This choice: A deliberate effort to make her less dangerous • Go Back... "Find Peace in the embrace of the Goddess."
Those had been the last words that Morinth heard before her mother primed for the killing blow. In her own apartment, nonetheless. Morinth had been in a prime position to die for her sins at the hand of her very own mother, and all because of the curse that she had been given since birth. Hunted down like a dog for more than four hundred years, and to be put down like one in a lengthy fight of floating biotic debris.
In another life, it might have been a fitting end.
Her mother and Shephard could have ended her cruise around the galaxy in one fell swoop of the hand or pull of the trigger, but they hadn't. There was no denying, even to herself, that she almost surely would have not only warranted such a death, but deserved it.
But instead, in a moment of kindness unlike anything that she had ever been shown in her entire life (and that included from her own mother!) Commander Shepherd had stopped the elder Asari from landing the killing blow. However, in the split second that Morinth prepared her counterattack, Samara unleashed a softer biotic blast against her daughter. One that had hurt like a bitch.
Morinth remembered hitting the floor, and she remembered looking up to see the two figures looming overhead, but everything else after that faded to black...
***
...and then promptly faded to a blinding white as Morinth awoke aboard the SR-2 Normandy, in the infirmary.
"I have many reservations about this treatment, Commander Shepherd."
While the enormous starship bustled just on the other side of the dividing wall, the rest of the infirmary had been cleared of all patients and occupants except for four figures. As Morinth's general fuzziness cleared, albeit slowly, flashes of recent events began to trickle back into memory. Her reflexes were slow, and it felt like she was moving in water. Even her biotic abilities felt thick and heavy.
"Understandable. But, given unfavorable reaction to alternative methods, regrettable."
"I understand your concern, Dr. Chakwas." a slow, regal voice insisted, "But this is the first step in ensuring that the Ardat-Yakshi is given a chance at rehabilitation."
"One that she's never had before." another voice interjected with some effortlessly keen paragoning, "This is a more humane attempt than killing her for something that she can't help but be born with."
"How noble of you." Dr. Chakwas rolled her eyes, "But I must insist that, as Chief Medical Officer, that I am uncomfortable with the idea of you interjecting one of my patients with an untested, potentially dangerous syrum!"
"Tested! Many happy, healthy little lab mice scurrying around. Slowly."
The Salarian's awkward-shaped head unblurred for Morinth first. The large, bulbous shape coming into clear vision far easier than the more inscrutable human profiles of Commander Shepherd and (if she'd heard right) Dr. Chakwas. Even her mother, from the front, was little less distinguishable than anyone else she had met in her long long life.
Did these people drug me?
She couldn't help but let it cross her mind. She would have done it. In fact, she had done it more than once or twice to less willing victims. But the more that she thought about it, the more that it felt different somehow. Rather than a body high or a sort of nausea to keep her incapacitated, whatever they had slipped her with made her feel slogged. Like she was trying to think through a cloud of smog.
"Hey you, you're finally awake."
The woman that had come with Morinth's mother to the apartment was now clad in some ugly pro-human flight suit, and her distinctive red hair looking bright in the even uglier fluorescent lighting. She walked over as Morinth's head lay to the side, temporarily blurring everything back out as they sat her upright. Much to what she expected, Morinth was having trouble even maintaining that at first. But eventually, she stabilized herself. The other cast members in this infirmary making themselves more clear.
"You should have killed me." Morinth slurred, sounding not quite drunk but not quite sleepy from whatever they'd given her, "I... would have relished the opportunity."
"I have no doubt in my mind, daughter." Samara walked over to stand next to the temptress who had fooled her in the first place, "However, that is where you and I differ. I have come to realize that if I were to kill you without offering you a chance at genuine redemption, I would be a failure as a Justicar."
Shepherd tenderly and eagerly paragoned silently as she touched Samara's shoulder like an old friend.
"And a mother."
"Oh, but my oath as a Doctor doesn't mean nearly as much, does it?"
Morinth managed to look surprised despite not having any feeling in most of her body at that moment. Her squared blue jaw hung slightly in shock as she looked back to the sizeable needle that the Salarian doctor had in his hands. The large, empty needle that looked less like something that was whipped up to be safe in a hospital and more like something that had come out of said's Salarian fever dreams.
"Whad..."
"The humane thing, Mirala." Samara placed her hands in front in a priestly manner, "A chance."
"Stop... talking like that... what—"
"Injection!" the Salarian said suddenly, holding the large needle gun up for reference, "My idea. Clean and without moral compunctions. 100% Survival rate."
"Morinth, in order to ensure that you're not able to continue your murder spree, we've injected you with a little something to help keep you in line." the commander said with a certain sternness to her, "I hope you know that it wasn't something that I enjoyed."
"You... drugged—"
"Well, yes. Unconscious thrashing. Very bad with biotics."
"The numbness is only temporary. We just needed to dull your senses for long enough for the injection to take effect." Samara looked piercingly at her daughter, "You will be fine in a few hours."
"But..." the faintest flicker of biotic power flared up in the Ardat-Yakshi's eyes, "what did you do to me?"
At that, the four of them paused to look at one another. As if daring the other to be the first one to tell Morinth what had happened. What they had injected into her, or what its effects would be. Eventually, they all settled on Commander Shepherd, the very same woman who had just a few hours ago lured her into a trap to be captured and drugged. Brilliant.
"Well... I'll tell you." she began with that duty-first stare ahead, "Morinth, we injected you with...   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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