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Mars was a rush.
Liara found herself unable to catch her breath from the moment Cerberus attacked until she found her boots back within the somewhat familiar halls of the
Normandy.
No sooner than Shepard dropped Williams off in the infirmary was she issuing orders and getting the ship underway.
While the brute of a human, Lieutenant Vega, performed some basic field medicine on their unconscious squad member, Liara worked to extract the data they needed from the humanoid robot they’d brought back to the
Normandy
with them. Once she had it, she followed EDI’s directions to get to the QEC to join the conference with Admiral Hackett.
To say it was any less nerve-wracking than the last few hours would be wrong. Stowing the scared little archeologist that she used to be behind her calculating shadow broker’s façade was as difficult as ever. But as her mother had taught her as a child, she needed to be strong. As experience had continued to teach her, she needed to hide those terrified parts and put forward her best face.
But when even Commander Shepard didn’t seem to have faith in her plan, Liara’s resolve began to falter. Her tongue darted out to dampen her lips. “I can sense you don’t quite believe it though.”
Shepard’s chin dropped to her chest. The movement was a defeated one, it looked so unlike her friend and didn’t fit her features. “You didn’t see what they did to earth,” she said before looking up. Bags rested under her eyes from long-lasting fatigue. “How is one weapon supposed to stop them?”
“What are our options? You know we can’t win this conventionally,” Liara reminded her. And Shepard’s jaw tightened but she said nothing in answer. “Commander? Isn’t it worth trying, at least?”
She turned away. Heading for the door. Liara didn’t even think that she was going to dignify the question with a response and was proven correct when she changed the subject.
“I’m going to check on Ashley and James,” Shepard said. “Make sure we’re ready to present our findings to the Council.”
“I’m sure the council will see the need to help,” Liara clung to the last shreds of hope she had resting in her chest. They needed hope now, more than ever.
Shepard simply walked away. “It’ll be a hell of a short war if they don’t.”
The door closed. Shutting Liara out.
Alone in the war room, surrounded by monitors and screens, she found herself at a loss. The Citadel was hours away and she was alone on a ship filled with distinctly unfamiliar faces. All of whom were human. Not that she had a problem with humans, but there was an odd sort of comfort being around one’s own species at times.
Liara stepped up to the central panel, settling cool blue palms down on the console’s interface. At the least this was familiar. A few brief clicks had the language switched from human common to asari high tier and she was busily tapping away at the data EDI fed her. Below the war room, the drive core hummed and the white noise was enough to fill the silence after the explosions and screams and gunfire on Mars.
It was a reprieve and time seemed to stand still.
There was something comforting about this too, going back to her archaeology roots and sifting through prothean data instead of the reams of information she needed as the broker. That comfortable rhythm seemed to be her downfall, as she didn’t notice the door opening. Nor the footsteps as a single human walked across the room and down the stairs.
“Excuse me.”
Liara started at the noise, tensing up and whipping her head around to see who the offender was. A woman, in standard Alliance fatigues with straight black hair, was standing not two metres away from her. In her hands, she held a datapad and a steaming mug of liquid that nearly sloshed over the side as she backed off.
“Oh! I’m sorry!” She said in a slightly accented voice. It was like Miranda Lawson’s but not quite the same timbre. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“It’s all right,” Liara shook her head to rid herself of the moment of panic and gave the woman a small smile. “I didn’t notice you come in.”
“I should have said something sooner or told EDI to warn you… or… or….”
Liara raised her hands, waving the officer off. “It’s fine Ms.-“
“Traynor, Samantha Traynor,” she replied and put the datapad down on the console before reaching out her hand in what Liara knew was a human greeting. “I’m a Comm Specialist with Alliance R&D. I was part of the team retrofitting the Normandy on Earth.”
She took her hand, shaking it as she replied: “Doctor Liara T’Soni, it’s nice to meet you.”
Traynor’s palm was warm in comparison to her own and she found herself reluctant to let go for some reason. It must have been the stress of the past few hours, she reasoned as they broke apart.
“I uh…” Traynor lifted the mug in front of her, offering it to Liara. “Thought you might want something to drink. You’ve been in here for hours.”
The warmth of a light blush bloomed on Liara’s freckled cheeks as she accepted the beverage. “Oh, I didn’t realize it had been that long.”
“I hope you like green tea, I wasn’t sure but there isn’t much in the mess yet… we weren’t stocked for space so it’s mostly ration bars. The tea was in my personal kit and-“
Liara stopped her with a gentle hand on her shoulder. “This is wonderful, thank you.”
“Oh, um. That’s good then.” Traynor’s cheeks tinted red and she smiled, averting her eyes.
When she removed her hand, Liara took a sip of tea and then another. She hadn’t realized she was parched until the liquid warmed her throat. “So you’re part of Shepard’s new crew?”
“Sort of,” her mouth quirked to the side and her hands came together in front of her. “I was on the ship when the Reapers hit. There weren’t many of us on board, just enough to run the ship. I’m… uncertain what will happen next.”
The corners of Liara’s mouth turned down and her brow tightened. “I don’t think any of us do.”
Traynor pulled in a breath, it caught in her lungs but she didn’t let it develop into more. Although watching her, it was easy for Liara to see that she wanted to. She knew all too well how easy it would be to break down and cry. But for the sake of the galaxy, they couldn’t.
“I don’t think anywhere is going to be safe,” Liara said. “The
Normandy
will be in the middle of the fighting.”
“I’d… I’d like to stay. If the Commander will allow it,” Traynor told her. Her mouth had set itself in a hard line even as her brown eyes glistened with dampness. “I want to do my part.”
Smiling, Liara nodded. “I’ll mention it if she asks. I’ve known Shepard for a long time and we need people who are familiar with the
Normandy’s
upgrades.”
“Thank you,” she said before turning her gaze to the datapad she’d put down a few minutes ago. Picking it up, she offered it over. “The other reason I came to find you, is this encrypted message came in for you before we left the Sol system. It took me that long to decrypt who it was meant for.”
A knowing glint appeared in Liara’s eyes. “I know exactly what that is.” She took the offering and tapped a few keys, a moment later her familiar blue information drone popped up in the air between them. “Hello, Glyph.”
“Good evening,”
it replied, the hologram blinked its singular eye at her before spinning to look around.
“You have two thousand, three hundred and four unread messages. Would you like to begin playback?”
“Not right now, please prioritize and save.”
“Understood.”
Glyph began floating around the room as it worked on its new task. Liara watched it go before turning back to the Alliance officer. “Thank you, Glyph is integral to my work.”
“Happy to help,” Traynor said as she tore her eyes off the little drone and found the asari’s gaze. “Should I let you get to those messages?”
“Not yet,” Liara turned back to take up her mug, a sip helped to quell her growing appetite. Biotics were hard work and it had been hours. “If you wouldn’t mind, I would like to find the mess….”
“I can show you? See if we can’t scrounge up something to eat.”
Liara stowed the datapad in her jacket pocket and closed out the terminal she’d been working at. A meal and some company sounded perfect. “That sounds perfect. Shall we?” she picked up her tea and reached out her free hand to gesture at the door.
What she wasn’t expecting was for the human to take it. She giggled like the maiden she was and allowed herself to be pulled toward the door. A moment later, Traynor realized her mistake and dropped her hand.
“I’m… oh no… that wasn’t what you meant. I’m sorry.”
Liara smiled and wrapped her cool fingers around Traynor’s warmer ones, squeezing briefly before letting go. “A little contact might be just what we need right now.”
“Thank you, Doctor T’Soni,” moisture welled up under her eyes again.
“It’s Liara.”
She nodded. “Thank you, Liara.”
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