being recorded? This is formal on the behalf of the matriarchy as a whole." Williams stiffened and nodded.

 

"It is." Williams said slowly. " I had no idea WHAT would come out of that shuttle. But I never expected this." She nodded to the crying youth in her arms.

 

"Okay." Oeia said with a nod. "Then here is it. A mother's rights are generally inviolate. An Asari mother has the right to bear and raise the child of her choice. But it is a matter of law, custom, as well as just plain decency to TELL a father when it is going to happen. It is NOT something to do lightly, or on a whim. What Liara T'soni did was not on a whim, nor done lightly. She knew what she was doing, every minute. She took the mate of another and made a child with that being without knowledge or consent." Jani made a noise of sadness and hugged Ashley tighter. "Her memories have been examined by Justicars and the ruling is clear."

 

"Ruling?" Ashley asked, hugging Jani back as the waif shuddered.

 

"Liara T'Soni has broken our oldest laws." Oeia said with a sigh. "She has proven herself incapable of being trusted with the responsibility of raising a child." Williams inhaled sharply and Oeia nodded. "This is NOT something that we want. This is NOT something that we EVER want to have happen. Taking a child from her mother is... awful. This will hurt Jani and we do not want to do that. There are many among the Asari who would gladly take Jani in, myself included. She is a wonderful child. But..." Oeia paused, as if gathering her courage. Odd that.
 

"But?" Williams asked softly.

 

"This has happened before." Oeia said sadly. "Three times in our race's recorded history. Each time, the ruling and punishment was clear. The child was taken from the mother and offered to the family from whom the DNA was stolen." Williams blinked, and then her eyes went wide.

 

"You CANNOT be serious!" The human woman exclaimed. "Do you have ANY idea what he will do...?" She broke off as Oeia nodded.

 

"We do." The commando said calmly. "That is why I am here. I am expendable."

 

"NO!" Jani shouted, tearing herself from Williams and running to Oeia. "No Oeia! Not you!"

 

"Jani." Oeia said sternly and Jani stopped short. "Laws exist for a reason. Without law we are nothing but animals. What did you study on the way here?"

 

"Law. Mom broke the law." Jani said her face falling. "She meant well..." The little Asari begged.

 

"I know that, Jani." Oeia said sternly. "You know that. Spectre Williams here likely knows that. But that doesn't change the FACTS." She bent down and looked Jani in the eyes. "I know it's not fair."

 

"Life isn't fair." Jani said in a voice far too old for her actual age. "I am sorry, Oeia."

 

"You have NOTHING to be sorry for." Ashley said before Oeia could.  The commando looked at the Spectre and both shared a grim nod. "Let me...um... We only expected one." Oeia nodded, her face creased with a tiny smile. The Spectre hit her com and spoke. "Joruz? Change of plan, We have THREE guests, not one."

 

"Double room or separate?" The XO asked calmly. Williams looked at Oeia who held up two fingers.

 

"Separate." Williams said softly. "I'll need an escort for the others."

 

"It's handled." The XO said calmly. "Raan'ita has started the scans. Escort should be there any second."

 

"Thanks, Joruz." Williams replied as she cut the com. "Now...where...?"

 

"This one is pleased to assist." A mechanical voice sounded form one wall as a very recognizable form appeared from the shadows.  In form it was almost a standard Geth hardware platform. Only a very close inspection would show it had multiple antennae. It was a smaller and more maneuverable Prime chassis than had been available during the war. Oeia spun, one hand going to her rifle, the other glowing blue, then both falling as Williams did not move. She made a sour face at the Spectre but did not speak, just relaxed as the Geth approached. "This one is pleased to see you again, Commando Oeia."

 

"T-9-001." Oeia said with a sigh. "You are GOING to get your headlamp shot off again if you keep sneaking up on me."

 

"Again?" Williams asked softly as Jani sized the Geth up.

 

The child showed no fear, only fascination. But then again, this was a VERY different world that the young Asari had grown up in. Geth were friends, helpers, saviors in many cases. Their unique forms gave them the ability to operate with impunity in places that many organic races feared to tread. They also excelled at Search and Rescue, hence why a full contingent of them were stationed aboard the Merciful Flight.

 

"A misunderstanding when this unit first encountered the Asari commando unit Oeia was with." The Geth said with aplomb. "No harm was done." Oeia actually looked embarrassed.

 

"Except to my pride." The commando said with a shrug. "Not every day I get rescued from an ambush and then shoot my rescuer."

 

"Your apology was accepted, Commando Oeia." T-9-001 replied evenly, but with faint trace of exasperation? Could Geth GET exasperated? "No permanent harm was done." The Geth reiterated. "Quarters are being prepared for you. This unit can lead you."

 

"I would appreciate that." Oeia said with a nod. "It was a long flight." She nodded to Williams and then to the shuttle. Williams returned the nod. The Geth started for the door and Oeia ushered the young Asari ahead of her. Jani started chattering the moment they started walking.

 

"You knew Oeia? What was she like...?" Jani chattered at the Geth. Williams had to smile at the youth's enthusiasm. Whatever Oeia or the Geth might have said was cut off when the hatch closed behind them. Her smile faded as a white garbed form appeared in the shuttle hatchway. Liara T'Soni looked like hell. The dress she wore was not armored and... she was unarmed!

 

"Williams." The Asari that Williams had first seen on Therum said with calm conviction that belied the tear streaks on her face and the gaunt look in her eyes.

 

"T'Soni." Ashley said just as calmly. She jerked her head at the door and started for it.

 

"I brought everything I could find on Prothean devices of the sort that was described." The Asari said softly as she walked. "I will need to look at the scans, but I think it is a memory recorder of some kind. If so, I MAY be able to access it."

 

"When it was accessed before, her memory was altered." Ashley said, focusing on Anya's problems instead of the problems garbed in white at her side. "She thinks she is twelve."

 

"By the Goddess..." Liara said softly, horrified. "That is... evil...That poor woman."

 

"CAN you help her?" Ashley asked as they walked.

 

"I think so." The Asari said after a moment. "If it IS what I think it is, it extruded tiny tendrils into the memory
centers of her brain. We will need to physically get at the device to access all of them. It probably shut down access to some when Miranda tried external access. It's a defense or anti-interrogation mechanism."

 

"She is very fragile, Doc." Ashley warned. "Don't hurt her."

 

"I won't." Liara said sadly. "I have hurt enough people already. Even my daughter." For a moment she looked a
thousand years old, not a hundred and eighteen. She shook herself and spoke evenly. "I have to say this, to you and then to everyone I can. I AM sorry. I thought I was doing good and I did evil. I had no RIGHT to do what I did. And I will pay for it for the rest of my life."

 

"Are you still the Shadow Broker?" Ashley asked carefully.

 

"No." Liara said with a sigh. "I can't trust myself, so I found someone I COULD trust. Someone with unimpeachable integrity."

 

"Who? Samara?" Ashley asked half joking.

 

"Her daughter Falere" Liara replied evenly. Ashley stopped in mid step and stared at the Asari. For her part, Liara maintained her place. "The Ardat Yakshi. She cannot leave her monastery, but she CAN work from it. I work for her now. Oh and..." She held out a small device to Ashley who stared at it. "Use it if I try to run. Or hurt Jani. In any way. Oeia has one. So should you." Her eyes were glistening as she waited.

 

"Is that a detonator, Liara?" Ashley asked, not taking it. Liara nodded and Ashley hissed. "To what?"

 

"The small bomb nestled between the hemispheres of my brain." Liara said softly. Ashley went white at that but Liara was not finished. "Part of my punishment. Once Jani is...gone, I am forbidden to be on the same planet at her. Ever. On pain of swift death. This is the last time I will see my daughter."

 

"That's...extreme." Ashley said slowly.

 

"It's the law." Liara said softly, not moving, not dropping her hand with the deadly little device in it. "I didn't... I just
wanted to give Shepard a present. Something that would last. I could see it in her eyes, she didn't think she would survive the battle. I wanted to help, to ease her somehow. And I couldn't. None of us could."

 

"I remember." Ashley said, not moving.

 

"What I did was wrong." Liara said softly. "I should have asked her, Garrus. I know both of them wouldn't have minded if I had asked. But I was so scared to... So, I violated her, Ashley. I used my power to take her DNA from her without her knowledge or permission. I did that to the woman I admired more than anyone else I have ever met. If she had survived she probably would have killed me like Garrus tried to. No punishment can ever be enough."

 

"She accepted your gift." Ashley said slowly. "The witnesses said that."

 

"I was vague on purpose. I was scared. She didn't KNOW what I was offering her." Liara snapped. "When our minds merged, I could FEEL her confusion, her trust in me. Trust I violated. Let me help Anya, then I will leave and you will never see me again. Take it." Liara held the detonator out to Ashley again. "Please don't make me beg."

 

"As wrong as what you did was..." Ashley said, her face pale. "This is worse..."

 

"That is the point." Liara said softly. "The punishment is brutal, horrific, for a reason. We Asari CANNOT do this kind of thing. We cannot abuse other people's partners. It is the most sacred taboo in our culture. I love Jani more than life, but I cannot trust myself with her. If I could do that to Shepard, the woman who saved my life so many times... Then I cannot be trusted at all. I loved her, and I did that to her anyway."

 

"Liara..." Ashley said slowly. "I cannot take that."

 

"Once I am done with Anya, give it to Garrus." Liara said softly. Ashley froze in shock and Liara continued. "As the mate of the one I hurt, he has the right by the law to end my life. I don't know if I COULD live a thousand years with the knowledge of what I did. IF I have to I will, but..." She sighed a little. "Not being able to bear any more children hurts..."

 

"SAY WHAT?" Ashley snapped.

 

"Part of the required punishment for such offenses." Liara said calmly. "Chemical and surgical sterilization."
Ashley stared at her, the Spectre's jaw dropping open. "Ashley, by my people's cultural mores, I am at best a thief, and at worst the absolute WORST kind of monster. Ardat Yakshi have no choice, they are born the way they are. I
CHOSE to do what I did, knowing it was wrong. I took the choice away from Shepard and Garrus without their knowledge. I don't blame him for trying to kill me. I just hope he doesn't hurt Jani."

 

"He won't." Ashley said softly. "He may scare her, but he won't hurt her. Seeing her will hurt him."

 

"I know." Liara bowed her head and shook herself. "Will you take this so I can go help Anya?" She held out the
detonator with two fingers. Ashley stared, realizing that Liara was wearing very thin gloves.

 

"Gloves?" Ashley asked, taking the device and pocketing it.

 

"Yeah." Liara said softly. "No skin contact. One more punishment. At least they are not making me wear the mask while I am here."

 

"MASK?" Ashley asked.
 

"Yeah. I can see out, but no one can see my face. I am just a thing in it. It allows me to eat and breathe. And the gloves?" Liara said softly. "Asari can feel through the skin and as a convicted...offender, I am forbidden that. For the rest of my life."

 

"Holy crap..." Ashley said, dumbfounded. "And I thought HUMANS could be brutal. A thousand years of not touching anyone? Of absolute ignominy?"

 

"Part of me hopes and prays Garrus presses the button as soon as he gets it." Liara said calmly. "The rest of me just wants to help Anya and go back to the monastery. It is no less than I deserve, Ashley."

 

"That is awful, Liara." Ashley said with feeling. "I know what we said, what Garrus did, but..."

 

"I lied to Shepard, Ashley. I stole her DNA to make a child without her permission." Liara said calmly. "This is FAR less than I deserve. As it is, I got to see Jani for a few years while they wrangled my case all the way up to the Matriarch's Council. And she didn't see me put in the mask. I am glad. I did not handle it well."

 

"Liara... I..." Ashley shook her head, horrified.

 

"Lets just help Anya." Liara said softly. "The punishment is decreed. The ONLY one who COULD have altered it was Shepard, and...well..." She shook her head. "Maybe I can help Anya. Make SOME good come of this. I documented all my findings, all my knowledge and data on Protheans is stored where Falere can access it."

 

"How can you be so calm?" Ashley asked slowly. "I would be screaming my lungs out."

 

"Drugs." Liara said slowly. "Prescription doses metered daily from a code locked internal reservoir to keep me sane. To keep me lucid."

 

"So you remember." Ashley said slowly. Liara nodded. "I am sorry, Liara, I... I didn't know."

 

"It is an internal matter." Liara said softly. "Asari internal politics. No reason you would. Shell we?" Ashley nodded and led the way in silence, her thoughts troubled.

Modifié par kalenath, 27 novembre 2012 - 10:13 .

[kalenath]

Twenty minutes later

"You CANNOT be serious." Garrus didn't move from his spot, and his aim point of his Argus rifle did not waver from the face of the Asari who had just finished speaking. "ME?"

James Vega did not move from where he was, out of Garru's line of fire on the other side of the ship's small rifle range. When the Asari had announced her business, Vega had wisely retreated to one side of the range while Garrus had -predictably- gone for his rifle. THEN she had dropped her bombshell.

 

"Yes, Garrus Vakarian." Oeia said calmly, her hands not moving from her sides. "The matriarchy has chosen to give you the choice your mate was denied. She may not have exchanged vows with you, but Shepard WAS your mate. Liara T'Soni knew this, and did what she did anyway. Her punishment has been decreed and begun."

 

"And they are giving ME the right to take the child...?" He asked dubiously as he lowered his rifle slightly. "A Turian? To take an Asari child? She would outlive me by hundreds of years."

 

"Species doesn't matter." Oeia said sadly. "You are known far and wide as an honorable being. One who strives to do the right thing. It was decided that YOU had the right of first refusal. You were hurt the worst by her betrayal. No one blames you for your reaction. Most Asari who were asked have said you were remarkably restrained under the circumstances, just shooting her.  The last time this happened, the aggrieved party hit the perpetrator with a biotic field so strong it reduced the offender to paste. Then again, she WAS trying to flee her punishment." Oeia said with another shrug.

 

"This has happened before?" Garrus asked, not lowering his guard. "When?"

 

"Three times in our recorded history this has happened. The last was one thousand, four hundred and six years ago." Oeia said with a shrug. "We had to dig up some OLD files to prosecute the case properly. Most Asari take the few species wide laws we have as a matter of course. Even Aria T'Loak probably would not have done what T'Soni did."

 

"That's saying something." Garrus said slowly. "I didn't think Aria HAD any scruples."

 

"Sure she does." Oeia said with a somewhat sick smile. "They are just...flexible."

 

"That is one way to put it." James said with a snorted laugh. "That woman is SCARY."

 

"Agreed." Oeia said quietly. "Are you going to shoot me, Garrus Vakarian?" She asked, not moving from her spot.

 

"Gah!" Garrus groaned. "No." He sighed and returned his rifle on his back. "Call me Garrus. You have done nothing to me or mine. I just..." He shook his head. "I don't know. This is...not what I expected."

 

"I know." Oeia said with a sigh. "Would you like to meet her?" Garrus looked at her and Oeia grimaced. "Be warned. She DOES resemble Shepard." James looked from the Asari to the Turian and back but kept his mouth shut.

 

"I guess I should." Garrus said softly. "Can you...stay?" He asked the commando. "I don't know ANYTHING about
kids." He looked at James who recoiled and raised his hands in a warding gesture. "Wuss." He said to the Alliance soldier who nodded silently.

 

"I..." Oeia blinked. "THAT wasn't covered by my orders. If you want me to, I can. If you want me to leave at any time, say so."

 

"You said you were assigned as her bodyguard?" Garrus asked as he stepped back up to the range. Without seeming to look, his pistol was in hand and spewing rounds downrange. Every shot was  head shot, and many through the eyes of the humanoid targets.

 

"Until she is safe with a new family, I am." Oeia said formally. "And I respectfully ask that you stop shooting before I call her."

 

"Right." Garrus safetied his pistol and holstered it at his side. "Just needed to get rid of some stress. One thing. Where is T'Soni?"

"Helping Anya." Oeia said with a nod. "When she is done, she is gone. Unless you want her life. If so, it is yours."
Garrus stared at the Asari and she nodded. "High Council ruled it." Her hand dipped to her belt and came up with a small device. "This is the detonator for three grams of trobinite that was surgically implanted inside her brain." Both Garrus and James stared at the Asari. "We didn't want her to run." She said savagely. "Three grams will liquefy her brain but not break the cranium."

 

"That's...kinda extreme." James said slowly.

 

"She was the SHADOW BROKER." Oeia said with a snap. "Goddess only knows the assets she had. This was our insurance. The verdict was passed fourteen days ago. She was in surgery an hour later."

 

"It took you THAT long to put the bomb in?" Garrus queried.

 

"No." Oeia said slowly. "She has had the bomb in her head for over a year. After her trial, she was fitted with a specialized tracking and control implant that took the place of her reproductive organs."

 

"You neutered her?" Garrus asked, horrified despite himself.

 

"What is the penalty on Palaven for non-consensual intercourse?" Oeia asked calmly. "Most places on Earth it is
castration. Chemical or surgical. We WERE gentle. There were those who said we should do it without anesthesia."

 

"Does the kid... Jani... know?" Garrus asked, stunned. "Tell me you didn't make her watch."

 

"Give me SOME credit, Vakarian!" Oeia snapped. "She is as much a victim as you and Shepard were. I wasn't there, I was on Cyone. But I heard they had to drag Jani away kicking and screaming. At least she doesn't have any significant biotic ability yet."

 

"What else have you done to T'Soni?" Garrus asked, his voice changing from horrified to cold. Oeia looked at him and he shook his head. "I am angry with her, but Shepard would NOT approve of this. ANY of this."

 

"The punishment dates back from our earliest recorded history." Oeia replied. "It is brutal for a reason. Common DECENCY says not to do what T'Soni did, but the LAW enforces that. You need to..." She broke off as Garrus made a chopping gesture.

 

"What. Did. They. Do. To. Her?" He demanded, biting out each word. Oeia hung her head and shook it. When she spoke it was soft, sad.

 

"The punishment is fourfold." The commando said into the sudden silence. "First the child is taken from the offender and offered to the family that was wronged. Second, they are restrained so that they cannot escape. In this case, the bomb." James and Garrus both stared at her and she continued in the same sad voice. "Third, they are denied the ability to reproduce. Fourth, the offender is not allowed to touch -anyone- ever again."

 

"How the HELL...?" James asked, his face a study of shock.

 

"The very first recorded instance, the perpetrator was encased in molten latex." Oeia said with a sick look. "She...didn't live long afterwards." Garrus actually gagged and James looked like he wanted to puke. "We have...improved things a bit. T'Soni is wearing a suit that will keep her skin from contacting anyone. Then the mask..."

 

"MASK?" Garrus demanded.

 

"ANY skin can be used to transfer DNA, Garrus." Oeia said sadly. "Skull skin included. So yes, she will wear a full head mask for the rest of her life once she leaves this ship. It will also hide her identity. Any who do NOT know of her punishment will see her and assume she has some kind of odd fetish." Garrus was breathing hard as he staggered back to the wall and leaned against it. She looked at him oddly. "I thought you would be happy. She is suffering."

 

"What kind of a monster do you take me for?" Garrus snapped. "I am angry with her, yes, but THIS...?" He demanded. "That is not justice. That is abuse! Vengeance!"

 

"I agree." Oeia said sadly. "But the law is the law. Tell me you don't have similar laws on Palaven."

 

"We do." Garrus admitted. "But they are never used. Never acted on. The punishment... That is barbaric!"

 

"Yes it is." Oeia said sadly. "No one has confessed to such crimes in a thousand years. She did. Her defender said she was insane and she dismissed the advocate, defended herself. If you can call it that. The REASON it went all the way to the high courts was that no one WANTED to do the ancient punishment. She wanted it." Garrus looked even more shocked at that and Oeia continued. "Talking with her on the way here, she told me she believed it was her penance. She loved Shepard."

 

"I know. Shepard never returned it." Garrus said softly. "But..." He shook his head. "Then she was not in her right mind."

 

"She was examined, by several psychiatrists and experts on mental conditions." Oeia said with a sigh. "She is sane."

 

"No she is not." Garrus said softly. Then he straightened. "I would like to meet Jani." His voice was stronger, clearer. James looked at him as Oeia hit her com.

 

"Scars..." James asked carefully.

 

"Don't scare the kid, James." Garrus said calmly as the door opened and a small form entered slowly. He drew in a sharp breath when he saw her face, but then knelt down so his eyes were on level with hers. "Hello." He said gently. To the young one's credit, she looked at the scars on his face and did not wince.

 

"You are General Vakarian." The young Asari said slowly, scrubbing her face to try and get rid of the tears that had dried on it. "You are the mate of the human woman that my mom hurt."

 

"I am." Garrus said softly. "Your name is Jani?"

 

"Janusea." The little female replied, unsure. "Everyone calls me Jani."

 

"You want me to call you Jani?" Garrus asked slowly. The little Asari looked at him and nodded silently. "Well, Jani,
my name is Garrus Vakarian. You knew that." He shook his head and smiled ruefully. "Shepard would have slapped me upside the head for speaking the obvious. Then she would kick me somewhere REALLY painful for making you cry." Both Oeia and James were staring at him now. "She hated seeing kids cry. After what she went through on Mindoir, she hated seeing kids hurt and crying."

 

"What?" Jani asked, confused. "You didn't..."

 

"Yes I did." Garrus replied evenly. "I didn't want to know what happened to your mom. If I had known, I would have stopped this. I am angry with her, I probably always will be, but she does NOT deserve what they are doing to her."

 

"She says she does." Jani said, tears starting to fall again. "But she is my MOM..."

 

"I know." Garrus sad sadly. He held out a hand to her and she took it gingerly. He gave it a squeeze, but did nothing else. "This is wrong. Shepard would NOT approve. Let's you and me see if we can fix this." Jani stared at him and then lost the battle to hold her tears. He sighed, pulled the sobbing child into an embrace and then rose, holding her gently against his armor as she cried. He turned to Oeia who looked flabbergasted. "Commando Oeia?" He asked in command voice.

 

"Sir?" She replied, snapping to instinctive attention.

 

"Do you have ANY pull with the matriarchy?" Garrus asked as he rocked the crying child gently. "I need to talk to
Tevos."

 

"The... Councilor?" Oeia asked, unsure as to where this was going. "I...guess I can ask... But why...?"

 

"I don't know a LOT about Asari law." Garrus said slowly. "But one thing I do know. If someone has claimed a bondmate, that makes them equals under Asari law, right?"

 

"Yes..." Oeia was unsure. "Why?"

 

"You said only Shepard could fix this?" Garrus asked. Oeia nodded, still confused. James however, inhaled sharply and Garrus nodded. "Shepard claimed me. I bet EDI has a recording." Oeia's eyes went wide and then her face turned speculative.
 

"If she did, and if your AI DOES..." Oeia mused. "That COULD work... maybe..." She shook her head. "I don't know. I am no lawyer." Jani stared up at Garrus' face, her watery eyes wide.I

 

"Aren't you mad at my mom?" Jani asked softly, confused. Garrus smiled at her.

 

"Yes I am." Garrus said with a shrug. "But you know what?" He leaned close and stage whispered to her. "I don't
want Shepard mad at me when I finally kick the bucket as humans say. She would make my afterlife MISERY. What has happened to your mom is wrong. I was all about righting wrongs once. Let's try to make this one right. You and me? Okay?" He started for the door, still rocking the child.

 

"Okay." Jani said, obviously still confused but grateful for the comfort.

 

"I better come along." Vega said as Oeia followed. "I get the feeling you are going to need a witness. Or a cleanup man. Bracing the Asari COUNCILOR is not my idea of a good time..."

 

"Come on Vega." Garrus called from ahead. "Where did your sense of adventure go?" The human soldier just shook his head and followed the others.

 

"Adventure?" Vega asked sarcastically. "Have I told you recently that you are nuts, Scars?" Garrus shrugged but paused as Jani spoke.

 

"Why did he call you that?" The little Asari asked, unsure. "That is rude."

 

"No, that is Vega." Garrus said with a smile. "There is a difference." Vega looked like he was going to speak, but
then with a glance at the kid, shut his mouth. "He gives people rude names as a sign of affection."

 

"He LIKES you so he INSULTS you?" Jani asked, looking at the human soldier who looked a little sheepish. "That is...very strange."

 

"No." Garrus corrected her. "Like I say, that is Vega."

 

"Keep it up, Scars..." Vega muttered under his breath. Oeia chuckled a little at the byplay.

 

"Do you like me?" Jani asked the human who looked at her. "What name would you give me?"

 

"You COULD call her 'Little Lola'," Garrus said with a smirk. "He called Shepard 'Lola'." He clarified at Oeia's puzzled glance. The commando nodded with a smile.

 

"Gimme a little credit, Scars. That would be a bit much." Vega said with a sigh. "Give me a little time to think, Jani.
I will come up with one just for you." He smiled at her and after a moment, she smiled back.

 

"Thank you." Jani replied, a little hesitantly. "I think... I think I can walk now, General Vakarian." Garrus stopped, set Jani on her feet and waited until he was sure she had her balance. But he did not let go of her hand. "I am scared." She admitted.
 

"So am I, Jani." Garrus said softly. She stared at him and he nodded. "I have been angry with your mom for so long, it has defined me. I don't know if I can ever like her the way I did, before... But it IS time I stopped hating her." He paused. What had he just felt? It had felt like... a gentle caress across his mandibles. Like Shepard had... But
there was no one there. "So... You and I will talk with some people, try to sort this out. Can you be brave, for your mom?"

 

"For mom and Shepard." Jani said solidly. "And you." She said in a softer tone.

 

"Good kid." Garrus said, hugging her again.

Modifié par kalenath, 28 novembre 2012 - 09:31 .

[kalenath]

She felt the aftereffects of sedation fading again. It is getting monotonous, waking up like this... Anya thought to herself with a small sigh.

 

"Anya? Can you hear me?" Raan'ita's worried voice cut through the haze that surrounded her.

 

"Raan'ita?" Anya asked slowly. "What...? What happened?" She tried to move and couldn't. She felt panic rise but then forced herself to relax and opened her eyes. The white surface close to her face confirmed her suspicions. She was in the scanning enclosure. "Everything hurt and I..." Memory flooded in and she gasped. "What the hell...? I was... Madre de dios!"

 

"Do you remember?" Another voice sounded. Her recent memory told her it was Doctor Liara T'Soni. The voice was kind, but distant. "It may be fuzzy."

 

"I thought I was TWELVE?" Anya snapped, angry with herself. "Geez..." She shook herself roughly. "Of all the
STUPID..."

 

"Anya, please stop struggling." Raan'ita asked her. "The scans area almost done. We wanted to do one final set. Make sure nothing was jarred when Dr. T'Soni here tweaked the device."

 

"It IS a Prothean device then." Anya said, quelling her movements. "What does it do?"

 

"It is a recording device." The Asari's voice came again. "I am not sure WHY it is inside your head or how long it has been there, but it has been some time. When Dr. Lawson tried to access it, it shut down. A protection mechanism. In doing so, it cut off access to much of your memory. Hence why you thought you were twelve years old."

 

"Huh." Anya thought about that for a second. "But you reactivated it?"


"I did, but it required some surgery. I had to physically touch it." The doc sounded embarrassed. "I learned a lot
about Prothean devices from the Prothean survivor that Shepard found on Eden Prime."

 

"Javik." Anya said slowly. "Right. The one who gave the Alliance the specs for that weird particle rifle. A couple of my team used it and liked it.  I never did, it was heavy as hell. Whatever happened to him?"

 

"He... did not agree with what happened to the Reapers." Liara said sadly. "He wanted them destroyed. He touched one of the small ones in a rage and collapsed... The contact broke something in his mind. We couldn't help him, he just...slipped away. He died a few days later."

 

"I am sorry." Anya said softly. "Was he a friend?"

 

"Not really." Liara said in a soft, reminiscing voice. "He was always harsh, always a creep. But then again, he HAD seen his entire race obliterated by the Reapers. He made most of us angry at times, but he was always ready to fight."

 

"I knew some people like that." Anya agreed. "The angry and ready to fight kind anyway, not the Prothean kind." Then she paused. "You didn't remove the artifact?"

 

"We can't." Liara said gently. "It put out tiny, incredibly strong tendrils all through your brain. If we try and pull it out..." She broke off as Anya gulped.

 

"Yeah..." Anya's tone was slightly sick. "Let's NOT put my brain through a colander today."

 

"No." Raan'ita agreed quietly. "Let's not. Almost done, Anya. Good news is this is the last scan."

 

"I am wondering..." Anya said slowly. "Why did none of the OTHER scans or surgeries I have had show this?"

 

"It wasn't on your implant when I last had your skull open, Anya." Raan'ita said softly. "After that Marauder nearly
decapitated you. But that WAS ten years ago. I never saw this thing. But the scans are clear. It WAS in there, but I never saw it." Apology sang in the Quarian's words.

 

"You are not perfect Raan'ita." Anya said with a snap. "And the human brain is all kinds of messy squishy parts. Easy to miss tiny things, so do NOT blame yourself. Clear?" She asked with a half snarl.

 

"The material it is made of is intended to be invisible to most scans." Liara said calmly. "Most Prothean implants were that way. Without the enhanced scanner on this ship, which is a Geth prototype, you never would have seen it at all."

 

"So was it ON my implant?" Anya asked.

 

"It was moved against your biotic enhancement implant." Liara replied. "But not ON it, not attached. Anya, I need
to ask something..."

 

"I am kind of stuck." Anya said with a smile. "What?"

 

"Did something happen to you when you were twelve?" Liara asked. "It stands to reason that the implant may not have affected memories that predate it's insertion."

 

"I...see..." Anya said slowly. "Let me see if I can remember." She thought hard for a bit and then sighed. "I did some dumb things, hurt myself playing games and such. But those were usually scratches and bruises. A couple of sprains. Nothing... Wait..." She paused, thinking. Then she groaned. "I fell out of a tree I was climbing the day before my thirteenth birthday. I worked SO hard to forget the lecture I got..." She said with a sigh.

 

"How bad?" Raan'ita's voice was super soft now.

 

"I..." Anya paused. "I don't quite remember." She admitted sheepishly. "I was VERY high up, I remember that. Then I woke up in the hospital and my mother came in and lectured me on hurting myself. Sullying my looks..." Anya  said with a snarl.

 

"Anya, it's okay." Raan'ita said gently. "What else do you remember?"

 

"The docs were nice." Anya said slowly. "But...unremarkable?" She asked herself. "I remember them, but...not their faces?" She paused and grimaced. "This is weird."

 

"What is?" Raan'ita asked.

 

"I remember. They said I broke my arm and cracked my skull, had a concussion." Anya said slowly. "So I must have fallen quite a ways. But none of the trees on our estate were very high. And none had branches I could reach when I was twelve. I know, I tried. I couldn't reach the lowest branches of any tree that would support my weight until I was fifteen. If I had managed to get on top of the house, and jumped... I might have hurt myself that badly, but...I don't know." She said, confused. Raan'ita made a noise of thought and then sighed.

 

"Well, scans are done, Anya." The Quarian said with a smile in her voice. "Ready for freedom?"

 

"Oh yes." Anya said with a smile of her own. "My bladder is starting to complain." She felt the enclosure she was encased in start to move. "Is Spectre Williams there?"

 

"I am here, Anya." Ashley's calm voice sounded. "What do you need?"

 

"The more I try to remember, the more things get hazy." Anya said as the enclosure stopped and she felt the cover coming up. "Could drugs do that? Or hypnosis?"

 

"Maybe." Ashley said slowly. "I am not sure. Any drug residue will be LONG gone by now, but hypnosis? I don't know. I will check."

 

The covering over her head opened and Anya smiled up at Raan'ita's face. Then she stiffened as she saw disapproval on it. She didn't move as Raan'ita disconnected the monitor feeds that were attached to her and helped her sit up.

 

"Raan'ita?" She asked, hesitant. She looked and smiled at Crado who smiled back, but then the tension in the room registered. The Asari doctor stood against one wall, her head bowed. Williams stood beside her, face a mask of thought. "What is wrong?"

 

"Your dad is here." Raan'ita said with a sigh. "And he is being a pest."

 

"Something he excels at." Anya said with a sigh as she rose with Raan'ita's help. "Something so minor as near galactic scale annihilation wouldn't have changed THAT." She said with a shiver. Crado came up and laid a warm robe over her shoulders. Anya smiled her thanks. "So... My memory may have been flawed or tampered with when I was a kid. Wouldn't surprise me with all the OTHER revelations recently." She shook her head. "We need to figure this out, before he tries to do anything REALLY stupid. He never DID take rejection well."

 

"We have told him you are not aboard, but he doesn't believe us." Raan'ita said with a sigh."And it seems he cannot help but insult everyone he talks to."

 

"if you are not in his social circle, you don't matter." Anya said sadly. "To him anyway. You DO matter to me." She leaned forward and gave Raan'ita a squeeze, then stepped back and turned to the Asari. "Dr. T'Soni?" She asked curiously.

 

"That's me." The Asari said with a smile that did not touch her eyes. "How do you feel?"

 

"Whole." Anya said with gratitude. "Thank you."

 

"You are welcome." Liara said with a nod. "Now I need to get back to the monastery."

"Monastery?" Anya asked slowly. Something was wrong. She could almost feel it in the air. Something was about to happen. Something bad.

 

"Yes." Liara said softly. "I committed a crime ten years ago. My case was finally decided a week ago and my punishment begun. This is amonor reprieve, but I was happy to help."

 

"You were the Shadow Broker." Anya said dubiously. "Weren't you? What kind of crime could someone try the Shadow Broker for?"

 

"I am not anymore." Liara said sadly. "And I committed the absolute worst crime an Asari can commit. I violated a friend's trust and body. I deserve everything that will happen to me and more. Much more." Anya shook her head, stunned.

 

"That is not possible." Anya said slowly. "Shepard always said you were the single most ethical person she knew, herself included. What happened?"

 

"I made a child from Shepard, without her knowledge or permission." Liara said sadly. Anya stared at her, dumbfounded. "My punishment will last for the rest of my life." Anya tried to find words, something to say to ease the sorrow she heard from the Asari, but her voice suddenly wouldn't work. Liara shrugged and sighed. "I am ready. I... I guess I should get on with it." Everything stopped as the door hissed open and a new voice sounded.

 

"There is something else you need to do first." Garrus said as he entered the small room.

Modifié par kalenath, 30 novembre 2012 - 05:44 .

[kalenath]

"NOT IN HERE, Garrus!" Ashley shouted, her hands going up and her Valkyrie rifle coming down from her back. Crado stepped forward, placing his armored bulk between Anya and Raan'ita and the Turian who still stood in the doorway. Anya could not understand why everyone was suddenly so tense. Garrus didn't look angry. Indeed, he looked sad, so sad. Garrus raised empty hands.

 

"I am not going to fight. I only have one question. It is for Liara." Garrus said slowly, not moving as William's rifle moved to cover him. He turned his head to where the Asari stood frozen. "Why?"

 

"What?" Ashley asked, not moving. Anya stared from one to the other.

 

"What am I missing?" Anya asked carefully.

 

"The last time we met I shot her." Garrus said softly. "Nearly killed her. I was just...so angry... Why Liara?" He asked. The Asari stepped forward a little.

 

"Don't do it in here, please, Garrus." Liara said quickly, worried, but not for herself? What the-? "Lots of delicate stuff. I don't want to make a mess here."

 

"Liara." Garrus said kindly. "I am NOT going to kill you. I just want to know why."

 

"I loved her." Liara said in a tiny voice. "I knew she didn't love me. I didn't press. I knew her heart was taken. I just... I saw her face there in London and I knew she wasn't going to..." She broke off as Garrus shook his head.

 

"Not that, Liara." Now his voice was soft and gentle. "You said all that when you confessed to us on the Normandy after Chakwas found out you were pregnant. Why did YOU push for such an ancient, horrific punishment? Why did you FIRE your lawyer? Why did you plead guilty, KNOWING the punishment? No one, not even ME, would have done this to you if you had given ANY of us a choice. The matriarchs were just as horrified as I am by what you chose." He asked, taking a slow step forward. She shook her head and backed up, but ran into the wall and couldn't go any further. Williams stared from Garrus to Liara and her rifle lowered almost of it's own accord. "Why Liara?" Garrus asked again.

 

Anya turned a confused look to Crado but he looked just as confused. They BOTH turned to Raan'ita and she shrugged, clearly unsure herself. Finally Anya looked to where Liara was cringing against the wall and spoke softly.

 

"Doctor T'Soni?" She asked slowly. "Is what the General says true?" Liara didn't look at her, turned her face away. "Garrus?" Anya asked, worried.

 

"She pushed the matriarchs into punishing her this way." Garrus said slowly. "Was it to punish ME, Liara? You KNOW I never would have agreed to ANY of this... This brutality." Liara shook her head savagely and Garrus pressed again. "Then WHY? Make me understand, Liara."

 

"BECAUSE I LOVED HER!" Liara screamed. Everything seemed to stop as she started to cry. "I loved her and I did that to her. I VIOLATED HER! I abused her trust, her care for me. Everything that has been done to me, everything that WILL be done to me, I deserve it AND MORE!" She snapped. "She saved my life DOZENS of times. She helped me so many times, so many ways. She tried to save my MOTHER when Benezia could not be saved. Shepard killed a Krogan battlemaster for me with a single headshot on Therum and then talked a suicidal girl into relaxing enough to be helped. Shepard was the single deadliest AND kindest person I have ever met! And I VIOLATED HER!" Liaras said, crumpling against the wall. "I wanted to give her a gift and I gave her betrayal." She sank to the floor, heaving in grief. "Why aren't the drugs working?" She asked nobody.

 

"Drugs?" Anya asked Garrus who sighed.

 

"Calming agents. Part of her punishment. Councilor Tevos gave me the codes for your reservoir, Liara. It is disabled." Liara was shaking her head at Garrus' words. "Liara... Look at me... Please?" He asked. She turned away from him and he sighed deeper. "Liara... What would Shepard do if she saw you doing this to yourself?"

 

"I..." Liara shook her head. "Kill me Garrus, please. I can't live like this."

 

"Liara." Garrus' voice was implacable now. "What would Shepard do?" Ashley stared at Garrus, and then, with a
slow, sad smile, holstered her rifle. Liara did not respond and Garrus took a slow step in, hands at his sides. Then he paused. "Anya? Can I ask your help?"

 

"Sure." Anya said slowly. "With what?"

 

"You took frightened, broken people and helped make them strong." Garrus said softly. "You are one of the best soldiers I know. I need to look her in the eyes."

 

"Garrus..." Anya said quietly. "She is hurting."

 

"And she did it to herself." Garrus said sternly. "If I touch her, she will recoil, maybe lash out. I would have no choice but to hurt her. I don't want that. If YOU do it, you can defend yourself from biotics without lethal force." Anya looked at him and nodded. She patted Crado's arm and he moved aside somewhat hesitantly. He obviously didn't want to, but he did. Anya nodded, stepped to where Liara was cowering and knelt down beside the shaking Asari.

 

"Doctor T'Soni." Anya said gently. "It's okay."

 

"Don't touch me!" Liara begged in a scared little girl's voice. "I am dirty, you will get it!"

 

"You already had your hands in my BRAIN, doctor." Anya said with a smile. "If you WERE contagious, I THINK I would have it by now." She laid a hand on Liara's shoulder. The Asari jerked but didn't retreat. Indeed, she couldn't go anywhere. "I knew Shepard, Liara T'Soni. So did you. You know the answer to his question." Liara mumbled something and Anya sighed. "Come on, doc. You know better." She took Liara's jaw in both hands and slowly applied gentle pressure to make the Asari look up. "You know what she would do."

 

"She would help." Liara said, tears falling like rain. "No matter the cost to her, no matter how angry she got, she would help." Anya sighed and then embraced the sobbing Asari.

 

"Yes she would." Anya said sadly. "No matter the cost. It was just the way she was. She simply could NOT pass by someone hurting and NOT help if she could. You are hurting. Let me help?"

 

"You can't help me." Liara replied in a monotone. "Only Shepard could and she is dead."

 

"True." Garrus said in an odd voice, almost amused. "But... You know what? I actually learned something today.
According to Tevos, Shepard and I were bonded by the rules of Asari tradition." Liara's head snapped up to look at Garrus, her face slack. "What does that make me, Liara?" Liara shook her head.

 

"No." Liara begged. "No! You can't!"

 

"Liara." Garrus said formally. "By Asari law, I was her bondmate, her equal, her partner. We were going to make it formal after the battle. But it WAS witnessed." Liara shook her head, trying to speak, but unable to force words out. "And THAT makes me able to change your punishment." Anya held Liara as the Asari shook herself harshly. "And your punishment is this. For the rest of your life, you will remember what you did. You will look our daughter in the eyes when she is old enough and EXPLAIN what you did and why. You will NOT attempt suicide, or hurt yourself in
any way again. Is that clear?"

 

"Wait... What...?" Liara stammered. "'Our'?"

 

"Jani is crying in the waiting room, Liara." Garrus said sternly. "She wants her mom back. The medics and Oeia can help you out of the suit. I want a report on what was done to you by the end of the day to see if it can be  reversed."

 

"Garrus...?" Liara asked, very confused. "What do you mean 'our'? She is yours by the law."

 

"So are you." Garrus said sternly.

 

"HUH?" Came from several throats.

 

"Liara T'Soni, you have been remanded into my custody, for the remainder of my life." Garrus said with a stern look. "I happen to have a ward who needs a great deal of comfort and care that I am not equipped to give. Heck, I cannot even EAT the same things she does. I will do my best. I will NOT mistreat my ward or my retainer."

 

"Retainer?" Liara asked slowly.

 

"You are not the ONLY one who can find ancient laws Liara." Garrus said with a smile. "By TURIAN law, you are now my retainer. My servant. That means I am responsible for you and anything you do. Step out of line and I will punish you, if not this harshly. You will be paid a salary and draw sufficient credit to support the two other Asari who are now in my extended family. Jani and her bodyguard who has asked to stay with the little one. But..." He lifted a hand to still the protests of several throats. "When I die -as long as you do not kill me in my sleep anyway and get caught doing it-, your freedom is guaranteed. You are NOT a slave. It is legal and all the forms have been filed."

 

"But..." Liara started to say and Garrus cut her off.

 

"No 'Buts' Liara." Garrus said with a sigh, "Get up off the floor, go out there and get our daughter to stop crying
please?" Liara did not resist as Anya shifted her hands to the Asari's arms and pulled her up. "Doctor Raan'ita? Can I get a scan done on her by the end of the day?"

 

"I think we can fit her in." Raan'ita said with a smile as Liara was helped to walk. Indeed, the Asari seemed to have some difficulty.

 

"I am still angry, Liara." Garrus said with a sigh as she came close. "But it is time I stopped hating you. And... It is time you stopped hating yourself."

 

"I..." Liara shook her head. "I don't know if I can."

 

"Try." Garrus said sternly. "Jani needs you. Oh and Anya? I have a pleasant surprise for you."

 

"Oh?" Anya asked as she assisted Liara to the door, Garrus stepping aside.

 

"An old friend." Garrus said with a smirk as the door opened and an Asari commando was there with arms outstretched, ready to aid.

 

"OEIA?" Anya asked, stunned. "Is that you?"

 

"In the flesh, hurli girlie." Oeia said with a smirk that turned to a frown. "Ah Liara... Come on, we have a lot of work
to do. But Jani needs to see you first." She led Liari off, half supporting the tottering doctor.

 

"'HURLI GIRLIE'?" Garrus asked as the door closed behind the pair of Asari. Ashley stared with him at Anya. Crado and Raan'ita just smiled. "Never mind." He said with a sigh as Anya shrugged. "I don't want to know."

 

"Let's just say there was alcohol involved and leave it at that." Anya said primly, but the twinkle in her eyes spoiled the effect. "What will happen to her?" Anya asked, nodding to the door.

 

"She will be a long time recovering from this." Garrus said soberly. "She spent the last ten years castigating herself for what she did. I did have to talk VERY fast with Tevos and a few others, but everything is legal. She is MY responsibility now. I don't know if I will be able to keep my temper all the time, but any time I get angry with her, I will just remind myself, 'What would Shepard do'?" He sighed. "It won't be easy, but we never GET easy."

 

"Wouldn't know what to do with easy." Anya said with a matching sigh. "We were not trained for such things."

 

"True." Garrus said with a smile. "Thank you, Anya."

"Anytime, Garrus." Anya said with a smile. "You did a good thing."
 

"What she did was bad." Garrus said with a nod. "What she wanted to do to herself was worse. I better head out, I am SUPPOSED to be in charge after all."

 

"And HOW long do you think that will last?" Raan'ita asked whimsically. "I HAVE kids, General." She said at his puzzled expression.

 

"This is going to be weird." Garrus said with a shrug. "No one has used the 'retainer' clause in a couple of thousand years as best I can determine. And then I have a ward and her bodyguard on top of that..." He shuddered. "Anya? Want a job? I hear the perks are nice..." He asked with a smile as she comically cowered away.

 

"No way!" She exclaimed, but it was comical rather than fearful. Then she paused with everyone else as William's com chimed. The Spectre hit her com and listened for a moment before sighing.

 

"Anya, the Council wants to see you in person." Williams said soberly. "They are sending a ship."

 

"I...see..." Anya said soberly. Raan'ita walked up to her and gave her friend a hug.

Modifié par kalenath, 01 décembre 2012 - 10:10 .

[kalenath]

"So... Why is the Council sending a ship? Why not use the Normandy?" Anya asked as she had finished packing her meager belongings, essentially her dress uniform and a few history datacards she had been given. "And why can't Crado come?" She asked somewhat petulantly.

 

"Anya." Crado said with a glower. "I haven't been given leave. The commander doesn't mind, but HE needs to clear it with HQ. It takes time. I will meet you on the Citadel. As for the Normandy?" He looked at William who shrugged.

 

"We have another job." Williams replied but did not elaborate. Anya looked at her and did not press. Spectre business. "I will stop by when we get back to the Citadel. It shouldn't be long. I HOPE so anyway."

 

"Take care." Anya said with a sigh as she hefted her small bag. "The life of a soldier is rarely happy, but it IS a job
that needs doing. Garrus is staying here?"

 

"Liara needs some specialized medical care and this ship can provide it." Williams said with a shrug. "He is taking this whole 'feudal lord' thing a bit far in my personal opinion, but hey, if it helps him... And her." She made a face. "That is a good thing. They both have a reason to live now rather than just survive. Jani is a good kid."

 

"Yeah, she is." Anya said with a grin. She had met the small blue tornado for a bit and come away breathless. "At least my dad left, but that... worries me." She said with a frown. "That is not like him."

 

"Anya." Williams said with a sigh. "What can he DO? He is powerful ON EARTH. I know three volus off hand with several times the money he has. And THEY do NOT take genetic manipulation lightly."

 

"I knew some volus myself. We found some survivors during our ops. Three of them joined us for a bit." Anya said with a fond smile. "Hard to get to know, but good beings and loyal."

 

"Ah, yeah..." Crado said slowly. "About that..." Anya turned and looked at him.

 

"What?" She asked suspiciously. "What now?" She demanded. Crado raised a warding hand.

 

"Nothing bad." Crado said quickly. "I got a message last night and was waiting for a good time to tell you." Anya glared at him and he winced.

 

"Tell me WHAT?" She asked sourly. "is Grutz coming to give me parental advice or something?" At Ashley's confused look, she sighed. "A Vorcha on our team. Was always making comments about other species odd mating behaviors." Williams stared at her and then shook her head. "No you don't want to know." Anya agreed. "Tough little scumsucker though. Crazy but tough."

 

"No, it wasn't Grutz." Crado said with a grin. "It was from Tualo."

 

"Oh no..." Anya groaned, earning another puzzled look from Williams. "Not more poetry? PLEASE?"

 

"Come on, Anya." Crado said with a smirk. "What is wrong with 'Oh my goddess of Biotics, let me smell your
feet'?" Williams turned an incredulous glance at him as Anya made a disgusted noise. "She saved his life and he swore undying love." Williams actually gulped at that as Anya slumped in place. "ANYA! He was high. His suit had so many holes in it, I was surprised he could breathe at ALL." Crado said with a smile. "It was a joke. Well, AFTER he woke up from nap caused by incompatible atmospheres anyway. He has one HECK of a sense of humor."

 

"YOU try finding him in your shower!" Anya said with a snarl. "That volus was creepy!"

 

"He apologized for that, Anya." Crado said with a nod. "He didn't understand what it was for. He had never seen one before, remember? Not one that size."

 

"What did he want?" She sighed, relaxing a little. "PLEASE tell me he doesn't want to blow up anything else?" She
begged. Williams looked at her sidelong and Anya shuddered. "When we met, he said he was a demo specialist."

 

"He WAS." Crado said staunchly. "Anya... You HAVE to admit he was." Anya shuddered but then nodded and Williams just looked confused.

 

"A volus demo specialist?" The Spcter said slowly. "Was he good?"

 

"Very," Crado said with a nod. "Whiz with mines of all kinds. Improvised explosives? If it could go bang, he could make it. If it COULDN'T go bang, he could often MAKE it go bang."

 

"His favored weapon was a Salarian Scorpion." Anya said, her face taught in a grimace. "You know? The thing that shot sticky balls of high explosive?"

 

"Oh." Williams said with a frown. "Yeah, I saw one used by an STG team once. Wait a sec... How did he take cover? I mean... Volus are tiny..."

 

"He didn't. He hid BEHIND the cover." Crado said with a smirk. "Anyway, Anya, the message. He wanted you to have access to a fund he set up. You were not on the list, being marked as 'MIA presumed KIA' and all."

 

"What KIND of fund?" Anya asked suspiciously. "You KNOW how the Alliance feels about bribes, Crado. How I feel about them." She said sternly.

 

"It is not a bribe. It is a fund he set up for the team, Anya." Crado said with a placating gesture. "As a whole. He
accounts for every credit, but he set it up to provide those of us who had nothing with a little something. I never took him up on it myself... I fell off the deep end." The Turian said sadly.

 

"You came back." Anya said with a smile that faded. "How big a fund are we talking about?" She asked cautiously.
"I wouldn't want to overextend."

 

"Somehow I doubt that would be a problem." Crado said with a smirk. "That was where Raan'ita got the capital to buy this ship."

 

"BUY IT? A CRUISER?" Anya snapped. "From our demo specialist? No way!"

 

"Wait a sec..." Williams said slowly. "Tualo Godas-clan?" She asked, her eyes going wide.

 

"Yeah, that was his name." Anya said with a puzzled look. "Why?"

 

"Anya..." Ashley spoke slowly, choosing her words with care. "Tualo Godas-clan is one of the richest people in Citadel space currently. He has more money than your father, Several times as much actually." Anya's eyes went wide at that. "He made his money legitimately. People have complained on occasion, and the Council has investigated. But he is not just legitimate, but scrupulously honest. As long as you are honest with him. If you are not..." The Spectre actually shuddered.

 

"He DID have a vindictive streak..." Anya said slowly. "His mate was killed by the Reapers in the ambush we rescued him from. He was always laughing when he blew them to pieces." The N7 shuddered as well.

 

"He hasn't KILLED anyone that we know of." Williams said hastily at Anya's expression. "But ruining them? Taking ALL of their money and leaving them to beg on the streets of Illium? THAT he HAS done. He set up a fund?" She asked Crado.

 

"For team vets and their families." Crado agreed. "Many governments do not treat veterans well, and he was determined not to...um... well..." He broke off looking embarrassed.

 

"Crado?" Anya asked, suspicious. "What?"

 

"Not to dishonor the memory of his personal angel of mercy." Crado said with a grin. Anya looked at him and he grinned wider. "He actually said something about calling it the 'Goddess' fund..." Anya looked thunderous, but he shook his head. "But I think he just made the logo a Valkyrie. He gave you access. So the money is there if you need it."

 

"Crado..." Anya said slowly. "What would I DO with a lot of money? I don't have a social life like my sisters -or want one-, and I never wanted to do anything but serve."

 

"I know." Crado said with a smile as he hugged her. "But it is ALWAYS good to have options. That is why he did this, to help US. And if YOU ever need help, the option is there."

 

"I guess I should thank him." Anya mused. "It just... Tualo a multi-millionaire?" She asked incredulously.

 

"He was that BEFORE the war, Anya." Williams said with a smile. "Add about six zeros." Anya's eyes went wide and she shuddered.

 

"If I find him in my shower again, I am shooting him." Anya said with a snort. "Money or no." She sighed. "Lets go. I already said goodbye to the others. I don't know if I would have the guts to face Jani again."

 

"She IS a bit much." Williams said with a grin as the odd trio started walking. Even a cruiser wasn't THAT big and they quickly came to the elevator leading to the hangar deck. "I have to go. Anya..." She hugged the other woman gently. "Take care. See you on the Citadel."

 

"Take care of yourself, Ashley." Anya said with a smile as she returned the friendly embrace. "I don't want to see your name on a list of statistics." Williams nodded, let Anya go and turned and walked away quickly. "Crado..." She said as she turned to her husband. "I..."

 

"We will see each other on the Citadel, Anya." Then he leaned close and whispered into her hear. "I have some new ideas I want to try. I think a certain wench will like them."

"Well..." Anya said with a smile. "I guess I have to wait and see. I bet a certain tyrant is not going to let me get away
with anything, is he?" She asked coyly.

 

"Nope." Crado said as he took her in his arms and kissed her as she had taught him to so long ago. He released her reluctantly and smiled. His smile was sad, but proud. "Now get out of here before I start to cry and ruin my Macho soldier image. Hasta la vista, Anya Solinus." He said gently touching her cheek.

 

"Well..." Anya said with a sigh. "And if you start drinking again, I WILL pull out the prune juice."

 

"Gah!" Crado said with a grimace. "You SURE know how to ruin a good dramatic romantic moment, Anya."

 
"Do I?" Anya asked with an arch look before grabbing her husband and doing her best to shock him. Then she reluctantly released him. "If I stay any longer, the shuttle crew will likely get annoyed." Crado seemed at a loss for words as she hugged him again, kissed his cheek and turned to hit the elevator button. She stepped in as the doors opened. As they closed again, she spoke softly, not turning so he could pretend to ignore the tears that were falling down her face. "Hasta la vista, Crado Solinus. Marido." She shook herself and wiped her face quickly. She wanted to be presentable.

 

When she arrived at the hangar bay, a uniformed human female stood by the shuttle hatch In appearance it was an old Kodiak.

 

"Captain Anya?" The woman asked quietly with a nod.

 

"The same." Anya nodded.

 

"I am Lieutenant Trilio. Sorry to rush you. We need to hurry, Captain." The woman said quietly. "We have a schedule to keep."

 

"No problem, lieutenant." Anya said with a smile. "That is the military for you." She said as she entered the shuttle.
"Hurry up and..wait..." She paused. Something was wrong. Something about the shuttle was off. She couldn't define it. Nothing LOOKED out of place, but... Something was.

 

"Sit down, captain." The lieutenant waved Anya to a seat as she moved to the pilot's station. "We have clearance to leave. But I don't want to take any chances with our honored guest." Anya sat and then jerked as something stung her arm. She tried to speak, but suddenly her tongue didn't work right. Darkness was crowding in on her vision as an almost familiar voice sounded nearby.

 

"Get the mask on her! NOW! The trank won't hold her for long! Pilot! Get us out of here and fly casual! We only have a few minutes at best before they realize we are NOT the shuttle the Council sent. Damn her! She was never on time for ANYTHING!"

 

Anya screamed silently as the recognizable mask of a Cerberus Phantom appeared in her view, then something heavy settled over her nose and mouth. She heard a hiss. She was screaming even louder inside her head as everything went black.

Modifié par kalenath, 04 décembre 2012 - 05:06 .

[kalenath]

It was dark, cold. Then it was light and she was warm. There were blurry figures in green moving around her but when she blinked it was all gone. Everything hurt. Everything was cold. Everything was dark. She shivered a bit, conscious of air over bare skin. She tried to access her biotics, but her brain was fuzzy, she couldn't. She was a prisoner.  A voice came to her ears.

 

"Good morning, Anya." It was  voice Anya hadn't heard in almost twenty years, but she instantly recognized it. "I know you are awake, sister."

 

"Do you have ANY idea how DEAD you are, Melissa Wilson-Fuentes?" Anya asked calmly, aware that her wrists were strapped to the cold surface she was lying on. When she tried her ankles, they were likewise strapped down. "Really, kidnapping is low, even for YOUR family."

 

"OUR family, Anya." The voice of her next older sibling was calm, with just a trace of irritation. "You are my sister."

 

"Not anymore." Anya said with a sigh. She opened her eyes and was not surprised to find them covered. "And when did you start working for Cerberus?"

 

"it's not like that, sister." A small, shapely hand traced her cheek and Anya had to fight to keep from flinching. She took a snap with her teeth, but caught nothing but air. Melissa's voice was sharp now. "Don't fight, Anya. We don't WANT to hurt you. Just relax and everything will be fine. We will take care of you."

 

"Sure..." Anya said with a snarl. "The way Cerberus takes care of everyone. That was Kia in the pod, right? She is a
biotic?" Kia had been her eldest sister, an aloof, barely seen presence in her life. Now Anya could figure why.

 

"Anya..." The unseen woman sighed. "I am not here to discuss history with you. I just want to talk."

 

"No." Anya said sourly. "You want to do whatever evil your father and Henry Lawson dreamed up for me, probably at the behest of the Illusive Man." A soft sound of worry came from nearby and Anya smirked. "What? You didn't think I would figure it out? What did he want? A host mother or some kind of data repository?"

 

"Anya, just relax." The hand was stroking her forehead now. "You have had a hell of a shock. Your body will need time to adapt to it's new circumstances. I am here to help, sis. You were in surgery until a few minutes ago." Anya froze. "Anya, relax. It's all right. We removed it. You are clean. You are safe."

 

"Clean? Safe?" Anya snapped in a sarcastic tone although inside, she deraded what the 'it' Melissa was talking about was. "In Cerberus custody? Strapped to a Cerberus lab table? Oh, Melissa, I am shocked. You DID grow a sense of humor."

 

"Anya, please be calm." The woman said quietly. "We CAN drug you but it will slow what we need to do. We don't have a lot of time if we are to save the human race."

 

"Funny." Anya said with a smirk. "I always thought the human race needed to be saved FROM Cerberus."

 

"Wow." The unseen woman said with a snort. "The Alliance really took your snarkiness and enhanced it, didn't they?"

 

"Not really." Anya admitted. "I found people who liked me for what I was, not what I LOOKED like. I found people I could trust. People I could help and who could let me help others. Not that I expect ANY of YOU to understand that. Cerberus..." She sighed. "I am SO not surprised. You all were likely Cerberus all along and I just never realized. So... When does the torture start?" She asked brightly.

 

"Anya, you need to be calm. You need to relax. Your body will recover quickly but you DO hurt." Melissa said, her tone worried. "I know you can be calm. Do you want to talk about Santiago? I know you liked it there." She asked kindly.

 

"I have good memories of Santiago." Anya agreed with a sigh. "Mainly watching it recede in the viewport of the Alliance shuttle I flew out on. You have NO idea who I am or what I am. You never did." Her tone was a mix of sad and resigned.

 

"You are Anya WIlson-Fuentes." Melissa said softly. "Although you go by just Anya now. You are my younger sister. You grew up in Santiago, Chile. You are the third of five children..."

 

"FIVE?" Anya snapped. "Madre de dios! THEY DIDN'T!" She struggled with her bonds for a moment and then stopped. It was clear she couldn't break them and as fuzzy as her head was, she couldn't use her biotics. "Did they hurt her too when she was twelve?" Anya snapped. "Hypnotize her?"

 

"Anya, its is not what you think. Portia is nine, she is a good kid." Melissa was nearly begging. "Please, just hear me out. I WANT to help you. Please..."

 

"No." Anya in a snide tone. "You want to USE me, and I am sure you will. It is what Cerberus DOES. You USE people, abuse people and then throw them away as cannon fodder. You are going to just LET them hurt me and your youngest your sister. I understand. You are a pawn and a slave, Melissa Wilson-Fuentes. I am NOT."

 

"What you are is a BRAT." A harsh voice sounded a bit farther away. "An alien loving, stupid and  sick brat."

 

"Well, well, well..." Anya said softly. "Karinlina Wilson-Fuentes. What a...displeasure. I had kind of HOPED the
Reapers had gotten you." A gasp came from Melissa, but Anya was beyond caring. "But I know better. They would have taken one look at you and thrown you out with the rest of the garbage!" Her cheek suddenly stung and Anya laughed. "Is THAT the best you can hit, bruja? I have had a VOLUS hit me harder than that!" Her cheek stung again and she laughed harder. "You know, you really need to work on that. I can give you some pointers. Hitting a defenseless CHILD is VERY different from hitting a SOLDIER, you BIT-" THIS time, the blow rocked her, slamming her head back into the table. But it felt good to say that.

 

"Mother! NO!" Melissa said in fear. "We need her unhurt!"

 

"She needs to relearn her place." The woman who Anya had called 'mother' for eighteen years said with a snarl. "I will instruct her."

 

"DO you REALLY think there is ANYTHING you can teach me, Mrs. Wilson Fuentes?" Anya asked with an acid edge to her tone. "Unlike SOME, I fought the Reapers. I was out fighting while YOU cowered in a hole!" Melissa gasped again. "Yes, I know she and your father cowered in a hidey hole for the entire war, Melissa Wilson-Fuentes. Hiding. Or was that some long laid Cerberus plan?"

 

"You are still my daughter, Anya." The harsh voice said. "And my daughter needs some punishment. Turn her over."

 

"Mother, she is goading you, trying to get you to free her enough to escape." Melissa protested, but hands were holding her wrist and ankles as the straps around them were released. "We need her alive and undamaged." Anya struggled, but the hands held her as other hands rolled her onto her stomach and then her wrists and ankles were strapped down again.
 

"Oh, I won't damage her." The hate in the woman's voice was palpable. "Much. By the way, brat. That filthy half breed THING is out of your belly."

 

"I figured." Anya would NOT give this woman the satisfaction of hearing the pain that tore through her at that. "You
always did like hurting the defenseless. Too cowardly to fight anyone who could fight back. Typical Cerberus. All bluster when you are in a position of power, then run the hell away any time you face people who COULD be a threat."

 

"Anya, that is not true." Melissa said sternly. "I DID fight, during the war. All of us did."

 

"I see." Anya said slowly. "And how many humans did you kill? How many families did you slay in their SLEEP like any GOOD little Cerberus minions?" Pain erupted in her rear end but she kept her voice even. "You were not a biotic, so a Nemesis? How many children did you shoot in the head, Melissa?"

 

"None." Melissa sounded sick as whatever was hitting Anya's rear end kept doing it. "Cerberus doesn't do that."

 

"No?" Anya asked. "Tell that to the people on Benning. Were you there?" The rod -it had to be some kind of padded rod- was now working on her back. She ignored the pain. It was FAR less than getting hit by a Brute or Ravager, let alone a Banshee.

 

"No." Melissas voice was small. "You were?"

 

"Yeah, I was there." Anya said calmly. "I saw the bodies all laid out neatly in rows where the troops had piled them. Humans, many of them kids. Executed and piled in rows. BY CERBERUS. " She said with a snarl.  The pain was coming faster, but she still had no trouble ignoring it.

 

"They were rogue." Melissa said softly. "What they did was wrong."

 

"There were no children killed." The voice of the older woman was scornful. "Alliance propaganda."

 

"I SAW THE BODIES, YOU LYING CERBERUS ****!" Anya snapped. "I helped BURY the bodies! I killed every single Cerberus troop I saw after that. I only wish YOU had had the guts to be in the field facing me, you witch! I would have flayed you alive, GLADLY."

 

"I am your MOTHER, Anya." A hand slapped the back of her head, sending Anya's face into the metal of the table. She felt wetness seeping from her forehead, but ignored it. "You WILL show respect!"

 

"To you? My mother was a test tube!" Anya snapped. "Your masters MADE me in a beaker! You are nothing but a host. Nothing more. A VORCHA has more maternal instinct that you EVER will."
 

"You... Dare..." The woman said softly, a dangerous tone. "I will show you..."

 
"MOTHER NO!" Melissa shouted. Anya had a second to brace herself and then sticky things touched her on the back and side. She braced herself, determined not to cry out as electricity screamed through her body. She convulsed, but managed to keep her mouth locked shut throughout the worst of it. "Anya...?" Melissa asked, her tone scared, when the pain faded.

 

"That was supposed to hurt? You have never been hit by a Banshee." Anya said with just the RIGHT trace of insouciance. She laughed. "Gives a whole new DEFINITION to the word 'pain'."

 

"I am going to make you scream, brat." The woman who had borne her into the world said with a sinister laugh. "We shall see who is laughing when I am done." Something sizzled nearby but Anya just sighed.

 

"I am sure you can make me scream. Given enough time and effort, ANYONE can be broken." Anya said softly. "But...um... here is a hint, you silly, stupid woman. Screams are not weakness. TEARS are not weakness. Hurting defenseless people, THAT is weakness. YOU are weak." Something hot plunged into her upper right arm and she just grunted a little before speaking in a scornful tone again. "I rest my case. Is THAT the deepest you can shove it? Wimpy. A half dead husk could have done that better." She commented. Whatever was in her arm twisted, but then suddenly it withdrew. The sound of a slap echoed in the room, but it wasn't Anya that was hit.

 

"Idiot woman." Anya felt her guts freeze at the cold disdain in her father's voice. "We need the subject's body intact
enough to make the machine work. Melissa, clean her up, get her wounds tended, and get her ready for implantation."

 

"Yes Father." Melissa's voice was calm again. The sound of a struggle and the frantic muffled pleas came and then cut off with the sound of a door closing. "Goading her was a bad idea, Anya..." Melissa said sadly as the sound of an omni tool was heard and soothing numbness swept across Anya's rear end, back and arm. She barely felt a sting in her other arm.  "I am sorry... I want to help you and you won't let me."

 

"I am going to quote Shepard." Anya said softly as the drugs swept her into soothing darkness. "I don't work for
Cerberus."

 

"You will when you wake up, Anya. You won't have a choice. I wanted to give you the choice, but... You are you." The hand that gently ran under her chin to tend her bleeding face was gentle. "And you know what? I am glad. I have MISSED you, little sister." Melissa's voice was sad and the pain in it had Anya pause at the edge of sleep.

 

"I never wanted to hurt you, or Kia or even Jenni." Anya slurred. "I just...didn't fit..."

 

"You will." Melissa promised her and a gentle hand stroked her cheek. This time, Anya did not react. "And it isn't bad, Anya. We are not evil..."

 

"The evil rarely see themselves as such." Anya mused as she felt everything start to spin gently. "But...For what it is worth... I missed you too... Melissa..." Then she was asleep.

Modifié par kalenath, 06 décembre 2012 - 06:06 .

[kalenath]

This time when Anya woke, she was lying in a  real bed. She cracked her eyes and blinked when they worked. She looked around and froze on seeing the female form in familiar white, black and orange armor sitting beside her bed. Except for the mask, the woman was garbed as a Cerberus Phantom, complete with sword sheathed on her back. But the face...

 

"Good morning, Anya." The eldest of her siblings said with a sad smile. Her brown hair was cut very short to fit easily under the helmet and her hazel eyes were sad as she looked at her bedridden sister.

 

"Kai." Anya said slowly. "You are my minder?" She looked at herself, she was wearing a hospital gown and... She
paused. Why hadn't they taken that smart diaper thing off her? She decided not to ask.

 

"Yes." Kai said with a sigh. "And before you try ANYTHING dumb..." Anya tensed by Kia just sat there. 'You have an new implant inside your skull." Anya's hands shot to her head and it was bandaged. Kai nodded. "It's  experimental tech, but it works. As long as you cooperate, your voluntary muscles will remain under your control. Step out of line and you get zapped."

 

"I bet your mother will REALLY enjoy doing that." Anya said sourly. "It sounds right up her alley."

 

"OUR mother is busy, Anya." Kai said in mild reproof. "Goading her was dumb." The elder woman said with a frown.

 

"She is not my mother. She kills me, and you lose." Anya said with a shrug. "Pain and I are old friends."

 

"I know. Ah, Anya..." Kai said, her face falling, Anya stared at her, this was new. Kai had always been a stern, distant sibling. "I am sorry."

 

"For? Wait... Your eyes are not glowing...?" Anya said in wonder. "Was I your prisoner when the pulse hit?"

 

"No." Kia said softly. "But you WERE shielded from it, like we were."

 

"So..." Anya said slowly. "There is more than one place that the pulse didn't hit. Good to know." She was coiling her
body, working up her meager strength. She knew she would likely only get one chance.

 

"Anya..." Kia said with a shrug. "You are going to try. Okay... Here..." She turned her back and leaned close to the
bedridden soldier, leaving the hilt of her sword well within reach. "Take it."

 

"What?" Anya said, recoiling a little. "What kind of a trick...?"

 

"Take it, Anya." Kai said gently. "Take it, try to use it, on me or yourself. See what happens."

 

"It will hurt me if I do, right?" Anya asked, her eyes narrowing. "Some kind of trap?"

 

"No." Kai said with a shake of her head. "But you won't believe until you have it happen. I know I didn't."

 

"What?" Anya asked suspiciously. "This happened to YOU?" She demanded.

 

"And Melissa...." Kai said with a sigh. "And Jenni, although Jenni..." She sighed. "Jenni was a mess before it happened and she is more of a mess now."

 

"She was a jerk." Anya said with a scowl. "She thoroughly ENJOYED hurting me."

 

"She was the YOUNGEST, Anya." Kai said sternly. "Were YOU wise at 15?" She asked, turning her head back to look at Anya. Anya took advantage of Kai's momentary distraction to slam the edge of her hand into the nerve cluster behind the Phantom's ear. Or, she tried. As she connected, SOMETHING roared through her. It didn't hurt though. Far from it.
 

On one level, Anya was aware she was screaming. She was aware of her throat aching, her lungs flaring as air left them in vast, unending waves. But on every other level, she was submerged in the raw ecstasy that soaked
through every pore and nerve. Then she slammed herself back to the bed, pounding her head into the yielding substance of the pillow as she tried to break free of the feelings. Word came and she focused on them.

 

"Anya..." Kai's voice was stern. "Breathe. Now." Her cheek stung and she gasped, air suddenly pouring into lungs that she hadn't even realized had been starved for it. "That's it..." Kai crooned. "That's it, sis. Breathe..." After a few moments a gentle hand rubbed her shoulder. "Easy, Anya... Easy... It's a shock, I know."

 

"You..." Anya shook herself and called on her training. It was remarkably hard, harder than she ever remembered it being. "You wired the pleasure centers of my brain..." She gasped out. Talking helped. Focusing on ANYTHING other than the still racing feelings helped.

 

"Not me." Kai said sadly. "I am no surgeon. But...yes. They did. Pain never made you do anything but dig your heels in harder." Kai's voice was sad now. "Every time mom beat you, it just made you MORE determined to have your own way. You are one stubborn cuss."

 

"They did this to you?" Anya asked, horrified as she fought the feelings back. "Melissa? Jenni?"

 

"Yes." Kia said sadly. Anya cracked her eyes and found her sister sitting on the bed beside her. Kai looked at her and then a tear fell from the armored woman's eye. "Anya... I am sorry...I want to ease you and I can't."

 

"Don't..." Anya said slowly. "Don't get in trouble for me, Kai. You can't help me." She said flatly. "I won't help them. They will have to kill me."

 

"No." Now Kai was crying in earnest. "No they won't. The implant isn't JUST for punishment. Anya, sit up." Anya
stiffened and then her face went slack as her body obeyed Kia's command without Anya's direction.

 

"WHAT THE?" Anya snapped.

 

"Move to stand." Kai said as she swiped her face, drying her eyes. "We need to get you to the lab." Anya struggled,  but her body obeyed Kai's commands, sliding her legs off the bed as Kai moved to let her. "Stand up."

 

"What have you DONE to me?" Anya screamed as her body rose to a standing position.

 

"A control chip." Kai said sadly. "It interfaces with your spine, allows for total control of your body. It is not perfect. If we use it too much it will cause irreparable brain damage. But Father insisted."

 

"You have one too?" Anya asked, then sighed. "Never mind, of course you do. Your mother and father are NOTHING if not thorough in needing to control everything. Why can I speak?"

 

"Because I want to talk to my little sister who I have not seen in years. Who I thought was dead." Kai said with a snarl as she walked to one side of the room. Anya could look around a little and it was a standard hospital room, bare except for the bed and the chair Kai had been sitting in. Kai pulled a concealed closet open and rolled a wheelchair out. It had straps on the arm and foot rests. "Are you going to make me command you?" Anya hung her head.

 

"No." Anya said slowly and remained still as Kai wheeled the chair over. "I won't cooperate, Kai. You have me at a
significant disadvantage at the moment, but I WILL find a way to deny you your prize." Kai waved to her and she sat. The straps clicked shut on their own.

 

"Not my prize." Kia said soberly as she checked the straps. "And we are going to be VERY careful with you. We do not want to lose you again. You won't be able to activate any biotics. Between the implants and the drugs, you won't be able to." She sighed as she moved behind the chair. "You know...? I dreamed of this moment,. Meeting you again. It... This isn't what I planned."

 

"In battle or talking?" Anya asked, curious despite herself. She didn't try the straps. Just looking at them, they were
well beyond her ability to break. "And why are you sorry? You won, I lost." She said bitterly.

 

"Not about that." Kai said as she rolled the chair toward the door. It hissed open, showing two armed and ready Cerberus troops outside. Her eyes narrowed as she saw that both wore Dragoon armor, but both nodded to Kai and relaxed as she passed them. Anya noted they fell into line behind the chair as it rolled. A guard detail. "I would have liked to talk to you over drinks. Maybe when this is over..." She shook her head. "IF we both survive."

 

"That sounds...unpleasant." Anya said mildly. "Do I want to know?"

 

"We were all created for a specific purpose, Anya." Kai said with a small, barely noticeable shiver. "It didn't seem plausible to me when it was first explained to me and it BARELY seems plausible now. But I have my orders."

 

"I will NOT help Cerberus, Kai." Anya said softly. "Not after what I saw."

 

"You told Melissa you were on Benning." Kai said softly. "Was it as bad as the reports?" Her tone was kind.

 

"Worse." Anya said softly. "They took all the adults they could snatch, then they had to do something with the kids. They rounded up all the underage citizens they could find and slaughtered them. Penned them up and gunned them down. We hit them seconds later, too late for most of the kids. I doubt it was your cell, but it WAS Cerberus." She said with hate coloring her tone.

 

"Yes." Kai said slowly. "It was. A rogue faction. We were one of several cells mobilizing to 'deal' with them when Shepard dealt with them in her own, unique fashion."

 

"And the next time?" Anya asked coldly. "And the time after that?" Kai paused in her moving, staring at her sister.
"it was almost like clockwork, the attacks came so often." She jerked her head at the two guards behind Kai. "I got SO sick of seeing Cerberus armor. We were posted to the capital and it seemed every DAY there was an attack SOMEWHERE there."

 

"Anya..." Kai said slowly. "I don't know. You know how it is. If I didn't have 'need to now' I didn't. and don't." One of the guards made a small gesture. Kai sighed and nodded.

 

"Were you tracking me?" Anya asked as Kai started off again. "I saw a LOT of Cerberus troops."

 

"Not that I know of." Kai said, her tone worried. "But then again, I don't know a lot. They told me to go places and do
jobs. I did."

 

"Kai." Anya asked softly. "Did they tell you to kill children?"

 

"No." Kai said, not pausing again. "I had to make some tough decisions, but I never took my sword to kids, Anya. I... I don't know if I could have."

 

"I don't know if I believe you." Anya mused. "I saw a Phantom take a child's head off once. The girl was running away. She couldn't have been more than...ten? Eleven?" Anya said with a sigh. "She got a little in the Phantom's way and the witch took the kid's head off and kept right on coming. It wasn't NEEDED." Anya said with a snarl. "That girl was NO threat. I bet that ninja witch just enjoyed it."

 

"I doubt it." Kai said softly. "Anya. You have to understand. Most Phantoms, myself and a few others excluded, were
Indoctrinated. They COULD NOT disobey whatever orders they were given. Free thinking, or deviance from orders was NOT encouraged. Indeed, it was punished, sometimes very harshly. If that Phantom had ANY of her mind left intact, she regretted what she did."

 

"Maybe. Not that I let her live long after that." Anya said sadly. "I don't know." She looked up as the chair wheeled
towards a door marked 'Lab'. "Ah, my destiny awaits?" She asked snidely.

 

"Be nice, Anya." Kai said sternly. "She has suffered more than ANY of us."

 

"Oh." Anya said softly as the door whisked open and a slightly younger brown haired woman in surgical scrubs stood there, an irate expression on her face. "Hello Jennifer."

Modifié par kalenath, 07 décembre 2012 - 02:10 .

[kalenath]

"Get her on the table." Anya's younger sister said with a snap. "You took long enough."

 

"She had to experience the pulse, Jenni." Kai said mildly. "Just like all of us, she wasn't going to take our words for it. Not that she would anyway." She moved the chair into the lab and Anya stiffened on seeing the table that sat in the middle of it. Restraints showed all over it as well as sinister looking apparatus all around. "Don't move yet, Anya." Kai cautioned as she stopped the chair. Both guards followed the chair in and drew their weapons.

 

One held a Hornet Submachine gun, Anya noticed. Not THAT great in the weapons department, but easy to come by, and standard issue for Cerberus. The other... She blinked and remained VERY still when the Talon pistol swung to cover her. At this range, the weapon likely wouldn't JUST tear through her unarmored and unshielded body, but would likely mess up Kai as well.

 

"Hurry up!" Jennifer snapped. "We are on short time."

 

"Got a hot date?" Anya asked as Kai unstrapped her carefully and then stepped back. "I am not going to put you in danger Kai. What do you want me to do?" She asked.

 

"Get up and lie down on the table." Kai said gently. "It's padded and set to your dimensions so it SHOULD be fairly comfortable."

 

"Great place to get my mind destroyed, huh?" Anya asked as she did as instructed, her movements slow and precise. She sat on the table's edge and then swung her legs up. As Kai had said, the table was padded. She held her arms and legs to be strapped down and waited. Kai looked at her and Anya sighed. "Just do it."

 

"Right." Kai said with a shrug as she stepped close. The pistol and SMG never pointed away from Anya as she lay quiet. She could have fought, but to what point? As soon as Kai had the wrist and ankle straps in place, she turned and snapped at the guards. "Put those AWAY. If she DOES get loose, the LAST thing we need is are unsecured weapons." The guards looked at each other, shrugged and did as instructed.

 

"Go on, Kai." Jenni said diffidently as she stepped close. "I have this." She bent over Anya, tightening other straps. In moments, Anya could not move at all.

 

"Are you sure?" Kai asked gently. Jenni just looked at her and Kai sighed. "Okay. Call if you need me, for anything." A gentle hand caressed Jenni's shoulder but the other woman did not react. She slumped a bit and turned to Anya. "Don't fight it, Anya, please?" She begged. Anya did not react either and Kai left the room, shaking her head sadly. Anya did not react as Jenni stepped to the equipment and then turned to the guards.

 

"I know you are ordered to be here, to guard her." Jenni said in a snide voice. "But she cannot escape. Step outside."

 

"Our orders are clear, Ma'am." The guard with the SMG said calmly. "She is NOT to be unescorted at any time."

 

"Do you REALLY want to argue with me, trooper?" Jenni asked in a calm, but menacing tone. "I am a RIOT of emotion at the moment, I could USE some stress relief." Anya stared as both guards shuddered. "Get out, you will throw off the scans. And if you DO, we will have to start all over again from the beginning!" Her face lit in what someone charitable MIGHT have called a smile. "And if THAT happens, I will need some SERIOUS stress relief." Both guards stared at each other again and hastily left the room. Jenni sighed and sat at a chair in front of a group
of terminals.

 

"Jenni...." Anya said softly.

 

"Shut up." Jennifer said calmly. "Speaking will throw the scans off too." An odd mechanical hood lowered down from the ceiling to cover the top of Anya's head. A mechanical arm extended from the side and the mask attached to it covered Anya's nose and mouth.

 

"I have to say this." Anya said, her voice muffled by the mask.

 

"What part of 'Shut up' do you NOT understand?" Jenni asked caustically. "I am introducing a marker gas into your
bloodstream. It will help the scans. Breathe evenly or I will sedate you."

 

"I may not have time, I have to say this now. I am sorry, Jenni." Anya said slowly. Jenni jerked in place, but did not speak and Anya spoke again. "I was young and stupid, scared and clueless. I had NO IDEA what was happening. I had no right to say what I did, do what I did. I didn't WANT to hurt you. I didn't understand."

 

"We were both young and stupid." Jenni said in an undertone. Then she scowled and snarled at Anya. "SHUT UP."

 

"I deserve your hate, Jenni." Anya said sadly. "I deserve your rage. I just had to... I had to apologize for what I said, what I called you. It wasn't YOUR fault."

 

"Yes it was." Jenni said softly. Then she rose quickly, slamming her chair back. Her face was flushed and her tone was angry now. "I am GOING to sedate you, you stupid cow."

 

"I had no right." Anya said sadly as Jenni approached. "It wasn't YOUR fault you were attracted to me. I had NO idea what to do when someone called me 'beautiful'. " Anya said, tears falling. "I had NO idea what to do when you touched me... I had no idea..."
 

"I was sick." Jenni said in a low tone as she checked an injector. "I got better."

 

"You were 15!" Anya snapped. "You were not sick, you were attracted to me! You were confused. Hell, so was I! Mi
hermana..."

 

"Shut..." Jenni came close, the hypo glinting ominously in her hand. "Up..."

 

"I am to blame." Anya said as she relaxed as best she could. "Not you. That is all I had to say." She clamped her mouth shut as Jenni prepared the injection. She did not dare breathe as Jenni leaned close.

 

"It's saline." Jenni said in a VERY soft voice directly into Anya's ear. "Look scared. I know you can. When it hits you
look sleepy." Anya was confused, but decided to play along.
 

"Jenni, I am sorry!" Anya said, trying with all her might to appear terrified. "Jenni NO!" She cried as the other woman brandished the hypo and slammed it into Anya's arm hard enough to bruise. It hissed, but, like Jenni said, nothing happened. Her head remained clear.

 

"That will keep you quiet." Jenni snapped in an aggrieved tone. "Now just lie there while I get these scans done."
She straightened and stalked back to her terminal. She spun in place as the door hissed open and Anya stared through slitted eyes as two new guards came in. "Yes?" Jenni demanded.

 

"It's done. Camera is offline." The one on the left said quietly. "We have five minutes." Anya stiffened. Did she know that voice?

 

"Not enough time." Jenni said with a sigh. "Darn it. Any chance?"

 

"No." The other guard said. "The hangar is locked down tight. Escape pods likewise. I'm sorry, Jenni, we tried. But there is no way, not carrying her. And she is NOT going to be able to run."

 

"No one could do more, Chris." Jenni said sadly.

 

"CHRIS?" Anya asked, then clamped her mouth shut.

 

"You never DID take orders well, sis." Jenni said in a VERY different tone. She smiled at Anya's confused expression. "We were going to TRY and get you out of here, but dear old dad seems to have locked the place up tight."

 

"Hiya Anya." The man who had spoken last said as he hit a control and his helmet visor rose. Indeed, the face was one Anya knew. He grinned. "You look like you have seen a ghost, Captain."

 

Anya stared at the man. She hadn't trusted him, not by a long shot, when Alliance HQ had sent him and Vincent to work with her. But they had both shown their dedication and courage any number of times. So what if they HAD worked for Cerberus? They had realized what was going on before being indoctrinated and escaped with a number of others. They had surrendered to the Alliance and been interrogated before being sent out to do battle with the Reapers. In the darkest corners of her mind, Anya wondered if the Alliance had PLANNED on throwing the Cerberus defectors away. But Chris and Vincent had worked three times as hard as Anya herself. They had wanted to prove to themselves, their team and Alliance HQ that they DID know what they had done and wanted to make amends. They had, but...

 

"You died." Anya said slowly. "In that raid on Sur'Kesh. You died!" She snapped. "And Vincent too." She looked at the other and he raised HIS helmet visor as well. Vincent was smiling gently as well. "Your bodies were unrecoverable. We mourned you!"

 

"Deep cover insertion." Jenni said with a sigh. "To make contact with me, to help me, keep me out of trouble." Anya's eyes went VERY wide at that and Jenni smirked. "Really, sis. DID you REALLY think you were the ONLY member of the family to go off the reservation? I got a commendation from dear old dad for finding and rescuing two wounded Dragoons during an Alliance sweep. Last time I was in the field actually. I got banged up pretty good on that op, had to stop doing field work."

 

"You..." Anya spoke slowly. "You work for..."

 

"Alliance Intelligence." Jenni said with a smile. "But... we are REALLY on short time. ANY chance of a message?" She asked Vincent who shook his head.

 

"No." The man that Anya now remembered was a Vanguard said softly. "Com room is on full lockdown too. Makes you wonder WHAT they expect to hit this place."

 

"If the Alliance had a clue what was going on, a freaking avalanche." Jenni said with a scowl. "I don't know what you have guessed, Anya..."

 

"I am a key of some kind, right?" Anya asked.

 

"Indeed." Jennis aid with a shudder. "Dad worked for decades, trying to unlock human biotic potential. At first, we
-Intel that is- just thought it was unethical genetics experiments, but now... We know it was more. Have you ever heard anything of a "Project Nimue'?"

 

"Not really." Anya said dubiously. "Just the name."

 

"In mythology, Nimue was the name of the Lady of the Lake." Jenni said. "She gave the sword Excalibur to King Arthur. Dear Mom and Dad were trying to create the ultimate control mechanism. They PLANNED to use it on the Geth, but then the Reapers hit and all hell broke loose. The Illusive Man tried to use US to control a Reaper Destroyer, it didn't work. We couldn't do what had to be done. You can."

 

"So... why me?" Anya asked, dazed. "I am powerful, but... I am no sword or whatever."

 

"Anya..." Jenni's voice was VERY kind now. "She GAVE the sword to Arthur. The idea is, you can channel the control
machine's power. Channel it like you channeled your biotics. You heal faster than any of us. You CAN survive the machine. I was in it for twenty seconds and it very nearly killed me."

 

"Jenni...?" Anya asked when her sister stopped talking. "Can you kill me?"

 

"I don't think so, Anya." Jenni said sadly. "They are watching too close and anything I CAN do can be countered
quickly. If I shoot you, they will hook the chip that I have disabled back up and use your body." Anya tried to shake her head, but it was strapped down. Jenni shook her head. "No time, I need to go yell at some people. Chris, Vincent, get into position for plan 'G'. We will make a mess and run like hell." Anya stared at her sister. 'G'. Alliance military lexicon for 'Gone to Hell'. "Wait... I CAN slow it a bit... Anya, do you trust me?"

 

"Jenni...I..." Anya shuddered a little. "Do I have a choice?"

 

"Storm we fight." Chris said as he turned toward the door. Anya stared at him. That had been her team's mantra during the war.

 

"Storm we fly." Vincent spoke next.

 

"Storm we live." Jenni said with a sad smile at Anya.

 

"Storm we die." Anya said sadly, finishign the chant and surging with the call to battle it always set off in her. "What do I do?"

 

"Cameras will come online in one minute, six seconds." Jenni said softly as she rose and walked towards Anya. "I will unstrap your arm to run an IV. When I do, grab my gun. Take me hostage."

 

"THIS is your plan?" Anya asked, incredulous, as Jenni stepped close. She shut up as Jenni snarled at her.

 

"Shut up!" Jenni snapped. The camera over the door started whirring again, Anya hadn't noticed it hadn't been moving until now. "Guards, watch her, I am going to run an IV."

 

"Is there a problem, doctor?" A male voice from the intercom asked. "We lost camera feed."

 

"How many times have I told you to FIX that BLOODY thing?" Jenni snapped. "The patient could have run amuck, heck, we could have had a screaming ORGY in here and NO ONE would have noticed! Five minutes I have been TRYING to get that fracking camera online, since none of YOU can be trusted to do it!"

 

"Doctor..." The male voice said in a long suffering tone.

 

"Oh SHUT UP!" Jenni snapped. "The scans are almost done. Then  this arrogant little witch will FINALLY earn her keep." She leaned over Anya, hand out of sight of the camera and undid Anya's arm restraint. As soon as she did, Anya jerked her hand free of Jenni's loose grip and grabbed for Jenni's gun. Jenni batted for her hand, but with no force in her strikem, Anya had no difficulty keeping hold of it. "NO!" Jenni screamed as Anya's hand came up with the Predator which immediately pressed against Jenni's head.



"Move and I pull the trigger!" Anya snapped as the guards froze in place. "You, SISTER..." She snapped the word 'sister' out with venom. "Undo the straps!"

 

"Shoot her somewhere non-lethal!" Jenni snarled. "Stupid..."

 

"You hush!" Anya said with a sneer. "Well?" She asked the guards who BOTH had their guns out. "What is it going to be?"

 

"Release her, Anya." Anya's guts turned to ice at the cold voice of her birth father but her body did not react. Indeed, she gripped Jenni tighter. "Why isn't she obeying?" He asked with a snarl of impatience.

 

"The scan..." Jennifer said with a matching snarl. "Damn it! I WARNED you it might interfere with the chip!"

 

"Don't move." Anya snapped as Jenni struggled. "I may not be fully recovered, but I DO have enough strength to pull a trigger." Jenni froze.

 

"Let her up, Jennifer." The patriarch of the Wilson-Fuentes clan stated coldly. "She has nowhere to go and I still need your expertise, Jenni. You are going nowhere, Anya."

 

"We will see about that." Anya said as Jenni started undoing the other straps.

Modifié par kalenath, 08 décembre 2012 - 09:52 .

[kalenath]

As soon as Anya's limbs were released from the straps, she pulled Jenni close and rolled into a sitting position.

 

"Ow!" Jenni complained. "Not so HARD, you heartless Alliance ****!"

 

"Heartless?" Anya asked coldly. "That is rich coming from a Cerberus stooge. Get over here!" She turned the struggling doctor so that the woman's body was between her and the two guards who hadn't moved. "Well, guys?" Anya asked in a sickly sweet tone. "Now what?"

 

"You are going nowhere Anya." Her sire's voice came from the intercom again. "Let her go and it will be a LOT less painful."

 

"Ah, so your wife won't be involved?" Anya asked sourly. "Right. And I should trust that THIS time you will not lie. Sure." She said sarcastically.  "Lying is what Cerberus DOES. And since WHEN do you give  a flying rat's behind  about Humanity anyway? All you EVER cared about was money and power."

 

"That is not true, Anya." The voice of the man who had sired her said calmly. "it was always for humanity."

 

"Ah, and the fact that you made oodles and oodles of cash off the misfortune of others was immaterial." Anya said, musing. "After all, the end ALWAYS justifies the means as long as YOU get what YOU want. Right, Mr. Wilson-Fuentes?"

 

"I am still your father, Anya." He said heavily. "Nothing you say can change that."

 

"The courts say otherwise, Mr. Wilson-Fuentes. My name is Anya Solinus and NOTHING you OR your idiotic mate can do can change that." Anya said with a smile that faded. "Of course, since you are Cerberus, I guess no laws actually MATTER to you, do they?"

 

"Stand down, Anya." The man said slowly. "This is the last time I will ask."

 

"Well, Mr. Wilson-Fuentes,...." Anya said slowly. "Why don't you-" She let loose a stream of harsh Spanish profanities that had Jenni actually blanch. Finally she wound down and he sighed.
 

"Are you done?" He asked. "You are NOT leaving that room."

 

"I know." Anya said with a smirk. "But then again, you need me, don't you? Otherwise your goons would have shot already. I wonder. Do you need me hale or even alive?" She changed the angle of the pistol slightly and Jenni whimpered a little as it bit into the back of her head.

 

"Anya..." Jenni said slowly. "Don't do anything rash..."

 

"Rash?" Any asked slowly. "Rash like trying to control a Reaper or all of them?" She demanded. A hiss of breath came from the intercom and Anya laughed sourly. "Did you REALLY think I wouldn't figure it out? You need me alive and conscious to handle the power flow, don't you?" She asked. "Don't you?" She demanded as she
dug the barrel of the gun deeper into Jenni's head.

 

"Yes we do." Her father said softly. "Preferably. But we CAN use you in any form. A control chip in a mindless  vegetable will work IF she has the proper genetics, which you have. I would PREFER to keep you alive and sane
to 'reeducate' you in family values."

 

"FAMILY VALUES?" Anya asked incredulously. "WHAT values? Oh..." She corrected herself. "Screw anyone and
everyone, INCLUDING your children, to get what you want? THOSE kind of values?"

 

"I don't have time to debate with you, Anya." Her father said sourly. "Stand down or I WILL order the guards to put you down. Jenni will likely survive a shot or two."

 
"Spoken as someone who has never been shot." Anya said as Jenni whimpered a little more. "You really don't have a clue, do you?" She asked rhetorically. "Ah well..." She gave Jenni a hard shove towards the guards at the door and ducked behind the table as the two men aimed at her. "Take her." Anya snapped. "I have enough death on my conscience, I don't NEED any more due to YOU, Mr. Wilson-Fuentes."

 

"I am your father, Anya." He said sternly. "Drop the gun."

 

"No. You are NOT my father and NO, I will NOT drop the gun, Cerberus scum." Anya replied, looking at the guards who had now moved Jenni behind their armored bulks. She knew Chris and Vincent wouldn't let Jenni get hurt. "I cannot escape, and if I let you take me, you win. I cannot allow that. Goodbye Pedro Wilson-Fuentes. May whatever hell you wind up in be eternal and filled with pain." She sank down to the floor and nestled the barrel of the gun in the hollow behind her ear. Then she started to take up slack on the trigger. She heard Jenni scream a denial.

 

"STOP HER!" Her father commanded and she could her the more guards approaching, so she took up more slack. Any second and...



Wait a sec? Why was she on the floor. And why was Jenni bending over her, tears falling? She couldn't move. Her body wasn't working right.

 

"You IDIOT!" Jenni screamed. "What were you THINKING?" Jenni wasn't yelling at her, Anya realized. There were at least four guards in Cerberus armor around her now.

 

"I pulled her gun." One of the guards said defensively. "It stopped her."

 

"You didn't grab her gun with that Lash, moron." Jenni said as she worked. "You wrapped it around her NECK! Then you threw her into the CEILING! " Jenni snapped. Anya felt fear rising. Was she paralyzed? "I need a  backboard and a full trauma kit here. Now!" She called. Then Jenni leaned close and spoke. "I have a paralytic in. Don't try to fight it." She said softly in Anya's ear. "I will try to do SOMETHING, I have NO idea what. Be strong sis, I will do what I can."

 

"Jenni?" Kai shouldered her way past the guards, her expression scary. "You okay?"

 

"I am fine." Jenni said with a snarl at the guards who stiffened again. "SHE is a mess. Possible cervical fracture.
Immobilize her. I have a paralytic in. If she can, she WILL fight. Don't give her the chance. She will hurt herself worse."

 

"I won't." Kai said as Jenni and a pair of med techs rolled Anya carefully onto the backboard before setting her down and quickly immobilizing her body. "Dad wants her. Now. We are out of time."

 

"Kai..." Jenni said, her face hopeless.

 

"Don't start, Jenni." Kai said in warning. "Dad is already angry. He wants to find out what she remembers of the
bugs. They are definitely a threat. We can do it in the machine room. Take her there." Kai said to the techs who nodded and lifted the backboard easily. "Go to medical, Jenni. Get Melissa to check you out."

 

"Kai...I..." Jenni said softly, but then she broke off and nodded. "Okay. Keep me informed?" She asked forlornly as she rose.

 

" I will." Kai said as she follwoed the backboard out. Anya stared at the ceiling, trying to memorize the route, but her eyes kept being pulled to Kai's anxious face. Kai saw her look and snarled at her. "That was DUMB, Anya."

 

"So?" Anya managed to grate the word out. "Won't cooperate."

 

"Well..." Kai said sadly. "Now you have no choice." A door opened ahead of them and Anya heard machinery. "Put
her on the table. We will strap her down on the board." Kai left Anya's field of view and she flet the board being set on something. Then straps were being tightened over her body. "This won't hurt, Anya." Kai said gently as Anya's head was strapped down. "But it WILL feel very strange."

 

"Quit coddling her." The voice of their father came and his sour countenence appeared in Anya's field of view. "Are you QUITE done being a stupid child, Anya Wilson-Fuentes?" Instead of answering, Anya spit. The globule of saliva hit her birth father in the face and his look of disbelief was priceless.

 

"Won't..." Anya managed to gasp out. "Help. You."

 

"You are unbelievable." Her father said as he wiped his face slowly. "Fine. Start the scan."

 

"Sir." The med tech said and lowered an odd looking device towards Anya's head. She tried to struggle, but her body wasn't reacting. The med tech spoke soothing. "It won't hurt, Ma'am. We are just going to access your recording implant."

 

"Day I trust Cerberus..." Anya said sourly. "Is the day HE actually cares about his family..." She flicked her
eyes at her father and he stared at her. "After all, we are just assets, right?" She asked sourly as the device came down to the side of her head and a cold something entered her right ear. "Manufactured goods to get you
what you want. Commodities to be bought and sold. What DID you really offer Henry Lawson anyway? A host mother for his 'legacy'? Or just money?"



"What do YOU know of Henry Lawson?" Her fathar asked cautiously. "OR his legacy?"

 

"I know he is dead." Anya said with a smile. "But not forgotten."

 

"Miranda Lawson got to you." The man said heavily. "What did she tell you?"

 

"Nothing I didn't know." Anya said sourly then she gasped as ANOTHER cold thing entered her OTHER ear. "Cerberus are scum. Always have been, always will be. Maybe it STARTED as a shield for humanity. But the best laid plans of imbeciles and idiots..." She gasped again as something cold touched the back of head where it connected to her neck.
 

"That is not what Cerberus is at all, Anya." Anya stared as her father's face suddenly turned sad. "It IS humanity's shield. It's ONLY defense. Especially now with so many threats seeping in. Anya, we have to protect humanity."

 

"By taking CONTROL?" Anya asked sourly. "By taking FREE WILL away from everyone? Right..." She said with a shudder. "You take the choice away from anyone and suddenly NO ONE has one. But you don't understand that. Never mind, rape my mind. I can't stop you." She said sadly. "But someone will, eventually. I just hope they make it HURT."

 

"It won't hurt, Anya." The man promised, seeming in earnest. "Let's see..."

 

"Sir?" The med tech said softly. "We should intubate if she is going straight from here to the machine." The older man nodded and the tech leaned close to Anya. "Ma'am."

 

"It's not like I can stop you, or you really give a rat's ass about my comfort." Anya said sourly. "Just DO it already."

 

"If you struggle it WILL hurt." The med tech said gently. "If you don't, it won't."

 

"Don't TRY to pretend you are compassionate, Cerberus flunkey boy." Anya snapped. "You and him..." She flicked her eyes at her father again, who actually flinched. "You will use me, abuse me and then throw me away. It is WHAT YOU DO." The tech had a laryngoscope in hand now and she sighed and opened her mouth. It was nasty, but she kept from gagging as the tube went in. The tech patted her hand and smiled at her.

 

"It will be okay ma'am." He consoled her. "Just relax. The scan won't hurt." Anya made a noise of disgust through the tube and the tech sighed as he turned away. Then he froze. "WHAT THE HELL? Sir..." He asked, dumbfounded. "Is that what I think it is...?"

 

"That is not possible." Pedro Wilson-Fuentes had an unaccustomed look of bafflement on his face as he too stared at the screen. "Take us back to her first memories after the raid on Sanctum. It has to be some kind of trick. Activate the inducer and see if we can get past it."

 

"Right." The medic lowered another device over Anya's face and his hand touched her again. "Ma'am... Look at the lights, please." Anya screwed her eyes shut tightly and he sighed. Cold things pressed on either side of her head and her eyes shot open again against her will. She stared, entranced at the swirling pinwheel colors that were just in front of her eyes. "That's it, Ma'am... just look at the lights and everything will be fine... Just relax, Calm.." His voice was soothing, so soothing. Just like the lights... Anya felt the world fall away and she was swept into memory. 

Modifié par kalenath, 09 décembre 2012 - 11:47 .

[kalenath]

<A memory>

 

{Miss Anya? Can you perceive me?} The gentle voice seemed to come from everywhere.

 

Anya tried to remember what had happened. She had been fighting. Her team had been ambushed by an enemy she had never fought before. But anyone who had read ANY of Shepard's reports would have recognized them
instantly. Collectors. Large headed, 4 eyed, insectoid aliens who had supposedly been wiped out when Shepard passed through the Omega 4 relay and destroyed their base. Apparently not. She opened her mouth to respond and froze. Nothing happened! She paused, trying to fathom what was wrong. She had tried to open her mouth, She could feel her mouth, but it hadn't moved! Fear came and with it anger. She started to struggle.

 

{Anya.} The gentle voice sounded. {You are very badly hurt. Please do not struggle. Your body is encased in a healing pod. Please let me help you. I need your help as well.} Something caressed her, a gentle touch, soothing, calming. {Your lungs are filled with oxygenated liquid. Focus your mind, speak to me that way.}

 

{I...} Anya shook herself and tried to focus. It did not come easily. {Who are you?}

 

{I am Holik Devisha.} The voice said quietly. Anya tried to wrap her head around that odd name, but there were sounds in it she simply could not reproduce. The voice laughed a little sadly and spoke again. {But you may call me 'Scholar' as some of my colleagues did.}

 

{Scholar?} Anya asked, amazed she was so calm. Trapped, unable to move and having a polite conversation with someone she could not even see? {Where am I?}

 

{Truth be told...} Scholar replied a little uneasily. {I am not entire sure WHERE we are.} Anya felt fear, but Scholar moved quickly to reassure her. {You are in NO danger, Anya. Your injuries are being healed. But... they were extensive.}

 

{How bad?} Anya made herself ask. {I remember getting shot. I remember seeing my HUD show a massive hemorrhage in my belly. I was bleeding out...}

 

{You were.} Scholar replied. {The Lost Ones saved your life. I am not entirely sure WHY. But it cannot have been anything good.}

 

{'Lost Ones'?} Anya asked carefully.

 

{You call them Collectors, Anya.} Scholar said sadly {My people called them the 'Lost Ones'. Taken and turned into monsters serving the will of the Reapers. Some of us thought it was some kind of divine punishment for our Empire's mistakes.}

 

{Wait a minute...} Anya said slowly. {The Collectors were Prothean.} She spoke slowly, trying to keep the simmering fear from overwhelming her. {Are you saying YOU are...}

 

{I am.} Scholar replied. {I know it is hard to believe.}

 

{Not really.} Anya said slowly, calming. {But how do I know you ARE Prothean? You could be a Collector trying to trick me.}

 

{Why WOULD they?} Scholar asked reasonably. {They had you in their power. Why would they try such a subterfuge? It would serve little purpose.}

 

{I don't know.} Anya admitted. {But I can't trust anything you say...} She said slowly.

 

{Will you trust your eyes?} Scholar asked gently. {You are very strong willed to be able to speak like this so easily.}

 

{What do you mean?} Anya asked, unsure.

 

{I CAN get your eyes to open, let you see through the pod. It will not be clear, but you will see me.} Scholar said gently. {If that does not suffice... I can SHOW you my past, let you judge for yourself.}

 

{Will it hurt?} Anya hated the pleading note that entered her voice. {I mean... I guess... I... I dunno...}

 

{It will. You are healing, Anya.} The voice of the maybe Prothean said gently. {We CAN wait until you have healed some more. We have time.}

 

{Let me see.} Anya said after a moment. {I... I need to know.}

 

{Very well.} The voice was calm and soothing. {This will hurt, Anya. Are you ready?} It asked gently.

 

{Yes.} Anya replied. Then she screamed as pain erupted through her entire head. Something worked to quell the pain as soon as it happened, but it just kept coming. She felt her eyes open and she could see!

 

She was floating upright in some kind of pod. She quailed as she realized it was the same kind of pod Shepard's reports had described the Collector's using. But she was seeing it from the INSIDE. The fluid she was floating in was an odd color, somewhere between blue and violet. But it had odd tinges, or maybe that was just her eyes? She couldn't be sure. Something moved outside the pod and she focused on that. She stared at the figure that suddenly became clear. In form, it looked SORT OF like a Collector, but...not. It had the same body proportions, the same three fingered hands, the same four eyes, but... it was cleaner, gentler in appearance. She gasped as the pain increased. The figure shook it's head.

 

{I must shut your eyes, Anya. You do not have control of those nerves yet.} Scholar said heavily. Anya focused and slowly raised a shaking hand and Scholar barked. {Anya, DON'T! You WILL hurt yourself further!} She pressed the palm of her hand against the surface of the pod and after a moment, the figure laid it's three fingered hand against the same spot on the outside. Something oozed into her mind. Worry, fear, pain, anger, horror, all that. And... kindness. Compassion. A knowledge that she would NOT come to harm if Scholar had ANY say at all in it. Without her command, her eyes shut. But now, she wasn't afraid.

 

{I...} Anya said in the odd way that she had conversed. {That hurt, but I saw... Was that you?}

 

{Yes.} Scholar said with disapproval. {You over stressed your body, Anya. You will have to sleep again soon.}

 

{Geez, you sound JUST like Raan'ita.} Anya said with a mental sigh. {Once a medic, always a medic I guess.}

 

{I wouldn't know.} Scholar said with a sigh. {You are the first sentient I have spoken with in... Well. It has been a  very long time.}

 

{Okay."} Anya said as she relaxed a little. {I am sorry I couldn't trust you.}

 

{After what you have been through?} Scholar asked incredulously. {I am amazed you trust me at ALL. I am afraid you are going to be in that pod for some time, Anya. But have no fear. We are in no danger. This ship will not run out of life support for centuries.}

 

{Ship?} Anya asked, scared again.

 

{Yes.} Scholar replied evenly. {We are on a ship. I...um...seem to have captured it.} He said dubiously.

 

{How could you not know?} Anya slowly relaxed. {And do you know WHERE we are?}

 

{I have not been over every... OH what is the human term?} Scholar seemed to think. {Meter? Yes... I have not been over every meter of this ship, Anya. It is huge. I was doing that when I found you. Your pod's mechanisms were familiar to me. I was a biosciences specialist when I was posted to Illos.}

 

{ILLOS?} Anya asked incredulously. {I...} She felt awareness fading and she screamed. {No! No, don't let me go!}

 

{You are safe, Anya.} Scholar's voice was very gentle. {The pod is putting you to sleep so you can heal more. I will be here when you wake. It will not be long. Less than a day cycle for you to wake. Sleep, little one. I will be here.} The words were kind and Anya sank into slumber comforted.

 

<The present>

 

Anya was roused from the memory by sharp voices but could not move or look away from the pinwheels in front of her eyes.

 

"Madre de DIOS!" Her birth father was saying. "ANOTHER Prothean! All this time, we thought the COLLECTORS had her! Can we make out what they said to one another?"

 

"Not in any clarity, sir." The med tech responded. "They seemed to be talking directly to each other's minds. And in
Prothean? That should not be possible." He mused. "Only Shepard had the Cipher, so..." He sighed. "I don't know."

 

"Play more." Anya's father commanded. "I want to know what happened." Anya fell into the memory again.

 

<The memory>

 

{Scholar?} Anya asked. It had been several days since she had first woken. Or at least, several sleeps. Not being able to see without intense pain made for VERY lax timekeeping. {What happened to you?}

 

{I don't know it all, Anya.} Scholar said with a sigh. {I was a biosciences specialist attached to a secret Imperial project on Illos.}

 

{The Conduit?} Anya asked. {The mass relay to the Citadel? Shepard found that, used it to delay the Reapers.}

 

{Yes. We used it to stall their return, but...after the Keepers had been altered...} Scholar's voice turned melancholy. {We had nowhere to go, no food available. The Keepers were there, but our signal confused them. There were only ten of us left, and we... Well...}

 

{I would have gone mad.} Anya said slowly. {Starving to death alone in that huge place...}

 

{Most of us did.} Scholar replied. {Some of my colleagues killed themselves, some fought each other, killed each other... I hid. I was no fighter. When I left my hiding spot, I found the others all dead. I am the last.}

 

{No.} Anya said quickly. {You are not.}

 

{What?} Scholar asked sharply. {Anya...}

 

{You have been searching records available on this ship?} Anya asked. They had talked about current events. {Look for the name 'Javik'.} She felt Scholar's confusion, but then a glimmer of excitement. It didn't disturb her that she felt Scholar, not now. Not after Scholar had...molded his mind to hers. She KNEW he was telling the truth. She could feel it.

 

{Javik...} Scholar said slowly. {I do not know the name... HOLY...} The Prothean said in an awed voice as he found the records. {Another cryo facility? One that.. oh...} He sighed sadly. {Javik was the only survivor?}

 

{The commander of the base.} Anya said with a shudder. {The VI in charge deactivated all the other surviving pods to keep his online.}

 

{Vigil did the same.} Scholar replied. But his calm tone did NOT hide his anger. {It was a sound move, strategically speaking, but evil.}

 

{Pragmatism seems to be a hallmark of your Empire.} Anya said slowly. She felt Scholar recoil and she paused. {What?}

 

{They were not MY Empire.} Scholar said with a snap. {I was never a warrior. I wanted to study, to find ways to heal. They took me, kidnapped me away from my family. They dragged me to Illos without so much as a 'by your leave'. They... I...} Scholar retreated a bit, obviously struggling for control ofhis emotions.

 

{Scholar?} Anya said, scared. {I am sorry. I did not mean to upset you.} She apologized.

 

{Anya, I was different. A throwback.} Scholar said sadly. {Much like what I have seen in your memories.} Anya stiffened and Scholar hastened to speak again. {I tried not to pry. It was rude of me. But it has been..so...long...} The gut wrenching pain and loneliness screamed at Anya although Scholar tried to keep it from her. {I am sorry, Anya. I had no right.}

 

{After what you have survived, ANYONE would have a few off moments, Scholar. Apology accepted.} Anya said and then changed the subject. {So you were on the Citadel?}

 

{Yes.} Scholar's gratitude was clear. {I couldn't stay there. I fashioned a crude life support pod and launched it into space. I had always loved the stars. I have no idea how long I drifted, centuries. Then I was picked up, by this ship apparently. They knew the pod was Prothean tech, but could not open it, so they put it in storage.}

 

{So if you were in stasis...?} Anya mused. {What woke you?}

 

{I have no idea, Anya.} Scholar said with a sigh. {The pod opened into a darkened storage area. When I exited it, I found dead Collectors everywhere. But no signs of violence, it looked as if they had all simply dropped dead in place. I was searching the ship for answers when I found the pod you are in. The rest you know. Ah...} Scholar sighed. {There is NO recent information available on Javik. He could be anywhere.}

 

{We need more information.} Anya said slowly. {Scholar, how long will I be in this?}

 

{A very long time, Anya.} Scholar said sadly. {The damage was extensive. The lower body damage was fairly easy to repair, and the loss of fluids likewise, but the cranial trauma...}

 

{Wait, what?} Anya asked. {Cranial trauma?}

 

{Anya...} Scholar's voice was kind now. {You were struck by two high velocity projectiles. One tore through your abdomen, tearing a major fluid vessel. That WOULD have killed you, but the other was worse. It happened after the abdomen wound. It hit your skull, penetrated and damaged your brain.}

 

{How bad?} Anya asked, her voice one step removed from abject terror.

 

{There is a device inside your skull, Anya.} Scholar said gently. {I recognize it. It is Prothean technology. It has been there for some time. At least ten of your years, possibly more. It recorded your memories. That is what I am speaking to. That recorder.}

 

{I am a mech?} Anya said, horrified.

 

{No. You are a VERY lucky human.} Scholar projected soothing energy to Anya and she calmed slowly. {Your memories were preserved. If the projectile had struck the implant, well...We would not be having this
conversation. As it is, the implant is replacing the chemical markers of your memories as the brain matter regenerates. I was not aware that human brain matter WOULD regenerate but yours DOES, if slowly.}

 

{So my memories are recorded in the implant.} Anya said, calming. {Is that why the collectors wanted me?} She asked and then paused as she felt Scholar recoil a little. {Scholar?}

 

{No it is not.} Scholar said, his tone heavy. {I...found some information while digging for schematics of this ship while you slept last. I know why they wanted you, Anya.}  A gentle touch on her midn soothed the fear that built at his words.

 

{Do I want to know?} Anya asked, her tone scared again. Scholar did not respond and Anya sighed. {Tell me.}

 

{The Collectors as you call them, had been heavily modified by the Reapers, Anya.} Scholar said in a soft, sad voice. {They are puppets, tools. And... They cannot reproduce themselves in any way except by cloning. The Reapers apparently didn't care, but apparently some of THEM did. They were trying to find a way to reproduce the numbers they lost when Shepard attacked their base. Using you.}

 

{No...} Anya breathed, fear growing exponentially. {Oh no, no... Scholar no...}

 

{They modified your body, Anya.} Scholar said sadly. {I MAY be able to undo it. I know what they did, but it WILL take a great deal of time, possibly as long as your brain matter will take to heal. And...I...} Scholar paused, his worry clear to Anya. {I am conflicted, Anya.}

 

{Conflicted?} Anya asked slowly, and then comprehension dawned. {Oh. Wait... If THEY could use me to make more of THEM, YOU could use me to make more Protheans, couldn't you?}

 

{Yes.} Scholar said simply. {I have enough genetic material from my own body to synthesis the beginnings I would need. I am a biosciences specialist. I can. Any others of my people WOULD do it. But... I...} The Prothean paused and then spoke again. {I cannot.}

 

{Why not?} Anya asked, curious despite her slowly dissipating fear.

 

{The Empire is gone, Anya.} Scholar said sadly. {But before... They took the right to procreate from me. I...spoke out against some of the excesses of the Empire before the Reapers came and after. The things my people did...} Anya could feel Scholar's hate now. {They took me from my mate, from our child. They sentenced me to life encased in a stasis pod. When they thawed me, I was taken to Illos. I found out that my mate and child had died,
cast into the firestorm by military commanders as cannon fodder. I hate them, Anya. I will NOT become them!}

 

{Scholar.} Anya said slowly. {How long will I be in this pod?}

 

{I...} Scholar sighed deeply. {At the rate you are healing... At least two of your years unless I can devise a portable form of life support and healing. I have some ideas.}

 

{And... what would be involved in bearing Prothean young?} Anya asked, only to pause as Scholar shouted at her.

 

{I WILL NOT DO THAT TO YOU!} Scholar screamed.

 

{Scholar.} Anya snapped in command voice. {Calm down. I am getting options, no more. What would be involved?}

 

{Anya...} He could feel her rock heard determination now and sighed. {Our young are gestated in clutches of between four to six eggs. You MIGHT be able to hold two with your body form. They must be grown in a living
body or complications ensue. A living mind is needed to imprint them. Once they reach a certain age, they can be removed to gestation pods. Anya... I can't...}
 

{Scholar.} Anya said slowly. {I am stuck in here for two YEARS. What ELSE am I going to do?} She asked with a mental smile.

 

{Talk to me?} Scholar said weakly. {I... Anya... No...} He begged.

 

{See if it is feasible.} Anya said calmly. {If it IS, we can see if it works. I never thought about being a mother, but hey... If it saves your race...}

 

{I don't know if it is possible, Anya.} Scholar said slowly. {I don't know if I CAN do this. Or if I SHOULD...}

 

"{We need more information, Scholar.} Anya said slowly. Then she felt a familiar feeling and sighed. She was falling asleep.  {And I apparently need more sleep. See you in the morning.} She was unconscious before she could hear Scholar's response.
 

<The Present>

 

"Anything?" Anya heard her father demand. "We just have static here?" Apparently, it had been far less time in the real world, she thought fuzzily as she continued to stare at the pinwheels in front of her eyes.

 

"Nothing we can decipher." The tech replied uneasily. "Something happened, that is clear, but WHAT? We cannot read those memories."

 

"Fine." Her father snapped. "IF she survives the machine, we will do a lengthy debriefing. Scan forward. I want to see what happened when our team found her..."


Anya felt the familiar haze covering her again and could do nothing as memory claimed her again.

Modifié par kalenath, 10 décembre 2012 - 06:00 .

[kalenath]

<A memory>

 

{Miss Anya? Can you perceive me?} The gentle voice seemed to come from everywhere.

 

Anya tried to remember what had happened. She had been fighting. Her team had been ambushed by an enemy she had never fought before. But anyone who had read ANY of Shepard's reports would have recognized them
instantly. Collectors. Large headed, 4 eyed, insectoid aliens who had supposedly been wiped out when Shepard passed through the Omega 4 relay and destroyed their base. Apparently not. She opened her mouth to respond and froze. Nothing happened! She paused, trying to fathom what was wrong. She had tried to open her mouth, She could feel her mouth, but it hadn't moved! Fear came and with it anger. She started to struggle.

 

{Anya.} The gentle voice sounded. {You are very badly hurt. Please do not struggle. Your body is encased in a healing pod. Please let me help you. I need your help as well.} Something caressed her, a gentle touch, soothing, calming. {Your lungs are filled with oxygenated liquid. Focus your mind, speak to me that way.}

 

{I...} Anya shook herself and tried to focus. It did not come easily. {Who are you?}

 

{I am Holik Devisha.} The voice said quietly. Anya tried to wrap her head around that odd name, but there were sounds in it she simply could not reproduce. The voice laughed a little sadly and spoke again. {But you may call me 'Scholar' as some of my colleagues did.}

 

{Scholar?} Anya asked, amazed she was so calm. Trapped, unable to move and having a polite conversation with someone she could not even see? {Where am I?}

 

{Truth be told...} Scholar replied a little uneasily. {I am not entire sure WHERE we are.} Anya felt fear, but Scholar moved quickly to reassure her. {You are in NO danger, Anya. Your injuries are being healed. But... they were extensive.}

 

{How bad?} Anya made herself ask. {I remember getting shot. I remember seeing my HUD show a massive hemorrhage in my belly. I was bleeding out...}

 

{You were.} Scholar replied. {The Lost Ones saved your life. I am not entirely sure WHY. But it cannot have been anything good.}

 

{'Lost Ones'?} Anya asked carefully.

 

{You call them Collectors, Anya.} Scholar said sadly {My people called them the 'Lost Ones'. Taken and turned into monsters serving the will of the Reapers. Some of us thought it was some kind of divine punishment for our Empire's mistakes.}

 

{Wait a minute...} Anya said slowly. {The Collectors were Prothean.} She spoke slowly, trying to keep the simmering fear from overwhelming her. {Are you saying YOU are...}

 

{I am.} Scholar replied. {I know it is hard to believe.}

 

{Not really.} Anya said slowly, calming. {But how do I know you ARE Prothean? You could be a Collector trying to trick me.}

 

{Why WOULD they?} Scholar asked reasonably. {They had you in their power. Why would they try such a subterfuge? It would serve little purpose.}

 

{I don't know.} Anya admitted. {But I can't trust anything you say...} She said slowly.

 

{Will you trust your eyes?} Scholar asked gently. {You are very strong willed to be able to speak like this so easily.}

 

{What do you mean?} Anya asked, unsure.

 

{I CAN get your eyes to open, let you see through the pod. It will not be clear, but you will see me.} Scholar said gently. {If that does not suffice... I can SHOW you my past, let you judge for yourself.}

 

{Will it hurt?} Anya hated the pleading note that entered her voice. {I mean... I guess... I... I dunno...}

 

{It will. You are healing, Anya.} The voice of the maybe Prothean said gently. {We CAN wait until you have healed some more. We have time.}

 

{Let me see.} Anya said after a moment. {I... I need to know.}

 

{Very well.} The voice was calm and soothing. {This will hurt, Anya. Are you ready?} It asked gently.

 

{Yes.} Anya replied. Then she screamed as pain erupted through her entire head. Something worked to quell the pain as soon as it happened, but it just kept coming. She felt her eyes open and she could see!

 

She was floating upright in some kind of pod. She quailed as she realized it was the same kind of pod Shepard's reports had described the Collector's using. But she was seeing it from the INSIDE. The fluid she was floating in was an odd color, somewhere between blue and violet. But it had odd tinges, or maybe that was just her eyes? She couldn't be sure. Something moved outside the pod and she focused on that. She stared at the figure that suddenly became clear. In form, it looked SORT OF like a Collector, but...not. It had the same body proportions, the same three fingered hands, the same four eyes, but... it was cleaner, gentler in appearance. She gasped as the pain increased. The figure shook it's head.

 

{I must shut your eyes, Anya. You do not have control of those nerves yet.} Scholar said heavily. Anya focused and slowly raised a shaking hand and Scholar barked. {Anya, DON'T! You WILL hurt yourself further!} She pressed the palm of her hand against the surface of the pod and after a moment, the figure laid it's three fingered hand against the same spot on the outside. Something oozed into her mind. Worry, fear, pain, anger, horror, all that. And... kindness. Compassion. A knowledge that she would NOT come to harm if Scholar had ANY say at all in it. Without her command, her eyes shut. But now, she wasn't afraid.

 

{I...} Anya said in the odd way that she had conversed. {That hurt, but I saw... Was that you?}

 

{Yes.} Scholar said with disapproval. {You over stressed your body, Anya. You will have to sleep again soon.}

 

{Geez, you sound JUST like Raan'ita.} Anya said with a mental sigh. {Once a medic, always a medic I guess.}

 

{I wouldn't know.} Scholar said with a sigh. {You are the first sentient I have spoken with in... Well. It has been a  very long time.}

 

{Okay."} Anya said as she relaxed a little. {I am sorry I couldn't trust you.}

 

{After what you have been through?} Scholar asked incredulously. {I am amazed you trust me at ALL. I am afraid you are going to be in that pod for some time, Anya. But have no fear. We are in no danger. This ship will not run out of life support for centuries.}

 

{Ship?} Anya asked, scared again.

 

{Yes.} Scholar replied evenly. {We are on a ship. I...um...seem to have captured it.} He said dubiously.

 

{How could you not know?} Anya slowly relaxed. {And do you know WHERE we are?}

 

{I have not been over every... OH what is the human term?} Scholar seemed to think. {Meter? Yes... I have not been over every meter of this ship, Anya. It is huge. I was doing that when I found you. Your pod's mechanisms were familiar to me. I was a biosciences specialist when I was posted to Illos.}

 

{ILLOS?} Anya asked incredulously. {I...} She felt awareness fading and she screamed. {No! No, don't let me go!}

 

{You are safe, Anya.} Scholar's voice was very gentle. {The pod is putting you to sleep so you can heal more. I will be here when you wake. It will not be long. Less than a day cycle for you to wake. Sleep, little one. I will be here.} The words were kind and Anya sank into slumber comforted.

 

<The present>

 

Anya was roused from the memory by sharp voices but could not move or look away from the pinwheels in front of her eyes.

 

"Madre de DIOS!" Her birth father was saying. "ANOTHER Prothean! All this time, we thought the COLLECTORS had her! Can we make out what they said to one another?"

 

"Not in any clarity, sir." The med tech responded. "They seemed to be talking directly to each other's minds. And in
Prothean? That should not be possible." He mused. "Only Shepard had the Cipher, so..." He sighed. "I don't know."

 

"Play more." Anya's father commanded. "I want to know what happened." Anya fell into the memory again.

 

<The memory>

 

{Scholar?} Anya asked. It had been several days since she had first woken. Or at least, several sleeps. Not being able to see without intense pain made for VERY lax timekeeping. {What happened to you?}

 

{I don't know it all, Anya.} Scholar said with a sigh. {I was a biosciences specialist attached to a secret Imperial project on Illos.}

 

{The Conduit?} Anya asked. {The mass relay to the Citadel? Shepard found that, used it to delay the Reapers.}

 

{Yes. We used it to stall their return, but...after the Keepers had been altered...} Scholar's voice turned melancholy. {We had nowhere to go, no food available. The Keepers were there, but our signal confused them. There were only ten of us left, and we... Well...}

 

{I would have gone mad.} Anya said slowly. {Starving to death alone in that huge place...}

 

{Most of us did.} Scholar replied. {Some of my colleagues killed themselves, some fought each other, killed each other... I hid. I was no fighter. When I left my hiding spot, I found the others all dead. I am the last.}

 

{No.} Anya said quickly. {You are not.}

 

{What?} Scholar asked sharply. {Anya...}

 

{You have been searching records available on this ship?} Anya asked. They had talked about current events. {Look for the name 'Javik'.} She felt Scholar's confusion, but then a glimmer of excitement. It didn't disturb her that she felt Scholar, not now. Not after Scholar had...molded his mind to hers. She KNEW he was telling the truth. She could feel it.

 

{Javik...} Scholar said slowly. {I do not know the name... HOLY...} The Prothean said in an awed voice as he found the records. {Another cryo facility? One that.. oh...} He sighed sadly. {Javik was the only survivor?}

 

{The commander of the base.} Anya said with a shudder. {The VI in charge deactivated all the other surviving pods to keep his online.}

 

{Vigil did the same.} Scholar replied. But his calm tone did NOT hide his anger. {It was a sound move, strategically speaking, but evil.}

 

{Pragmatism seems to be a hallmark of your Empire.} Anya said slowly. She felt Scholar recoil and she paused. {What?}

 

{They were not MY Empire.} Scholar said with a snap. {I was never a warrior. I wanted to study, to find ways to heal. They took me, kidnapped me away from my family. They dragged me to Illos without so much as a 'by your leave'. They... I...} Scholar retreated a bit, obviously struggling for control ofhis emotions.

 

{Scholar?} Anya said, scared. {I am sorry. I did not mean to upset you.} She apologized.

 

{Anya, I was different. A throwback.} Scholar said sadly. {Much like what I have seen in your memories.} Anya stiffened and Scholar hastened to speak again. {I tried not to pry. It was rude of me. But it has been..so...long...} The gut wrenching pain and loneliness screamed at Anya although Scholar tried to keep it from her. {I am sorry, Anya. I had no right.}

 

{After what you have survived, ANYONE would have a few off moments, Scholar. Apology accepted.} Anya said and then changed the subject. {So you were on the Citadel?}

 

{Yes.} Scholar's gratitude was clear. {I couldn't stay there. I fashioned a crude life support pod and launched it into space. I had always loved the stars. I have no idea how long I drifted, centuries. Then I was picked up, by this ship apparently. They knew the pod was Prothean tech, but could not open it, so they put it in storage.}

 

{So if you were in stasis...?} Anya mused. {What woke you?}

 

{I have no idea, Anya.} Scholar said with a sigh. {The pod opened into a darkened storage area. When I exited it, I found dead Collectors everywhere. But no signs of violence, it looked as if they had all simply dropped dead in place. I was searching the ship for answers when I found the pod you are in. The rest you know. Ah...} Scholar sighed. {There is NO recent information available on Javik. He could be anywhere.}

 

{We need more information.} Anya said slowly. {Scholar, how long will I be in this?}

 

{A very long time, Anya.} Scholar said sadly. {The damage was extensive. The lower body damage was fairly easy to repair, and the loss of fluids likewise, but the cranial trauma...}

 

{Wait, what?} Anya asked. {Cranial trauma?}

 

{Anya...} Scholar's voice was kind now. {You were struck by two high velocity projectiles. One tore through your abdomen, tearing a major fluid vessel. That WOULD have killed you, but the other was worse. It happened after the abdomen wound. It hit your skull, penetrated and damaged your brain.}

 

{How bad?} Anya asked, her voice one step removed from abject terror.

 

{There is a device inside your skull, Anya.} Scholar said gently. {I recognize it. It is Prothean technology. It has been there for some time. At least ten of your years, possibly more. It recorded your memories. That is what I am speaking to. That recorder.}

 

{I am a mech?} Anya said, horrified.

 

{No. You are a VERY lucky human.} Scholar projected soothing energy to Anya and she calmed slowly. {Your memories were preserved. If the projectile had struck the implant, well...We would not be having this conversation. As it is, the implant is replacing the chemical markers of your memories as the brain matter regenerates. I was not aware that human brain matter WOULD regenerate but yours DOES, if slowly.}

 

{So my memories are recorded in the implant.} Anya said, calming. {Is that why the collectors wanted me?} She asked and then paused as she felt Scholar recoil a little. {Scholar?}

 

{No it is not.} Scholar said, his tone heavy. {I...found some information while digging for schematics of this ship while you slept last. I know why they wanted you, Anya.}  A gentle touch on her midn soothed the fear that built at his words.

 

{Do I want to know?} Anya asked, her tone scared again. Scholar did not respond and Anya sighed. {Tell me.}

 

{The Collectors as you call them, had been heavily modified by the Reapers, Anya.} Scholar said in a soft, sad voice. {They are puppets, tools. And... They cannot reproduce themselves in any way except by cloning. The Reapers apparently didn't care, but apparently some of THEM did. They were trying to find a way to reproduce the numbers they lost when Shepard attacked their base. Using you.}

 

{No...} Anya breathed, fear growing exponentially. {Oh no, no... Scholar no...}

 

{They modified your body, Anya.} Scholar said sadly. {I MAY be able to undo it. I know what they did, but it WILL take a great deal of time, possibly as long as your brain matter will take to heal. And...I...} Scholar paused, his worry clear to Anya. {I am conflicted, Anya.}

 

{Conflicted?} Anya asked slowly, and then comprehension dawned. {Oh. Wait... If THEY could use me to make more of THEM, YOU could use me to make more Protheans, couldn't you?}

 

{Yes.} Scholar said simply. {I have enough genetic material from my own body to synthesis the beginnings I would need. I am a biosciences specialist. I can. Any others of my people WOULD do it. But... I...} The Prothean paused and then spoke again. {I cannot.}

 

{Why not?} Anya asked, curious despite her slowly dissipating fear.

 

{The Empire is gone, Anya.} Scholar said sadly. {But before... They took the right to procreate from me. I...spoke out against some of the excesses of the Empire before the Reapers came and after. The things my people did...} Anya could feel Scholar's hate now. {They took me from my mate, from our child. They sentenced me to life encased in a stasis pod. When they thawed me, I was taken to Illos. I found out that my mate and child had died, cast into the firestorm by military commanders as cannon fodder. I hate them, Anya. I will NOT become them!}

 

{Scholar.} Anya said slowly. {How long will I be in this pod?}

 

{I...} Scholar sighed deeply. {At the rate you are healing... At least two of your years unless I can devise a portable form of life support and healing. I have some ideas.}

 

{And... what would be involved in bearing Prothean young?} Anya asked, only to pause as Scholar shouted at her.

 

{I WILL NOT DO THAT TO YOU!} Scholar screamed.

 

{Scholar.} Anya snapped in command voice. {Calm down. I am getting options, no more. What would be involved?}

 

{Anya...} He could feel her rock heard determination now and sighed. {Our young are gestated in clutches of between four to six eggs. You MIGHT be able to hold two with your body form. They must be grown in a living body or complications ensue. A living mind is needed to imprint them. Once they reach a certain age, they can be removed to gestation pods. Anya... I can't...}
 

{Scholar.} Anya said slowly. {I am stuck in here for two YEARS. What ELSE am I going to do?} She asked with a mental smile.

 

{Talk to me?} Scholar said weakly. {I... Anya... No...} He begged.

 

{See if it is feasible.} Anya said calmly. {If it IS, we can see if it works. I never thought about being a mother, but hey... If it saves your race...}

 

{I don't know if it is possible, Anya.} Scholar said slowly. {I don't know if I CAN do this. Or if I SHOULD...}

 

"{We need more information, Scholar.} Anya said slowly. Then she felt a familiar feeling and sighed. She was falling asleep.  {And I apparently need more sleep. See you in the morning.} She was unconscious before she could hear Scholar's response.
 

<The Present>

 

"Anything?" Anya heard her father demand. "We just have static here?" Apparently, it had been far less time in the real world, she thought fuzzily as she continued to stare at the pinwheels in front of her eyes.

 

"Nothing we can decipher." The tech replied uneasily. "Something happened, that is clear, but WHAT? We cannot read those memories."

 

"Fine." Her father snapped. "IF she survives the machine, we will do a lengthy debriefing. Scan forward. I want to see what happened when our team found her..."


Anya felt the familiar haze covering her again and could do nothing as memory claimed her again.

Modifié par kalenath, 11 décembre 2012 - 01:17 .

[kalenath]

Anya did not resist as the cold objects that were touching her withdrew. She did not resist as the tube down her throat came out. She did not resist the pinwheeling colors were removed and her eyes were covered. She did not resist as the table she was strapped to was wheeled out of the room. She was reeling. She had not remembered.  Had it been the drugs that the medical gear in the pod had given her?  Had it been the stasis she had been in? She had forgotten. She had given new life a chance to flourish and she had forgotten...

She barely noticed as the table stopped moving. Then a harsh voice pulled her out of her reverie."Well?" Her birth mother demanded.

"We found out a few things." Her birth father replied. "She wasn't with the Collectors. Apparently there was a live Prothean involved. And not the one Shepard found."

"So?" Karinlina scoffed. "She is still an alien loving freak. She gave birth to aliens and wasn't upset by it!"

"We don't know that, Karin." Pedro replied softly. "We cannot read those memories with any detail. When we are done here, we will take her and gently wring her out." While the words might have been almost kind, the tone was
clinical, impersonal. He really didn't care for anything except she had potentially valuable information, Anya realized.

"Does it have to be gently?" Karinlina demanded, a rough hand slapping Anya's thigh.

"Stop that, Karin." Pedro snapped. "I know you don't like her. I know why. But we need her. Her genetics are the key to the machine. She has always been the key."

"She almost escaped again." Karinlina said in a dangerous voice.

"You should wipe her mind.""We have had this discussion." Pedro replied evenly. "Her experiences are what make
her strong. Once she has activated the machine, started it up, any of us can use it. When that is done, her memories will be the only useful thing. Once those are ours, you can have her."

"Hear that, brat?" Karinlina said, her voice close. "You are mine. I will teach you respect again."

"Not yet." Pedro said sternly. "Back off, Karin. Medic... Is she stable?" A whirring close at hand sounded and the medic's worried voice came.

"She's..." The medic sounded unsure. "She is calm. Maybe too calm. I don't know, sir..."

"So we do not need to give her any muscle relaxants?" Pedro asked. "That's good."

"Something is off, sir." The medic said slowly. "She should be feeling anger, especially after being struck. She isn't."

"Is the poor little brat afraid?" Karinlina asked mock sweetly. "She should be."

"Karin." A wealth of disapproval sounded in the soft word and then her father continued. "I know you hate her for running away, for making you bear another child. But if you hurt her or contaminate the experiment, we will have to start over. That is, make another child with the genes from this one and raise her. Twenty more years. Do you want that?" He asked mildly.

"No." Was that fear in Karinlina's voice? Then it vanished. "We could make the brood cow here carry it."

"IF she survives, we could. Karinlina, if you do not control yourself, I will have you removed. Can you control yourself?" Pedro said softly. "Good. Medic, get the subject ready."Anya felt hands on her now, unstrapping her. But she still couldn't move. Between everything else that had happened and the revelations of her past, she was wrung out. She tried to summon anger but it wouldn't come. Her training seemed far away. What was wrong with her? It was hard to concentrate."You are all right, Ma'am." The medic said soothing close by. "The hypnosis is temporary. Here..." He said in a croon. "Look at the pretty lights again." The covering over here eyes came off and she stared at the lights that pinwheeled in front of her face. "That's it..." The man's voice was calming. She felt hands taking her gown and diaper off. But it didn't bother her. Nothing did.

"Why are we coddling her?" Karinlina demanded. "Just shove her in and be done with it!"

"Karin, shut up!" The sound of a slap echoed in the room. "She needs to be calm. You know what happened to Jennifer when she entered it angry. We have come too far to be stopped now by your petty lust for revenge. Guard." Her father's voice turned sharp. "If she moves anywhere except her monitor panel, shoot her."

"You wouldn't..." Karinlina's voice was sharp with fear now.

"Yes I would." Anya's father was calm and cold. "Medic?"

"She is ready." The medic said as the final straps came off. Anya tried to summon the will to fight, but couldn't. "Easy Ma'am. A little slide and some icky stuff."Anya felt her body start to move but could not summon the energy to struggle as she slid into...something. She landed with a wet splat and floated on...something. It didn't feel like water.

Her arms and legs were free, but she could not summon the will to move them. She was so tired, so very tired. The thing over her eyes came off and she was left alone in darkness. But only for a moment. Odd red and violet tinged light started playing over her and she felt things start to rise around her. Something grabbed the back of her head and she gasped as it stung for a moment, but then relaxed. Then she stiffened again as a familiar voice exclaimed in her mind.

{ANYA?} A familiar voice sounded in her mind. {OH NO! ANYA!} The female voice sounded terrified. {No.}

{Obligatha?} Anya asked slowly. {Is that you? How?}

{Yes. It is us. We can communicate while you are in that evil machine.} The Reaper said quickly. {We are coming, Anya. Help is coming.}

{They are doing something to me.} Anya said slowly, trying to make her mind work faster. {They are...} She gasped aloud as something touched her belly and then wrapped around her. It felt...like tiny suckers. They didn't hurt, indeed, they felt good. Something stung her arm and she felt even better. Then something else stung the back of her head and she was floating on a gentle, warm sea. {What are they doing?} She asked, feeling her mind slowly shake off the imposed lethargy. She felt pressure on parts of her body, but nothing hurt.

{Something stupid.} Obligatha responded sharply. {They are using a machine to try and control us, all of us, the Reapers. Technically, it could control every synthetic, but it won't work. It will back fire and probably kill everything in the system, organic and sentient alike. They have enhanced the power systems. The pulse is likely to be comparable to the explosion of a mass relay.}

{How do you know?} Anya asked softly. {This is...weird, but it doesn't feel bad.} Indeed, it was very relaxing.

{Anya! Stay awake!} The Reaper nearly screamed. {The people we were made from built it, Anya. We were not fighters, Anya. We were builders. When the Reapers came, we tried to control them. We built a machine to control the huge machines that were attacking us. And... it worked. But only for two and an half of your minutes. Then the backlash killed half our people. The Reapers had no difficulty harvesting us after.} Relief flooded fromt the Reaper now. {We are here, Anya. Stay awake!}

"Sir!" A voice called from far away. "We have hostile ships entering the system! Defenses are... Oh my god!  Reaper! Capital class!"

"Get full power to the machine." Pedro Wilson-Fuentes said with a cold laugh. "We have a test subject to turn to our control. Status?"

"System defenses are failing." The voice replied. "They were not meant to stave off a Reaper. There is another ship fighting beside the Reaper. Scans show it is a Collector vessel." Anya felt her heart lurch. Scholar? Here?

"As soon as the machine powers up, those ships will be in our thrall." Anya's birth father said coldly. "Time?" The sound of an explosion reached Anya's ears and Pedro snarled a viscous cursed before snapping orders. "What was that? Report!"

"Security control is gone. Enemy forces INSIDE the base!" The voice of a trooper replied over the sounds of gunfire. "We read forty signatures. Not human, but they are moving fast. We can't... AH!" A scream sounded and the com cut off.

"Seal the room." Pedro ordered and Anya heard heavy things click closed. "We have enough power from the backup generator to run the machine once. That is all we need. Medic?"

"She is ready." The medic replied. "Vitals are stable and the alien interface is running."

"Good." Pedro said distractedly. "Hmmm...? What is that on video four? PROTHEANS? We never expected this! And... Ah... Spectre Williams and a team of Alliance goons with two Turians coming in the back door..." He said evilly. "Good to know that busybody **** will be one of our first thralls." Anya felt something else happen. She could feel the thrum of power generators starting to cycle up. But... They felt odd. Out of synch maybe?

{Obligatha!} Anya screamed in her mind. {Help! They are powering it up! Is Scholar here?}

{He and your brood are here.} Obligatha said sadly. {They demanded to come.}

{Get out of here!} Anya screamed. {It will kill you! I...I don't want to kill my kids...} She felt wetness on her face.

"Sir." The voice of the medic was perplexed. "Subject is...crying. That is atypical. No pain readings. So...why...?"

"Is the little traitor finally feeling remorse?" Karinlina snapped. "About time."

"Karin, shut up!" Pedro retorted with heat. "Medic. Can we proceed?"

"Nothing on the scans says why she is crying." The medic said softly. "All readouts in the green. The salt is reacting with some of the alien chemicals, but nothing untoward. I recommend haste."

{Anya, we are too far in.} Obligatha said slowly. {We cannot flee. Your children will not leave you. Scholar and I are trying to convince them, but they are adamant.}

{No...} Anya said. {They will die.} Then she paused as a awful thought occurred to her. {Obligatha...You are not close enough and my father has sealed the room. It has it's own generator. No one can get to me in time, can
they?} She asked softly, not really expecting any good news. The feel of the generator was building, and the odd rythym was increasing as well. She cracked her eyes and the lights were increasing in intensity and frequency. They hurt her eyes so she shut them again. She could feel little tingles, of power playing along her bare skin. It didn't hurt.

{We are trying, Anya.} Obligatha said, fear, rage and sadness all vying for prominence in the Reaper's voice. {Hold on, stay awake. If you sleep, it will activate. The energy pulse will kill you, burn out your mind, then the machine will explode.} Obligatha said slowly.

{I can't let them kill my kids, Obligatha...} Anya said, struggling with the lethargy that seeped through her. {Can you do what Harbinger did? Possess people?} Anya asked. Suddenly the voice in her head was silent. {Obligatha...}

{No...} The mental voice of the Reaper was horrified. {Anya, no!}

{Tell me another way to keep my kids alive.} Anya said reasonably. {To keep you alive. I only just met you and I like you.}

{We like you too, but... We are not alive, Anya.} Obligatha's tone, if anything was even more horrified. {Do not even think that. Anya we can get to you!}

{In time?} Anya asked, a calm descending that had nothing to do with her current state. She tensed as the feelings of power suddenly increased. {Obligatha...!}

"Power spiking." Karin said quickly. "Unknown cause."

"Stabilize it!" Pedro ordered. "Now. We are almost there. Go to full power! The Alliance scum are almost to the bulkhead! How is the subject?"

"Sir..."The medic sounded worried. "She is not going to sleep. Something is keeping her awake. She needs to be asleep for the machine to integrate fully and activate."

"Okay, sedate her." Pedro said with a sigh. "It will likely cause irreparable brain damage, but we can make a new, more dutiful daughter out of the shell." A sting in her arm roused Anya from her stupor.

"No!" Anya screamed as the power that was arcing around her suddenly increased in strength and speed. "You
don't know what you are doing!" She struggled but she was held fast.

"Easy, Ma'am." The gentle voice of the medic was back. "Just relax, let the sedative take hold. You will sleep and everything will be better."

"The power..." Anya gasped. "It's unstable... Can't you feel it?" She begged. "It's unstable! It is going to blow! Back fire!"

"Shut up, brat." Karin snapped. "Your lies are meaningless."

"You are an idiotic witch!" Anya screamed. "Your hatred of me will kill everyone in this system!"

"Gag her." Pedro snapped and something covered Anya's mouth. She screamed again and again, but no sound came out., She could feel her body's rhythms slowing and the power of the machine increasing as her body slowed.

{Obligatha... please...} Anya begged as she felt control  slipping from her. {They are sedating me! I... can't... stay
awake...Take control!}

{Anya, as weak as you are, taking control will kill you.} The Reaper's voice was sad, so sad. {Let us try to save
you. it should shunt your mind into a sleep cycle, let us take control without killing you. IF we have the algorithms right.} Worry sounded in the Reaper's tone. {We have never done this.}

{The machine will kill me sooner. You can stop them. Just... don't kill Kia, or Melissa or Jenni if you can help it.} Anya gasped as another sting sent more lethargy through her body. {Tell Crado... I...}

{We will.} Obligatha's voice was soft and gentle now. {Sleep Anya. You have more than earned your rest, soldier. We hope to see and speak to you again.}

{If...you can't save me... Don't blame yourselves. Tell everyone... I... am... sorry...} Anya managed to get out before darkness claimed her. This time, she knew there would be no coming back as she felt her self slip away from her body.

{We will.} Obligatha said into the emptiness. Then it's voice turned cold and hard.

"Assuming Direct Control."

Modifié par kalenath, 11 décembre 2012 - 01:52 .

[kalenath]

An odd toned, agonized scream tore from Anya's throat, audible even through the gag, and then cold words sounded.

 

"Assuming Direct Control."

 

For a moment, no one understood what had just happened. Then Pedro Wilson-Fuentes spun in his chair to stare at the machine in which his traitorous daughter was confined. He exclaimed in shock. It's sickly green and
brown energies were dissipating. Then it burst into pieces, fragments flying every which way, but no one noticed. THAT took back seat to the form that was rising from the fragments of the device he had spent his lifetime building and making work. His daughter's naked body was coruscating with odd yellow energy as it slowly floated to the floor. And her eyes...

 

"What the HELL?" He snapped, going for his pistol.

 

"Hell indeed, Pedro Wilson-Fuentes." The female human's glowing yellow eyes snapped to him and the female sounding voice was inhuman. Was it one voice or many? "Anya Solinus was the bravest and noblest female we have ever encountered. And now, she is gone. She sacrificed herself, as soldiers are all too often called upon to do. To stop YOU from killing all life in this system. Out of respect for her..." Around him, he could see other people raising weapons, but the glowing form did not seem to notice. Or care. "...We will give you this ONE chance. Surrender now and live. Or die."

 

"What makes you think we will surrender to a posturing little brat who puts on a ligthshow?" Karinlina asked sourly as she took aim and fired. The shot from her Talon pistol hit the glowing form center mass and  did... nothing. There wasn't even a flicker where the biotic barrier surrounding the glowing form had been hit. "What the...?" Suddenly Karin looked very afraid. The medic threw his weapon away and cowered to the floor. Pedro for his part, just stood there, trying to make sense of this.

 

"So be it." The awful female voice said. A pulse of power slammed the medic to the floor, rendering him instantly unconscious. One hand came up and HOW many fingers were on it? Karin screamed as power flared around her. "This hurts you. As you hurt HER. All her life, she wanted to be strong, to be good. Not to be an evil selfish witch like you and you killed her for it! You killed our friend!"

 

Karin screamed again as the power bit deep into her, devouring her armor and clothes, and then her skin and muscles and bone. In seconds all that was left was a faint hint of dark ash that wafted on the air circulation drafts and the memory of her agonized scream. Then it too was gone as Anya's glowing body stepped forward, it's eyes focusing on Pedro.
 

"You." The inhuman voice snapped. "You sired her for your purpose. Was it worth it? To KILL your own daughter?"

 

"This changes nothing." Pedro said evenly. "Even if I die here, Cerberus will rise again. Humanity WILL take it's
rightful place."

 

"You just don't get it." The voice mused. "Anya was right when she said you lived in your own little world. Humanity HAS taken it's rightful place. As equals, not overlords."

 

Pedro called his biotics and threw his most powerful ability at the glowing form. It had taken a great deal of work and study, but he had finally managed to get the ability to reave where he wanted to and for how long. No barrier in existence could hold up against that! He summoned kinetic energy to throw and then paused as the inhuman form laughed.
 

"Is THAT the best you can do?" The inhuman female voice scoffed as it's barrier flickered but stabilized. "We finally understand Anya's amusement. You ARE pathetic!"

 

"Shoot her!" He commanded and the guards in the command center fired.

 

They tried. The guards in the command center really did. But NONE of them had ever faced anything like this. It wasn't their fault. Not many people HAD. Fewer had SURVIVED facing a being possessed by a Reaper. Mass driven projectiles, energy bolts and biotic energy converged on the glowing form. None had ANY effect whatsoever. The form raised it's hands and bolts of dark energy spun out from them, slamming into armored forms, consuming their bodies almost before they had time to scream. It was over in moments and Pedro Wilson-Fuentes clenched his useless pistol in a sealed chamber that was suddenly silent.

 

"We had forgotten..." The glowing form said slowly. "What it was to hate. What it was to rage. It took the death of a brave human woman to remind us. Anya Solinus will be remembered while any of our kind exist. "

 

"Anya!" Pedro called. "We can still fix this. Fight it! Remember who you are! You can control it!"

 

"Anya is dead. The power of the machine would have fried her mind, leaving the machine in a runaway reaction. The blast would have killed everything in this system. She asked us to take control from her, stop
the blast. We did. We had hoped to save her. But she is gone." The glowing form said implacably as it stepped toward where Pedro stood frozen. A whimper escaped him. "She sacrificed herself to stop you. Was it worth it, Mr. Wilson-Fuentes? Was it WORTH your daughter's life?" A misshapen hand suddenly flashed out taking
his throat and lifting him into the air by the front of his neck. "WAS IT WORTH IT?" The alien form demanded.

 

"I..." Pedro said, scrabbling with his fingers at the iron grip that held him. He choked as the hand tightened. Then it released, dropping him in a heap on the floor.

 

"No." The cold, inhuman voice spoke again. "You will NOT die so quickly, so easily. Death is final, death is the END of pain. You deserve far, far more..." Now the voice turned reflective. "It is not a good thing, to give something old and powerful an object to love... It is not a good thing at all. It makes us...unpredictable." The glowing form reached for him again and he shrank away.

 

"What are you going to do?" He demanded, his voice a croak. He tried to roll away as the form's hands grabbed his head and he screamed. "No!"

 

"We are NOT going to kill you, Mr. Wilson-Fuentes." The glowing form said snidely. "We think THIS will be a better punishment." Power flared from the female form's hands and seared into his skull,. But before he could even scream it was gone. The hands dropped him in a heap.

 

"What have you done?" The man managed to speak after a moment.

 

"You will never sire children again." The inhuman form said with a snarl. "AND your biotic abilities were just quenched. If you try to access them..." The form laughed coldly. "Go ahead...try..." Pedro summoned his strength and threw out his hand. But instead of power, pain flared through his skull and he fell to the floor, clenching his head. "You are now a eunuch AND powerless. I think the Alliance wants to talk to you." The form said with another laugh as the bunker they were in sounded with a loud clang. "Here is hoping they make it HURT." It raised a hand and a panel at the wall sparked.

 

The door to the chamber opened and a battle scarred form leaped in, only to pause as it took in the scene. The Cerberus Phantom was covered in soot and her armor was scored in a number of places. But she still moved easily as she turned to look around, but then she froze.

 

"Father? Anya?" Kai asked, horrified as she took in the scene. "No... No..." She begged.

 

"Kai!" Her father yelled. "Kill this THING!"

 

"Kai Wilson-Fuentes..." The glowing form said sadly. "Please...do not. Anya's last wish was for us NOT to kill you or your siblings. We want to honor that. Please. You cannot best us. You know what we are. "

 

"You are a Reaper who has taken control of my sister's body." Kai said slowly. "She is...dead?" Kai asked with a small gulp.

 

"We are Obligatha. Anya was dead before we took control." Obligatha said sadly. "She tried to keep the machine from overloading. It was too much for her. This IDIOT had her sedated." Hate filled Obligatha's tone as it looked at Pedro who cringed. "As soon as she lost control, the power flowing through her mind killed her. We took control of her body an instant later. We were almost too late to stop the machine. We had hoped to save her, but it was not to be."

 

"But... the implant..." Kai said, tears in her voice. "The memory recorder..."

 

"The power surge destroyed it, Kai Wilson-Fuentes." Obligatha said in a much gentler voice. "She begged us. She begged us to stop her. We did not want to. But the machine's backfire would have killed everyone in the system. She sacrificed herself for the lives of every soul in this star system, Kai Wilson-Fuentes. Will you dishonor her sacrifice?"

 

"No." Kai said softly and her sword fell from her hand to clang on the floor. "Is there ANYTHING I can do?" She almost begged as she put her hands on her head and stepped away from the blade.

 

"KAI!" Her father screamed "I am your father! I gave you an ORDER!"

 

"With all due respect, Mr. Wilson-Fuentes... **** you!" Kai said slowly. "You are NOT my father. Not anymore. Anya was a pain in the butt, but she WAS my sister. She loved me. You do not."

 

"ANYA!" A loud voice screamed form outside and another armored form ran in, only to stop short on seeing the tableau. The Turian's armor was scorched and torn, but his rifle was steady as it moved from the kneeling human to the standing, disarmed Phantom, to the glowing figure standing in the middle of it all, then it drooped. "No..." Crado Solinus said in a low tone. "No..." he begged. "Anya NO!" He collapsed suddenly, his rifle falling from nerveless fingers as he knelt, keening.

 

"We are sorry, Crado Solinus." Obligatha said in the silence that descended. "There was no other choice. She begged us to stop her family's madness. To stop the machine they had built. We did not wish this..."

 

"It's stopped?" He asked softly after a moment. "She got you to stop it?"

 

"She could not." Obligatha said sadly. "They sedated her and her control faltered. The machine would have exploded with the power of a detonated mass relay. Every sentient in this system would have died."

 

"Including her kids..." Crado said tonelessly.

 

"Kids?" Kai asked, not moving. Then she did. In a convulsive move, she tore her palm blaster gauntlet off and threw it away. Then she tore her helmet off and threw it after the gauntlet. Tears were falling in streams as she knelt and put her hands back on her head. "Those were the small beings she was defending when we found her on that Collector ship." It wasn't a question.

 

"Yes." Crado said softly. "We found out a bit when we started searching for her. An odd group of allies helped us." He said, his tone careful as he looked at the abject Phantom.

 

"My sister was a hero." Kai said softly. "And I am a villain. Do what you must. I stole your mate, Crado Solinus."

 

"Did you know what they were going to do to her?" Crado asked. "All this..." He waved a hand at the walls, indicating the entire complex.

 

"No." Kai said sadly. "No, like a good little slave, I never asked. I... I just wanted my little sister back. I wanted things to be as they had been. Before..." She bowed her head, crying.

 

"Crado? What? Did you find her?" Came another female voice as another form in battle scarred blue armor entered the room and froze. "Oh no...No..." Ashley Williams said with a look of horror visible through her armor's faceplate. "Obligatha...?" She breathed.
 

"Anya died." Obligatha said sadly. "She begged us to take control of her body before the machine built to overload. We was almost too late. We did not wish to do it."The Reaper repeated.

 

"You stupid...fanatic...fool..." Ashley said slowly, her tone turning sharp, glaring at the cowering Wilson-Fuentes. "All this to TRY and control people. Didn't Shepard's sacrifice teach you idiots ANYTHING? You just HAD to repeat the Illusive Man's mistakes, didn't you?"

 

"He is yours, Spectre Ashley Williams." Obligatha said calmly. "We disabled his biotics and rendered him sterile." All the eyes in the room but Pedro's turned to the glowing form and it shrugged. "It seemed appropriate for someone who did not CARE about his children."

 

"Remind me never to get you mad at me." Ashley said slowly with a shudder as she stepped in to lay a hand on the crying Turian's shoulder. "Crado?" He shook his head. "Crado, she wouldn't want you to fall apart."

 

"This is the second time I have lost her, Spectre Williams." Crado said slowly. "I... I can't...I can't go on without
her." Everything seemed to stop as his hand dipped down and came up with his pistol. "Did she suffer, Obligatha?" He asked as he stared at the sleek Predator pistol. He rarely used his sidearm, but it was well maintained.

 

"No." Obligatha said quietly. "We could do that much, if nothing else."

 

"Thank you." Crado said sadly as he pointed the weapon at his own head. Kai inhaled sharply but another voice sounded.

 

"WAIT!" A new voice shouted and an odd form entered the room. Kai stared at it, entranced. In form, it was humanoid, but the head was large and the four eyes were filled with emotion as the alien stumbled in it''s haste and staggered up to Crado. Kai stared at the Prothean, entranced. "Crado Solinus, WAIT."

 

"I lost her again, Scholar." Crado said with a sigh. "She is not coming back."

 

"Wait... Crado... Wait..." The being called Scholar begged. "I can feel her. Obligatha?"

 

"We cannot sense her, Scholar." Obligatha said slowly. "We could, before."

 

"Feel through me, Crado Solinus." Scholar said, holding out a hand. "See if I am imagining it. We loved her too. Perhaps I am imagining it, but if I am not..." Crado looked at the outstretched hand for a long moment before taking it. Then his eyes lit with wonder.

 

"I can hear her. She is singing." Crado said, his gun falling to his side. "She is singing, she did that when she was afraid and couldn't fight... I..." He looked around. "What do we do?"



"How long can you hold that form  without damaging it, Obligatha?" Scholar asked. "We may be able to find her, bring her back."

 

"We can hold it for some time." Obligatha said, a little distracted. "Harbinger never cared for it's puppets. They were tools, cannon fodder, no more. We wanted to preserve her body, maybe clone her. We have tried to be gentle. We cannot sense her." The Reaper said, unsure. "You can?"

 

"We can." Crado said slowly as Scholar released his hand. "And I can still...Is it her, or an echo?"

 

"We need to find out." Scholar said sternly. "This place... We must search it. Try to find where her patterns are
strongest."

 

"What can I do?" Kai asked from her spot on the floor. "She is my sister."

 

"Why should we trust you?" Williams asked coldly. "You are Cerberus."

 

"Because I was her big sister before I was Cerberus." Kai said, meeting the Spectre's eyes. "And if you do not
get Mr. Wilson-Fuentes out of here, he is going to try and grab for my sword." She nodded to the floor where it lay glinting. "And I will kill him." She said flatly. The man in question grabbed for the blade from where he had crawled slowly, but a blue armored boot threw him back as Williams studied the kneeling Phantom.

 

"James, get him out of here, secure him and keep an eye on him." Ashley ordered. A huge form in armor at the door nodded, grabbed the man despite his protests and bodily hauled him from the room. "Any others?" She asked as she looked at the unconscious medic.

 

"Only that one. All the others fought." Obligatha said absently it's focus elsewhere. "They did not have a chance. Anya asked us to TRY and spare her sisters. We decided to try and spare the others as well. They refused to cooperate for the most part."

 

"My mother?" Kai asked calmly. "She was in here."

 

"Stress 'was'." Obligatha said quietly. "She believed, to the end, that her daughter would obey her. Even after Anya was dead."

 

"Yeah." Kai said with a sigh. "That was my mother. Smart about some things, incredibly stupid about others." She
looked at Williams and shook her head. "I don't blame you for not trusting me. In your place, I certainly wouldn't." She held out her hands for binders.

 

"We will need her." A voice silenced everything and all eyes turned to where Scholar was examining the remnants of the machine. "Her AND her siblings."

 

"Scholar?" Crado asked, confusion warring with hope as the Prothean turned to him and smiled.

 

"Let us get our friend -your wife- back, Crado Solinus."

Modifié par kalenath, 12 décembre 2012 - 04:49 .

[kalenath]

Somewhere

She was cold. It was colder than training in Antarctica had been. Colder than that Cerberus fighter base on Noveria. Almost as cold as space. And it was dark. Even darker than interstellar space. There were no stars. This was nothing like she had been taught as a child would come...after... She did as she had always done when scared of the dark, she started to sing softly. It dated back to her earliest memories, when Nanny had rushed in after a particularly terrible nightmare and soothed her back to sleep with a song. She had done it all her life, all through the horrors she had seen, she had always sung her nightmares away. She knew she wasn't a great singer, but she needed the calm.

She had died. She remembered that. She remembered Obligatha's kindness, then the slow darkness seeping into every fiber of her being. The dissolution of her self. Maybe the priests and holy sisters who had instructed her on religion as a child hadn't really...

Anya coughed and sputtered as she landed hard on a solid surface. She took a moment to recover and then got to her hands and knees before looking up. When she did, she froze. She wearing her N7 armor and was kneeling on some kind of square surface composed of green energy. All around, she could see other squares, cubes, and other things all seemingly composed of the same green energy.

"What the-...?" Anya said and stopped. Her voice echoed oddly in this strange place. "Hello?" She called, her voice travelling and coming back to her. She went stiff as another square appeared in the distance and a humanoid form became visible on it. No, as it came close it became clearer. A human. Female. The woman wore familiar armor, the same kind Anya was. Red hair and... Anya inhaled sharply as she recognized the face.

"Hello Anya." The woman said in a totally impossible voice. She smiled sadly as the square she was on touched the one Anya was still kneeling on. "You look like you have seen a ghost or something. You gonna sit there all day?"

"Shepard?" Anya asked, dumbfounded. "Wait... If you are here, then I am dead... Aren't I?"

"Not for lack of trying." Commander Shepard said a bit caustically. "Geez, woman. When are you gonna learn how to duck?" She asked with a laugh.

"Bite me, Jane." Anya told her former colleague with a snap. "I am not up to what passes for your sense of humor at the moment."

"I know." Jane Shepard said sadly as she came onto Anya's square and knelt down beside the other woman. "I am sorry. But you scared me. You scared everyone. Oh Anya..." She reached out and took the now shuddering younger woman in her arms. "I am sorry..."

"I just..." Anya found herself hugging her classmate and crying. "Oh Jane! I just wanted to be a good soldier. I didn't want anything to do with my family. Why wouldn't they leave me alone?" Anya screamed the last.

"You said it." Jane said with a sigh as she held the woman who had survived N7 training with her. "Your parents lived in their own little world. Nothing else mattered to them. Easy, Anya, it's okay." After a time, it could have been minutes or centuries, Anya held her classmate out at arms length and studied her. For her part, Shepard let her. "Do I pass inspection?" The dead Spectre asked calmly.

"You look..." Anya paused, thinking. "Good, Jane. I dunno. I never... Am I dead?" She asked, confused.

"Yes and no." Shepard said gently. Anya looked at her and Shepard made a face. "Come on, Anya. How many simple answers are there in life? Do you really expect any simple answers in death? Especially death where a Reaper took over your body?"

"How can you know about that?" Anya asked in wonder. "It's been ten years..."

"Well." Shepard said with a sigh. "Jumping into the Crucible's beam taught me something. The Catalyst, the AI that controlled the Reapers, was both right and wrong. My essence was dissolved and transmitted all over the place, merging every form of life into a new framework. My body was destroyed, but..." She grinned, an oddly childlike expression. "I am apparently not gone."

"But..." Anya said, confused. "I don't understand."

"I know." Shepard said with a sigh. "Suffice it to say that I am dead. My body is gone. But my sister of battle needed me, so I am here. I can't do anything in the real world, but this isn't the real world. Maybe I am a hallucination, a whisper in the id. Maybe I am a ghost or remnant of code or something. I don't know. But your pain and fear called to me. We went through ICT Hell Week together, that bonded us. Then the true hell of the Reaper War. We never fought together, but we did work together. And now? You needed me, so I came. You will be all right. Tell Garrus..." Was Shepard fading or was Anya? "'Good job with Liara. The bar is open, and I am watching. But you better not show up before your time, or I will kick your sorry tail'." The menace in Shepard's tone was clear, but she was smiling.

"Shepard..." Anya called to the now transparent form. "Wait..."

"It's okay, Anya." Shepard said gently. "I will be watching, Anya. Anya Solinus. Comrade, sister, friend." Then she was gone, the square she had been standing on vanishing as well. Anya reached out for her friend, her mouth open to voice a denial. But there was no one there.

"No..." Anya cried, collapsing back to her knees. Then she felt a gentle caress on her arm and she smiled. The music in her mind pulled her again and she started to sing again. "'Dance, dance, wherever you may be... I am
the lord of the dance said he...'"

She was on the third verse when something changed.

"Anya!" A familiar voice sounded close by and a large form appeared hanging in midair. At first, Anya thought it was a Reaper, but it wasn't. Was it? "Anya, can you hear us?"

"Obligatha?" Anya asked, confused. "What? I died..."

"Your body nearly did. We thought you had. We could not find your mind in your body." The now non-Reaper shaped form said gently. A larger square appeared underneath it and Anya stared at the form that slowly coalesced as the square touched hers. The alien form that appeared had four legs, and two arms. It also had a large head with many large eyes and two antennae. The head nodded to Anya. "Hello Anya."

"That is... your true form?" Anya asked, dazzled. The skin of the being was bright silver color and it shone in the odd light and it was gorgeous to her eyes. "You are beautiful."

"Thank you, Anya. But this is only a memory." Obligatha said sadly. "Our people are only a memory."

"What happened?" Anya asked, dazed. "Where am I?"

"When we took control of your body..." Obligatha said quietly. "We did not know what we were doing. We had never done it before. We understood the principle, but not the actual practice. They are rarely the same."

"I know." Anya mused. "But... I fell into the darkness. That means I died, right?"

"No." Obligatha's reply was gentle. "We did not do exactly as Harbinger did. When it took control, it shunted it's puppet's mind out of the way, leaving it able to come back when Harbinger released control. We thought we had done that, but we could not sense your mind anywhere in your body. We grieved that we had killed you."

"The machine killed me, Obligatha." Anya said quietly. "Not you."

"The schematics that your sire used to create the machine came from Prothean blueprints." Obligatha  contradicted Anya slowly. "But they originated from our race. We bear the ultimate responsibility for what your father did."

"You said that your people used the machine against the Reapers, but it failed catastrophically." Anya said, reaching out a slow hand to the brilliant form in front of her. "May I?" She asked.

"Go ahead." Obligatha replied evenly. "We are not real here. Merely a virtual construct."

"And I am the same way?" Anya asked as she touched the skin of the holographic looking alien and felt...something. It felt... She paused and then nodded. It felt like many minds buzzing against hers. All concerned. "I... don't understand. If I died... And I did die... I felt my body fail."

"It did as we took control." Obligatha said in a soft, gentle voice. "We healed it as soon as we asserted control, but... Your mind was supposed to transfer to a dormant part of your brain. Instead... You moved. Your mind somehow flowed along the connection to us. We do not know how. The reason we did not detect your mind in your body was that it had transferred to unused storage space in ours."

"I..." Anya paused and then looked around. The scene hadn't changed. "I am in the Reaper? I mean, in you? I..."

"Yes." Obligatha's voice was whisper soft now. "And it is time to go home, Anya."

"I am dead, Obligatha." Anya said with a shudder. "How can I go home if I am dead?"

"Your body is alive, Anya." Obligatha said with a nod. "Your mind is coherant. We have run every check we can on the data that comprises your mind and believe it is intact, but we do not know. There is a certain amount of risk involved in transferring your mind back. It may not work at all, leaving you trapped here. It may work...partially." The alien form shuddered a bit at that.

"Leaving me a vegetable, or half a person." Anya agreed slowly. "What... What are the chances?" She asked carefully.

"Scholar believes that with the right preparation and assistance, the odds can be 90% in favor of success." Obligatha said gently. "There is no hurry Anya. I will not allow any harm to come to your physical form. Time passes differently here as well. We could spend centuries in this place and moments will pass outside our body. Or the reverse."

"Crado..." Anya said, her tone longing. "He will need me. And.. the kids?" She asked.

"You have done a marvel, Anya." Obligatha said with awe in it's tone. "Do you know how many eggs you bore?"

"No." Anya said simply. "I never asked. It was... odd. I slept a lot."

"Four eggs per bearing after the first two." Obligatha said quietly. "One week of bearing before they went into tanks. Then more eggs as soon as the old ones were gone. Two years worth of bearing, Anya..." Obligatha's voice was more than awed now. It was star struck. "Two hundred and six eggs, Anya. Half of them female and able to bear in their second year. There are over five thousand Protheans now with others coming. You saved their race. Small wonder they revere you, fought so hard to save you."

"I didn't have anything else to do." Anya protested. "Scholar was good company but..." Then she paused and her expression turned horrified. "Wait? They fought?" She demanded.

"Yes they did, Anya." Obligatha said sadly. "They hit the front of the station while the Alliance team hit the back."

"How...many...?" Anya said, her hand going to her mouth. "How many died for me?" Obligatha looked away from her and Anya snapped at her. "How many, Obligatha?" Anya snarled.

"The Prothean force suffered sixteen dead and twenty three wounded." Obligatha said sadly. "The enemy threw the bulk of their forces, including most of their Atlas mechs, at the Prothean assault. Anya..." The huge alien consoled the human as Anya cried out in shock and grief. "It was their choice. You gave them that choice."

"To die?" Anya asked caustically. "Some choice!"

"No." Obligatha said gently. "To try and save one they loved." Anya stared at the huge bug eyed monster and then, with a cry, folded in on herself, sobbing. "Anya... Anya..." Obligatha's voice was gentle. "It's okay. They demanded the right to do what they did, knowing they would take heavy casualties."

"They were kids." Anya said heavily. "Just children..."

"They are not any more, Anya." Obligatha said with a smile in her tone. "Be prepared for a shock. Are you ready? Your mate awaits you, Anya." Anya sighed and pulled herself together.

"What's he going to say when he finds out how many kids I have had out of wedlock?" Anya asked her tone somewhere between resignation and whimsy. "Five thousand?"

"Two hundred and six that were yours, Anya." Obligatha corrected her a bit primly. "They had the rest over the last five years. There were...problems from what we understand, but they have thrived."

"Still... Over two hundred kids..." Anya said slowly. "At least they never needed diapers..." She took a deep breath and spoke softly. "What do I do?"

"You are the bravest female we have ever encountered Anya." Obligatha said quietly. "Lie down, here..." It indicated the space between it's forelegs. Anya did as instructed and tried not to tense as the huge head lowered towards hers. "We need to touch our antenna to your head. In actual terms, we need to bridge a connection to the server location your mind is residing in." Anya closed her eyes as the huge head came close enough to touch. "We honor you, Anya Solinus. No matter what happens, we will remember what you have done this day." Anya smiled as two feathery light things touched her scalp and then she was falling into darkness again, but this time, a powerful presence was falling with her. She started to sing softly and the mind with her was singing with her...

 
'I danced in the water when the world was begun...'

Modifié par kalenath, 13 décembre 2012 - 05:13 .

[kalenath]

A bit later

 
"What are we doing here?" A young voice asked. "I mean.. Why are we helping the people who hurt dad and killed mom?"



 

"We are not, Portia." Melissa promised her sister. "We are saving our sister, Anya."

 

"I don't understand." The nine year old replied hesitantly. "Wasn't she...bad?"

 

"From our point of view." Kai replied from her spot. "Yes. From HERS? No."

 

Portia looked at Kai and shuddered a little, but a hand found hers. She turned her head and looked into Jennifer's eyes. Her next older sibling smiled a bit forlornly. The four siblings were lying on bed that were arranged in a circle around another bed. The heads of tall the beds were facing the one in the middle.  On that bed, the glowing form of Anya was laid out. None of the females were restrained and none were afraid.  Portia had been terrified at first, when the strange human woman who called herself a Spectre had entered her room and asked her to come. Talking to strangers wasn't something she was supposed to do. But then Jenni had come in and everything had been okay. Well, sort of. The headband that she wore was somewhat uncomfortable, but when Kai, Jenni AND Melissa had all put theirs on without comment or complaint, Portia had not wanted to seem less capable, even if she WAS far younger than any of them. The young girl looked around again, sighing.

 

"You okay, Portia?" Jenni asked, giving her hand a squeeze. They were close enough to touch, she and Jenni. On the other side, Melissa was close enough as well, but Portia had always been closer to Jenni. Maybe because Jenni was next in age? Even if Jenni WAS much older, it never bothered Portia much, Jenni had always been nice to her. "I know this is weird."

 

"What mom and dad did..." Portia said, trying to stifle her tears. "Was wrong." It hurt to say that, but Portia had
not been raised in a vacuum. Her sisters had always been around and encouraged her to think, to ask questions, even if their parent most vehemently had not. "It would have killed Anya anyway?" She asked slowly, confirming what she had been told.

 

"Yes." Jennifer said sadly. "I feared as much. But..." She slumped.

 

"Mom and dad wouldn't listen." Portia said with a long suffering sigh. "I... I don't know what to think. You all seem to be handling this better than me." She said as tears started falling.

 

"Yes, we SEEM to." Melissa said with a sigh. "Scholar, can I get up?" She asked. Portia froze and then relaxed as
she remembered that there was a group of people monitoring them from another room. One reason she was distressed. She had never ENJOYED being in the spotlight.

 

"Certainly." The kind voice of the odd looking alien said. "The beds are for your comfort,  to relax on. We have NO idea how long this will take. You are not confined to them." The alien -everyone called him a Prothean- had freaked Portia out when she had seen him for the first time, but he had been kind, gentle and funny in a self deprecating sort of way. It was VERY hard to hate or fear him. She kind of liked him now even if he and his troops HAD attacked the station she had called home. "Just do not remove the headbands. They are Obligatha's guideposts back." He cautioned. "Without those, it and Anya are stuck."

 

"Thanks Scholar. We won't." Melissa said as she rose. Portia saw Jenni and Kai rise as well, all three came to her bed and sat down on various pieces of it. "Come here, girl." Melissa said as she held out her arms. Portia went into them gratefully. To her horror, the little girl started to cry, but Melissa started rocking her. "So much horror in
the last day. I..." Melissa shook her head as she rocked the sobbing girl. "I never LIKED Mother or Father. But..."

 

"They were our parents." Kai said from her spot at the foot of the bed. She laid a hand on Portia's offering strength. "Anya was the strongest of us. None of the rest of us tried to run." Jenni looked as if she were going to speak for a moment and then shut her mouth. "Jenni?" Kai prompted.

 

"Until Anya did..." Jenni said sadly. "They didn't think any of us COULD break the programming. You know what set her off."

 

"Yes." Portia replied softly. "You told me. The gardener, Mika?"

 

"I was starting my medical training at that time." Jenni said sadly. "I was on call with the emergency team when the alert came in. We...found Mika right where Mom had left her. But there was more... I found Anya cowering in the foliage. I could see something different in her eyes, while I treated her wounds, but I had NO idea what it was. We were...not kind to each other. She would have taken ANY kindness then though, even from me." Jenni said in self reproach. "I earned her rage."

 

"Sister Jenni." Portia said in a tone that belied her years. "It wasn't your fault." Melissa gave her a squeeze and
spoke up.

 

"You were following orders, Jenni." Melissa still wore the armor of a Cerberus Nemesis as she had since being clubbed unconscious by one of the assault team during the attack. She was one of the lucky ones. The medical teams that had come in after had been forced to cut her helmet off, but she was pretty much okay otherwise. The REST of the troops hadn't been so lucky for the most part. Some were simply piles of goo. "Kai and I likely would
have done the same."

 

"I KNEW that mother would hurt her, Melissa..." Jenni protested. "I had NO idea how badly, or for how long. I..." Jenni bowed her head in sadness. "I ENJOYED it..." She confessed. "I enjoyed hearing my sister scream. I..." She sighed. "For a long time, I blamed her for saying what she did. For getting ME in trouble. For all the docs and shrinks and therapy. But it wasn't her fault."

 

"I don't understand." Portia said slowly. "WHAT did she say?" The older siblings looked at each other and
Portia scowled at them. "What?"

 

"Portia..." Jenni said slowly. "You are still young, but none of us have been or ever will be innocent. I KNOW how well educated you are. Have you ever heard the term 'gay'?"

 

"What?" Portia asked, and then her face went distant. "As in emotion or a preference for...?" She broke off and
then her face went slack. "Oh... OH!" She exclaimed. "No. Mother would NOT have liked that." She said in a tone of shock. "Jenni? You?" She asked, concerned.

 

"Yeah." Jenni said softly. "I won't hurt you, Portia. Ever." She swore quietly. "It's not a sickness. It's the way
my body works. I am not attracted to men. And you are WAY too young for me." She said with a grin. Portia looked at her sister Jennifer for a moment and then with a cry, broke free of Melissa's hands and embraced Jennifer. "Oof! Portia! Have you been putting on weight?" Jennifer asked in a teasing tone.

 

"I am growing." Portia sad with a smile. "But... why would mother have asked her that? I don't understand."

 

"I am the reason she ran to the garden, Portia." Jennifer said with a sigh. She smiled as her two other sisters closed in around her. "That was her refuge, her hiding place. I... I made a mistake. I pushed too hard. I was attracted to her and I scared her. She ran off and I had to go back to my work. An hour later, the medical team I was with was called to the garden for an emergency. Mika was barely alive. We stabilized her, got her patched up. But she refused to say WHO had hurt her. I suspected Mother immediately. The ONE thing that people of Mika's heritage never did was badmouth family leaders. Then I found Anya. I... I didn't know what to do. I called it in when I got her to the house. Mother came and took her to another room. I heard Anya scream for some time and to my shame, I enjoyed the sound. And then Mother came in and grabbed me. I... I don't remember much of what happened. Anya ran away the next week, before I was let out of my room. Before I could apologize, explain..."

 

"It wasn't YOUR fault." Portia said staunchly, hugging her sister.

 

"No." Jennifer said quietly. "And it wasn't Anya's either." She took a deep breath and hugged her smallest sister
tight. "Portia, you know...?"

 

"I know I was made to replace Anya." Portia said slowly. "Mother always made sure I knew that." She said with a scowl.

 

"Anya was RIGHT." Melissa said with a matching scowl. "Mother had the maternal instinct of a Vorcha."

 

"Melissa!" Jennifer snapped, indicating Portia with her eyes, but Portia wasn't listening. "Portia?" She asked,
concerned.

 

"I hear something." Portia said slowly. "If I am genetically her twin, would I hear Anya in my head?" Her tone was
confused.

 

"You are not her twin. You were created from here DNA, but not a twin. I don't know." Jennifer asked. The others waited, SHE was the medical professional. "What do you hear?"

 

"Music?" Portia said softly. "No... Singing. A long ways away. It's a woman's voice, but... it sounds... off... It's not
someone I now. But it does sound familiar?" She looked confused. "That makes no sense."

 

"Can you tell the song?" Jenni asked calmly. "Is it one you know?"

 

"I think..." Portia spoke hesitantly. "I don't know if I HAVE heard it, but the refrain sounds like 'Dance then,
wherever you may be...'. You know it?" She asked as the other three hissed.

 

"Yes. That was Anya's favorite song as a kid." Melissa said slowly as the others looked at Portia. "It's called 'Lord of the Dance'. Do you want to sing it with us, Portia?"

 

"How will that help?" Portia asked, nodding.

 

"I don't know." Jenni replied. "Scholar?"

 

"We need to give her a guide back to her body." The voice of the alien said quietly. "Obligatha may not be able to pull her back alone. Singing something she likes may help." The siblings stiffened as the door opened and two VERY dissimilar beings entered.

 

One was a tall Turian who still wore battered combat armor. The other was a small Prothean whose arm was bandaged and bound to her side. They both looked at the siblings who looked at them.  Finally Jenni broke the awkward silence.

 

"Captain Crado?" Jenni asked. Portia stiffened. This was the alien that Anya had married? Or something. The young human hadn't heard a lot about that, she had been stuck in her room while all the exciting things happened.

 

"Jennifer Wilson-Fuentes..." He stared and broke off as she shook her head. "What?"

 

"With the exception of Portia here..." She gave Portia a squeeze and the young human returned it, scared. "I think I speak for all of us when I say I am no longer of that family. I don't know who I am or what." Portia stiffened and then, nodded savagely, burying her head in Jenni's chest. Jenni hugged her. "It's okay, Portia, I am NOT going to
leave you."

 

"No one will make you." The odd alien said calmly. It's tone was female and kind, belying the holstered particle rifle and the scarred armor it -she- wore. "I am Lipa, senior surviving NCO of the assault force."

 

"I am sorry." Melissa said softly. "We didn't know what to do... We followed our orders..."

 

"It is not your fault." Lipa said kindly. "Not at all. We knew coming in that many of us would not survive. But it
needed to be done, so we did it. I am pleased to meet you in something other than battle, Tia Melissa."

 

"TIA?" Melissa said as all four sisters stiffened in shock. "What do you mean, 'Tia'?" That was Spanish for 'Aunt'.

 

"I apologize if I have given offense." Lipa said quickly, looking to Crado who shrugged and remained silent. She turned back to the group. "Your sister Anya bore me and many of us into the world. We call her Madre. You are all sisters of our mother, then, yes? Tia would be appropriate, yes?" She asked gently. Melissa stared at the Prothean who smiled. "You wondered WHY you were not slain with the others of the force you were with?" Melissa nodded again, both Kai and Jenni stared at her, dumbfounded. "We did not know WHO you were, Tia Melissa, but we DID feel something familiar from you. We were careful to only subdue you. We took prisoners when we could. But we could not do it all the time." She sighed. "There is little fair in war.  Anya taught us that."

 

"Anya taught you..." Melissa said softly. Lipa nodded and then stiffened in place as Portia rose from her seat and stepped to the floor.

 

"I was taught that aliens were evil." Portia said slowly. "That I had to be always on guard, to protect myself. But... You say you are family?" She asked incredulously. "How can that be?"

 

"Love will find a way." Lipa said sadly, looking at Anya's still form. "It started as a clinical experiment in cloning, but
it became so much more. Due in no small part to Anya. To Madre..." Was the Prothean crying? Yes! Yes she was! "You are hurting. You have lost so much this day. But you are not alone and you never need to be." The Prothean
knelt down to be on the same level as Portia. "We will allow no harm to come to you." She nodded to Kai, Jenni and Melissa who stared. "ANY of you. Hermanas de madre...Tias."

 

"How old are you?" Portia asked carefully, not moving.

 

"I am five." Lipa said with a smile. Portia goggled at her and Lipa nodded. "Protheans grow faster than humans."

 

"I have a niece that is four years younger than I am...?" Portia sounded stunned. "This is..." She shook her head, her long brown hair falling out of it's braids. "I dunno."

 

"You do not have to do anything now, Portia." Lipa said kindly. "We are giving you information, options, no more."

 

"Why are you here, now?" Portia asked after a moment of thinking.

 

"WE are here..." Crado Solinus said slowly. "Because Anya loved us and we loved her. Scholar thinks it will help. You were going to sing?" He asked the others who nodded in unison. "She DID always like 'Lord of the Dance'." He sighed. "Shall we?"

 

"YOU can sing?" Portia was obviously trying NOT to be rude, but her disbelief was plain.

 

"As long as it is not Dragonforce, sure." Crado said with a grin. "Let see..." He hummed a  bar and then his rich bass voice sounded.

 

'I danced in the morning when the world was young

I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun...'



Portia smiled as she joined in and then the others were singing as well.

Modifié par kalenath, 14 décembre 2012 - 04:14 .