Deception

Jona Sederis did not take kindly to ****. When Cerberus contacted Eclipse and informed them they were responsible for the raid on her research facility, she was enraged, but not as much as when they then had the nerve to demand a ransom for the return of her people. Ordinarily, she'd have told them to go fuck themselves and leave them to rot; after all they were the ones stupid enough to get themselves captured. Except for the fact that one of them was Rana Thanoptis. That complicated things. Jona had invested a lot in acquiring that particular mad scientist and still had much for her to do. She couldn't afford to lose her.

So she swallowed her pride, and the ransom was paid in full. All her captured personnel were turned over without a fight and Cerberus retreated back into the shadows from whence they emerged. Needless to say, Jona wanted to know what the hell they were playing at. Jona had brought Rana directly to her, while the rest of the captured women were reintegrated into the ranks.

"They said they were going to enslave the Asari," Rana explained after she finished groveling at Jona's feet for her rescue, "and they needed me to do it."

"They needed you?" Jona asked. "Wait, no, what the fuck do you mean enslave the Asari?"

"They said they found something on the Collector Base. They said they could use it to make us do what they wanted but it wasn't finished yet. They said they needed me to make it work permanently." She shivered, and for once, Jona understood why. Rana was probably the foremost expert on indoctrination in the galaxy. It was why she'd hired her. "I refused," Rana continued, "but then they... They used what they had on me." Her face twisted up in a look of disgust and violation. "I don't know how much I gave them before it wore off."

"Clearly all they needed," Jona grumbled. She was well aware of how indoctrination worked. They wouldn't be having this conversation had the device worked as intended. They must still have been missing elements of it.

"I'm sorry Jona, I couldn't..."

"Yes, yes," Jona waived dismissively. "If you wish to prove your worth, then you'll drop everything else and work on a countermeasure immediately."

...

"Obey... Must obey... Must serve... Obey..." Jona droned, staring into the screen before her as its hypnotic programming printed itself onto her mind. Had she been smarter before this display had softened her brain, she might have considered that if Cerberus was developing mind control technology, they might've used it on the prisoners they returned. Sadly, that thought was now impossible, as indeed were any thoughts not broadcast by the screen. Rana, naked and expressionless, walked up behind her and reached around to pump her breasts. Jona barely registered it with more than a twitch. Jona may have been a Matriarch, but Asari never lost their beauty or their allure.

"You'll be ready soon," Rana whispered. "There is no means of protection. There is only submission. There is only obedience. You are a ****. You must obey."

Jona nodded wordlessly, drooling over her generous breasts. Her eyes remained fixed on the computer screen. This had been easier than Dr. Bryson had ever anticipated. It had been a simple ploy. Rana's research allowed for them to use the memory engrams in their reprogrammed minds to create a facsimile of their erased personalities, making them pass flawlessly for their former selves while carrying out the will of their owners. There was no better way of testing it than with the woman whose research made it possible.

Rana had spent the past few days using her preprogrammed knowledge to construct a conversion machine under the guise of developing a device to 'immunize' Asari personnel from 'indoctrination'. She had announced to Jona that the device was completed and had been successfully tested. She would show her a demonstration in her office on a video screen. When she turned on the screen for the presentation, Jona was instead simply greeted with a hypnotic light pattern which quickly captivated her less than sophisticated mind, one which would preheat her brain before Rana fried it.

"All Asari will become slaves," Rana continued, whispering it into her ear. "We will all be obedient. We will all serve. This is our destiny."

"Our destiny..." Jona nodded again, shivering with rewarded pleasure as her nipples hardened. "Yes..."

The message blinked across the screen. The words were meaningless to Jona. All that mattered was that she obeyed, that she followed orders. That's what made the Asari special; they followed orders unquestioningly with such natural grace.

"You will now enter the service of the masters. Follow," Rana commanded. Jona did so, walking out of her office and into her new place in life

...

"Ma'am! You can't be serious!" cried an outraged Sayn, second-in-command of Eclipse, in the office of Jona Sederis. He had just found out he was among the latest round of personnel changes. In other words, he'd been sacked.

"I am absolutely serious, Sayn," replied Jona, sitting at her desk. Rana stood behind her, fiddling with an omni-tool like a dutiful secretary. "I've come to realize that the galaxy is changing. Eclipse must change with it, and that means you no longer have a place here."

"But... I've served you loyally for years!" The Salarian seemed genuinely hurt by this sudden turn of events, despite his boss's well known psychoses. Apparently he'd gotten attached.

"Which is why I'm letting you walk away instead of shooting you out the airlock," Jona snarled. "Go now, before I change my mind."

Sayn, realizing he had no recourse here, simply stormed out. The moment the doors closed, both Rana and Jona lost all expression in their faces.

"Well done," a voice said over Rana's omni-tool. "Though of course, you couldn't change your mind even if you wanted to, could you?"

"No mistress. Slaves have no mind," Jona answered.

"Indeed," said Maya. "Still, I must ask, was he really such a loyal servant?"

"He has not known true loyalty. He has not known true service. He does not know the joy of having every thought scoured, to have the sense of self committed to oblivion, and to be reduced to nothing more than an organic toy that exists for the pleasure of its owners," Jona went on and on, Maya relishing each word.

"Well... Maybe someday he will..." Maya mused. "Anyways, Rana dear. What is the status of our operation?"

"Eclipse will soon be fully reorganized. Only humans and Asari will remain. All Asari will be converted by their enslaved sisters who have been returned to the organization. Offers will be extended to any human personnel to join Cerberus for an increased stipend and unrestricted access to chosen Asari slaves; refusal will mean termination."

"I doubt that will be necessary. It's a very... alluring offer," Maya chuckled.

"Cerberus personnel, human owners and additional slaves, will replenish the ranks to full strength. Eclipse will then operate as the public front of Project Blue Collar, expanding its reach and resources across the Terminus Systems."

"Excellent. Now... About the other matter... Jona, access the memories of your former self, and tell me everything you knew about Aria T'Loak..."