The Firefly (Mass Effect Andromeda)

Chapter 27

Olivia had lost track of the days in her cell. Surrounded by four white walls, cracked in places where former prisoners had gouged at it with their fingernails, she felt herself slowly going mad. There was nowhere to relieve herself and no bed. She felt filthy, starving and wild like an animal who pounced on the food as soon as it was left, cowering back every time the Kett entered. The sound was either a suffocating silence or the air was filled with screams. The lack of windows led to time meaning nothing. Total isolation, no stimulation.

She started to think she would forget her own name. They had questioned her thoroughly, dragging her into a dark room where she was strapped down and beaten. The blows had rained down on her skin, leaving her bleeding and bruised. They used rods to electrocute her while they demanded answers to everything.

They wanted her whole life story, everything she knew about the Initiative and their planets. She stayed quiet for as long as she could. She was sure most of what came out of her mouth was gibberish. They would beat her in her cell too, wordlessly striking her before throwing her food down. She'd heard them say they would test her as a candidate for Exaltation soon.

Curled up in a ball on the floor, she waited. She needed to find the map to Meridian. The thought had kept crossing her mind, and she wasn't sure why. The Pathfinder had been looking for it? It had become a strange obsession in her brain, escape, and discovery, not of where her friends had been taken, but of the map the Archon couldn't unlock.

The door to her cell slid open once more and she cowered at the back, head down, eyes averted. "Olivia?" A voice called. She must be dreaming. Slowly, she dared to raise her head to see Nunok, looking bruised and worse for wear, with several other Salarians at his back. Definitely hallucinating, she thought. "It's me." He called out, crossing the cell to pull her onto her feet. "We have to go." He looked horrified, she thought, looking into her face.

"How did you get out?" Her voice croaked, "Who are they?"

"We're on the Archon's flagship." Nunok told her, "They've captured the Salarian ark. We've got more chance of escape if we can get onto there. They forgot to lock my door properly and I forced it open. This is our one chance."

The five of them fled down dimly lit corridors, their feet unsteady, hiding at the slightest sound. They saw many other cells but dared not stop in their pursuit of the Ark for fear of capture.

Olivia felt the strange obsession overtaking her once more. It was like a physical need, to find the Archon's chambers, to find the map for Meridian. She couldn't voice it to the others, they'd think she was crazy. Maybe she was. But she couldn't pass up the chance, not when she was so close. The secrets held in that map were so powerful. She alone would have that power and she felt a sense of glee at the thought that didn't quite belong to her.

She was at the back of the group. She simply stood still for a moment and then took a different corridor. She couldn't risk them. No one could know the secrets of Meridian, she told herself. No one but her.

The Archon's chambers were not locked.

Perhaps they didn't think anyone would be stupid enough to walk in. "They didn't count on me." Olivia muttered.

The first room was filled with terminals, with holograms of various races and audio logs scattered around. There were tanks, Salarians floating inside. Olivia strode through it, tapping around on the consoles until the door to the inner sanctum unlocked.

She walked in with a sense of trepidation. The room was filled with artefacts of different kinds. An alarm began to blare and she ran for what she believed to be the map as the room flooded with Kett.

Crying out, she raised her hands as they surrounded her.

They dragged her bodily to a dark room that was not her old cell, lifting her onto a table with shackles that held her wrists and ankles down. The electric rods were jabbed into her legs and ribs with crackling bursts, making her scream in pain, the muscles cramping and twitching. Her already bruised skin exploded with agony as they struck her again.

They asked her how she had escaped and she said one of the others had released her. She said she didn't know where they were, even as they whipped her and injected her with fluids that made her sob with the blinding pain. Finally they wanted to know why she'd been in the Archon's chambers.

The Archon himself had shown an interest in her, they said.

She was denied all but minimum food and water, and kept from sleeping until she no longer was capable of thought. Her mind was a confused mire of pain and anger and submission.

She told them about the Firefly project in a feverish raving. After that they let her sleep for an indeterminate period of time. She would wake occasionally, seeing scanners passing over her body.

Finally, her eyes opened to find herself chained on the floor. There was no pain, to which she attributed the numerous drugs the Kett had pumped into her system. The Archon stood over her, watching her with impatient eyes. "So, you are finally awake." He paced in front of her. She was in the first chamber again, the one inside his inner sanctum. "You broke in here to use my map, did you, human?"

Olivia opened her mouth but no sound came out.

"We have examined your implant, but cannot remove it or test it without killing you and I am loath to destroy a means to Meridian." She saw the obsession in his eyes. "It seems you will become my permanent guest here, Olivia Taylor. I will use your ability as I see fit, and you may even survive long enough to see Meridian yourself. My pet human." He laughed shortly. "You should rest. Regain your strength. You will need it."

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