by Cole Price
“That’s a little more insight into the Illusive Man’s mind than I ever wanted,” said Shepard, leaning out to deliver a shotgun blast. “At least they’re easy to take out, once their barriers go down.”
Then he saw some opportunity, leaned forward, and blurred into a devastating flash-charge. Javik and I followed on foot, sending a wave of blue-and-green biotic force along to clear Shepard’s flanks.
We punched through the Cerberus formation, Shalmar Plaza visible not far ahead of us. Cerberus had sealed the main passageway into the plaza, but Shepard soon found an alternate route. We made our way thorough planters, hustled along a service access, and jumped a gap in the railing along the very outer edge of the terrace. Finally we emerged onto the plaza, already looking around for an elevator up to the shuttle landings.
WHAM!
“Atlas!” shouted Shepard, already diving for cover.
It deployed almost on top of us. We scattered, cowering behind cover, suddenly unable to coordinate our attack.
Fortunately Shepard saw that we didn’t have to. “It’s alone. Pack tactics! Hit it with everything you’ve got!”
The Atlas could only face one direction at a time. Javik acted as bait, risking the mech’s devastating rocket strike to hold its pilot’s attention. Meanwhile Shepard and I worked our way around behind, emerging to hammer the mech with shotgun blasts, biotic shockwaves, and the most powerful warps I could muster. After a few moments of this, the pilot must have become concerned, but he could only turn around with slow, ponderous steps.
“Fall back,” Shepard commanded, hurling an incendiary grenade to explode against the pilot’s canopy. Already weakened, the canopy shattered, letting the ball of plasma into the pilot’s compartment.
That was enough to trigger the mech’s self-destruct sequence. From the sound, the pilot found that a mercy.
“Bailey, we’re in Shalmar Plaza. Where’s the Council?”
“In an elevator, heading for the shuttle landing. Someone’s following them.” The C-Sec officer paused. “Someone with a sword?”
“There seems to be a lot of that going around today,” said Shepard. “Can you get us an elevator?”
“Will do. About twenty meters ahead and to your left, up a flight of stairs.”
“I see it.”
We hurried, up the stairs, back to the lifts. Just in time to see four Cerberus assassins enter one of the lifts ahead of us. Three of the anonymous sword-bearing females, and Kai Leng.
Shepard growled and charged forward, just a moment too late. The lift door closed on Leng’s smiling face.
“Damn it. What does it take to kill that bastard?”
I went to the adjacent lift doors, wedged my fingers into the partition, and called up my biotics. The doors slammed open, revealing a dark shaft behind. “Commander Bailey,” I called into the comm channel. “We’re about to get on top of car number two. Get ready to move it to the top of the tower.”
“Got it.”
We jumped into the shaft, arranging ourselves on top of the elevator car, turning on our omni-tool lights.
“There is little cover,” Javik observed.
“Hopefully we won’t need it,” said Shepard. “Bailey, we’re in the shaft.”
“Okay. Hang on, this’ll be a fast climb.”
The car lurched into motion. All three of us staggered slightly, but then the acceleration stopped and we could regain our feet.
“Bailey? Please tell me that assassin hasn’t reached the Council.”
“He’s trying, but I’m making his car stop on every floor.”
Javik made a gruff bark of amusement.
Another moment, and then we could see Leng’s car in the adjacent shaft, approaching fast as our car rose more swiftly. Shepard’s eyes narrowed as he examined the other car, then he pointed. “Take out those power conduits on the bottom!”
Shepard got one with his shotgun. I got the other with a biotic warp. Leng’s car slammed to a stop, rushing down past us with a screeching noise and a burst of wind.
“Good riddance,” said Javik with satisfaction.
Fortunately I happened to glance over my shoulder, into the shaft on the other side. Another car descended to our level, with someone riding on its top.
“Another assassin!” I shouted, and flung a warp at the enemy.
The woman shouted, an oddly mechanical sound, and prepared to leap across the gap to our car.
Shepard uncoiled directly in her path, discharging his Claymore in her face at point-blank range.
Her barriers were strong, but not that strong, especially after my warp had softened them. She flew back in a fountain of blood, smashing into the wall of the shaft behind her and vanishing.
“Shotgun beats sword,” he said, working the slide of his weapon with a satisfying click.
“Shepard! Bad news.”
“Is there any other kind?”
“That hit man jumped to another elevator, and he’s overridden my controls. He’s on his way up and I can’t stop him.”
“We’ll handle it,” said Shepard confidently.
“Here they come!” shouted Javik.
Once more we saw a car approaching, its power conduits exposed. This time we had some practice to call upon. Shepard attacked one conduit, Javik and I the other, and the car went screeching off into the darkness.
“Shepard?”
Another car. By process of elimination, this had to be the one carrying the Council.
“I see them. Jump!”
Shepard led us across the gap, landing on the other car’s roof with a thump. I glanced down for just an instant as I made my own jump, my heart freezing at the sight of the abyss beneath us.
Then we all rolled frantically to avoid gunshots, punching through the car’s roof. Someone inside was firing at us blind.
Suddenly the car lurched to a stop, throwing all three of us off our feet.
Javik stood too close to the edge. I had to reach out frantically with my biotics to prevent him from going over.
Shepard attacked the maintenance hatch, prying it out of its housing with desperate speed. It fell into the car with a great clang. He threw himself after it, drawing his sidearm as he went.
I heard a familiar voice as I jumped down in Shepard’s wake: “Damn it, Cerberus hit the shuttle! Everyone back to the elevator!”
Ashley?
We emerged onto the shuttle landing, weapons drawn. I slapped the door control, locking the door down behind us.
Ashley Williams stood before us, her own sidearm drawn, her eyes going wide with surprise at our appearance. A few meters behind her stood the remaining Councilors, all of them watching in fear and confusion.
“Shepard?”
“Shepard’s blocking our escape!” said Udina. “He’s with Cerberus!”
I narrowed my eyes at him, that politician’s face and voice, concealing a lie behind bland plausibility.
Ashley interposed herself between us and the Councilors, her sidearm at the ready. “Everybody hang on. Shepard, what’s happening here?”
Shepard lowered his weapon slightly.
I didn’t. Udina remained in my sights.
“You know me better than that, Ash.”
Ashley shook her head. “I knew the old Shepard. Before Cerberus. Right now, I’m not sure who I’m dealing with.”
Shepard rose out of his gunfighter’s crouch, lowered his weapon entirely. He gestured for Javik and me to do the same. After an instant’s wide-eyed disbelief, we obeyed.
“We don’t have time to negotiate,” he said. “You’ve been fooled, all of you. Udina is behind this attack. Councilor Valern confirmed it.”
Ashley didn’t shift her focus, but I saw her eyes narrow with speculation. Sparatus and Tevos weren’t as discreet. Both of them turned to stare at Udina.
“Please,” said the human Councilor, his voice full of pained skepticism. “You have no proof. You never do.”
“There are Cerberus assassins
in the elevator shaft behind us,” Shepard snapped, pointing with a dramatic gesture. “If you open that door, they’ll do their best to kill us all.”
I watched the Councilors: Udina’s face unreadable, Sparatus and Tevos showing signs of dawning comprehension.
“We’ve mistrusted Shepard before,” said Tevos finally, “and it did not help us.”
“We don’t have time to debate this!” Udina turned, headed for a control panel mounted on a stand several meters away. “We’re all dead if we stay out here. I’m overriding the lock.”
Shepard brought his sidearm to bear once more, aiming past Ashley, putting Udina in his sights. Javik and I followed suit, fanning out to both sides so that Ashley couldn’t interfere with all of us.
Ashley’s face was a battlefield. Her lips pulled back from her teeth in a snarl. “I’m gonna regret this.”
Then she stood down, turning away from us to face Udina.
“No,” said Shepard quietly. “You’re not.”
“Councilor!” Ashley strode over, stopping only a few steps away from Udina, her sidearm trained on the human. “Step away from the console.”
“To hell with this,” Udina growled. He pounced on the console, began to undo my lock on the door.
“Donnel, please.” Tevos stepped forward, carefully staying out of Ashley’s line of fire, and rested a gentle hand on Udina’s arm. “Let’s reason this out.”
Udina lashed out, shoving the asari back. She lost her balance and fell to the floor. He drew a pistol and began to level it at her.
“Gun!” shouted Ashley.
Shepard shot the Councilor.
One shot, fired from the hip, at a range of over a dozen meters. A crimson bloom appeared on Udina’s chest, directly over his heart.
Udina’s eyes flew wide. The gun fell from his nerveless fingers. He toppled.
Shepard strode forward. “Get the Council back, and cover that door!”
All of us took cover, our weapons pointing at the door, ready to fight. Ashley took a position in our line, ready to defend the remaining Councilors with her life. Even the Councilors prepared, Sparatus picking up Udina’s discarded pistol, Tevos calling up a formidable biotic corona.
Sparks flew from the door. Someone forcing it open from the other side.
Shepard called up his own biotics, ready to flash-charge into the teeth of the Cerberus attack . . .
The door opened. Cerberus failed to make an appearance.
Fortunately Shepard had superb reflexes. He immediately dropped both corona and weapon, and rose from cover. “Bailey?”
Ashley lowered her own sidearm, suddenly smiling with unexpected warmth.
Bailey stepped out onto the landing stage, glancing past us to take in the situation, Garrus and three other C-Sec officers right behind him. “Made it as fast as we could, Shepard. Although it looks like you, uh, took care of things.”
“Something is not right,” said Tevos. “You said Cerberus was targeting us, that they were in the elevator shaft. Where did their soldiers go?”
“Cerberus was right here,” said Bailey. “They beat feet into the keeper tunnels when they figured out we were coming. Sorry, Councilor. I’ll say it plain: Shepard and his people just saved the lot of you.”
“Then you have saved my life twice now,” said Sparatus. “Commander, I owe you a great personal debt, as well as one on behalf of Palaven.”
Tevos nodded in silent agreement.
He was my bondmate. I knew him better than anyone in the galaxy. I could see it, the instant of temptation, the urge to remind the Councilors of all the years they had spent dismissing him, belittling him, calling him a liar or worse.
Then, with no more than a gleam in his eyes, he set it all aside.
“You don’t owe me anything, Councilor. This is a time when we all have to stand together.”
If just a hint of stress could be heard on that statement, he could be forgiven. I saw a flicker in the turian Councilor’s eyes as he nodded in firm agreement, indicating that he had heard and acknowledged the unspoken message. “Commander, do you have any idea why the Illusive Man would do this?”
“No. I don’t.” Shepard shifted his stance, as if taking up a burden. “But I intend to find out.”
Sparatus nodded again. “Good.”
“All right, people, principals are ready for evac, and we got a tunnel and a million more places to secure. Let’s move it.” Bailey gestured for his men to escort the Councilors to safety, clearing the landing stage, leaving Udina’s body to look rather small and pathetic behind them.
Shepard caught Ashley’s eye. She stood uncertainly, nothing of her usual brash confidence in her face.
He extended his hand, a gesture of forgiveness and trust.
After a moment, she took it.
* * *
6 May 2186, Huerta Memorial Hospital/Citadel
Huerta Memorial was frantically busy, hundreds of injuries and trauma cases clogging the corridors and every available room. Shepard and I forged our way through the masses of people, searching without much hope.
“Can I help you?” said a human physician in surgeon’s gear.
“I’m looking for a drell named Thane Krios,” said Shepard gratefully.
The doctor checked a datapad, scanning through patient listings. “Well, we have a drell, but not under that name.”
“He was sent here with a stab wound.” Shepard’s voice began to show stress. “He’s a regular patient. I’ve visited him here before.”
The doctor made a placating gesture. “It’s all right, it’s all right. I believe I know who you’re talking about. He’s right here in this ward, actually. I’m one of the attending physicians on his case.”
“Thank God. What can you tell us?”
“We were able to repair much of the trauma. Unfortunately, Mister, um, Krios is in the final stages of Kepral’s Syndrome. That interferes with his blood’s ability to carry oxygen, and he’s lost a lot. They’ve given him transfusions, but frankly, there’s a very limited supply of drell blood on the Citadel.”
Shepard nodded, glancing at me for an instant. “We’ll get more. Give me his blood type.”
The doctor shook his head sadly. “That’s not going to work. There are so few drell on the Citadel. There’s only one with a matching blood type, and he’s already donated as much as he can. We did all we could to help him through surgery, but his body simply isn’t replacing the lost blood. Too much shock.”
“Are you saying there’s nothing to be done?” I asked.
“I’m afraid so, miss.” The doctor sighed in defeat. “His son is in there now, saying his goodbyes. You might want to say yours.”
I reached out and took Shepard’s hand, ignoring the tears that sprang up in my eyes.
Together we stepped into a nearby room: brightly lit, looking out across the Presidium, but very austere. Thane Krios lay in a recovery bed, his eyes closed, fighting simply to breathe. Beside the bed stood another drell I didn’t know, tall, his scales bluish rather than bright green in cast, gently holding Thane’s hand.
“Hello, Kolyat,” said Shepard quietly.
“Commander Shepard.” Kolyat Krios turned to watch us with his fathomless black eyes. “My father told me you were on the Citadel. That you fought beside him today, against Cerberus. Thank you for being here.”
“This is my wife, Liara T’Soni.”
I nodded silently, not trusting myself to speak.
“My father has mentioned you as well, Dr. T’Soni.” The young drell bowed his head. “Thank you.”
“How is your father?” asked Shepard.
“He’s resting. He asked me to remove his oxygen mask so he could be more comfortable.” Kolyat sighed, his shoulders slumping in dejection. “I don’t think it will be very long.”
“Your father helped us save a lot of lives today. We’d like to be here for him.”
“Of course, Commander.” Kolyat stepped aside, permitted us to approach th
e bed.
We looked down at Thane. I remembered meeting the drell assassin on Illium, the oddly principled manner in which he had accepted my commission to eliminate Nassana Dantius. From Shepard’s memories I knew what an immense help he had been during the war against the Collectors. Shepard regarded him as a comrade in arms, almost as a brother, perhaps recognizing something of himself in the drell’s checkered history.
“Commander. Dr. T’Soni.” Thane’s voice had almost failed, a weak rasp. “I’m afraid I won’t be joining you again.”
“You’ve done more than enough, Thane,” said Shepard, a quiet valediction.
“Hmm. That Cerberus assassin should be embarrassed. A terminally ill drell managed to prevent him from reaching his target.”
“That’s one message I’ll be very happy to pass along.”
Thane looked up at Shepard for a long moment. “There is something I must do before it gets worse. I must . . .”
Then an outbreak of violent coughing wracked his body.
Goddess, the pain he must be suffering.
Kolyat bowed his head, cupping his hands together in an attitude of prayer.
Finally, the dying drell managed to regain control of his breathing once more. His eyes closed, his face tense, he began to speak, almost to chant in a hoarse whisper. “Kalahira, mistress of inscrutable depths, I ask forgiveness. Kalahira, whose waves wear down stone and sand . . .”
He could not go on, his lungs going into spasm once more.
Another voice, calm and smooth: “Kalahira, wash the sins from this one, and set him on the distant shore of the infinite spirit.”
Kolyat, taking up the burden of his father’s prayer.
Thane fell back on the bed, at peace for the moment. He opened his eyes and looked up at his son. “Kolyat. You speak as the priests do. Have you been spending time with them?”
The younger drell nodded.
“Good.” Thane closed his eyes once more, a beatific smile spreading across his features. “Good.”
Kolyat stepped around to our side of the bed once more, producing a small leather-bound book. “Commander, I brought a prayer book. It includes a translation into your language. Would you join me?”
