Tali cursed aloud, then remembered where she was and quickly glanced left and right. Phew. Nobody within earshot. There were more people in the hangar than usual, but they all seemed preoccupied. Ashley and Crewman Harriswere sparring just outside Wrex’s cubicle. Wrex was in; he was cleaning his weapons and humming some horribly dissonant tune. He looked up from time to time, prompted by grunts and profanities issuing from the combatants. On the other side, near the drawbridge, Donnelly and Kaidan were leaning over the microfacturing unit, mostly just frowning and shrugging, and only occasionally erupting in short bursts of conversation.
Continue reading Dead Hearts I
The message caught him on the way down to the lair; everybody stopped at the rude buzzing of his omni.
It was from Benezia. Perhaps the last message he’d ever get from her. He signaled Shiala to wait, and then lingered. As if the act of reading it had the power to sway the outcome of the inevitable encounter. Which way would it sway?
Continue reading The Cipher
Nihlus tried to hold Liara back, but wasn’t quick enough even though he’d known she’d run for it. She had been keeping up a brave front but… oh, who was he kidding. He’d have done the same if it had been Saren there, standing atop the elevated platform, hands against a thick glass cage. As it came into full view, Nihlus saw that it contained an enormous creature, doubtless another type of rachni, but different from everything that they’d encountered. The brood-mother.
Continue reading Benezia
Sound of Silence is another Saren/Nihlus story from the time just before The Candidate. It tells about Saren’s days of loneliness aboard the Virial after driving Nihlus away in an outburst of anger.
I wrote this a long time ago, but the feeling that it’s unfinished kept plaguing me, making me go back and question each scene, each word, a thousand times. I wanted it to be perfect, to speak perfectly in Saren’s voice, the voice I hear so clearly in your writing, dear MA, but know I can never reproduce. This one is entirely for you: both inspired by and dedicated to.
Image: Anjian @ DeviantArt
At the same time…
Shepard had been shocked when she saw the geth for the first time, because hey! Nobody had seen the geth for three hundred years so obviously there was no need to fear them, right? Right?
Continue reading Rachni
The security measures at the ExoGeni research station were laughable. Saren went through them like a plasma cutter through omnigel and the building was taken in a matter of minutes. He ordered the scientists herded in a large conference room, and sent out the geth to hunt down those few who had managed to escape and hide on the lower floors.
Continue reading Ruthless