Aside from a handful of Remnant observers that were easily dispatched, Meridian seemed eerily quiet as the team made their way through the ruins. Even the deep hum of machinery was quiet, and it made the short hairs on the back of Veronica's neck stand on end.
Just a few short minutes after the last observer had been shot down, the squad slowed to a stop before a console.
"This is the navpoint for the controls," Veronica said aloud to nobody in particular, glancing at the analysis on her scanner. "It looks like there are launch bays near here, and 'possible links to Meridian deployment'. SAM, are we ready?"
"All relevant data is queued for uplink," the AI intoned.
"Right." Ryder turned and glanced back at her companions: Vetra, whose eyes glittered with excitement as she gave a nod; and Liam, face set in determination and confidence. She gave her lover a quick grin before turning back around. "Let's…find a path."
She extended a hand above the triangular console, whose surface rippled under her touch. The now-familiar flutter of the technology interacting with her SAM implant tickled at her inner ear. The console whirred and chirruped as the technology fired back and forth, and its soft blue glow brightened and lifted until a holographic display illuminated the room. A smaller, shimmering image of the Scourge floated in front of them, and within it, tiny orange flecks of light began streaming from the point where they knew the Remnant city ruins to be.
"Remnant ships have lifted off," SAM informed them. "They're following the override vector."
"The Scourge is moving, but they're getting through to…something," Veronica mused, watching the display carefully. The flecks of light slowed to a stop on the far side of the cluster, and on the display, a new object appeared: a shimmering, rippling sphere.
"Meridian, Pathfinder," SAM said finally. Despite herself, she almost thought the AI sounded emotionally moved at the sight.
"Are we sure that's a planet?" Liam chimed in. "It doesn't look like any planet I've ever seen."
"The data's strange, it's saying it's hollow," Vetra added, tapping at her omni-tool.
"A self-contained seed world. It is the heart of the vault network, and when reactivated, every connected planet will be effected. It is the means to make Heleus a home, Pathfinder," SAM explained.
Veronica couldn't help but allow her excitement to bubble to the surface. "This is the day everyone in the Initiative has hoped and worked for, ever since we left our own stars," she exclaimed.
"Congratulations, Pathfinder."
The low, rough voice echoed throughout the chamber and instantly chilled everyone's blood. Veronica's head whipped around, searching for the source of the voice. Vetra and Liam drew and cocked their weapons, instantly alert.
"A great day for us all," the Archon's voice continued. His voice, translated via SAM, sounded as if it found their language distasteful; it felt as if he tried to chew up the words like a mouthful of pebbles, but instead spat them out. The rough and gravelly words seemed to emanate from everywhere.
Veronica's vision began flickering, and a flash of pain shot through her skull as sudden as a lightning strike. She held her hand to her head and groaned. "SAM? Tempest, what's going on?" she gasped.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and heard Liam's voice, but before she could understand what he was saying he was drowned out by a piercing ringing in her ears. Pain flashed through her head again, centering in her inner ear, but didn't abate this time. Veronica clenched her eyes shut as she fell to her hands and knees, her gun clattering to the floor. Light flickered behind her closed eyelids; as if she was watching security feed, she could somehow see the Archon, his back to her, his hand resting on the console in SAM node. The undulating blue orb that represented SAM fractured and flashed a warning orange, before flickering dangerously.
Above all this, she heard moans of agony as if through gritted teeth. Dimly, she recognized them as her own.
Finally, mercifully, the agony receded somewhat, enough that she could stagger to her feet. Veronica swayed dangerously, and Liam and Vetra's scared and worried faces swam into her vision.
"'m'fine," she slurred at them. Her voice sounded muted to her own ears, and when her companions opened their mouths, she couldn't hear their protestations and anxious questions.
"I believed you a fitting rival," the Archon's voice continued distantly, contemptuous and confident in his victory, "but you are a false thing. A lie. Once I saw what made you special – your connection – I knew how and when to take it from you."
"Get to the Tempest," Veronica grunted past a fresh jolt of pain in her throbbing head. Her heart pounded a staccato rhythm against her ribcage, and she turned and staggered unsteadily towards the doorway. Her legs felt like cooked pasta underneath her, and she barely made it three steps before the Remnant blast doors hissed smoothly shut behind them, locking them in.
"I allowed you to find Meridian. And now, I'll use your SAM to weaponize it. All of Heleus will be exalted, or, one by one, your worlds will die – starting with Eos." Agony flashed through Veronica's head once more, and this time only Liam's firm grip allowed her to stay upright. Meanwhile, the Archon continued gloating. "All I need to begin is an implant like yours. And thanks to your memories, I know who else has one."
Veronica stopped cold, her face white as a sheet. "No," she whispered.
"Another reason to take the Hyperion. Fall to darkness, Pathfinder. You were almost worthy." And finally, the Archon was silent.
"NO!" Veronica screamed aloud and flung herself at the sealed blast doors. Her fists slapped weakly against the metal as she slumped to the floor, gasping for breath. Blackness clouded her vision as she struggled to breathe; her heart beat faster, faster, until all at once, it beat no more.
The Hyperion was in chaos. An alarm wailed, accompanied by flashing lights which illuminated the people scrambling for safety. Scott, who had finally been cleared to leave medbay just the day before, had donned his armor and was trying to help make sense of the chaos.
"Keep going, get to the medbay, it's still secure!" he shouted, waving the panicked colonists in the right direction. Behind him, Dr. Carlyle jogged up.
"What the hell is happening?" he demanded. Scott huffed a breath.
"Hell if I know," he replied shortly. The doctor pursed his lips in anxiety, but turned to help an injured man.
Scott had just began moving when SAM chimed in his ear. "Hello, Scott," the AI said. The connection sounded clearer than normal, as if it were a whisper in his ear, instead of a voice over speaker.
"SAM? What are you… what's happening?" he demanded. "I hear weapons fire."
"Kett forces are sweeping the ship. They're looking for you."
"Me?" Scott stilled at that, but SAM's calm voice shook him back to reality.
"Scott, the Pathfinder needs your help."
"Are you crazy?" Ryder hissed finally, moving once more. His eyes flicked back and forth, on the lookout for kett. He'd never seen one in person, but he'd seen pictures of the aliens. "She's closing on Meridian, she could be across the cluster for all I know."
"The Archon has severed my link to your sister's implant," SAM explained. "If basic function isn't manually restored, she will die."
Scott jerked to a stop once more, his blood freezing at SAM's words. "What?" was the only thing he could manage to say past the sudden, choking feeling rising in him.
"Scott, please. Proceed to depot K-4 to secure a weapon," SAM instructed.
He ground his teeth, and forced his feet to continue one in front of the other, towards the armory. "God damn it," he swore under his breath.
As soon as the crowd cleared, Scott broke into a run. "Give me context, SAM!" he commanded.
"The Archon isn't stealing the Hyperion. He wants you and me," the AI explained. "Your implant is the same as the Pathfinder's. He'll use us to control Meridian, and your sister will die."
Scott skidded to a stop and jerked open the weapons locker. "The Archon is going to kill her?" he said, aghast.
"No. Losing me will. Hostiles are ahead, Scott. Be ready."
Scott bit back the dread and his torrent of questions, and grabbed a pistol. An explanation could wait; Veronica's life was on the line.
As he made his way through the corridor to the main ark atrium, SAM spoke again. "I am sorry I can't help you fight," SAM added, more quietly. To Scott, the AI almost sounded remorseful. "I took over too much of your sister's implant, and losing me will kill her."
"So when the comms dropped, she did too?" Scott prodded.
"Hurry, Scott."
His stomach clenched painfully in fear, but when the last door slid open and the kett shouted at the sight of him, he didn't flinch away from the fight. Scott took two down before ducking behind a crate for cover. A kett leapt close, trying to block him in, but he struck it down with his omni-blade. A minute later, the last few kett lay dead and bleeding on the floor, and Scott was on the move again.
The lower decks swarmed with kett, but Hyperion and Nexus forces, civilian and soldier alike, fought back valiantly. Scott spotted Kandros darting around, blasting away, and beyond the turian, Captain Dunn holding her own. The captain spotted him, and made her way over to him.
"Scott!" she shouted over the din. "SAM said you're fighting to the comms override? You can't!"
"I know! SAM's not making any sense!" he shouted back. He peered around the edge of the crate he was using for cover, aimed, and brought down a kett with a single shot to the head before ducking back.
"No, I mean take the access route." Their eyes met briefly, and the captain nodded at a small maintenance door to the side. In an instant, her plan was clear: the chances of kett infiltrating the maintenance tunnels was unlikely.
Dunn put two fingers in her mouth and whistled sharply; ahead of them, Kandros' head whipped around and nodded in acknowledgement. "You two won't be able to hold off all these kett forever," Scott protested.
"Then make it quick!" Still Scott hesitated, until Dunn shoved him roughly. "Goddamn it, get going!"
Together, she and the turian laid down cover fire, allowing Scott to dart to the maintenance entrance and slip inside just before a few bolts slammed into the bulkhead behind him.
The sounds of fighting dropped away quickly, and soon his only companion was his harsh breathing and the pounding of his heart in his chest. "SAM, Dunn won't last long against that," he panted. "What's the plan here?"
"Manually send a reboot signal. It will reset your sister's implant," the AI replied. Scott skidded around a corner, and let out a huff when he spotted the comms room.
"Like a factory reset?" Scott said absentmindedly, already fiddling with the controls.
"To restore the functions I shouldn't have taken. With luck, her heart will not have stopped."
Scott couldn't help but let out a grim chuckle at that. "Since when do you believe in luck?"
For the first time ever, SAM seemed to hesitate. "I'm…not sure."
Scott quickly rebooted the system and began bypassing security protocols. "Alright, we're here," he muttered as he approached the necessary programming.
"One pulse, Scott. That's all the Pathfinder needs."
Scott glanced out the doorway, where the sounds of fighting were steadily growing louder. "And I'm guessing the pulse will alert the Archon," he guessed. "He'll know right where to find me."
"I am sorry." Movement in the corner of his eye made him level his weapon, just as two kett burst into the room.
"Niad shurid!" one of them shouted. They both aimed their weapons at him and advanced steadily.
Scott let out a breath, steeled himself, and pressed the button, one hand still holding his pistol on the kett. The console beeped softly, indicating the pulse was sent.
"Me too, SAM. Me too."