I sat in a quite luxuriously furnished room, which had no equipment except for a small box in the center of the table. Various dishes had also already been laid out, but all that was unimportant. All because I was expecting a guest. A guest who was supposed to appear in thirty...
The door to the room opened, and a tall, slender Asari entered, dressed in a red suit, with a hoop or diadem on her head. I never understood that stuff.
And upon entering, she didn't speak but immediately attacked me with a throw, but it broke against the biotic shield I had raised, as did several subsequent attacks.
"Maybe that's enough?"
I tilted my head slightly to the side.
"After all, if I wanted to fight or kill you, there would be soldiers here with machine guns and explosive bullets—special bullets that recently hit the black market."
I had already reported them to Tevos, and I told Benezia and Aria as well, along with the fact that the STG is behind all this. So this is no longer important or secret information that is dangerous to disclose. And even if it were... the girl standing before me won't talk idly.
"Speak."
"Have a seat; believe me, the conversation will be somewhat surprising. And I would have liked it to take place much earlier, but..."
I spread my hands to the sides.
"...I didn't have that opportunity, and you ignored all my invitations that I passed through various channels."
"Shepard."
The Asari quickly put two and two together, getting four, naturally.
"Exactly."
Nodding, I removed the helmet from my head and also detached the gloves from my armor.
"Please, believe me, this conversation will allow you to understand what's what, and as for your daughter, don't worry, she's safe now..."
The Asari's lips curved slightly, which I could only interpret as mockery.
"...and she's also isolated from the outside world. All she can do is eat her fill, watch TV, and read books. So she won't be able to harm anyone."
"Don't underestimate her... believe me, she's probably already escaped from your guarded place and is out there somewhere planning to commit another murder."
** Bali colony, isolated room. **
"Achoo..."
Morinth sneezed and, looking around, scratched her nose.
"Is someone thinking of me, then?"
After these words, she grimaced, as thinking about the outside world, she began to feel... something unpleasant again. Something that made her think about her sisters' words. Think and focus on some old human TV series, the essence of which she didn't understand, but which allowed her to completely switch off her brain.
Perhaps the creators of Santa Barbara never suspected that their series would be used as a means to help psychologically unstable, or even completely ill people.
Morinth, at that moment, thought the series was more pleasant to watch with snacks, so she quickly switched to the comms and asked her sisters to send her some wings or French fries, or something else to chew on...
** End. **
"That's not the case..."
I shook my head and took a tablet from my belt, which I handed to Samara.
"A one-time toy; all the days Morinth spent as my guest are uploaded there. Of course, she tried to escape, but by watching the recording, you'll be able to understand that I knew exactly who I would be holding captive. So I prepared more than seriously."
"Let's assume... afterwards, I hope you will allow me to complete my mission... If you're right that she hasn't escaped, of course. For now, I think you can start talking."
"Well... I'll talk later, but for now, may I ask you to touch the analyzer on your side?"
"Want to check if I am who I say I am?"
Amusement was heard in the Asari's voice.
"Not at all. However, the reason I've been seeking a meeting with you for so long is quite unusual, and it's easier to show it."
"Well, alright." Samara touched the analyzer, after which I touched it myself, which she clearly didn't expect, and then...
"- Analysis complete. Kinship ties established. Closest designation: mother and son."
"What?!"
Bracing her hands on the table, Samara rose from the chair she had just lowered herself into.
"How is that even possible?!"
"Well... the short version is that my late father wished to create an ideal heir for himself. And somehow he came across information about Justicars, so he obtained blood, your blood..."
I looked at the Asari, and a slight apprehension could be seen in my gaze.
"Then there were experiments, crossing various DNAs; in short, it's not for nothing the device identified our connection as the closest designation. Because there's quite a lot of everything mixed in me."
"This is all..."
Samara slowly sank into the chair.
"...extremely unexpected."
"I understand you, and now I have a question: don't you want to visit your daughters?"
"Huh?"
"Well, I took a couple of Temples and, with the permission of the Council of Matriarchs, moved their residents to my colony, Bali. Actually, all three sisters are there now. Mirala is undergoing the first stage of treatment."
"Ardat-Yakshi cannot be cured."
"I know that, though my geneticists are working on that issue; I meant..."
I tapped my index finger on my temple.
"...I managed to find information that murders using the Embrace hit an Asari's brain very hard. And that's exactly what my sister needs help with. I want to show her that she didn't get the free life she desired; she became a slave to a psychological addiction."
"This..."
In Samara's gaze, I saw doubt.
"I..."
"I understand that such a thing is very hard to accept, especially when your whole life..."
I kept quiet about the fact that this life was not a short one, as Samara is still a woman and might react sharply to such a statement. Of course, the chances of that are small, but they exist.
"...but I, though not acquainted with Mirala, have managed to get to know Falere and Rila, and I wouldn't want to upset them by killing their sister. After all, while there's a chance to return her to a relatively normal life..."
"A naive idealist..."
Samara shook her head.
"...however, I can only say that your words have planted a seed of doubt in my heart. So, so be it, I will give you the opportunity to try to return my wayward daughter to the path of truth. But if you don't succeed..."
"Then we'll resolve the issue radically."
I nodded in agreement.
"It's good that you understand that. And yes, you must understand that calling you 'sonny' and 'son'..."
"I understand."
"You don't understand anything..."
Samara shook her head.
"...I only wanted to say that calling you that might be unfamiliar to me. And not only because I didn't know of your existence until today, but also because the entire Asari mentality is built on the fact that we ONLY have daughters. So if I accidentally call you 'daughter,' don't be offended, okay?"
I smirked.
"I won't."
"That's good... son..."
Samara pronounced the last word with a strange intonation. No, there wasn't boundless love or anything like that, but there was something else... A promise?
** Side view. **
"What did you just say?"
The Illusive Man looked intently at the secretary who had just reported some very distressing circumstances to him. Not critical, as essentially nothing significant had happened in what occurred, but coupled with the problems that had recently begun to rain down on his organization... although previously many of them had bypassed it...
In short, it was quite unpleasant and, together with everything else, could cause serious harm to the organization.
"Kai Leng did not make contact at the appointed time. And the cover team claims he never left the site of the last operation."
"Was he captured?"
"No information."
"Damn it!"
The Illusive Man showed emotions uncharacteristic of him and simply tossed the cigar he had been holding aside.
"We cannot allow the data he possesses to fall into the wrong hands."
With his right hand, he activated a holographic screen and keyboard, then quite quickly logged into Kai Leng's page and entered a couple of codes. Immediately, the stamp "Dead" appeared on the face of one of Cerberus's best operatives.
"Find me another cleaner."
"It will be done."
The Illusive Man clearly heard the fear in his subordinate's voice but did nothing about it. The fact that he activated the chip that just fried all his operative's brains was a necessary measure. No, perhaps if the matter didn't concern Shepard, he would have given him a bit more time to make contact. But not now... one cannot take risks with Shepard.
** Side view. **
"What do you mean you lost control of the Shadow Broker's network?"
The Dalatress looked at the head of the STG, who had just brought her this news, and couldn't understand if he was joking or not. More precisely, she couldn't decide what was worse: a subordinate who was a joker or a subordinate who had squandered such opportunities.
"Madam Dalatress, everything was as usual; reports came in, encryptions were followed, there was no reason to suspect anything had happened. Why, they even contacted their families! Although it's prohibited by regulations, but..."
The head of the STG looked away.
"...you understand, we always turned a blind eye to minor violations, and here everything was standard. Yes, there was an attempt to storm the ship; at first, information even came in about the Yahg's death and that the operatives themselves would be forced to intervene in the situation. And then a report came in, in full form, saying they had dealt with the opponent. The Yahg, though in serious condition, is still alive, so no replacement is required. They'll patch him up, and he won't even realize what happened. In short... after that, everything followed the usual pattern, and we might not have known something happened for another couple of months..."
"And how did you find out?"
"I decided to reward the employees with an unscheduled leave for their success in repelling the attack on the ship. Actually, when the relief shuttle arrived, everything came to light. First, they didn't find the ship where it was supposed to be, and then, after examining the storm and simply deciding to fly along the entire route, they discovered the blown-up ship. Or rather, its remains."
"Who attacked the ship?"
"According to unconfirmed reports, it was Shepard."
"Shepard? And you decided to just spit on it? He's..."
"Madam Dalatress, he's just a Spectre, yes, a strong one, but there were very experienced STG operatives there; after the fight with the Yahg, Shepard should have been exhausted anyway, so the probability of his elimination was close to ninety percent. And then information also came in the report that these were copycats, or rather Cerberus employees masquerading as Shepard."
The head of the STG spread his hands helplessly.
"Listen here... I don't care what you do, but you must get the network back."
"I..."
"I said I don't care. If you want, take his colonies by storm; if you want, spray biological weapons on the ground. The information network must be in our hands. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Then get to it!"
All the Dalatress could think about now was how many of their dirty secrets had fallen into the wrong hands along with the Broker's network. And given how Shepard works, he won't keep the secrets to himself. He'll start handing them out.
And that could already threaten the Union with complete exclusion from all political spheres of Citadel Space. As it was, the Salarians' influence had recently been shaken. However, if something like this comes to light... and it will...
"We must act proactively."
With those words, the Dalatress began to dial one of the numbers she knew by heart.
***
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