"Fire, fire!"
I shouted at my subordinates, although it wasn't necessary. They already understood that Saren was the enemy and had to be eliminated.
"Liara, cover Tali; Tali, you must open the Citadel!"
"Understood!"
The girls answered in sync and immediately ran to the terminal; I saw with some bewilderment how Saren's body fell to the floor.
"Is that it?"
Jane looked with slight disgust at Saren, who lay on the ground.
"Don't approach..."
I shook my head.
"...don't lose vigilance!"
"Oh, come on..."
One of the soldiers waved his hand.
"...it's just a body!"
He ignored my order, or rather tried to do so, but I grabbed him by the armor with a hand created from Biotics and threw him back.
"I said do not lose vigilance!"
At the same time, I managed to put up a barrier, into which Saren's body crashed, from which skin began to peel off, and meat began to come away.
"Your re-sis-tance... is use-less-s... the Har-vest... will... be car-ried out..."
Words came to him with difficulty.
"...the Har-vest... will... be car-ried out..."
He literally blurred in the air, trying to attack Liara and Tali, but he couldn't break through the barrier Liara held over them.
"Shepard, there... there's a slaughterhouse out there! I've connected to the transmissions... that ship is literally destroying ships, but... if we open the Citadel, the human fleet that has already arrived will suffer very serious losses..."
"Open it!"
I gave the order, watching as Saren again tried to attack Tali and Liara, but at that moment I also created a barrier that covered them, and he failed again. And after that, Saren turned jerkily in our direction and rushed at very high speed.
It was hard even to aim at him, and only the Biotic dome I maintained saved us.
Both Lissi and Missi. But it couldn't go on like this for long. Sooner or later, the biotics would burn out.
"Jane, Garrus, grab your sniper rifles."
"Huh? It'll be impossible to hit anything with those..."
Despite some indignation from Jane, she took the rifle, as did Garrus.
"You'll know when to shoot. Just please, don't miss..."
I began to build up a biotic charge, causing me to glow.
A second, a second, a third...
I lunged to intercept Saren using Charge and slammed into him. We skidded across the hall floor; I held him tightly, trying to prevent him from escaping or striking me. But the former Spectre's arms contorted, and he began tearing at my armor!
I had to exert some effort to roll over and end up beneath him without breaking contact, but it was worth it.
A shot! A second! A third!
Judging by the sound, Garrus and Jane had opened aimed fire at Saren, who continued to rip at my armor.
"Gkh..."
His claws reached my flesh, but the next shot put an end to his pseudo-life.
"Finally..."
I said it with some relief. Because I had been too focused on the Charge, I hadn't managed to cover myself with a Barrier... and now, more than ever, it showed how weak I was. No, it was clear that we hadn't encountered strong opponents until now...
"John!"
Jane was beside me, literally dragging Saren's body off of me.
"How are you?"
"I'll live. The armor has already injected the necessary drugs, but if you help me get to a more comfortable spot where I can wait for the medics, I'd be grateful."
"Of course!"
She immediately started lifting me, and Rebecca Lee moved to my other side, letting me lean on her shoulder as well. Although I could have walked to the bench perfectly fine on my own, reaching it with the help of the girls was more pleasant.
"Is everyone alive?"
"Well, the guy you threw away from Saren broke his leg..."
Jane nodded toward the man receiving first aid.
"...but otherwise, yes. The Barriers helped a lot in holding Saren back."
"Yeah... a lot..."
I said it with heavy irony.
"The first serious opponent in all the time we've been chasing him, and look at me..."
I pointed to the torn armor elements and the blood that was beginning to dry.
"...looks like I need to lean into training... lean into it very hard."
And I even knew exactly how to arrange it. Moreover, it wouldn't just be me leaning into training, but everyone dear to me. For that... yes, for that, I'd have to put in some effort. But all that could wait; for now, I had to deal with what was happening.
"John, are you serious right now?"
There was a hint of disbelief in Jane's voice.
"Jane... this..."
I nodded at Saren's body.
"...is only the beginning."
"The beginning?"
Martinez asked the question in a slightly tense voice.
"Classified. I'll only say that you and your subordinates need to lean into training. Lean into it very hard. I think you've noticed yourself that things in the command staff have become somewhat..."
I shook my head.
"Unsettled? Hectic?"
The man, whose faceplate was transparent, frowned slightly.
"Well, yes... soon you'll have exercises. A lot of different exercises, and if I were you, I'd take those exercises with great responsibility. It's not for nothing. So... just advice to a comrade-in-arms... work like your life depends on it."
"I'll remember that."
The man nodded.
"John, how are you?"
Tali approached me, with Liara beside her.
"I'll live."
I gave the girls a reassuring smile.
** A few hours later. **
"Shepard..."
"Tevos."
I nodded to the Asari who had come to my ward. Not that I really needed serious help, but a little care wouldn't hurt. So I didn't refuse a couple of days in the hospital.
"I came to say thank you. You were right, the Destiny Ascension really was the main target of that strange ship. On the SSV Normandy, despite—or maybe because of—that crazy pilot, it was much safer."
"You're always welcome, Councilor Tevos."
"Is there any way I can help you? After all, it's quite likely you saved my life... there were many casualties on the Destiny Ascension. And if you hadn't given the order to open the Citadel, then the SSV Normandy, sooner or later..."
She trailed off, but it was clear what she meant. Thinking for a moment, I made a gesture as if asking if I could speak freely. Tevos nodded, indicating that we couldn't be overheard.
"I need to arrange a meeting with a certain lady..."
"Seriously?"
There was a hint of bewilderment in Tevos's voice.
"Seriously."
I nodded.
"If it were easy to do, I would have met her already. You know, as the owner of a corporation, I have some resources, and as an acquaintance of Aria T'Loak and Matriarch Benezia."
Tevos chuckled.
"Actually, no... there's something else. Besides the meeting with someone, I need to transfer someone to one of my colonies."
"Does the appetite grow with the eating?"
Tevos said it mockingly.
"Well, you could say that, though I don't believe you'll manage to pull off the second part. Your society isn't such that they'd allow you to do that."
"You've intrigued me..."
Tevos looked at me with interest.
"Well, you surely know my story by now?"
"I do..."
Tevos nodded in agreement.
"...you put some effort into hiding it, of course, but clearly not very much."
"I just didn't see the point in trying too hard. If you hide something too well that essentially can't harm me, someone digging might find something truly secret. I don't need that, so I hid it so it would be difficult to find, but not impossible, and here it is..."
Grinning, I tried to look as if it were a terrifying secret.
"...a secret that can be used to blackmail me."
"I see... you want me to arrange a meeting with your sister? Do you even know who she is?"
I gave a crooked smile.
"Of course I know. And you have no idea how right you are right now."
"Tsk, she's in Cerberus... a terrorist..."
"And that's where you're wrong."
"Apparently, you know very little about your family if you think I just told a lie."
Tevos smiled sadly.
"Oh no, I know you told the truth. Miranda Lawson really does work for Cerberus... but not for long. I'm preparing to pull her out of that organization. Unfortunately, doing so is somewhat problematic, but I'll manage."
"So... if it's not about her, and your other sister works for you..."
There was bewilderment in the Councilor's voice.
"Then who?"
"Well... I'd like to meet my mother, for which I need help organizing a meeting, and also... as I found out, I have sisters on my mother's side. And..."
I smirked.
"...I'd like to transfer them to one of the colonies. Only you don't have enough influence for that... though, considering the approaching war... maybe it will work out."
"So..."
Tevos shook her head.
"...I don't understand a damn thing. Are your sisters some kind of super-dangerous criminals?"
"Well... one definitely is..."
I smirked.
"...but you can't get to her. And it's not that you couldn't get her out of prison; she's just not in prison, she's traveling. But the other two... they are effectively in prison, though in your society it's called something else."
"Can you stop speaking in riddles?"
Tevos finally lost her patience.
"Honestly, I'm already starting to regret starting this conversation, and only the understanding that you must be rewarded keeps me here. So just say what exactly you need, and let's end this."
"Well, sorry, sorry..."
I raised my hands, showing I was giving up.
"...I didn't mean to drive you crazy."
I was lying; I really did want to rattle her a bit. There were no specific reasons for it; I did it simply because I could. But I wouldn't tell her that. The last thing I needed was to spoil relations with the Councilor.
"Hurry up."
"Yes, yes..."
I nodded.
"In short, I want to meet the Asari whose DNA was used to create me."
"And who is she?"
Since I had fallen silent, Tevos had to ask the question to hurry me along.
"Oh, she's a very prominent figure. She represents a certain profession, or rather a caste, or an ancient order, and it's a very respected activity among the Asari."
"No..."
Tevos's eyes widened slightly.
"Yes. My biological mother is a Justicar, and her name is Samara. And since she's chasing one of my sisters, she ignores all requests for a meeting from Matriarch Benezia and Aria T'Loak. And I want to transfer two other sisters who live in a monastery."
"Are you a psycho?"
"Not at all, it's just... in my view, when the war starts soon, the Asari won't have the luxury of continuing to spend resources on maintaining monasteries. So we can try to play on that... in general... I don't believe I'll manage to save my sisters, but... I'd at least like to meet my mother."
"I'll... see what can be done about it."
Tevos sighed heavily and left my ward.
***
Read the story months before public release — early chapters are on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Granulan