Chapter – Freedom's Progress pt 2 ME2

AN: This chapter has kicked my ass for over a year. I'm not very satisfied, but here it is. Note: there's no canon data on any of the quarian's beliefs regarding their deities. Hence, I have invented out of whole cloth. Hopefully it comes across OK. If you're confused about any of the other stuff Shep babbles about, don't worry. I'm not even sure what I wrote. If I can get to the future chapter about the Thorian, more coherence may appear. May.

Shepard, Tali, and their teams slowly moved across the abandoned colony.

Their final journey together through the icy darkness of Freedom's Progress was exhaustingly uneventful, yet stressfully repetitive. They picked their way through the darkness and snow, huddling in the shadows of the buildings as the wind pressed them down and smashed against them. It screamed through the buildings, incessantly grinding its way into their heads.

In some ways, the wind was worse than the machines that rose from the darkness to periodically attack.

The constant vigil against the certainty of ambush was exhausting.

"Bosh'tet Cerberus scum! What madness have you dragged us into now?"

The stress came from having to listen to Tali's team as they pressed forward.

"Keelah, I can feel the cold inside my suit! How did snow get in? Only humans would think to live on an icecube!"

Prazza never shut up.

"The wind never stops! Are we there yet? Only humans could be so inefficient in their urban planning. Look at the street; the traction is abysmal. What shoddy engineering. When we liberate Rannoch from the geth, we won't make such terrible roads. We will build them out of destroyed geth parts, and they will last forever."

Prazza's incessant complaining was so bad that even the other quarians in Tali's team were giving the Cerberus operatives awkward gestures of embarrassed apology, easily decipherable even through the quarian encounter suits and opaque visors.

Mechs rose in continuous waves from out of the darkness to attack; security mechs, sentry turrets, and quadruped recon drones threw themselves at the humans and quarians. They were easily repulsed, falling to the ground in shattered pieces.

Not even this could make Prazza happy.

"Look at these pitiful mechs! They fall apart at the slightest impact. Human manufacturing techniques must be beyond subpar!"

They left behind a trail of broken robotics, at least until the wind picked up.

The teams were crouched near a low wall, regrouping after their last shootout when Shepard quietly spoke. "Miranda. Tali. Come here for a moment." Tali and Miranda came over to Shepard, who pulled them into a tight huddle.

Tali leaned in, "Shepard. What exactly is going on here? The darkness. The snow. These mechs. You know what this is." Tali glanced at Miranda, then looked back at Shepard. "What can you tell us?"

Shepard gestured behind them with her head. "I know what's happening. But first, look back the way we came."

They looked back at their trail. They could see the path their teams made through the snow, passing over ruined machines cradling shattered weapons. However, a few steps further back the details of their passing vanished; there was only undisturbed snow. No trace of their footprints, or remains from their recent fights. No damage to the surrounding area. It was pristine. As if no one had ever been here.

"Keelah." Tali turned back to Shepard. "What can have this kind of power?" She gripped her shotgun tighter. "Is it like the Thorian?"

Shepard shook her head. "Not like that. It's called a quiet. Someone like me is caught in a waking nightmare. Their imagination is supplanting reality, continually interdicting any other changes."

Tali slumped. "Veetor."

Shepard sighed. "Miranda, go check on Taylor. We move in two minutes." Miranda nodded, and headed back to the rest of the group. After a moment, Shepard softly said, "He's either driven mad, or in the midst of an extremely long and bad awakening. It's going to get worse as we get closer to him. Keep careful watch on your team. If they leave your presence, they're all going to die."

Tali glanced over to Prazza and the rest of her team. Prazza had gotten into another anti-Cerberus tirade, bitterly shouting epithets at Miranda and Jacob. She looked at the large array of jagged broken mech pieces, and other deadly looking blunt items strewn about. She could see the beginnings of Miranda's biotic field, ready to pull everything onto Prazza.

"It's not like they're going to live much longer either way. It's like they don't have any common sense."

Shepard snorted. "I'll keep them out of trouble, Shepard. I remember." Tali rolled her shoulders. "How can we break the effect?"

Shepard was silent for several breaths, then slowly spoke. "We won't know until we find him at the heart." She closed her eyes and peered past the swirling cold and darkness. "But it's not going to be easy."

As they got closer and closer to their destination, reality started to drip away, leaving behind only a flimsy facsimile of causality. Snow danced upwards from their footprints, reforming snowdrifts even as they pressed through them. The twisted remnants of broken security mechs lay on the ground for only a few moments, not even waiting until everyone took their eyes off them before sublimating into darkness to be repurposed once more to endlessly attack.

By the time they reached the warehouses, they were fighting off a steady assault; destroyed mechs springing forth to attack again immediately after they were gunned down. A never ending fight.

The colony's warehousing was set in a rough semi-circle, three large simple frames thrown quickly together to keep ice off machinery and materials as the colony was constructed. The yard in front of the warehouses were strewn about with derelict construction machines and tarps covering half used piles of plastic and metal.

The side warehouse entrances gaped dark; mouths from which security mechs marched out of as fast as they were destroyed. The colony's single YMIR heavy mech strode across the yard, its guns trained in their direction. The heavy mech paced back and forth unwilling to leave its post, guarding the furthest warehouse.

Between shots, Tali turned to Shepard. "This is as good a position as we can hope for. They have to cross the open courtyard to reach us. We can hold them here. Find Veetor and make this stop!"

Shepard nodded. "Miranda, with me. Jacob, follow Tali's lead."

Tali nodded at Shepard and turned to face the rest of their teams. "All right! We form an abattoir here. Nothing can get through if we stay sharp! Just think of it as geth-killing practice. Prazza and I will take cover to the left. Everyone else with Jacob on the right. When Shepard pushes for the far warehouse, we give her cover fire!"

Shepard dropped to the ground and crawled forward. Miranda followed her. Halfway across the yard, the YMIR mech opened up, rockets leaping towards them as they twisted and snaked through the abandoned materials and machines in the courtyard.

Shepard tumbled into a jumping leap and dove behind a nearby excavating machine, grinning savagely as the YMIR failed to tag her. She ducked low as gunfire raked over her position. Signaling to Tali, she scuttled forward, spider-like, then burst into a sprint across the battlefield towards the warehouse behind the YMIR. As Tali and her team provided suppressing fire, Miranda dashed after Shepard, half crouched as she wove back and forth, staying close, but far enough back to avoid the missiles tracking Shepard.

"Miranda, now!"

With a flex of biotics, Miranda pushed them forward, barely keeping them ahead of the YMIR's fusillade of rockets. They smashed through the far warehouse's doors at full speed, Miranda pounding the door to splinters as Shepard and Miranda burst into the warehouse.

As soon as they entered the warehouse, the shattered door reformed behind them, trapping them in the darkness. The sounds of gunfire and explosions from outside immediately stilled, silenced.

The inside of the warehouse was dim. The lights were off. The windows were sealed shut. Flickering monitors were strewn across the floor, pointing in random directions. Dancing shadows filled the cavernous space; lit only by the dim screens. Hovering in the air, onmitool screens were overlaid over each other; floating orange windows of light stacked six deep. More monitors dangled from the ceiling, slowly spinning on power cords hanging from the unseen reaches above. Half the monitors displayed static; some showed flickering numbers, others showed vid feeds from around the colony. Echoes of static from the multitude formed a crushing oppression of silence, drowning out all other noise. Cables and wires threaded around and through everything, a tangled mass of electric snakes.

In the center of the warehouse floor sat a suitless quarian. Veetor. He was half buried in keyboards, input devices and omnitools. His eyes rolled back in his head as he sat facing the spread of displays. Flashing white and orange light from the assembled multitude of screens played over his body. His hands twitched in time with the static of the displays.

Shepard looked at Veetor for a long moment. She kept her eyes on him as she half turned towards Miranda. "Miranda, does Cerberus have Marauder-class containment facilities?" As she spoke, every screen and display shivered with static. A dank oppression pulsed down on them. Shepard turned pale, sweat beading on her face. The static relapsed, and Shepard swayed, clutching the wall.

Miranda blinked then slowly nodded her head. "I think we do; at least we have some reference for it on Cronus station."

Shepard nodded once. Face grim, she whispered, "We're going to try take him alive. I'll talk him down but if he incapacitates me or looks like he's going to self-destruct, shoot him." She glanced at Miranda. "When I say self-destruct, that's exactly what I mean. Don't miss."

Miranda nodded.

Shepard and Miranda carefully picked their way through the maze of cables and monitors towards the quarian staring blankly into space. They slowed as neared Veetor, halting several meters from him.

Shepard glanced at Miranda. Miranda gazed steadily at Shepard, pistol held firmly in two hands. Shepard nodded once then turned and stepped forward. In a loud, clear voice, Shepard spoke to the figure rocking back and forth on the floor. "Veetor'Nara nar Rannoch, I am Jane Shepard bani Euthanatos. Hear me. See me. Know me. I am real."

Veetor's head rolled, dangling on his shoulders. His mouth opened, but his voice echoed and whispered from the myriad screens and projections, stuttering and lagging as each projected his words at different volumes and latencies.

"What is this echo I see? What is this illusion I hear? Be gone, figment! Double present and shard of temptation! My name will never be 'nar Rannoch'. Imaginative apparition! I am not from Rannoch. No quarian has held that name for over 200 years. Do not taunt me with daydreams, for they are denied to me. I must stay here in the cold dark."

Shepard knelt, and extended one hand. "It is true that no quarian has come from Rannoch for several centuries. But! You are all still children of Rannoch, no matter how far you may wander. And the lost may yet return. Will not Rannoch take you back within its loving embrace? Is this not the fondest hope your race desires? Keelah se'lai means 'By the home world I hope to see one day.' I appeal to your hope; I only seem unreal to your fear. Is fear all that is left of you? Rannoch welcomes all of her children who desire her embrace. Have you lost your hope, son of Rannoch?"

Veetor's whisper was almost lost among the background static. "Yes. There is no hope. Only endless shadows and devouring darkness. They are coming. They are always coming. Only here can I be safe."

Shepard's voice also quieted, but her question cut through the static. "What happened here? What shadows have you seen devour? What happened to all the colonists?"

Veetor's voice was now just a barely modulated electric squall of noise. "Their shadows consumed them. Reaching up from darkness they came. They looked human but they were not. Something darker hid within them." Veetor's head rolled to face Shepard. His mouth opened, and words spilled over his lips, falling to the floor with liquid plops. "Like you." All the screens pulsed with spastic shapes and whispers.

"Like you. Like you. Like you."

Veetor's mouth twisted again, "Have you come. With your darkness. To take me?"

Shepard stood. Silent. Blackness pooling in her eyes.

Veetor's words continued, emanating from the room's devices. "Darkness lurked within them. They spread their shadow across the settlement and it consumed them all."

The flickering screens across the warehouse now showed various recordings from the colony security net. In each scene, people were looking up at the sky, as something cast its shadow across the colony. Each human figure turned monochrome, color bleeding from their skin. Their grey shapes rapidly darkened until they were black ovals; voids in the otherwise normal looks vid feeds. Static and interference pulsed around them, and one by one each recording ended, returning to static.

Veeto's voice murmured through the static. "I have no future. The past lies endlessly behind me and before me. I twist in torment and have nothing left but curiosity. What demon can do this? What evils bedevil humanity? Tell me o phantom, for I am mad with wonder to know."

Shepard was still. Head bowed, arms clasped tight. Her mouth twisted. "The black ships. Chthonic figures lope on their insalubrious decks. Their horns sound harrow and despair. Before them, souls are grist. Man is chaff." Shepard swallowed and licked her lips, "Where the black ships sail, dreams are stilled. In their wake, sunken horrors rise. Forgotten evils stir once more."

Veetor nodded. "Yes! Yes… the black ship. It sailed through the air. Where its shadow passed, humans froze, but I cowered and ran. I couldn't look at it. But even though I closed my eyes, I saw. My ears were covered, but I heard. Before its presence, the birds are severed from the sky. The tree shall be torn in half…"

Shepard also spoke, and together their whisper echoed through the warehouse, dimming omnitools and screens, pounding static into silence. "Water runs red with death. Maggots seek the light. And within the hearts of each, lie the icons of our destruction."

Seconds passed. The silence died. Slowly, slowly, the monitors flickered back to life and the sounds of static resumed; pouring across the warehouse and chasing the empty darkness away. But the warehouse seemed emptier than before. Colder.

Shepard tilted her head towards Veetor. "Where the black ships pass, nothing remains. Why are you still here? Why were you not taken as well?"

Veetor chuckled darkly, "The black ship left me behind; they didn't want me. Quarians have their own dooms."

Shepard nodded in agreement. "She Who Rides Backwards. The three handed woman; giving weal, woe, and..." She trailed off. There was the echoing sound of hooves; rising then disappearing into the distance. Shepard gasped. "Is that Her? Is She here?"

Veetor shuddered, breathe fogging as he panted. "She's out there. Circling. Watching. Waiting. The black ship… how can it be so cruel? It didn't take me, but it brought my doom nonetheless. It called Her here! It told Her my name! She knows I'm here; She's never going to stop looking for me. She knows my name!" He started weeping. "She saw me! I heard Her coming so I hid by the landing bays. She passed me by and I thought I was safe, but as I turned to creep away, I saw Her reflection in a window! She was looking at me! She saw my suit! I threw it away, but She still chases me. Closer and closer."

He lifted his head to stare at Shepard. Rimmed with tears, his eyes continuously twitched; flickering about the warehouse.

"That's why I had to flee. Hide. She can't find me in the darkness and the cold. Here I can keep everything away, I can control everything. I have to k-k-keep it all the same! Dooms cannot touch me here; if nothing changes. I cannot let her take me! As long as nothing changes, I'm safe." He curled in on himself, murmuring. "Safe! Safety in darkness. Safety in despair."

The warehouse lit up as all the screens flared bright; static blinding against the velvet interior.

"Only darkness."

A river of noise pounded, drowning all thought.

"Keep everything away."

Shepard and Miranda staggered, crushed against reality.

"Keep everything,"

Miranda shot once, twice. Her shots rippled in the air, caught. They crashed to the floor, driven down. The pressure doubled, tripled.

"the same."

Miranda dropped to her knees. Bright spots filled her vision. She felt something pop in her ears as she blindly grasped for her pistol. Her skin pressed against her bones. Her teeth groaned. Her lips unraveled.

"Nothing."

Blind, blood pouring from her ears and nose, Miranda's consciousness stretched towards nothingness.

"Changes."

Miranda felt a tiny hand slip into hers. A hand that burned like molten metal. The pressure left her, and with a great shout she leapt up. Fire and boiling heat pulsed through her. She saw Shepard also stand, surrounded by a burning nimbus. The small hand pulled her towards Shepard. As Miranda stepped forward, she looked down and saw there was nothing holding her hand. It was empty. But the impression of small fingers lingered.

Another step, and she grasped Shepard's shoulder. Together, they leaned against each other, holding each other up.

The clop of hooves was back, clear and crisp over the ocean of static.

"Veetor! It's not going to work!" Shepard yelled, trying to reach Veetor over the static. Shepard gestured at the warehouse. "Veetor. This is not safety, this is death. She's coming closer! You're bringing Her here! Stop. Let me help you!"

The static did not quiet so much as dim; crushed by the slow approach of hooves.

Veetor screamed. He wildly shook his head and dug fingers into his scalp. "I can't stop; I've gone too far and I'm lost. I can't come back! There is nothing but blackness, and the path is gone. There is no key. I can't see anymore. My limbs are frozen," His voice died down to a whisper, "the darkness takes my voice." His movements stilled, and his breath billowed out of him. The vapor of his breath turned to ice crystals, dusting the screens in the warehouse. Frost formed on the walls, creeping across the floor. "I'm trapped. You can't help me. Nothing can help me now." Cracks appeared on screens; displays breaking in the cold. Veetor's limbs paled. Ice exuded from his skin. "I am gone too far to come back. The cold keeps Her away but also keeps me trapped. There is no escape. I have lost the way. I am lost…lost…" A dark laugh. "Perhaps I have created my own doom. Veetor's doom… I left ruin behind me, but carried ruin with me. I dwell in the cold dark now. It has taken me. Forever."

Cruel reverberations echoed and whispered, "Forever, ever, ever."

"Shepard? What's happening?" Miranda whispered urgently. Her breath puffed. The air rapidly grew colder.

Shepard frowned. "When the quarian exodus left Rannoch, fleeing the geth, they left their gods behind; their gods couldn't leave their home world. With one exception. The Three-Handed Woman, goddess of travel, followed." Shepard took a shuddering breath. "She Who Rides Backwards is a major figure in many quarian mythoi. Quarians believe the past lies in front of us, as we can see it stretch into the distance. The future lies behind us, coming at us where we cannot see. Obviously, this doesn't apply to Her; She rides backwards through time. She's variously the goddess of travelling, a death specter, and an arbiter of fate. In some religions She is a demon figure, punishing transgressors harshly for even the smallest slights. In others, She guides travelers though the uncertain future, guiding them safely to their destinations. She's most commonly portrayed as the judge of fate, weighing the souls of the recent dead. In one hand She holds all the good they have done, in the other hand She hold all their ills, and with Her third hand She decides their fate. It is said, 'She Rides in us all; none may escape her Dread hand.' "

Miranda slowly turned, tracking the slow, steady clop that wove through the warehouse, inching closer then drifting away.

Shepard continued, "Maybe She went mad. Maybe the god aspect was left behind and only the demon followed. Regardless, since the fall of Rannoch She hounds the quarians; her judgements are torment. Her verdicts are dooms."

"Shepard." Miranda hissed, glancing around. Her gun twitched. She looked for something to shoot. "Tactical explanation?"

"Death is coming for Veetor. She stalks closer each moment. His control of reality here is unquestionable, but She knows his name so She can keep tracking him." Shepard stared into the darkness. "That's why quarians change their name when they return from pilgrimage; so She can't find them."

Shepard sighed. "I'm going to do something stupid." She turned back to Veetor. She knelt and placed her hand on his icy back. The ice started flowing up her hand.

"Veetor," Shepard said gently, "there is no escape from death. In the end, death comes for us all. We flee from one death only to run into another. Death always returns, and we all return to death." The ice crawled up to her elbow. "I am here with Tali'Zorah vas Neema. She can take you back to the Flotilla with her. Your data of the attack here contains vital intelligence; that should be enough for your pilgrimage gift. Gain a new name. A new suit. She Who Rides Backwards will never be able to find you. You can be safe!"

For a moment, the icy advance paused.

"You don't understand." Veetor murmured. Static and whispers chased across the warehouse. Broken. "She saw me. Again. After I left my suit. She wears my face, now. Changing my name won't help. Nothing can help me. There is no way I will bring her back to the Flotilla. At least I can do that. I can feel her hunger for them all." Tears fell, turning to ice before they hit the floor. "She wears my face! She knows my name! Both strikes against me have been claimed. Nothing can save me from her doom."

Shepard sighed. "Fuck."

He turned his face to her, ice chunks falling from his body. "I have gone mad trying to stop Her. But all I can do is freeze in the present; the future belongs to Her. Forever."

Forever.

Cruel reverberations echoed and whispered, "Forever, ever, ever." A rasping voice. The dragging of a corpse. The scrape of hooves over graves.

Not even eternity can save you from Death.

She Who Rides Backwards drifted into the flickering light of the screens. Her steed is a skeleton. Three hands are held aloft; one hand holds blinding light, one hand holds abyssal darkness. The third hand cannot be seen. Her head is veiled with tears and ruin. In Her presence, the icy darkness is replaced with the dank warmth of the grave.

No one moved. Her looming figure is still.

Shepard crouched by Veetor, looking up at the quarian Death god. She slowly shifted her legs into a genuflection; kneeling with one leg bent, back straight. A deep breath. "Fairest and fallen, greeting and defiance."

Wassail, death priestess.

"You have come for Veetor."

I have. His name and face belong to me.

Shepard swallowed. She stood, bowed, and stepped back. As she stepped away from Veetor, the quarian god drifted closer.

"What's going on?" Miranda hissed in Shepard's ear "What do we need to do?"

Eyes locked onto the scene in front of her, Shepard murmured, "Whether Traditionalist or Technocrat, Marauder or Nephandus, a mage is empowered to witness, understand and even affect supernatural phenomena that ordinary humans cannot."

Miranda was quiet for a moment. Pensive. "Are we going to interfere?"

Shepard shook her head. "No. This is between a man and his god. Death is personal, and I respect it too much just to barge in for no reason."

She Who Rides Backwards stopped over Veetor's shaking form. The light and darkness in Her hands dimmed, showing Her closed fists. Dust and grief poured from her open mouth.

Veetor'Nara. You have come to the end of your journey.

Like a flower unfolding, one hand opened. Inside was light, too bright to look at.

You have dared much goodness.

A casket of despair, the second hand poured out darkness.

You have succumbed to your fears.

Between the two upraised hands, the dark and light swirled, coalescing into a pale glowing dot.

Your balance has brought goodness, and you have earned your path into the Valley at the Heart of the Walled Garden.

Her third arm lifted, hand still unseen. She took the dot into her invisible grip, and brought it to her mouth.

Now your soul stands in judgement.

A smell of burning bones. A red glow. She Who Rides' head turned around, spinning on Her neck. A different face bore down. A rictus of fury. The sound of splintering teeth.

"Fuck," hissed Shepard. "It's the demon."

She Who Ride's body darkened. No longer the Adjudicator of the Dead. A howling void in the shape of a quarian. Howling gibberous fury. No mouth but a flaming tunnel of despair. The summation of the ruin of an entire race.

For the horrors and transgressions of your people, your soul is doomed. Guilty; as are all quarians for the abandonment of your ancestors. Treachery against the Heavens! Run and flee like the cowards you have become. You shall have no home. None shall open their hearths to you. Doomed to wander the dark, Death finds you all.

Veetor cried out, writhing under Her proclamation. Implacable hostility. Teeth bared in glee and hate. Delight in enmity. She Who Rides pointed at Veetor's shuddering form with two hands of crimson. Her third hand lifted up, close fisted.

Consign yourself to eternity.

Shepard whispered to Miranda. "I'm going to do something really stupid." She stepped forward.

Shepard dashed to the demon god, stopping between Her and Veetor. "I will prepare the soul for judgment."

Waves of heat and anger pulsed off the mounted figure. The skeletal horse She rode hissed at Shepard. Its jaw unhinged, unfolding and growing additional teeth. The ground smoked beneath its hooves. She Who Rides Backwards leaned down, and stared at Shepard. A corona of ruined destiny bright upon Her head. Her eyeless gaze burned down on Shepard. Shepard's armor smoldered and blackened. Small fires burst to light in her hair. Burns crept up her face. Slowly, the heat pulled back, and She nodded.

Very well, Death Priestess. You may prepare the soul for passage.

Shepard coughed, and swallowed. "Very well." She croaked. She knelt low, and shook Veetor with one hand. With her other, she stroked his face. Where her fingers passed over his skin, dark, oily blood stood in stark contrast to his pale flesh.

She bent her mouth to his ear. "Veetor," Shepard hissed. "Give me your name!"

Veetor's eye rolled over to stare at Shepard. She traced lines down his neck.

"I can stand in your place for judgment. Say the Oath of Naming! Say it! Offer me your name!"

His mouth moves wordlessly. A golden whisper leaves his lips. It floats up to Shepard, who inhales sharply. One last line of blood completes Veetor's death mask. Shepard stood. "I submit the soul of Veetor'Nara to judgment!"

She Who Rides Backwards reached for Veetor's fallen form.

Shepard stepped forward, once again standing between Death and its prey. She stared up at Death.

"My name is Veetor'Nara."

Yes… But I am here for the quarian Veetor'Nara. Your name may be Veetor. But you are not quarian.

"I am quarian. I am sister to Tali'Zorah. I share her blood. Does that not make her sister in more than just name?"

Well played, priestess. Very well.

The demon paused, then twisted Herself back into the mantle of Arbiter of the Dead. Heat folded back into death. Bones and silence. Once again Her hands pulsed with brightness and shadow.

Veetor'Nara. You have come to the end of your journey.

With a sudden swipe of her third hand, She Who Rides cut then both down. Her face blurred back into a visage of ruin. A cruel grin, snarled lips.

Laws means nothing before death.

The quarian death god fades away, stepping away from reality into all directions.

The air rapidly warms. Dim lights flicker to life in the reaches of the ceiling, slowly turning shadowy horror into prosaic metal and plastic. Miranda stands alone in a dusty warehouse, broken monitors and omnitools strewn about. A tangle of wires and cables sprawl on the ground.

Jane Shepard and Veetor'Nara lie still on the ground.

Miranda quickly steps over to Shepard, and places two fingers on her neck. No pulse.

"Fuck."

She flopped Shepard over and began chest compressions. She wondered if she should shoot Veetor. At least it would make her feel better.

Shepard and Veetor drifted to death.

Shepard groaned. "Guh. That didn't work. Holy shit that hurt." She slowly spun to face Veetor. She floated closer to him. "Veetor, you have to come back with me. We have to go back into life."

He drifted, limp. His essence was slowly sublimating, vanishing into nothingness. "Why? She still has my face and name. She'll just take me again."

Shepard shook him. "Veetor. We're the only ones who know why She haunts your people. You heard Her. All quarians are doomed to hell for abandoning Rannoch. Nothing will change unless we make it happen. She still knows your name and face. So what? Let Her come again."

Veetor turned away from Shepard. "I can't. If I go back, it would do nothing. I'm still trapped in the cold dark. I still haven't left it – I can feel it inside me." He lifted his hands to his head and pulled at his skull. "It's too hard. There's nothing I can do. There is no escaping this doom."

Shepard stared at him. "Where is your spark?" she snarled. "Where is your hope for your people? Before She comes for you again, you can warn them. You can bring them a priceless message from beyond the grave. Isn't that worth your life?"

Veetor shivered.

Shepard's voice softened. "Veetor. You've already died. How much worse can it be? What you fear has already happened. You don't have to be afraid anymore."

He shook his head.

"We all carry the icons of our destruction. So what? You can never escape Her; no one can. She rides towards us all. You are quarian and She is the judgment of all quarians! You carry Her within you! Inside me lies a Black Ship; teeth like the sea. Souls drown in my wake. I die. My doom finds me again and again. But each time I come back. Death is as sure as any doom. I know death. You died. If you come back to life, you will die again. That's all that can be said. But that's all it is; death. Nothing more. Nothing less. Everything dies. Can you deal with that?"

Veetor turned to her. "OK. I can do that." He uncurled. Slowly, his being firmed, gaining strength and clarity. "How can I return? I see power surround you. But I'm weak. I have nothing. How can I escape Her doom? We're only here because of you."

Shepard chuckled.

"Veetor. She doesn't chase you. She doesn't need to. You are Her! She is you! So what do YOU hold in your hand? You hold your doom. But in your second hand you can hold your salvation! And in your third, you hold the potence of choice. Where is your third hand, Veetor! Choose! This is the Time of No Shadow. Rise up! Fill your soul with power and drink from the well of your being. Cast off doubt and dare greatness! You cannot leave the cold dark? Fine. Pick it up and take it with you. Tuck it into a distant corner of your soul. Grow large enough to consume the darkness."

Shepard loomed larger. She pressed a hand to his forehead.

"Look around you, Veetor. See! We stand between life and death. Here we can see the machinery of the universe churn. You're an engineer. Before you lies the ultimate code! Can you see the secrets before you? Breathe the essence of truth. Hear the sound of the universe. Feel the wheel of samsara!"

She pointed above them. He looked up. As he saw, the Umbra opened up around them. An infinite series of unfolding eternities. Shards of reality glittered in fractal webs, stained glass panes of energy. Descending from inspiration, the Wheel of life, death, and reincarnation crossed the entire sky. Sounds poured over them. The crackling hiss of energy. The deep thrumming of the Wheel as it stirred all that is, materializing imagination into truth.

"It's… it's beautiful," he murmured.

She smiled at him, and held out her hand. "Come, let's dance. Turn away from the cold. Come with me back to life. There is warmth and light. And together, perhaps we can overcome both our dooms."

Laughing, he took her hand. Together they danced. She taught him the steps as they went, and soon they were both spinning over and through the waves of existence.

Shepard spun away, stomping her feet and clapping her hands. She twisted in a circle, and Veetor mirrored her. Shepard spoke, and light echoed her voice. Sound burst into color around them. Veetor's voice rose in harmony as they stepped through moves older than reality. A dance of creation.

"We are more than the darkness.
Light arises from the darkness.
All gold does not glitter.
Age with strength does not wither.
Not all those who wander are lost,
For this son of Rannoch was dead, and is alive again;
He was lost, and is found.

What is taken must also be given!
By weakness understand strength.
Darkness brings dawn!
Life comes forth from death.

They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

Death is but a door.
Time is but a window.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling,
But in rising every time we fall."

All you need to do is awaken.

Rising back to life, Shepard turned to Veetor.

"Hey Veetor, want to join my super-secret death assassin guild? Perks include learning how to kill anything, mastering entropy, and coming back from the dead."

He blinked at her. "What?"

"Yeah, it's a super exclusive club. But you passed the only real criteria we have – return to life when you die."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Huh. Sounds cool." He thought for a moment. "This seems like it would be exceedingly helpful the next time I need to face She Who Rides Backwards. Sure, why not."

The doors to the dusty warehouse grind open. Tali strolls in, followed by Jacob and the rest of the quarians. Prazza is still bitching.

"Who builds a central deactivation signal like that? What use are your robot minions if they all stop working at the same time? Can't humans even lear – is that Veetor? Is he dead? Cerberus bastards! You killed him!"

Tali swept her gaze across the littered tech, Miranda pounding on Shepard's chest, and Veetor's still form lying on the floor. She ambled over to Miranda and taps her on the shoulder. "Step back and give Shepard a moment." Tali poked Shepard's body with her foot. "Hey Shepard. Get up."

Veetor and Shepard both gasp and sit up.

Prazza stomped over to them. "Cerberus scum! What did you do to Veetor? Did you interrogate him to get the information you missed last time?"

Omnitools and screens throughout the warehouse flickered into life. Electronic static, drifting.

Tali held out her hand. Shepard clasped it, and let Tali pull her up. "Your people really don't like Cerberus. What did I miss?"

Prazza sneered. "They killed our people, infiltrated our flotilla, and tried to blow up one of our ships."

Miranda brushed dust off her Cerberus uniform. "That's not how I'd have explained it, exactly. It was nothing personal."

Shepard shrugged. "On behalf of Cerberus, I apologize. Tali, let me know what I can do to make it up to the Migrant Fleet."

Silence. Tali and the other quarians standing around Veetor's curled body stared at Shepard.

Shepard looked back at them blankly. "…what?"

Tali coughed. "Shepard, you can dictate Cerberus policy?"

Shepard smiled. "Well yeah. I'm something like the 2nd in command. Regardless, I won't let Cerberus do any of that kind of thing anymore."

Prazza stared at her. "You mean you'll stop Cerberus from committing acts of terrorism?"

Shepard laughed. "Oh no. I have no problems with blowing things up." Shepard looked at Tali. "What do you intend to do with Veetor?"

Tali was still looking over at Veetor, inspecting him for injuries as her team bustled him into an emergency suit. "Take him back to the Migrant Fleet and cure him."

Shepard stared levelly at her. "Tali. There is no cure for this. He's like me now. That will never change. He can become clearer of thought, but this," she waved her hand around at the flickering screens surrounding them in the warehouse, "will never change."

Tali put her head in her hands and sighed. "Keelah, I was afraid of that." She lifted her head and looked at Shepard. "He's going to be a danger to anything electronic around him, right?" Shepard nodded. Tali was silent for a moment. "Could you keep him safe from himself?"

Shepard nodded slowly. "I can make it happen. He will get the training he needs."

Tali sighed. "With Cerberus, right?"

Shepard nodded again.

Tali groaned. "No one is going to like this. Shepard, can you make sure he's going to be treated right?"

Shepard straightened. "I swear it." She held out her right hand, and pulled a knife from behind her with her left. She raised the knife to her palm. The blade glittered in the light, silver and gold threads shimmering through the blade.

Tali reached out and grabbed Shepard's hand before she could cut her palm. "I believe you. You don't need to swear another blood oath to me. We're sisters." Tali looked at the knife Shepard held. "I see you found your knives. They're as pretty as you said they were."

Miranda narrowed her eyes. How were those Shepard's knives? They were priceless artifacts from hundreds of years ago!

"Oh, sis." Shepard hugged Tali. Shepard whispered, "Tali, Veetor and I met She Who Rides Backwards. She's doomed all quarians to hell, until your people return to Rannoch. I'll send you a full data packet. Remember, if you ever need my help, all you need to do is call."

Tali sighed. "Shepard, you always make things complicated."

With that, they carefully loaded Veetor into Shepard's Cerberus shuttle. Shepard gave Tali another hug, then they both left Freedom's Progress.

Aftermath: The ride home
Miranda closed her eyes and leaned back. She was finally warm again. Their deliciously climate-controlled shuttle was flying away from Freedom's Progress, and the mission was over.

"Shepard," Miranda spoke without opening her eyes. "What you said to Tali about the Illusive Man being your father. Why did you lie to Tali?"

Shepard's voice was mild. "What makes you think it was a lie, Miranda? I try not to lie to my sister."

Miranda cracked open one eye and glared at Shepard. "She's not your sister. Also, I have access to almost everything recorded about you. While I don't know anything about your childhood before Mindoir, I do know what the Illusive Man was doing at the time. He never even knew about you until after you became a Spectre. There's no way he's your father, biological or otherwise."

Shepard smirked. "Well, it must have been in another life, then.

Aftermath: The quarian report
Prazza stood at attention in front of the Admiral, who was paging through his report on their omnitool.

"Anything else to report?"

Prazza shook his head. "Tali was a good leader, despite the distaste she showed at my attempts to provoke her. If it wasn't for her heretical beliefs regarding aliens, and her willing collaboration with Cerberus, she could have been a great asset."

The Admiral sighed. "Instead, she's just a liability. But she won't be for long. Her next mission will be expedited; we've just received advance notice that geth activity has been reported on Haestrom. The accurate reports will tragically be delayed until after Tali has already left for the planet without marine backup. A pity she won't be coming back. At least we can use her behavior and pending demise against her father. He's gaining too much power with the rest of the Admiralty board, and her death should put a stop to that."

Aftermath: Cerberus
Shepard strolled into the Illusive Man's lair.

"Hey Old Man, I'm back from the mission. Miranda and I will work out just fine. Since I'm taking your protégé, I've got you a replacement! Come here, Veetor!"

Shepard pulled the bewildered quarian into the room. He seemed extra twitchy, panicked gaze darting from one Cerberus symbol to another.

"Veetor, here's my mentor. I can't think of anyone better to train you than him. Old Man, this is Veetor'Nara. Veetor, this is the Illusive Man. He's the leader of Cerberus."

Veetor recoiled. "He's what? The leader of Cerberus!? He hates aliens! Why would he train me? I'm just a simple quarian. Is it too late to back out? I don't know if I'm cut out to be an elite death wizard assassin."

The Illusive Man smiled at Shepard, and nodded at Veetor. "Since you're giving me gifts, I've got another gift for you, Amanda. An old friend who also once was dead but now lives."

Veetor whispered to Shepard, "Shepard, why is he calling you Amanda? Is that your real name? Or is that your assassin name?"

Shepard laughed again. "Veetor, Amanda was my name in my last life, where the Old Man here was my mentor." She turned to the Illusive Man. "Who is it, Old Man?"

He smiled and pointed out the window.

Glittering in the darkness of space lay a ship.

The Normandy.

Shepard turned, and dashed out of the room. Behind her, she heard the Old Man speak, "Organizations, Veetor, are like chimneys..."

Aftermath:
Cerberus and quarian shuttles flared to life, lifting away from the now empty colony.

The colony was still; silent, and unmoving.

The only thing of minor note left behind was an abandoned room with a table. A cup carefully placed on its surface.

Just a cup, alone on a desk, with its handle pointing left.

Omake

Miranda stumbled into the Illusive Man's office. She flopped into a chair, and put her head on the desk.

"So, how was your first mission with Shepard?"

Miranda was silent for several minutes. Finally, she raised her head. "I learned weather can reset time."

The Illusive Man nodded. "Humans figured that out in 1993."

Miranda looked at him. She raised one eyebrow.

"Groundhog Day, with Bill Murray. What else?"

Another pause. "I fought a quarian on a dead horse to rescue a crazy man."

The Illusive Man raised an eyebrow. "Shepard had you face off against She Who Rides on your first mission? Hardcore. I didn't send her against death gods until after a few dozen missions."

Omake

"Your people really don't like Cerberus. What did I miss?"

Prazza: "They killed our people, infiltrated our flotilla, and tried to blow up one of our ships."

Shepard glanced over at Tali, then down at her own human figure. She stepped over to Tali and gestured at them both. "How did humans infiltrate your flotilla? Humans don't look anything like quarians."

Tali sighed. "There was a fad; wearing human environment suits. They just looked like rebellious teenagers."

Omake
"Cerberus brought you back to life?"

Shepard shook her head.

"Naw, they rebuilt my body but I came back on my own. Well, with a little help from Nihlus and Saren."

"Nihlus helped you? …Saren? But they're both dead! And Saren? You were his nemesis! Why would he help you?"

Shepard grinned.

"Ghost Spectres still gotta represent. In death, we all float."