Along the shore the cloud waves break,

The twin suns sink behind the lake,

The shadows lengthen

In Carcosa.

Strange is the night where black stars rise,

And strange moons circle through the skies,

But stranger still is

Lost Carcosa.

Songs that the Hyades shall sing,

Where flap the tatters of the King,

Must die unheard in

Dim Carcosa.

Song of my soul, my voice is dead,

Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed

Shall dry and die in

Lost Carcosa.

—"Cassilda's Song" in 'The King in Yellow' Act 1, Scene 2

Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow and Other Horror Stories

----------------------------------------

Gabby looked at John in disbelief. "You want me to do what?"

He didn't turn around, and kept looking out the cockpit windows. "Disable the asari ship. Can we do something that will prevent it from taking off, something that they won't easily detect?"

"You don't ask for much, do you?"

"Just say yes or no."

She pondered for a bit. "There's a few tricks we can play with the software. It'll make the drive core appear unstable, and the safety interlocks will kick in and prevent the engines from firing up."

Now he turned around. His eyes were very black when set against Carcosa's yellow and toxic gloom outside. "Will you have to gain access to the ship's interior to do that?"

"No, there should be data ports on the outside. They use them to run engine diagnostics during service in drydock."

John nodded. "Good. Let Persephone know what to do, and she'll get on it."

Gabby shook her head. "It'll be too complex. This isn't going to be a simple program upload. Especially since it's an asari ship, I'll have to go a little more carefully."

"I don't like that. You don't have any experience doing something like this."

"With respect, sir, I don't like this whole idea. If something happens...hell, I'll just say it. If our ship isn't here, then whoever's left will be stranded on a dead planet. And it might not be just Batara left stranded. It seems cruel."

"Cruel?" Those black eyes bored into her. "Gabby...if I was the man I was back when I made my name, then right now there would be five dead asari in that camp."

Gabby looked away. "Point taken. Let me think about it, see what I can come up with to streamline the process."

"Do so. And we don't have much time." He gave a half smile. "So, you know, no pressure."

----------------------------------------

"And this is the throne room," said Emreys. "At least, that's what we're calling it."

"I can see why," replied John. What lay before them was indeed impressive, a huge square room made of what looked like gray stone. The floor was polished black and utterly seamless. It led up to a gray dais at the far end, upon which was a large black throne that appeared to be made of the same material as the floor. The far wall of the room had once held a huge picture window overlooking the vast dead lake outside. The wall must have been broken by some calamity in the past, and half of it was missing. John realized something odd about the throne.

"The throne's facing the wrong way," he said.

"Yep, it overlooks the lake, not the room." said Anedra. "In spite of our name for it, we're pretty sure this wasn't a seat of royalty. It was probably more of an observation chamber."

Emreys shook her head. "But in that case, why have such a large amount of space on the back side of the throne? I think this was more of a ceremonial room."

Anedra patted the shoulder of Emreys' suit. "Now, now. You're supposed to be figuring out the planet, not the ruins." Her eyes were amused behind her suit's visor. Emreys gave her a playful punch in the shoulder. This was clearly an old and teasing rivalry between them.

Nathan had also accompanied the group, and now he stooped to examine the floor. "This can't be stone," he said. "It's not weathered at all. And it's been sitting here for almost 3 million years. Especially in this atmosphere, this whole place should have been worn down into nothing long ago."

Emreys' eyes sparkled. "I know, right? It's amazing. We've tried to get microsamples of the floor and walls but with no luck. It looks like stone, but clearly it's not. Whatever it's made of is incredibly tough. We suspect it's something similar to Silaris heavy ship armor, but it's way too light to be that. We don't want to use any excessively damaging techniques to try to take samples, so we're resorting to passive scans for now."

"And you've found nothing else?" asked John.

"Not much else," replied Anedra. "There's a few antechambers off of this one. There's also some fragments which might be old furniture. We've also found quite a few scraps of their language. It was written on something that feels like parchment but is much tougher. They're kind of like the stone in this place, it's way too tough to get any physical samples off of them."

Nathan perked up at the mention of language. "How far along are you in deciphering their language?"

The linguist gave a one-shoulder shrug. "It's going slower than I'd prefer. Like I said, we have mostly bits of various things. It would be better if we had some longer texts."

"I have done some language analysis in the past," said Nathan. "If you don't mind having an amateur fumbling around, I'd be delighted to have a look and assist if possible."

Anedra waved a hand. "Sure, go ahead."

The sound of someone clearing their throat sounded over the comm. Valissa's frigid voice sounded in their ears. "Anedra, much as I appreciate your willingness to work with others we should be careful. The expedition's intent is to give the first detailed description of these ruins, not give away our findings to strangers."

Anedra rolled her eyes, but kept her voice steady. "Of course, Valissa."

"Mr. Hadlock," continued Valissa. "May I see you in my office?" It was clear from her tone that it was not a polite request.

----------------------------------------

John wasn't sure if 'office' was the right word for this space. It was more like 'broom closet'. There wasn't any space for chairs, so he stood. Valissa was seated at a tall stool by the far wall and typing into a terminal. She turned as John entered.

"Mr. Hadlock, why are you really here?"

"Like I said, I wanted to see the ruins."

"Yes, and now you've seen them. Are you planning to leave?" Before he could reply, she continued. "Because if you aren't out of here in one hour, then I'll be convinced you're after something else. I will treat you and your group as a hostile force, with all which that implies."

He sighed. "Well, then I guess I should confess."

"So you do have a nefarious motive?"

"No, an ulterior one."

Valissa crossed her arms. "I'm waiting, Mr. Hadlock."

"Reapers," replied John.

She snorted. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. You seem like the type who would fall for a ghost story."

"But what if it isn't?" He tilted his head. "These ruins are older than the Protheans."

She stared levelly at him. "And you were hoping to find evidence here for these...Reapers?"

"I thought there would be a good chance."

Valissa massaged one of her temples. "Amateurs. Goddess-be-damned amateurs. No, Mr. Hadlock, we have not found any evidence for Reapers or dragons or any other mystical nonsense."

"You haven't found any yet. The language is still undeciphered."

Her jaw clenched. "Anedra and her damn big mouth...It really is no concern of yours. If we find anything, rest assured it will be published in due course."

"And when would that be?"

"Mr. Hadlock, the ruins have been here for longer than your entire species has been in existence. They can wait a little while longer. I'm sure these, heh, 'Reapers' are not going to come cruising up in the next few months."

"Maybe. In either case, we can help get you faster results."

She leaned back. "Let me guess. You are offering up Mr. Prasad's services."

"In spite of what he said, he's not an amateur. You should try him out."

Valissa said nothing and looked away. John knew this was the critical point. If this really was Batara, then she'd tell them to get lost no matter what. Valissa, on the other hand, might be tempted. Unless Batara was a really good actress...no, she couldn't afford to have strangers sticking around.

He decided to push on it. "We're not looking for credit on any publications."

She gave him a sardonic look. "You just want to help, eh? Out of the goodness of your heart."

"Not exactly. Let's say that, if we do find no evidence for Reapers, then it would help me sleep better at night."

Valissa pursed her lips as she thought.

----------------------------------------

Persephone, John, and Nathan were gathered again in the Helen's mess to go over it all.

"She's going for it," said John. "Nathan, you get to work with Anedra. Mackie is also with you."

"Are you sure?" asked Nathan. "Mackie is clever, but this is outside his expertise."

"Nobody gets left alone with any of them." John's voice was flat and final. "We're on the buddy system from here on out."

Persephone frowned. "I thought we had eliminated the sisters as possible suspects."

"Maybe. I don't trust any of them, really."

Nathan shrugged. "As you wish. I am looking forward to starting. It will be a formidable challenge. And I do believe we have also eliminated Valissa as a suspect."

"She could be playing along," said Persephone.

"Unlikely," replied Nathan. "Batara is careful, above all else. Having more people around is inherently messy. The situation becomes much harder to control. If Valissa was actually our Ardat-Yakshi, then she had a golden opportunity to legitimately tell us to get lost. She didn't take it."

"So that makes the number two the most likely," said John.

Persephone tapped her finger on the table in thought. "You know, I really don't like Nisell for it either," she said. "She's the one who gave us permission to land. If she's really Batara, then why even allow it in the first place?

"She didn't know who we really were," replied Nathan. "For all she knew, there was a Spectre just off camera getting ready to sound the alarm. So she decided to play along."

John sighed. He regarded the hologram in the middle of the mess table. It showed the current known locations of both the Helen's crew and the asari expedition members. He had to make sure that nobody on his team was left alone with any of the asari. "Where is Gabby with her engine hacking?" he asked.

"She's almost done," said Persephone. "We've talked about how to do it, when the time comes. I'll have her back, don't worry."

John nodded. "Don't wait for me. As soon as Gabby feels that's she's ready, you two need to go for it."

----------------------------------------

Gabby's feet crunched into the dry and weathered soil of Carcosa. She knew that Persephone was watching from somewhere, but she couldn't see her. Right now Gabby sat crouched behind a large shipping container, about fifteen meters from the asari's ship. The sleek delta-winged shape was much more streamlined than the Helen, but of similar size. Gabby took a peek around the corner of the container and was gratified that she could make out the access ports where she expected them to be. Over the last two days she'd given herself a crash course in asari ship layout and engine protocols.

"Stand by," said Persephone's voice in her ear. Gabby's breath reverberated in her helmet as she told herself to relax. This was going to be easy.

"You're clear to go," said Persephone. As the 'go' reached her ears, Gabby was already in motion and sprinting for the ship. The notebook-sized module that she'd put together for this attempt banged on her hip as she ran. It couldn't have been more than seven seconds to reach the ship, but it seemed to take forever to her.

"Still clear," said Persephone as Gabby reached her target. She pressed a control on the surface of the ship and the corresponding access port hatch swung open. Gabby pulled the module off of her hip and unreeled its cable, then inserted the cable end into the now-revealed plug. She touched a few controls on one side of the module and was grateful to see the screen on its front light up.

"Starting," she gasped, both from the run and the adrenaline. Asari script flowed up one side of the screen with the human translation on the other side. Gabby scrolled through the menu options, but then suddenly a large window overlaid the whole thing with a separate line of text in asari. "Shit."

"Problem?"

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"Extra security password. Hang on." Gabby thought furiously. This didn't look like something put on after the fact, which meant it was a factory-installed security measure. "And nobody ever changes the damn factory defaults," she muttered. At least, she hoped that was the case here.

She carefully typed 'password' into the module, and it obligingly put the corresponding asari text into the new text window. It blanked out. Gabby waited what seemed like five hundred years before a new menu popped up. She breathed out in relief.

"Gabby, dammit, talk to me."

"It's fine, proceeding as planned," she snapped. The submenu she was looking for should be...ah, there it was. Gabby touched the go-button on her module and watched it begin to modify the subroutines she'd selected earlier. "Thirty seconds and I should be finished."

She'd only had time to take a couple of deep breaths before Persephone called again. "I see somebody," the asari said. "They've left the main dome. Heading for...yes, they're heading for your position. They'll be there in a minute or less."

"Shit. Twenty seconds left." The script on her module's screen flashed past as the little 'percent task complete' bar at the top slowly and agonizingly counted up. Sixty percent, seventy percent...

"They're still coming," said Persephone. "When you run, head for the other side of the container than before. That should keep you out of their line of sight."

Gabby didn't reply. The module finished and she gave a huge yank to get the cable out of its socket, then swung the access panel closed. "Done!" She just about sprinted off, but then realized that a fine layer of ochre dust had settled all over the asari ship during its time here. Her touching of the ship's exterior had disturbed the dust right around the access port, making it clear as day that somebody had been fooling around. "Shit!"

"Gabby! Move your ass!"

She reached down and grabbed a handful of soil in one glove, then reached up and smeared it all over the access port. It didn't look perfect, but at least it wasn't as glaringly obvious. Then she turned and ran like hell for the concealment of the container. She did remember to run for the other side than where she'd hidden before. It was like a nightmare, everything seemed to take far too long. But finally, after an eternity of running, she'd made it. Gabby pressed herself back against the composite wall of the container as she panted.

"Hold position," said Persephone. "They're doing a walk-around of the ship. It looks like a routine check for any damage."

Gabby panting slowed. "Can...you tell who it is?"

"It's Nisell, or at least somebody wearing her suit. Stand by, they just stopped."

"Is it by the rear? By that access port?"

"Maybe. I don't have a good angle on it. Just sit tight."

Gabby clutched the module almost like a security blanket. She was regretting not taking up Persephone's offer of a firearm. The engineer had said at the time that she'd probably just wind up shooting her own foot if she tried to use one. Now it didn't seem like such a joke.

"They're moving away," said Persephone. "They didn't finish the walk-around, I don't like it...shit, they're heading for your container."

Gabby thought her heart would just stop. "What...what do I do?"

"When I tell you, move to the long side of the container facing the ship. Got it?"

"Yeah." She edged close to the correct corner and braced her feet as she got ready to move.

There was the distant crunch of booted feet, barely audible to her over her own breathing. The crunching got louder as the asari drew closer.

"Now!"

Gabby slipped around the corner and just caught a glimpse of a bootheel walking out of sight. Nisell must have seen some tracks or some other sign in the compacted soil. Gabby shot a look at the Helen, just visible in the hazy atmosphere. The ship was about four hundred meters distant...far too long of a run. If she tried it now, Nisell would definitely see her.

She heard a few more crunching steps. The other person had stopped, she realized. The asari was trying to listen, to see if she could hear anything.

"Hold position," whispered Persephone in her ear. "And don't make a sound."

Gabby gripped her module. It was kind of heavy and had sharp corners. If Nisell suddenly confronted her, at least she could throw it at the asari as a distraction.

There was another crunch of feet, and for one heart-freezing moment Gabby thought that they were coming back around to her side of the container. But then they began to fade into the distance.

"Nisell's heading back," said Persephone. "But she's moving fast, like she's pissed off. I think we've been rumbled. Get your butt back to the Helen, we're executing Plan B."

----------------------------------------

Mackie was feeling distinctly like the proverbial fifth wheel. He tried to be helpful to both Nathan and Anedra, but clearly neither of them really needed it. So he'd moved on to trying to help the other sister, Sheia, with her catalogueing of the other artifacts that they'd found.

Nathan and Anedra were at one end of the long table in the camp's mess hall, working away and chatting animatedly with each other. Mackie and Sheia were at the other. Sheia had a big holographic display of the ruins which had lots of little marker dots scattered throughout.

"One pottery shard," said Mackie, "about two centimeters long, red with a black stripe."

"Got it," replied Sheia. She looked at her notes. "We found that...here." The archaeologist created another marker dot on her display. "Bag it as Sample A-739."

"Will do." Mackie gave the surface of the shard a little rub with his gloved finger as he slipped it into the storage bag. "It's odd," he said to her as he wrote the appropriate number on the surface. "It really does feel like pottery. But it can't be just fired clay. That wouldn't have survived this long."

"Well, that's one of the reasons they put this expedition together," said Sheia. "If we can replicate it or the stone in the throne room, we might be able to make materials that make Silaris armor look like tissue paper." She gave Mackie a teasing nudge with one elbow. "Your boss should like that. He can use it to protect against his 'Reapers' whenever they get here." She made finger quotes around the word.

Mackie tried to look sheepish. The cover story now was that John was an eccentric rich guy who was obsessed with finding evidence for the Reapers or means to combat them. "Well, if the boss is happy then I'm happy, I guess."

Sheia chuckled as Mackie's omni-tool gave a little unobtrusive vibration. He opened it and saw a single text from John.

Plan B.

He cleared his throat, twice. Nathan looked up and met his eyes, and Mackie nodded. The two men stood up.

"We've got to go," said Mackie.

"Oh?" said Sheia. "Too bad. Tell your boss that-"

"I'm afraid," interrupted Nathan. "That what Mackie means is that we all must go."

"What?" Anedra began to rise, only to be stopped by Nathan's hand on her shoulder. He had a pistol in the other, and was pointing it at the floor.

Sheia whipped her head around towards Mackie, who also had a gun out and was also not quite pointing it at anyone yet. "Pirates," she spat.

"Nope," replied Mackie. "We're the damned cavalry. You've got an Ardat-Yakshi on your team."

The two sisters looked at each other. "We saw the general alert," said Anedra. "But that was a month ago-"

"We found the shuttle nearby," said Nathan. "Her thrall was inside, dead. She's here."

"We're pretty sure it's neither of you," added Mackie, "So we're getting you both back to our ship right now to keep you safe. Things are kicking off, and you really don't want to be here."

"This is nonsense," said Sheia. "You're just trying to get us to-"

"It's Nisell," said Anedra. "It must be. She's been...kind of weird, just off. It started about a week after we got here."

"C'mon, sis." Sheia glared at her sibling. "You can't believe this."

"We don't have time for talk," said Nathan. "If we wanted to kill or kidnap you, we'd have done it long ago. Please, we have to go now."

----------------------------------------

John slipped along the corridor towards Valissa's office. He hadn't run into anybody yet, which was sort of worrying. The two least likely suspects were safely out of the way, and now if he could just get Emreys out the door and into Persephone's care he'd feel a lot better about this whole mess. He could hear the distant sounds of arguing which resolved into words as he drew nearer.

"I told you there was something wrong about them. Why the hell did you let them stay?" That sounded like Nisell.

Valissa's voice responded. "It was an opportunity. We were going too slow with the translation. I think you're overreacting, he's just a rich nutbag with too much time on his hands."

Now he heard Emreys. "You're sure of what you saw? It wasn't just wind blowing dust around or something?"

Nisell's voice was deadly cold. "I'm positive. Somebody was messing with our damn ship. Now we can't trust it."

John peeked around a corner and looked down the corridor outside Valissa's office. The three asari were clustered there. Nisell was glaring at Valissa, who for once looked afraid and somewhat uncertain. Emreys stood off to one side with her hands wringing together.

"I also can't find Anedra or Sheia," continued Nisell. "He's probably holding them as hostages right now."

Valissa held up her hands, as if trying to ward off a physical attack. "Please, Nisell, let's just make sure of facts before we go and-"

"Enough!" barked Nisell. "You've clearly lost your nerve." She looked over at Emreys. "Do it."

The smaller asari visibly swallowed. "Are you sure? Maybe we can-"

"No, my dear." Nisell reached out and placed a gentle hand on Emreys' shoulder. "I'm sure. Please, for me. Do the honors."

That was enough for John. He came around the corner crouched low, with his pistol out and aimed at them. "Sorry, no honors today."

Valissa stared at him in disbelief, while Nisell gave a little snort of derision. Emreys' eyes were wide and fearful.

"Hadlock?" sputtered Valissa. "What the hell-"

"Shut up. They were going to kill you. Move away from them."

The expedition leader didn't move. "Now I think there has been just enough foolish accusations thrown around today. Mr. Hadlock, you will put down that gun and-"

Nisell seemed to blur as she quickly tepped behind Valissa and out of John's line of fire. He saw Valissa freeze with a frightened expression on her face, and realized that the Ardat-Yakshi had a gun in the back of her head.

"Emreys," said Nisell in a flat tone. The smaller asari stepped around in front of Valissa. She now had a gun in her hand. Slowly and shakily the gun's muzzle began to rise up to bear at John. Emreys' eyes were filled with tears.

"Such a predicament," said Nisell. "Will you shoot two innocents to get to me?"

He almost did. Two deaths to stop the death of thousands. The math was inescapable. But was he really that man any more? The man he had been before Helen?

During his slight hesitation, Valissa spoke. Her voice was quavering. "Nisell, please, what is-"

"You talk too much," said Nisell. There was a shot followed by huge spray of purple gore as the front of Valissa's face erupted. Emreys screamed.

John caught a glimpse of a running figure as Valissa's body fell to the deck. He stood and fired a quick shot at Nisell, only to see a spark off of his shield front of him as Emreys returned fire. He cursed and ducked back around the corner.

"Emreys!" he yelled. "Snap out of it! She's enthralled you!"

Nisell's mocking voice carried down the corridor. "Oh, you'll have to do much better than that, my dear Hadlock. Emry and I are very close now, aren't we my dear? Two on one, this should be interesting."

He turned and ran for the main airlock. He activated his comm as he ran.

----------------------------------------

Persephone met the group of four suited figures just as they reached the Helen. She had a rifle slung over one shoulder and another in her hands. "You all get inside. Cammy is warming up the engines, and Gabby is on board."

"We're not leaving!" said Anedra with finality. "Emry's still in there, and so is Valissa!"

Persephone held up a hand. "Nobody's getting left behind. Mr. Hadlock and I will take care of this."

"Hadlock?" said Sheia almost scornfully. "What the hell is a rich human twit going to do against an Ardat-Yakshi?"

Persephone was about to tell them all to just shut up and get on board. Her comm buzzed.

"Persephone!" yelled John's voice.

"John? What-"

"Nisell is Batara. She killed Valissa, Emreys is her thrall. Get on board the Helen and lift off. I'll let you know when it's safe to land."

"Bullshit, John. I'm coming to help you."

----------------------------------------

Emreys was at the main airlock. How she'd gotten ahead of him he wasn't sure. Her delicate features were covered with a mask of Valissa's blood, and her wide blue eyes were set in determination. John ducked back out of sight and whispered into his comm. "No, do not approach. They're watching the airlock. You're the only one of our crew the asari authorities will listen to. Take off, that's an order. If you don't hear from me in twenty-four hours, haul ass to the monastery and tell them everything."

John cut the comm and waited. He was tucked away in a little alcove along the outer ring corridor of the main dome. After a little while, he felt the ground beneath his feet rumble and he sagged a little in relief. The Helen was gone, and no matter what the Ardat-Yakshi was not getting off of this planet.

The intercom clicked on overhead, and Nisell's voice sounded through the dome. "Mr. Hadlock, or whoever you are, that is only a temporary setback. I have survived worse. I'll make you a deal. Give yourself up, and I won't kill you."

He risked a quick peek, and saw Emreys looking the other way. John slipped back along the corridor. He was looking for a good-but-obvious hiding spot. Maybe he could draw her out to attack him and then he could set up an ambush.

"I'll still enthrall you, of course," said Nisell's voice. "I figure you wouldn't believe me if I said I'd simply let you go. Besides, you seem like fun."

John really wished he knew where the intercom access points were located. Now, if he was a psychotic mind-raping vampire with delusions of grandeur, where would he be? Grandeur...it might be worthwhile to check. It would be a less obvious location, to go back to the scene of a crime. He retraced his steps and peeked again around the corridor outside of Valissa's office. The leader's almost-headless corpse was still sprawled on the floor in the middle of a large pool of purple blood.

"I'll give you a few more minutes, and then Emreys and I will come find you. Don't think that Emreys will hesitate, either. I gave her a little reward just now for all of her help, and she's feeling very appreciative."

He was sure that he heard Nisell's voice from the office as well as from the intercom. John almost charged in, but realized that it was too easy. She was probably trying to set up her own ambush, and was waiting with her gun pointed at the door. John looked down the corridor and saw an intersection beyond the office door. He tried to recall the dome's layout, and figured that there should be path to get there without crossing in front of Valissa's office.

Time for a reverse ambush.

John slipped out of his shoes and left one with its toe peeking out into the corridor. Then he silently slipped back from the corner and walked away. Sure enough, there was a hallway where he'd hoped and also no sign of Emreys. John all but ran down it, then back up towards the corridor. He took a look around this corner, and he was now on the other side of the door to Valissa's office. He could just see the toe of his shoe where he'd left it.

He pulled out a thermal clip from his pocket and hefted it in his hand, trying to get a feel for how far it would go when he threw it. Satisfied, John took careful aim and threw the thermal clip towards the corner where his shoe was.

It made a satisfying little clatter, audible but not too obvious. He saw a shadow in the doorway of the office; Nisell must be taking her own peek. And she must have seen his shoe, because her upper body then leaned out of the doorway and took aim at the toe of his shoe. It was a sound idea on her part; make him fall out into the corridor where she could finish him off.

John shot her twice in the head before she could even take proper aim.

There was another spray of purple blood on the wall as Nisell's body slumped to the ground next to Visella's. He padded silently over to the corpse and gave it another close-range shot in the back of the head, just to be sure. John almost called the Helen at that point, then reconsidered. He didn't know how Emreys would take the news of the Ardat-Yakshi's death. Would she go into a berserker rage? Would the enthralling simply stop? He needed to get that straight before doing anything else.

John looked down at Nisell's corpse. "Well, let's see if we can make some use out of you," he muttered, and grabbed one of her arms. He began to drag the body back to the airlock. Hopefully Emreys was still there.

----------------------------------------

Emreys snapped her head around as John came into view. He had a gun, but was holding it up and pointed at the ceiling. With his other hand he dragged the Ardat-Yakshi's body into view. She pointed her own gun at him. This time the muzzle wasn't wavering as much. Her big blue eyes stared in disbelief at the body.

He dropped the corpse's arm and held his other hand up. He was about four meters from Emreys. "It's okay. It's over. I don't want to hurt you. Nisell is dead, see? You don't have to listen to her anymore."

"She promised me things," said Emreys in a hoarse voice. "You took her away from me." But her gun was wavering a bit more, and maybe even beginning to droop.

"I know, but she lied. Her real name was Batara. Please listen. It's over. It's not your fault, none of it is."

"She made me feel special. She loved me."

"You are special, Emreys. And Batara lied. She couldn't love anybody, not really. She would have killed you eventually."

The muzzle dropped a little more.

"I'm going to take a step forward, okay?" said John. The asari didn't reply, so he slowly did so.

Emreys' eyes blinked, as if she was emerging from a long sleep. "I...I didn't do anything bad. She didn't...make me do anything bad, right?"

"No, you didn't do anything bad. It wasn't your fault."

Her gun muzzle dropped more. "I was going to kill Valissa. She had asked me to and I was going to."

"But you didn't. I'm going to take another step, okay?" She didn't seem to really notice as he did so. He was now almost within reach. Just a little more and he could get the gun from her.

"I didn't," whispered Emreys. "But I was going to." Her eyes began to fill with tears. The gun dropped to her side.

"But you didn't. That's what matters. I'm going to come in close, okay? You don't need to worry." He holstered his own gun very slowly, then gently moved forward.

Emreys looked down. The gun clattered to the floor as she put her hands to her face and sobbed.

John put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, you're safe now-"

She grabbed his hand and spun away, twisting him awkwardly to the side. He clawed for his gun as he felt her leap onto his back. Her other arm clamped around his neck in a sleeper hold before he could bring his chin down. He reached back and tried to get ahold of her head and flip her off, but she was able to dodge his pawing. John let out an anguished croak, then fell forward onto the floor as his vision began to fade.

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He saw the floor as he woke. His head throbbed, and there trailed a thin line of drool from the corner of his mouth reaching down towards the floor. He could see his feet, still clad in only socks. He picked his head up. John was seated in a chair with his ankles bound to its legs and his hands tied behind him. He couldn't feel the weight of his gun anymore.

John looked around blearily. He was in the center of the camp's mess room. The table had been pushed to the far side of the room. He heard somebody humming a jaunty tune behind him.

"Emreys?" he rasped.

The humming moved to one side of him and then Emreys came into view. She was wiping the last bits of Valissa's blood off of her face with an antiseptic wipe. "Good to see you awake, Mr. Hadlock. Oh, you poor dear. Here, let me get that." She folded the wipe and leaned forward. She gently wiped the long string of drool off of his mouth.

John's brain was starting to kick back in. "You weren't the thrall. Nisell was. Wasn't she, Batara?"

"Yes, darling." Those deep blue eyes held his as she leaned back. She gave him a wide smile. "I'm very glad to meet you. Now we can get properly acquainted with each other."