by Cole Price
I thought as much.
“I request that fact not leave this room,” I continued. “It’s rapidly becoming one of the galaxy’s worst-kept secrets. With the Reapers here, there may soon be no point in further concealment. I would still prefer to keep the information at the level of rumor for the time being.”
Shepard sent a significant glance down his side of the table. Adams gave a decisive nod, Traynor an anxious one.
“I agree, Doctor,” said Victus. “Please continue.”
I called up a galaxy map on the wall behind me. My voice fell into a professorial cadence.
“Five days ago, the Reapers attacked Khar’Shan. The Batarian Hegemony does not appear to have put up any significant resistance. My analysts believe that the Reapers indoctrinated a number of senior civilian and military leaders in advance, conditioned their minds to act on behalf of the enemy. These ‘sleeper agents’ shut down defense and communication grids, turned weapons platforms against their own people, and took other steps to prevent any effective defense. Khar’Shan fell within hours.
“Yesterday, large Reaper forces surged across the mass-relay network, to attack both Earth and Palaven.
“Alliance forces put up more resistance than the batarians managed, but they failed to prevent a large-scale invasion of Earth itself. The Reapers wrecked the Alliance’s civilian government, and destroyed Arcturus Station. The remnants of the Alliance fleet, about two-thirds of the total, have withdrawn and remain operational under the command of Admiral Steven Hackett. Scattered forces on Earth are organizing a resistance against the Reapers, although it is not clear what they will be able to accomplish.
“The Reaper force attacking Palaven met with considerable resistance. Under Fleet Admiral Irix Coronati, the fleet managed to destroy several Reaper capital ships, over a dozen destroyer-class ships, and many troop transports. The turian fleet still remains in place to contest Palaven orbital space. Despite these successes, Reapers ground troops have landed in force on Palaven. Turian ground forces, including local militias and armed civilians, are contesting their homeworld almost meter by meter.
“The Reapers’ objectives are clear. They intend to eradicate every trace of high-technology civilization in the galaxy. To that end they are killing as many as they can reach. They are also harvesting batarians, humans, and turians at every opportunity. We believe some of the harvested will eventually be used as raw materials, for the construction of one or more new Reapers. For now, the rest are being repurposed as ground troops. Warped batarians, humans, turians, and even krogan appear to make up the bulk of the Reaper army.
“Not all the news is bad. Reaper forces have not yet entered salarian or asari space in significant numbers, nor has the Citadel come under threat. Reaper attacks in the Attican Traverse have been minimal, and there appear to be no Reaper forces as yet in the Terminus Systems. For whatever reason, the Reapers appear to be concentrating on batarian, human, and turian space for the time being.”
“Not surprising,” said Skavros, his voice deep and harsh. “With all due respect to Dr. T’Soni, her people are not a military power on the same level as the species under attack. Neither are the salarians. Clearly these Reapers are concentrating first on the points where they expect the strongest resistance. Once those have been reduced, the rest of the galaxy will be nothing but a long mop-up operation.”
I nodded. “My analysts concur with your assessment, sir.”
“There’s something I don’t understand,” said Lapadian, staring at the galaxy map. “Quite a few high-population worlds exist out in the Terminus Systems, vulnerable since they don’t have the protection of any of the major powers. Why aren’t the Reapers attacking out there?”
“Cerberus,” said Shepard flatly.
“Hrr?”
“We’ve received reports that Cerberus is operating quite widely in the Terminus Systems,” I explained. “Several days before the Reapers arrived, a large force under the command of General Oleg Petrovsky took control of Omega, driving Aria T’Loak into exile. Using Omega as a base of operations, Cerberus forces have mounted raids and full-scale assaults across half the galaxy. My network has very little visibility into Cerberus at the moment, so I have no clear assessment of their immediate objectives. I can’t even say for certain where Cerberus is getting so many ships and troops. However, I have evidence to suggest that Cerberus is at least temporarily allied with the Reapers.”
“What?” For the first time, the Primarch lost his bland composure.
“It’s true,” said Shepard. “Yesterday my team defeated a Cerberus raiding party on Mars. We discovered Cerberus troops that had been augmented with Reaper technology. This makes them better soldiers, but I think we have to assume that it also places them under at least indirect Reaper control.”
“Cerberus leadership may or may not be aware that they are working to support Reaper objectives,” I pointed out. “The Illusive Man appears to believe that he can seize control of them.”
“That sounds a lot like some of the delusional ranting we heard from Saren Arterius,” said Victus.
“Yes,” Shepard agreed. “It would be just like the Reapers to use Cerberus as a proxy, the way Sovereign used Saren. That would free up their main force to attack our strongest points.”
“That’s the strategy of an enemy who believes himself to possess overpowering force.”
Shepard nodded silently.
“Nonsense!” said Skavros, leaning forward. “We’ve already destroyed a few of these Reapers. We can destroy more. Palaven will never fall!”
Victus only shook his head.
I stepped in, framing my body language to project respectful regret to turian observers. “Sir, with all due respect to Fleet Admiral Coronati, he had tactical surprise and was able to take advantage of his position near the mass relay. The Reapers countered almost immediately, forcing him to withdraw in order to defend Palaven. The correlation of forces since then has been entirely in the Reapers’ favor. They have lost no more of their major platforms.”
“She’s right,” said Victus. “Even Coronati took out less than two percent of the force that’s attacking Palaven. We have to face facts. We can slow this enemy down, we can bloody them if we get lucky, but that’s all. Palaven almost fell during the Krogan Rebellions, and the Reapers are much worse . . .” Suddenly the Primarch trailed off, his eyes losing their focus.
“So what’s the plan?” demanded Skavros. “The Alliance is doing all it can to defend itself and start the construction of this Crucible device. What about the salarians and the asari?”
“Busy shoring up their own borders,” said Shepard, a trace of cynical irony in his voice. “Unless they’ve been more responsive to your calls for help than they were to ours.”
“No,” said Lapadian. “Although the Salarian Union has at least expressed willingness to attend a war summit, even with Primarch Fedorian dead.”
“Well, that’s a start . . .”
“The krogan,” said Victus.
Everyone fell silent, staring at the Primarch.
His eyes focused once more, watching Shepard. “Commander, we can’t put any faith in the Council, as your own people have had cause to discover. Much as I would like to have Destiny Ascension, ten thousand asari commandos, and the STG fighting for us, I know that’s not going to happen right away. I still need to take some of the pressure off my own people before I can promise any help for yours. I need something to stop these Reapers in their tracks. That only thing I can think of that might do that is a lot of krogan boots on Palaven.”
Shepard suddenly looked as uncertain as I had ever seen him. “That’s a very tall order. Sir.”
“I know. The krogan hate my people, and they have good reason.” Slowly, still holding Shepard’s gaze, Victus leaned forward and rested his forearms on the table, lacing his fingers together. “I can’t ask the krogan to come help us. But you can.”
“Maybe,” said Shepard. “Urdnot Wrex is a friend
. He trusts me. I don’t know if he trusts me that much.”
“All we can do is ask. See if he will attend this summit.”
“What incentive can we give him?”
Victus tilted his head back slightly, giving Shepard an ironic look. “A formal alliance with your people? Circumventing the Council entirely? I think he might be eager to take that chance. Even if it means allying with the Turian Hierarchy at the same time.”
Shepard shook his head in disbelief. “I’ll ask. But only from a safe distance.”
* * *
The planning meeting broke up. Shepard finally went off-duty. We retired to the crew deck for a late dinner, where I found myself almost too tired to chew. The past two and a half days had included many hours of intensive work, several episodes of combat, extensive use of my biotics, all the stress of the Reaper invasion, and four hours of not-very-restful sleep.
If the whole war is going to be like this, I have no idea how I’m going to survive to the end of it.
Of course, Shepard had several billion credits of Cerberus implants to help him stay active and alert. Nothos.
I will admit that it felt very, very good to strip down, take a hot shower, stumble into the bed, and then have a large warm human wrap himself around me.
“Tomorrow,” he murmured in my aural cavity.
“Must we?” I said, turning my head slightly and opening my eyes to gaze into his at close range.
“I think so. Liara, maybe Primarch Victus is willing to sit down with the krogan, but we still have to convince the asari and the salarians to come to the summit. Not to mention persuading Wrex that it’s in his people’s best interest to give us the time of day. In the morning, can you and Traynor start working the Broker network?”
“I think so. I assume you want recommendations on the best angle of approach for each party. Also any leverage the Broker might have to encourage everyone to sit down together.”
“Yeah.” He closed his eyes and rested his head on my shoulder, his arms around me tightening a little, his breath very warm on the folds of flesh along my neck. “In the morning.”
“In the morning,” I agreed, closing my eyes once more and feeling a certain heat. “Hmm.”
“Liara?”
“Shepard, do you suppose you could make love to an asari who is too exhausted to be very responsive? Knowing full well that she might fall asleep halfway through the process?”
He raised his head to give me a sharp-edged grin. “I don’t know. That sounds like a challenge.”
“Whatever it takes to engage your attention.”
I didn’t fall asleep. Certainly not after the first few minutes. Toward the end I looked up into his face, gasping at the waves of pleasure rolling through my body, and felt such a tide of desire that I could hardly bear it.
I want. I want so much. I want him with me, calm and at peace. I want . . .
I didn’t know quite what I wanted, aside from more of him. Not then.
Chapter 11 : Big Damn Heroes
After that first terrible day of the war, Normandy settled into a kind of routine.
Shepard put his ship’s speed and mobility to good advantage, raiding and scouting across turian space. He led an away mission every day, two on some days, smash and grab and back aboard before dinner. A flotilla helped to escape from the Reapers here, a crucial scientist extracted from a Reaper-beset colony there, a war banner of great cultural significance recovered in a third place.
I remained on board ship throughout this time. I had to be the Shadow Broker: coordinate my network’s activities, oversee the evacuation of T’Soni Analytics personnel and equipment from Illium, feed intel to the Alliance and Primarch Victus, slowly gather influence to encourage the proposed war summit.
The summit! What a disaster, almost from the beginning.
Primarch Victus supported the idea of a war summit, so Councilor Sparatus did as well, and Shepard stood ready to represent the Alliance. Yet we all knew that would never be enough, and at first no one else cared to join us. Urdnot Wrex wanted extensive guarantees before he would even consider taking part. Councilor Tevos declined to “waste her time” on what she considered a futile effort. The two most senior dalatrass in the Salarian Union refused to even be in the same room as any krogan.
With the Reapers marching on all of us, the most influential leaders in the galaxy thought only of themselves and their own stubborn pride. Victus, Shepard, and I played the diplomatic game, cajoling and persuading and making subtle threats, but at first nothing seemed to work.
Every evening, Shepard and I met to have dinner together in the crew mess. Then we would work for a few more hours, sometimes together in the war room, other times apart, usually well into the night shift. Then we would finally retire to his cabin. Sometimes we made love before we slept, other times sheer fatigue forbade us anything but some cuddling and talk. It didn’t matter. For all that we had been lovers for almost three years, the time we had truly been together could be measured in mere days. It seemed a great luxury just to lie safe in my bondmate’s arms, even while I could sense the galaxy falling apart around us.
When a thousand worries kept me awake, he would rub my back and shoulders until I turned into a boneless puddle. When he awoke in the middle of the night, shouting his way out of some nightmare, I would hold him close to whisper love and comfort in his ear.
Already we had work to do, to keep each other sane.
Then came the next catastrophe.
* * *
17 April 2186, Interstellar Space
“Report,” commanded Shepard, his face looking grim and unusually pale.
I touched controls, turning the holographic display in the center of the War Room into a star map. Shepard, Garrus, EDI, Traynor, Primarch Victus and his aides, all of them watched as I filled the map with data.
“Yesterday, at about 1800 our time, Cerberus attacked Noveria.” I marked one star in a bright green color, on the outer edge of the Scutum-Centaurus Arm, about ten thousand light-years from Earth. “It’s not clear where the Cerberus force came from, but it’s clearly quite large. Noveria’s planetary defense network appears to have gone down without firing a shot, possibly subverted in advance. Port Hanshan fell within an hour, after which Cerberus detachments seized control of a dozen corporate research facilities scattered along the Aleutsk Valley. I have fragmentary reports to suggest that Cerberus is digging in to hold the planet, setting up troop staging areas and fighter bases.”
“What’s their objective?” asked Victus.
“Unknown at this time, Primarch. I speculate that Cerberus might be interested in the corporate facilities on Noveria, or in some of the cutting-edge research projects taking place there.”
“Noveria’s also well-placed as a staging point, to strike into either human or salarian space,” Garrus observed.
“That’s true. Subsequent events seem to bear that out.” I touched more controls. More bright green stars appeared, this time further out from the galactic core, in the Sagittarius Arm and even in the Orion Spur where Earth itself was located. “Starting this morning, at about 0200 our time, more Cerberus forces launched a rapid series of attacks across most of Alliance space. A large force has attacked Eden Prime and occupied the entire colony. Smaller raiding detachments have struck Benning, Elysium, Intai’sei, and Terra Nova. Wherever the Cerberus home base may be, their supply lines appear to run through the Pax system and Noveria.”
“No attacks into the Salarian Union?” asked the Primarch.
“Not yet. They’re targeting human colonies only, for now.”
Victus made a turian frown, his fangs bared and his mandibles tight against his jaw. “Commander, what effect is this having inside the Alliance?”
Shepard nodded grimly. “Devastating, Primarch.”
“Explain.”
“Admiral Hackett is still struggling to reassemble the Alliance fleet, and get started on the Crucible project. He’s mustering our naval assets we
ll away from any primary mass relay. That prevents the Reapers from simply surging out and destroying what’s left of the fleet. The downside is that Hackett can’t react quickly to a sudden offensive like this.” Shepard leaned forward, bracing his arms against the rim of the holographic stage. “So here Cerberus is attacking colony after colony, and what’s left of the Alliance can’t seem to muster an effective response. This is having a terrible effect on morale. Admiral Anderson is of the opinion that if we can’t turn this around, and fast, the resistance on Earth may collapse before it gets started.”
“Commander, I sense that you’re about to ask a favor of me.”
“That’s right.” Shepard took a deep breath. “Sir, I need to take Normandy back to Alliance space. I need to find a way to stop Cerberus, and do it in a loud and highly visible manner. I mean to send a message to billions of people who are struggling just to stay alive for one more day: someone out here is still fighting, still standing up to our enemies.”
The Primarch nodded. “I concur. The alliance we want to forge won’t happen if humanity collapses.”
“We can drop you and your aides off at the Citadel first.”
“No.” Victus gave Shepard a sharp predator’s stare. “We’ll stay aboard Normandy.”
“I can’t ask you to leave turian space. Not while the Reapers are on Palaven.”
“Then don’t ask. We’ll do it anyway.” Victus smiled slightly. “I can coordinate the turian war effort just as well aboard Normandy as anywhere else. Possibly better. I have access to all my own intelligence and command-and-control channels, and I see Alliance and Shadow Broker intelligence feeds as well. Send me to the Citadel and I would probably lose effectiveness.”
“Liara?”
“The Primarch is right, Shepard. Normandy is ideally suited as a command post, so long as the comm buoy network stays up and we remain connected.”
“My people are pragmatists, Commander,” Victus said. “They will be concerned with what works, not with style and appearances. Besides, having the Primarch of Palaven standing at your side as you fight your own renegades, that sends a message too.”
