Mass Effect - A Hero Rises Ch. 11

"ERCS will need a recruiting drive after this," Ashley muttered.

"I'm expecting an angry letter or two from some businesses at the end of this," I added.

"Fuck 'em," Wrex stated.

Another elevator. I swear, I don't think I'd travelled on so many elevators in my life, descending again to god only knows where. "Think we'll find Benezia?" Liara asked quietly.

"Well, unless we run into more rachni, geth or whatever the fuck else is on this planet, yeah, I think Benezia is next," I replied.

"I'm ready, Shepard." I just met her eyes and she returned a grim nod. I knew the next few minutes were going to suck at a personal level for her, no matter what happened.

Everything was quiet as we walked off the elevator. Every corner was checked and rechecked. Every noise didn't exactly have us flinching, but we were being extra vigilant. Couple of empty rooms, few empty corridors. Not a living soul, but I knew Benezia was close. I'd been through enough shit to know when the enemy is close. You can feel it in the air. Almost taste it.

A final door, an enormous lab, and an asari who was clearly waiting for us to arrive. I gave subtle gestures, sensing my team spread out behind me, weapons raised, as Liara walked forward to stand beside me. I noticed Benezia's eyes move along our line before they fell on me, then Liara, before resting on me a final time.

"You do not know the privilege of being a mother. There is power in creation. To shape a life. Turn it towards happiness or despair." She turned towards the tank, where we had our first look of the rachni queen. To call it monstrous would be an understatement. Fucking ugly, is what I'd add. "Her children were to be ours. Raised to hunt and slay Saren's enemies." She turned away from the tank, walking towards us, rather bravely, I might add. She appeared alone, but I knew her commandos would be lurking close by. "I won't be moved by sympathy, no matter who you bring into this confrontation."

"I'm here because I choose to be, mother."

"Really? And what have you told him about me, daughter?"

"What can I say, mother? That's you've gone insane? Turned evil? Should I explain how to kill you? What could I possibly say?"

"We can end this peacefully, Lady Benezia," I added, "All you need do is surrender, tell me where Saren is, what his plans are, and no-one else needs to die. There has been enough death already."

She was never going to accept the offer. The smirk told me what was coming. Someone should probably have shot her straight away, but I guess we had to wait and hear what she had to say, perhaps hoping she would accept. "Have you ever face an asari commando unit before? Few humans have."

"And Liara in all of this?"

"I now realise I should have been stricter with her."

Before I could raise my weapon to shoot, before any of us could fire a weapon, she released her biotics, holding all of us in stasis, a sign of her power. I could still move my eyes, noticing doors around us open as asari commandos flood. The stasis didn't hold us long, not spread over all of us. Soon as we were released, we split apart and went to war.

There was little room to move and very little cover. Shields failed rather quickly. Armour was definitely left scarred. Alenko was the first one to go down, Ashley dragging him behind a container, activating his medi-gel dispenser to stem the blood flow. Garrus was the next one to go down, a bullet in the leg. I grabbed him by the collar and dragged him towards one of the doors, handing him his rifle.

I looked around for Shiala, and she was in the thick of the action, no doubt thinking of revenge. Liara was at her side, the two biotics mixing up their attacks, seeming to protect each other while attacking at the same time. Tali was behind cover, using her shotgun when she could, disabling shields when possible. I joined Ashley behind a container as we simply shot at anything in commando leathers.

"Benezia?" she wondered.

"Still thinking about it."

"I want the bitch dead, but it's your choice, sir."

"She keeps this shit up and I'll run out of patience."

The doors opened around us, and now geth flooded in. Geth we could deal with, Tali leaping with glee as she caused one of them to practically explode, overloading the shields of another before blasting it with her shotgun, two others suffering overheating weapons, leaving them as easy pickings for the rest of us. There were a couple of commandos left, Shiala and Liara to one side, Ashley and I to the other. They were fighting hard but clearly losing.

More geth flooded in but a glance towards Benezia showed her weakening somehow. I'm not sure what she was doing, but I noticed her collapse against one of the workstations next to the rachni queen. I don't think she'd dare release it so...

"Liara?" I called out, gesturing towards her mother.

"I could explain, Shepard, but I don't think you'll understand."

Good enough excuse for me. She was weakening so hopefully won't put up much of a fight. The commandos were now dead so now it was just focusing on the geth. How so many had ended up on Noveria boggled the mind but, having fought them so often by now, it wasn't simple but the commandos certainly put up a longer, tougher fight.

Now it was time to deal with Benezia. I signalled for everyone to holster weapons except Liara as we walked towards the platform. Benezia met my eyes and managed to lift herself from the ground. She still had some fight in her, surprised when she confidently turned her back, looking at the rachni in the tank.

"This is not over. Saren is unstoppable. My mind is filled with his light. Everything is clear."

"Tell me everything he's planning, Benezia. What's his next move?"

She glanced back with a smirk. "I will not betray him. You will... you...." She cried out and collapsed to the ground, holding the helmet on her head. Liara made to move forward but I grabbed her wrist, shaking my head. Benezia stayed on her knees for a good few seconds. It was either a good act or she truly was in agony. Her cries eventually dimmed before she turned back, and even I noticed the change in her eyes.

"Mother!" Liara cried.

"You must listen. Saren still whispers in my mind. I can fight his compulsions but only briefly. The indoctrination is strong."

"Why now after everything that's just happened?"

She looked at Liara before looking back to me. "I sealed a part of my mind away from the indoctrination, saving it for a moment when I could destroy him. It will not last long."

"Indoctrination?" Liara wondered, "Is Saren brainwashing you, mother?"

"No, little wing. People are not themselves around Saren. You come to idolise him. Worship him. You would do anything for him. The key is Sovereign, his flagship. It is a dreadnought of incredible size and its power is extraordinary."

"Hang on, the same ship that we saw on Eden Prime? How on earth did it manage to land?"

"It has a very powerful mass effect drive. But that is not Sovereign's true power. The longer you stay aboard, the more Saren's will seems correct. You sit at his feet and smile as his words pour into you. It is subtle at first. I thought I was strong enough to resist. Instead, I became a willing too, eager to serve."

"So why are you here?" I asked, getting to the crux of the matter.

"He sent me here to find the location of the Mu Relay. Its position was lost thousands of years ago."

"How do you lose a relay?"

"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 are 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."

I looked past her at the rachni. "Let me guess..."

She glanced back a moment before nodding. "Two thousand years ago, the rachni inhabited that region of our galaxy. They discovered the relay. The rachni have a unique gift where they 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."

"Does Saren believe this Mu Relay will lead him to the Conduit?"

"He does, though he did not tell me more. I was merely a servant to his cause."

"I need that information. Make this right."

She walked towards me, handing over an OSD. "Everything is on here. You must find out where it is quickly as I have transmitted the details to him before your arrival."

She took a step back before her eyes closed, her face clenched in pain, before she basically stumbled until she was against the workstation against the tank. When her eyes opened, they were the same ones that had greeted us. I wasn't going to let her get the drop on us, and I wasn't going to kill her.

Taking out my pistol, I put a bullet into her right leg, which caused her to drop to her knee, before putting a bullet into her left shoulder, which basically put her on her back. "Liara, look away," I ordered as I stepped towards Benezia. No doubt she was expecting a bullet in the head. Instead, I leaned down, grabbed her by the collar, and put a fist into her jaw, knocking her out cold. "Alenko, cuff her wrists and ankles. Make sure she doesn't move. Liara, this thing on her head, what do you think it is?"

"No idea. Could be something to do with Saren? Could even be to do with the rachni?"

As Alenko secured Benezia, that's when the rachni queen decided she would speak to us, using one of the dead asari commandos. I'll be honest, I didn't really understand much of what the rachni spoke of, regarding singing and colours, but I guess it was to do with how they communicated, particularly when she mentioned 'children'.

"Thoughts?" I asked, though in the end, it would be my decision. Only Wrex was vehement in his opposition to letting the queen live. I was surprised that nearly everyone else admitted that perhaps wiping out the rachni long ago wasn't the right thing to do. Wrex scoffed at that, but said he would not cause a problem if I chose to let the queen live.

"I don't know about you guys but I've killed enough rachni today. If you promise there will be peace, queen, if you give your word on behalf of your species, then you may live."

"You have it."

"Then I'm not sure about the rest of you, but I'm not prepared to be the one responsible for wiping out an entire species." I glanced at Wrex. "You okay with that?"

"If it goes wrong, we'll just be left to clean up the mess again."

"We will go in peace," the queen stated.

Walking towards the tank, the queen turned and I'm sure its eyes met mine. Opening the workstation, it didn't take much investigation to find the control, lifting the tank up before a hatch opened, allowing the queen to escape. No idea how the hell she was going to get off Noveria, but to be honest, that wasn't my problem. She was clearly intelligent, though. I figured she'd find a shuttle, figure out how it worked, then simply go home.

Turning to my team, I gestured towards Benezia. "Wrex, if you could the honours. The rest of you, let's head back to Port Hanshan."

It took a while to get back to the garage. I made sure Benezia was in my Mako, Wrex taking out a shotgun and keeping it across his knees. If she woke up, she would have the shotgun prodded into her stomach, with a warning to behave or else. It was dark by the time we exited, no idea if it was the middle of the night or the dark before the dawn.

It turned out to be the latter, thankful the blizzard had passed, so we were greeted with some amazing scenery by dawn's early light. The drive took nowhere near as long, basically flooring it at times. Wrex picked up Benezia and we headed back to the Normandy, telling Alenko and the rest to go to the hotel as we wouldn't be going anywhere just yet.

Securing Benezia in the Normandy, Liara had followed, wanting a chance to speak with her once she woke up. I said that was fine, but she was under strict instructions to do nothing but talk, while she would remain cuffed and shackled as Chakwas provided medical attention for her wounds. If she tried any jedi mind tricks, then she was to leave immediately. She didn't quite get what I meant by that, but assured me that she would be safe.

After getting out of my armour and dumping my supplies, I had a quick shower, dressed and headed out, hailing a taxi, and headed for the address I remembered. It was still rather early, knocking on the door, wondering if she was awake yet. When she opened the door, she met my eyes, an enormous smile breaking out as she leapt on me, arms and legs wrapped around me as the kiss certainly told me that she was rather excited to see me.

Carrying her inside, I managed to kick the door shut with my foot as I carried her in towards her kitchen, plonking her down on one of the stools. "How long can you stay?"

"Tonight. I will have to leave tomorrow morning."

"Are you hungry? Was just about to make breakfast."

"You know, I could say something completely corny, but I can't remember the last time I actually ate something."

Breakfast wasn't extravagant, some cereal, toast and coffee, but it was something to fill a stomach that had started to growl. Once we'd finished, she grabbed my hand and led me to her bedroom. She was only wearing a robe, so it took longer for myself to undress, but once we were both naked, she simply rested her head against my chest as I held her.

Laying her down on her bed a little later, it was the first time I'd been with a woman for a second time since... Annie. And I think it's the first time since Annie that I can say that I made love to a woman. I believe there's a difference. When you fuck, it's wild, hot, passionate, a shared physical attraction that leads to physical intimacy. But I think, when you make love, in addition to that, there is a heightened emotional and mental intimacy in addition to the physical.

We made love all morning, her hands never not touching my body, our lips rarely apart, and if they were, our foreheads would be touching, looking into each other's eyes. Her legs would either be wrapped around or resting against my sides, and just occasionally, bent back quite a bit as I thrust deep into her. Sure, we enjoyed an orgasm or two, but it was the simple act itself that meant more.

When she rode me, I noticed the look in her eyes. She wasn't in love with me, not yet, but there were feelings already. Feelings I could possibly have returned, if I were to stay on Noveria, or at least open myself up to something like that. But I couldn't, not after Annie. She was still the one. Always would be. I'd lost part of myself when I lost her, shutting off that part which I didn't want to open again.

Gianna eventually rested against my chest, cock still buried inside her. "My heart is going crazy, Shepard," she whispered.

"Yeah, mine too," I admitted.

"Could be just the great sex," she stated with a laugh, "But it might be something else too."

I just ran my fingers up and down her spine, enjoying the feeling of her smooth skin, her breasts pressed into my chest, buried inside her, body curled into mine. "You're thinking," she whispered.

"There's always a lot going on in my head, to be honest." I kissed her forehead when she looked up. "What I do know is that I do really like you."

"Well, those feelings are definitely returned, Shepard."

Getting dressed a little later, wrapping up as it was obviously cold outside, we headed out for a walk. There wasn't exactly lot around so we walked to the end of the residential area and a nearby cliff, overlooking an enormous gorge, frozen lake far below. I'm sure before the planet froze solid, there might have been vegetation, perhaps trees and grass far below. Nothing could survive in these temperatures though.

"Not sure I'll end up staying here," she said, cuddling into my side, "Too much politics. The Anoleis job got on my nerves in the end."

"Where would you go?"

"No idea. Still a cop at heart though." She gave me a squeeze. "I know you are an orphan, Shepard. Me? I grew up in a rough neighbourhood, parents' poor as anything, barely able to make ends meet. One of millions forgotten as humanity spread across the stars. Still had a roof over the head and just about enough food, but I never thought I'd end up living on another planet. All through school, always wanted to be a cop. Guess I read too many comics, watched too many vids, thought I could end up saving the day. Was always good at investigating, it's how I ended up in my current role. Can always sniff out a perp."

"Maybe it's time to find another planet, perhaps one not so cold?"

"Would a certain Spectre be interested in visiting me at said planet?"

"Yes, he certainly would."

Ending up back at her place, we made out on the couch like we were a pair of teenagers, making her giggle as I cracked a series of bad jokes, before she had a nap in my arms. First time I'd spent an entire day with a woman since... Annie. It always came back to her.

Gianna cooked up a storm that night, showing off her heritage. She suggested that she lacked talent in the kitchen. Well, let me just say, if that was lacking talent, she would have owned one of the most expensive restaurants if she could cook better. All I know is that I cleared my plate each time as what she cooked was delicious, the wine she selected simply complimenting the meal. Once we'd washed and put away everything, we retired to her bedroom, where she put on a little music, performed a rather erotic striptease for me, then we made love again.

The way she breathed my name as I buried myself, the way she looked at me, the way her fingers and heels dug into my back, the little noises she constantly made... She begged me to keep going, she wanted me to cum, as much as I wanted her to cum. Her mouth constantly searched for mine, the passion and intensity increasing with each passing moment. I'm not sure if she was falling in love with me that day. I don't know if you can fall in love that quickly. All I knew is that I liked her, and would definitely want to see her again.

When she rode me later, my hands never left her body, constantly trailing up her back and occasionally grabbing her arse, before I finally shuffled back so I was sitting up and we could make out, or I could kiss down to her neck, giving her a little bite, hearing her giggle, or I'd move further down and focus on her breasts. She eventually had to ride me hard and fast, holding tightly onto me as she came hard a final time, not letting me go as I felt her shudder a few times.

"Part of me doesn't want you to go," she whispered, "But the other part is scared what will happen if you were to stay. I can't remember the last time... It's been a long time, Shepard."

I'd barely slept in two days, so I was now rather exhausted. After we shared a rather intimate shower, we finally settled back in bed, feeling myself drift off, her hands gently caressing my face, feeling her lips kiss my forehead before I fell asleep. Waking beside her the next morning, she didn't turn around to look at me for a while, hearing her take in a couple of deep, shuddering breaths. "I'm being an idiot," she said quietly.

"Do you want to come see me off or..."

"Oh, I'm spending every second possible with you, Shepard."

We eventually got out of bed and dressed, enjoying breakfast together, some of the chatter from the previous day missing. Catching a taxi outside, we headed to the hotel first, collecting the crew, before we walked back to the Normandy. Everyone headed on first before Gianna and I shared a final hug and one hell of a kiss, the depth of feeling involved telling me everything we both felt. When we finally broke apart, she hugged me tightly, whispered 'Goodbye' before she tried to go, though I didn't let her.