A/N: To any of you still out there, patiently waiting: Hello! I'm sorry I'm a slacker. Forgive me. BioWare owns the Mass Effect Universe.

Chapter 12 – Peak 15

When they got to the garage, a guard was standing duty, fully suited up and holding a loaded assault rifle in front of the door. "A-access to the garage is restricted," she said nervously, suddenly confronted by a group who was undeniably trained and equipped for serious combat.

Shepard smiled, trying to ease the guard's trepidation. "I have authorization. Excuse me," she said, handing over her pass.

The guard looked it over, then handed it back. "Yes, that's genuine. Drive safely. The weather's supposed to be pretty bad out in the Aleutsk Valley."

"Thank you," Shepard said, as the door opened for them.

The garage was frigid, cavernous, and full of crates. Two ground vehicles were parked inside, but Shepard didn't recognize them. Why exactly did I think they'd have human-made Makos here? She shook her head derisively, and almost missed the flash of movement that was a geth hopper.

"Oh shit!" Williams yelled, pulling out her assault rifle.

Shepard ducked behind a crate, readying her rifle, then checked on Liara. The asari's face was set with concentration, her body licked with blue. The corner of Shepard's mouth twitched up, then she turned her focus to the geth.

They were unfolding from behind the crates scattered around the room, and it took them time to orient themselves toward Shepard and her team. This gave the trio plenty of time to take most of the enemy out before they even got close. What was that archaic phrase? Shooting fish in a bucket? They mopped up the last of them efficiently, then regrouped.

The garage door opened behind them, and Shepard turned, aiming her sniper at a potentially new influx of enemies. It was Captain Matsuo and two guards.

"What did you do here, Commander?" Matsuo demanded accusingly.

"Me? I'm the victim here! The geth attacked us!" Shepard exclaimed.

"The geth? You expect me to believe-" The Captain stopped, noticing the autonotomic bodies. "Where did they come from?"

"I'd guess the Matriarch packed them in the shipping containers she arrived with." Ashley answered. Liara swallowed back unspoken words miserably.

"I don't believe that. We did thorough scans of those. There were no power sources, no element zero masses…" Matsuo sighed. "If Benezia-sama's containers were packed with these things, there are many more out there."

"We've fought geth before. We'll take care of them for you," Shepard replied.

"I appreciate that. My people are good, but few of them have combat experience. I must report this to the Executive Board. If word gets out about loose geth, there may be an investor panic." Matsuo nodded at Shepard, then motioned her guards to follow her out.

Shepard turned back to her team, giving them an once-over, then headed to the far end of the garage and the vehicle parked there. "Liara, do you have any experience with these?"

"Only a very cursory one, Shepard. I am afraid battle tanks were not part of an archeologist's normal equipment."

"Well, get us inside, and we'll take it from there."

The controls seemed simple enough, but were written in turian. The time it would take Shepard's translator, located in her omni-tool, to send the explanation to her helmet's HUD, could cost them valuable moments while trying to fight through geth blockades. It wasn't worth the risk. Shepard had Liara, who could read a cursory amount of the language, drive, while she and Ashley manned the guns, which were more or less self-explanatory. They took a few minutes to familiarize themselves with the controls, then headed out.

The garage opened onto a relatively narrow trail carved into the side of a mountain range. The drop off to the left was so steep, the bottom could not be seen through the swirling snow. A purple warning light flashed in front of Liara, but she dismissed it after a moment. "It was just a warning about the temperature outside of the vehicle. Very hazardous," she explained.

"It's a good thing Garrus didn't come. He hates the cold," Ashley remarked.

Really? Shepard thought. I'll have to look into that later.

Liara drove them cautiously around the mountainside, past orange beacons that were set along the edge at regular intervals. They passed two wrecked vehicles before coming to their first blockade, at the entrance of a manufactured tunnel. The geth had stationed a turret on the edge of the cliff, and were firing rockets at them from behind their shields.

Waves of nervous energy were rolling off Liara, her hands clamped on the steering mechanism. Shepard grinned viciously behind her helmet, excited to be controlling such a powerful weapon. She fired the cannon directly at the turret, and it exploded in a firework of red and yellow sparks. Williams was mowing down the line of geth at the entrance, and Liara, gaining confidence and focus, drove them closer.

She ran over the last one standing, a tiny satisfied smile on her lips. More geth rocket troopers were in the tunnel, and Liara had to concentrate on avoiding their missiles. Shepard and Williams focused on separate targets, while Liara carried them through to the other side.

From the mouth of the structure, they could see a geth armature waiting for them with two more rocket troopers. They went down surprisingly quickly, and Liara drove by the burning wreckage of another vehicle. How many people were out here in this crazy blizzard? Any why? Shepard thought incredulously.

They continued on around the twists and turns until they came to another roofed passage. There was only a cursory force waiting for them at either end, and Liara drove over them impassively. They could see the entrance to Peak 15, and for a moment Liara thought it was a straight shot, but slammed into reverse at the last moment to keep them from plunging off into the white abyss.

The trail went around a hairpin curve, and three turrets were set up along the last leg of this journey. Shepard blew them up one after the other, trying to hold back her laughter at the explosions. When they finally reached the entrance to Peak 15, yet another ground vehicle was on fire, blocking the garage entrance. Liara parked their transport, and they entered through a little side door.

Shepard already had her rifle out, and her duo followed suit. A large contingent of geth and three krogan were waiting for them in the garage, stationed in defensible positions. Williams fired her weapon non-stop, and when it overheated, she rapidly switched to another, her barrage unceasing. Liara let biotic blast after biotic blast streak across the room, causing multiple kinds of blue mayhem. Shepard focused her attention on the krogan on the catwalks, slinking around the crates for better aim. She could hear explosions coming from nearby, but a quick check showed they were Williams' intention.

When the present threat was eliminated, a computerized voice announced, "User alert. All Peak 15 facilities have suffered a great deal of damage. Biohazard materials present through facility. Virtual Intelligence user interface offline."

"Everyone okay?" Shepard asked through her comm.

"Yes ma'am!" Williams answered, with Liara's similar response overlapping.

"Double-check your helmet seals. Who knows what kind of biohazard the computer meant," Shepard said while following her own order.

"We'll need to get the reactors back up," Williams commented, as they made their way up the stairs and through a door. "Why are those turrets facing the wrong way?" she continued, more to herself than to her commander.

"They want to keep their people in as much as they want to keep others out," Liara responded, dismayed.

Shepard left the chit-chat to her duo, her mind centered first on the biohazard threat and second on Matriarch Benezia.

They took an elevator up a floor, and exited into a short hallway that was filled with snow and ice. One wall was the rock of the mountain, the other was broken windows. They hurried through into a cafeteria, where geth were standing guard in large drifts of snow. They were put down quickly, having been taken by surprise. Shepard looked around and noticed more broken windows, then heard ominous groans coming from the ductwork.

"Wind? Animals? This place is in bad shape," Williams murmured.

Shepard led the way up snow-covered stairs, and was greeted by an enormously large insect with two long tentacles. It ran straight for her, so she lowered her rifle and fired. Williams and Liara joined her a split-second later, and the creature died at their feet.

"What the hell was that?" Williams yelled, already firing at a second while Shepard aimed for a third. They seemed to be crawling out of the walls.

"Xenobiology is not my field," Liara answered calmly, firing off waves of biotics. "Perhaps someone in the labs knows."

They fought as they went down the hallways, eventually taking an elevator up another floor. There was no snow or geth as they stepped off, but there was a cluster of small green bugs. Liara threw a wave of biotics their way, and they all ruptured into goo and legs.

Shepard examined her surroundings, then lowered her rifle. "This is a backup power station," she explained. "It must be for the station mainframe. I think I can fix it. Keep watch." She holstered her rifle, then examined the Core. It was inoperational, so she found a power source and reactivated it.

The automated voice they'd heard earlier spoke. "Critical startup error. Virtual Intelligence interface offline. Manual boot required."

Shepard stepped inside the Core, and took the platform down to its sensitive inner workings. She rolled her shoulders, easing the tension to better focus. She hoped her tech skills were good enough to fix asari technology, because she was going to have to manually reconfigure the data banks. But once she got into them, all she had to do was move the data from one corrupted bank to an uncorrupted one. It took a few minutes, but it wasn't nearly as hard as she'd thought it'd be.

The platform took her back up, and she was greeted by a hologram of a woman with short hair. "It looks like you're trying to restart the system. Would you like some help?"

"Help would be great. What should I call you?" Shepard said, relieved.

"This system is programmed to respond to the name Mira. May I ask your name?"

"I'm Commander Shepard. I work for the Citadel's Special Tactics and Reconnaissance."

"One moment, please. Council authority confirmed. You are entitled to Secure Access of all systems. Please note the queries relating to corporate secrets require Privileged Access. Privileged Access is only available to Binary Helix executives. This system is ready to process queries. You may access me at any holographic interface within Peak 15."

"I need to find Matriarch Benezia," Shepard said, getting straight to the point.

"Lady Benezia departed on the passenger tramway to the Rift Station subsidiary labs. User alert! The tramway system is currently inoperable."

Shepard crossed her arms and sunk back on a hip. "Give me a damage report."

"One moment, please. Diagnostics in progress." The VI paused, running its checks. "Critical Failure: Main reactor shut down in accordance with emergency containment procedures. Manual restart required. Critical Failure: Landline connections are disabled. Passenger tram systems are offline. Report complete. Do you have an additional systems status query?"

"What do I need to do to restart the reactor?"

"The valves to the helium-3 fuel line must be opened. This can be done at the controls on the reactor assembly proper."

"And how do I reconnect the landlines?"

"The landlines were designed for easy reconnection. The router for the landlines is located on the roof of Operations. Simply activate the controls, and the hardware will reconnect and reboot automatically."

"Alright, tell me what occurred immediately before you shut down."

"Stage one alert issued at hot labs. Contaminants released from Laboratory Pod Gamma. Emergency protocols implemented. Stage two alert issued at hot labs. Isolation Tube breached. Trams shut down. Landline to hot labs disconnected. Stage three alert issued locally. Contaminants in tram tunnels. Station shutdown and evacuation initiated. Code Omega sent."

"What sort of contaminants escaped? Was it those insects? "

"I'm sorry, Commander. Inquiries related to our research require Privileged Access. Only executives of Binary Helix have that clearance."

Shepard ground her teeth quietly for a moment, then asked, "Why were you taken offline?"

"In the event Peak 15 must be sterilized for security purposes, my program and data are purged."

"I see. That will be all for now."

The hologram winked out, and Shepard armed herself again, then led her team to get the station back online. There were more insect soldiers waiting on the roof, and the blowing snow made visuals difficult, but they managed. Then there were geth waiting in the reactor. Actually restarting the station was easy, once the enemies were killed.

They took the tram to the Rift Station. The ride was eerily quiet; Shepard kept expecting more giant insects to swarm them, but they didn't. After they stepped off, the tram platform was also empty; no geth, no scientists, no bodies. She led them through the only open door, and then through one which had a sign for crew quarters. The other door led to the hot labs, but it was locked down. They took the elevator up, and it opened onto a small group of soldiers all aiming their weapons at Shepard and her team.

"Stand down," their captain ordered. "Sorry. We couldn't be sure what was on the tram," he said to her.

"Better safe than sorry. There'd only be issues if they'd fired," Shepard replied with a smirk behind her helmet. These men weren't wearing theirs, but it was possible they'd already been exposed to whatever biohazards had been released- if the biohazards were something besides the insects, or something else in conjunction with the insects. She was not going to remove hers until she knew for sure it was safe.

"Even hopped up on stims, my people know the rule. Two legs good, four legs bad. Look, you're human, and that's enough that I won't shoot. But I'd like to know who you are."

"Listen, the VI said there were biohazards loose from their containment. Was it referring to those insects, or is there some kind of airborne pathogen I need to worry about? I'd like to take my helmet off to introduce myself properly."

"Biohazards? I think the quarantine labs had an issue when the power went out, but no, there's nothing contagious floating around out here," Captain Ventralis answered.

Shepard breathed a sigh of relief, and undid the clasps of her helmet, then pulled it off. "My name's Shepard. I'm a Spectre."

"Huh. I won't look a heavily armed gift horse in the mouth. The aliens overran the hot labs last week. Only Han Olar got out, and he ain't all there anymore. The first we knew, the bastards were clawing into my command post. We weren't expecting the initial wave. They made it inside. We lost some good people. Those of us left are shorthanded. We've kept order by long shifts and stims. I don't like it, but I don't see an alternative," he said, shaking his head sadly.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Still, I am impressed with your operation. Being able to weather a week of assaults is no mean feat."

He shrugged. "Only the best get assigned to high-security facilities like this. What impresses me most is the turrets, alarms, and cameras. They're all routed through a central location, out by the quarantine labs. One guy can lock down the whole facility. The security hub's the last logical fallback, and we'd have cover from the turrets all the way."

Shepard nodded thoughtfully, her mind's eye tracing the route in her head. "What can you tell me about those insects? We've never seen anything like them. Did they come from inside the facility, or did they attack from the outside?"

"I'm no xenobiologist. Go ask Dr. Olar; he was down there. What I do know is they're fast, vicious, and there's a hell of a lot of them. The Board sent an asari to clean up the mess. She went to the hot labs yesterday. We haven't heard from her since."

Shepard narrowed her eyes. "Benezia. Is it still over there?"

"I don't know. I don't see what one person could do," he answered skeptically.

"A Matriarch has the skill to keep herself alive for a long time," Liara informed him.

His eyes flicked to the asari, then back to Shepard. The captain pulled out a plastic card and handed it to her. "There's an emergency elevator out by the trams. This card will let you activate it. It can take you down to the hot labs. Oh, if you need any first aid, Dr. Cohen's downstairs in the medbay."

"Could you tell me about the hot labs?" Shepard asked.

"It's built into one of the glaciers further down the mountain. Real old, thick, stable one. Something goes wrong, they heat it up and sink it into the ice. The crew usually gets to the labs using a tram from Central Station. We've got an elevator that connects directly, but it's for emergency use only. But since the facility's off the network, the only way to find out would be to send scouts down the elevator." He leaned in closer to speak more quietly. "Uh, listen. I'm not sending my people down there. It's too dangerous. You understand?"

Shepard began to offer her help, when two more of the large brown insects busted out from the vents along the walls. She dropped her helmet and readied her rifle, firing at the aliens as Liara Lifted them into the air, Williams firing beside them.

"Thanks for the help," Captain Ventralis said, after they were dead. "Every few hours, a group comes up the tram tunnel. It's actually better since we locked down the elevator."

Shepard scooped her helmet off the floor, then tucked it under one arm. "We'll go down to the hot labs and see what we can do."

"We'll be here."

Rift Station was a conglomeration of twisting tunnels, landings, and stairs. There didn't seem to be any logic behind the pathways. Shepard ended up in a large room, complete with four stressed scientists, an elcor merchant, and a newly transferred asari molecular geneticist. Shepard had a brief conversation with all of them, testing the emotional waters. What she discovered wasn't good, but was to be expected under the circumstances.

She went down to the medbay, where Dr. Cohen, a microbiologist, was doing the best he could to take care of a roomful of sick scientists. He explained that the power had gone out during an experiment, and the quarantine had failed. The sickness was not contagious, but required a cure to be administered. The cure, and the notes on how to make it, were in the labs that were currently locked down. Shepard offered her aid, and then left him to his work. She had to get permission to enter the quarantined zone from Captain Ventralis, and he gave it after only a half-hearted attempt to stop her.

The only way to get to those particular labs was through another barracks. When the door slid open, Shepard was greeted by Han Olar, the volus who had escaped the hot labs.

"You came to find out more about them, didn't you?" he asked despondently.

"Are you referring to the insects?" she asked.

"Yes. I'm the only survivor from the hot labs, you know."

Shepard nodded sympathetically. "What are they?"

"Rachni." His answer silenced the room so thoroughly, Shepard could hear the air recycling units running.

"Rachni? That's preposterous!" Liara finally said.

"Where did they come from?" Shepard demanded. The rachni had been extinct for hundreds of years. This claim was just as Liara had said—preposterous.

"They found it in a derelict ship. An egg. Waiting since the last battles. They brought it here and we brought them back from the dead. In retrospect, a bad idea," Han Olar explained, the hissing of his pressure suit adding depth to his emotionless tone.

Shepard decided to change the subject. "How did you make it out alive?"

"I killed her. Dr. Zohnmua. We were going to lunch when the alarms went off. I ran into the trams. And I closed the doors. She banged on the window once, then they sliced her to pieces. Her head came apart like a melon. I closed the door. I killed her."

If Han Olar had been a human, Shepard would have said he was suffering from shock, PTSD, or both. She wasn't sure how volus handled such psychological trauma. She changed the subject again, not wanting to create a volatile situation. "Could Matriarch Benezia survive in the hot labs?"

"It's possible. The specimens were sensitive to biotics," he answered.

"Well that explains how Liara was killing them so fast," Ashley said with a friendly smirk. "Good thing we brought you along." She bumped the asari with her elbow. Liara smiled weakly in return.

"Thank you for all the information, Han Olar. We'll be going now." Shepard nodded at him once, then walked to the quarantined lab doors.

"Yeah," he murmured softly behind her.

She affixed her helmet to the neck of her armour, double-checking the clasps before looking over her duo. They were being similarly cautious, and Shepard approved.

"You're not part of the crew," the guard standing at the door said rudely.

"No, I'm a Spectre from the Council. Call me Shepard."

"There aren't any human Spectres!"

"I'm not here to argue with a security guard. I'm here to make a cure for the scientists. I have clearance from your captain."

"Yeah, he radioed. He also said you have to prove you're not contaminated to get out." The turian's subvocals seemed to suggest that even if they were uncontaminated, he still might not open the door for them.

"Since the toxin is no longer dangerous, that won't be a problem." Shepard stepped around the guard and walked through the door he grudgingly opened for her.

The cure wasn't too difficult to make. It looked like someone had gathered all the necessary components and laid them out neatly next to the instructions, as if they had just been getting ready to create the cure themselves. No sooner than she had the vial ready for transport, the door clanged open behind her. She whirled around, vial in her left hand, her right reaching awkwardly for the rifle holstered on her back. The asari they'd talked to earlier stood there, one geth and one asari commando flanking it on each side.

"Your mission ends here, Shepard."

"I thought she was weird," Williams muttered.

"What happened to Ventralis' man?" Shepard demanded, stalling for time. She was trying to surreptitiously place the vial in a pocket so her hands would be free to shoot.

"I didn't have permission to come in. He got in my way. I was ordered to eliminate you, should the opportunity arise. And here you are, trapped in this lab."

Shepard finally had the grip of her rifle firmly in her left hand. While the asari was talking, she switched off the maglock holding it to her back, then clicked the button to extend the barrel. She positioned it in such a way that when it fully extended, it was pointing at the floor behind her and hidden behind her legs. Williams was much more obvious, drawing the attention of the asari and its company. Liara began to glow blue. "You were sent by Matriarch Benezia," Shepard stated.

"Well. You're not as stupid as you look. Weapons free!" the asari shouted to its team.

Shepard let fly a Damping, stunning the ringleader and knocking out its biotics. She whipped her rifle around smoothly and placed a single bullet hole straight between its eyes. Before the body could hit the floor, she was on to the next target, one of the geth. She used an Overload, then ducked behind a desk before firing her weapon. Williams and Liara were holding their own, once again working as a team. Shepard really liked having them along with her, as it left her free to focus on her sniping.

They left the bodies in the lab, and exited out the way they'd come. Shepard checked the turian's vital signs, but he was dead. Han Olar, however, was untouched. She took off her helmet again as she approached him, and he said, "They came out of there." He pointed to the maintenance door.

"The…inorganics the asari had?" Shepard asked, avoiding the word 'geth.'

"Benezia brought them with her."

Shepard nodded, looking over at the door. The panel was still red. "How can I get into the maintenance area?"

"A team lead would have access. Like Dr. Cohen. He's in the medical bay."

Shepard nodded and gave him a little smile. "Thanks." Then she motioned her team to follow her back to the medbay.

Dr. Cohen greeted her excitedly, taking the vial she proffered. She asked about getting into the maintenance area, and he gave her his card, then mentioned that it seemed like the guards had been expecting her. He also offhandedly mentioned that there were other sections of the Rift Station inaccessible to all but a select few. Shepard tucked that knowledge away, then left.

As she ran back towards the maintenance tunnel, she mulled over the idea that maybe Matriarch Benezia wasn't in the hot labs. If the geth and the commandos had come from a particular area that was so heavily guarded not even scientists could get in, it seemed plausible that they were coming from the 'headquarters', as it were. She decided to put her helmet back on as they jogged.

She heard Williams snort behind her.

"Something to report, Chief?" she asked, locking the final clasp.

"No, ma'am," the woman responded.

"I think Ashley was just making a nonverbal comment on your actions concerning your helmet, Shepard," Liara explained, seemingly innocent.

"I don't like talking to people when they can't see my face. It puts them more on edge," Shepard said succinctly.

"Yes. That makes sense," Liara agreed.

The maintenance tunnel opened into a large laboratory. Shepard's eyes swept over the stairs leading to platforms of varying heights, the large transparent walls separating tiny rooms, the tubes, pipes, and control panels, then settled on an asari with its back to them.

"You do not know the privilege of being a mother," Matriarch Benezia said, looking into a large clear tube that Shepard couldn't quite see. "There is power in creation. To shape a life. Turn it toward happiness or despair. Her children were to be ours. Raised to hunt and slay Saren's enemies." It left the platform and walked toward them, stopping at the top of the stairs. "I won't be moved by sympathy. No matter who you bring to this confrontation," Matriarch Benezia said coldly.

"Liara's here because she wants to be, not because I asked her to," Shepard replied.

"Indeed? What have you told her about me, Liara?"

Liara lost what little control it had. "What could I say, mother? That you're insane? Evil? Should I explain how to kill you? What could I say?" it cried, anguish tearing at the words.

Benezia ignored the outburst. "Have you faced an asari commando unit before? Few humans have."

"I can't believe you'd kill your own child," Shepard said disgustedly.

"I realize now I should have been stricter with Liara." Matriarch Benezia lit up with biotics and began attacking the trio while asari commandos came in from every side. Shepard lost control of her own body for a moment, a biotic blast from Benezia rendering her incapacitated. She rolled behind cover as soon as she was able, looking for her team mates.

Some fights were planned and followed procedures with precision. Other fights were a mess. This one was the second kind. Liara was to the right, fending off a commando with biotically controlled pistol shots. Williams was up the stairs, trying to get at the matriarch while fighting off two more commandos. The chief was having to fall back on hand-to-hand, because the two asari were too close for her shotgun.

Shepard readied her rifle and took aim at the asari charging its biotics next to Williams. She fired, and the shot drew its attention to her and off her team mate. Shepard fired again as the asari flew down the stairs. It went hurtling back, sprawling on the steps, and didn't get up again.

She turned to check on Liara, and took a bullet though the soft material at her right shoulder joint. Then she realized her shields were down. Shepard cursed under her breath as she rolled around to the other side of the crate she was hiding behind. Her shields came up again, but weren't as strong as they'd been before. They were just going to have to do. She peeked out from cover, and let loose her Damping at the commando rushing for her. With its biotics temporarily knocked out, Shepard took the opportunity to fire her sniper rifle directly between its eyes. With no biotic shield to protect it, the asari went down.

Shepard saw Liara running down the metal planking, then up a set of stairs on the left. She looked over at Williams, who was taking on Matriarch Benezia alone. As Shepard stood up to join her, two geth came through a nearby door. She cursed again, then caught them both in an Overload. One clean shot through each of their headlights, and they weren't a concern anymore.

Shepard ran up the stairs toward Williams and Benezia, and saw Liara joining them from the other side. She thought this battle was nearly over, when four more geth appeared, converging on their location. "Stay on Benezia," she said over the comm link. "I'll get them."

She hit one with her Damping, spun around, hit another with her Overload, fired two shots, then turned back to the first, firing two more shots in quick succession. The two geth left came around their respective corners, firing at Shepard. Her shields held as she took their attacks out of cover. She hit the first with her Sabotage, overheating its weapon, but not stopping its momentum. While taking constant fire from the one at her back, she fired on the first until it fell, then turned to the final geth. With no tech ability to help, she had to work her way through its shields before getting in that last sweet shot precisely through the headlight.

Turning back to Benezia and her duo, she found the Matriarch slumped against a console. Looming over them all was an incredibly large rachni, trapped in the clear tube Benezia had been facing when they'd first come in. Her children were ours, Shepard recalled the asari saying. A queen rachni? Must be.

Benezia spoke, interrupting Shepard's thoughts. "This is not over. Saren is unstoppable. My mind is filled with his light. Everything is clear."

"The rachni didn't cooperate with you. Why should I?" she asked.

"I will not betray him. You will—You…" Something seemed to come over the matriarch, or maybe something left. Benezia's voice was stronger, but kinder. "You must listen. Saren still whispers in my mind. I can fight his compulsions. Briefly. But the indoctrination is strong."

"Why are you able to break free of his control now?" Shepard asked, wary.

"I sealed a part of my mind away from the indoctrination. Saving it for a moment when I could help destroy him. It will not last long."

"We met Shiala on Feros. She told us about Sovereign's indoctrination."

Benezia nodded. "It is a terror to be trapped in your mind. To beat upon the glass as your hands torture and murder. I was powerless; nothing but a tool for Saren. He sent me here to find the location of the Mu Relay. Its position was lost thousands of years ago."

"How does something that big go missing?" Williams asked.

"Four thousand years ago, a star nearby went supernova. The shockwave propelled the relay out of its system, but did not damage it. Its precise vector and speed were impossible to determine. As millennia passed, the nebula created by the nova enveloped the relay. It is difficult to find any cold object in interstellar space, particularly something swathed in hot dust and radiation."

"Someone on Noveria found it?" Shepard guessed.

"Two thousand years ago, the rachni inhabited that region of our galaxy. They discovered the relay. The rachni can share memories across generations. Queens inherit the knowledge of their mothers. I took the location of the relay from the queen's mind. I was not gentle," the Matriarch said sadly.

"How did the rachni find it?"

"They searched, patiently. They are territorial creatures, driven to close any possible way into their systems."

"Why does Saren need the Mu Relay?" Liara asked, eyes narrowing.

"He believes it will lead him to the Conduit. I would tell you more if I could, but Saren did not share his counsel with me. I was merely a servant to his cause."

"You can still make it right," Shepard said. "Share the information with us."

"I was not myself, but—I should have been stronger. I transcribed the data to an OSD. Take it. Please." Benezia held out a small data stick. Shepard took it, slowly.

"Knowing the relay's coordinates is not enough. Do you know where he planned to go from there?" Liara asked.

"Saren wouldn't tell me his destination. But you must find out quickly. I transmitted the coordinates to him before you arrived." Benezia's face contorted with pain. "You have to stop—me. I can't—His teeth are at my ear. Fingers on my spine. You should—Uh, you should—"

"Mother! I—Don't leave! Fight him!" Liara begged.

"You've always made me proud, Liara," Benezia said, then its face changed to a cold mask. "Die!" Liara's mother attacked them with newfound ferocity, while three more asari commandos rushed in. With Shepard's team working in unison, instead of spread out, the fight was quickly over.

Liara ran to Benezia, and cradled the Matriarch's head in its lap. Tears ran down the asari's face, to drip onto its mother's.

"I cannot go on. You will have to stop him." Benezia whispered.

"Hold on. We've got medi-gel. Maybe we can—" Liara said frantically.

"No. He is still in my mind. I am not entirely myself. I never will be again."

"Mother," Liara choked.

"Good night, Little Wing. I will see you again with the dawn." Benezia's face turned to the ceiling. "No light? They always said there would be—Ah…"

The lab was silent, save for Liara's quiet weeping. Shepard pulled her helmet off, but said nothing. What is there to say to a friend who killed its own mother? Williams crouched next to Liara, rubbing the asari's back in consolation.

Movement behind Shepard made her whirl around, and the sight that greeted her shocked her motionless. A dead asari was shuffling towards her, its limbs jerking unnaturally.

"This one. Serves as our voice. We cannot sing. Not in these low spaces. Your musics are colourless," it said, its voice like nothing Shepard had ever heard.

"Musics? What?" she asked, stunned.

"Your way of communicating is strange. Flat. It does not colour the air. When we speak, one moves all. We are the mother. We sing for those left behind. The children you thought silenced. We are rachni."

Shepard's eyes went from the talking corpse up to the rachni queen in the tube. She stepped closer, reaching out her hand. "How are you speaking through it?"

"Our kind sing through touchings of thought. We pluck the strings, and the other understands. It is weak to urging. It has colours we have no name for. But it is ending. Its music is bittersweet. It is beautiful.

"The children we birthed were stolen from us before they could learn to sing. They are lost to silence. End their suffering. They cannot be saved. They will only cause harm as they are," the rachni queen tried to explain.

"I don't understand. Why are your children killing people?" Shepard asked.

"These needle-men. They stole our eggs from us. They sought to turn our children into beasts of war. Claws with no songs of their own. Our elders are comfortable with silence. Children know only fear if no one sings to them. Fear has shattered their minds."

"I understand. A child left alone in a closet until she is sixteen would not be sane." Liara said quietly from the floor.

"If you're sure they can't be saved," Shepard said hesitantly.

"It is lamentable. But necessary. Do what you must. Before you deal with our children, we stand before you. What will you sing? Will you release us? Are we to fade away once more?"

Williams spoke behind Shepard. "Commander, I don't trust it. We know its kind are killers. The tank is rigged with acid. I recommend using it."

"The Council made a mistake. They let the krogan go too far. This is a chance for us to atone. She has done nothing to us," Liara said.

"Your companions hear the truth. You have the power to free us, or return our people to the silence of memory," the rachni queen voiced through the asari corpse.

"If I let you live, would you attack other races again?" Shepard asked seriously.

"No. We—I do not know what happened in the war. We only heard discordance, songs the colour of oily shadows. We would seek a hidden place to teach our children harmony. If they understand, perhaps we would return."

"Are you a survivor from the war? A clone?" Shepard inquired.

"We do not know. We were only an egg, hearing Mother cry in our dreams. A tone from space hushed one voice after another. It forced the singers to resonate with its own sour yellow note. Then we awoke, in this place. The last echo of those who came out from the Singing Planet. The sky is silent."

Shepard could feel the heavy weight of decision in her hands. Exterminate the last surviving member of a sentient species, or let it live, potentially dooming the galaxy to another destructive war in the future? While the second choice made logical sense, she just couldn't stomach having that kind of power over a whole species. Who am I to decide what races live and die? Shepard thought. Especially the last living queen that wasn't even part of the rachni wars? What if that was how the Council had viewed us? Killing the ones in our short war, and all our children, wiping out our race forever? That's what they did with the krogan too, nearly. No. I will not make their same mistakes. There is always hope for the future, for change. "I won't destroy your entire race. You'll go free," she stated firmly.

"You will give us the chance to compose anew? We will remember. We will sing of your forgiveness to our children."

"With all due respect, Commander, there's a reason their kind were hunted to extinction. It's better to be safe than let a dangerous race loose," Williams put in.

"Are we any better than the rachni if we kill them all?" Shepard asked, turning to face her.

"If this had happened in Tokyo, Armstrong, or the Citadel, the death toll would be…" Williams broke off, shaking her head.

"Is that what the Council should have done to us, after our war with the turians? It's not like this is the only time they've tried eliminating an entire species. What of the krogan? How can we look at these situations, and say that it's okay for those races to die, but not ours? Are we so much better than them? Really?" Shepard stared into Williams' eyes, driving her point into the chief's soul.

Williams looked from Shepard, to the rachni queen, to Liara, studying them each in turn, before meeting her commander's eyes again, then dropped her gaze to the floor. "No," she whispered.

Shepard turned back to the rachni. "You will go free." She punched the code into the console, and watched as the rachni left her tiny prison. The asari body she'd been using to communicate fell to the ground in a heap. An alarm began sounding as soon as the queen left her prison, and Shepard attempted to override it, but could not. "Let's go take care of the ones in the hot labs," she sighed, walking past her duo.

They were all silent as they made their way to the unlocked elevator, refastening their helmets. When the doors opened, they were greeted by a lone scientist. Shepard looked around for rachni, but saw none. The man explained about the rachni soldiers, how they were uncontrollable and needed to be euthanized, confirming what the queen had said. He explained about the neutron purge, and was just getting ready to hand her the keycard, when a rachni tentacle burst through his chest from behind.

Shepard and her team opened fire on the rachni, and it exploded from Liara's biotic attack. She picked the keycard up off the ground, then searched the dead man's body for the authorization code he'd said they'd need. Some wary searching led them to a Mira terminal.

Before she activated the VI, she contacted Captain Ventralis. "You need to evacuate this facility immediately. Get everyone on the tram, but wait for us. I'm going to activate the neutron purge."

"The neutron purge? But—yes, Spectre. I'll radio you when we're on the tram. Ventralis out."

Shepard activated Mira, asking her questions about the purge, but waited for the all-clear before starting it. When she did, a two minute countdown began, and she headed back to the elevator with her duo. However, the rachni somehow knew something was happening, and swarmed the room between them and the only way out. The whole place was filled. They were crawling over each other, trying to stop them from leaving.

Shepard unholstered her heavy pistol, firing at the ones that got too close as they ran through, caring only about getting out before the purge went off. Pockets of them exploded from Liara's too-powerful biotic bursts, but they made it across with minor damage.

The tram ride back to the central station was crowded, and quiet. In the ground vehicle, Williams asked if they were going to head to the Mu Relay after their shore leave.

"No. The Mu Relay could link to dozens of systems. Until we know exactly where Saren's going, we'd just be wasting our time," Shepard sighed. Liara nodded her head in agreement, but said nothing.

Back on the Normandy, there was a strange dichotomy between the ground team's emotions, and that of everyone else, who were all excited for the three day leave Shepard had promised. She stopped by Joker's chair, telling him to take the Normandy to the Citadel, and to never mind the report to the Council. She'd just tell them in person when they got there.