What Lies Within
Chapter 1: Therum
The mako set down on Therum with a thud, its occupants reeling from the familiar head bump on the roof of the vehicle, not unfamiliar in the hands of its current driver. This was the fourth planet they had searched in the Artemis Tau cluster.
"Shepard," the Turian roared. "Let's not try to get killed before we get Saren."
The driver grinned broadly. A smile so customary to her face she was rarely seen without it unless she was scowling. "Better find something to hold onto Garrus," she teased as the vehicle plummeted down a steep embankment of volcanic schist. "It's going to be rough."
Shepard floored the accelerator, racing the Alliance vehicle down the steep embankment. As it passed midway the front left tyre clipped a loose volcanic rock, sliding the vehicle sideways where it failed to find grip and launched into the air. Inside the mako, Garrus regretted not taking the Commander's advice as gravity flung him about the cabin like a crash dummy. He landed hap hazardly in the lap of a very unhappy Chief Williams. "Off," she yelled angrily, swiping at where the Turian had landed, as if she was wiping away invisible germs. Despite the Turian's apology Ashley hated that he touched her. Despite Shepard welcoming the Turian to the ship she regarded the former C-SEC officer as something of a cockroach. He was the enemy. He was alien.
It was true the First Contact War had done little to promote the idea of galactic harmony to mankind. The Turian fleet was formidable and humanity's losses were high. Many families lost sons and daughters, and fathers to the war. Many soldiers survived, but were forever scarred by the battle. The remoteness of the battlefield was hard for Earth's families to cope with. There were few bodies to bury, few graves at which to mourn. Instead the bodies of their loved ones were scattered on desolate asteroids and rocks that barely registered as planets, or drifted endlessly in space with the twisted metal of their destroyed ships and other space junk. Their graves a cold, dark, endless nothingness.
Humanity's first encounter with another species had been as dire as it was epic. The human race may well have pulled back, like a child dipping their toe in a swimming pool to test the water, suddenly pulling back on finding it too cold to enter. But the galaxy had other plans for its newest space dwelling citizens. After the Turians came a rapid fire of introductions to new species. There were the Volus, Salarians, Krogan and the Asari. There were other less enchanting races such as the Vorcha and fleeting contacts with the space dwelling Quarians. Humanity eyed the Batarians most cautiously of all. Some drew comparison of the species to 19th century Earth. They seemed focussed on building power and preparing for war. But with whom?
Shepard yanked the wheel hard left. A second later dirt shot up the right side of the mako where the plasma round had landed. 'We're under fire," called Garrus. A bemused Shepard didn't have time to thank her comrade for declaring the obvious, instead returning fire with the mako's canon. They made quick work of the Geth armature. The machine's targeting system appeared to struggle to get a lock on the mako. Probably Shepard's driving thought Garrus.
The Geth ambush at the mine exterior caught the Commander off guard. Her team had been vulnerable in the open. Ashley laid down covering fire while Shepard and Garrus sprinted for cover from the barrage of fire from Geth snipers, hoppers and shock troopers that had been lying in wait.
The Normandy crew worked effectively if not efficiently to eradicate the Geth. It took their combined efforts to unleash a devastating attack on the armature to finish the battle.
Adrenaline racing through her body, Shepard led the team down the catwalk to the tunnel.
Chief Williams made light work of the Geth forces in the tunnel. She anticipated their every move. Diving quickly from cover to cover she eliminated the drones and troopers in less than a minute. Shepard admired her athleticism. It reminded her of herself when she first joined the N7 program. She had been at her physical and mental best. The Commander saw a bright future for the soldier, if she could keep her hatred of aliens in check.
She waited a moment after the gunfire had passed, crouched behind a boulder which had borne the brunt of the Geth attack. The dust finally settled, the soldier strained her ears for the faintest sound in the cool underground air. Peeking from safety, the rifle scope to her eye, it was another 10 seconds before she was satisfied that all of the Geth had been accounted for.
"Clear Commander," she called, more out of habit than need. She was a soldier, born to a soldier. A soldier's life was all she had ever known. Falling into step behind the Commander, Chief Williams dutifully kept one eye behind the squad and one finger on the trigger guard of her rifle.
Shepard approached the chamber at the end of the cavern and was bemused by the sight of an Asari trapped in what looked like a giant floating blue orb. It appeared that the Asari had become trapped within a force field. She looked as if she were floating in a giant bubble, but her wide eyes and pleas for help indicated she was not having any fun. Shepard berated herself for finding humour in the Asari's predicament.
"Is someone there? Can you hear me? Help me please!" the panicked Asari finally spoke, her words reverberating eerily in the chamber.
"Doctor T'Soni I presume," Shepard approached the orb. Shepard approached the blue glowing orb cautiously. The Commander had never seen anything like it. If it had been an Asari's biotic shield it would have been one to be proud of. But judging by the panicked look of the Asari floating inside it this was not something to be proud of. She looked scared. Shepard smiled warmly. "We're here to get you out."
"I didn't think anyone knew where I was..." the Asari stumbled through her words.
Most likely still in shock, thought Shepard. "How did you get in there?"
Shepard listened as the Asari described how she had been attacked by the Geth and deliberately activated the security system to protect herself. Clever, thought Shepard.
It was hard for Ashley not to gloat at the sight of the Asari trapped in the force field. This was the revered Prothean expert who was going to help take down Saren? The soldier mused. Shepard must be disappointed. Ashley likened the panicked Asari to her younger sister who once got her finger stuck in a Chinese finger puzzle and spent an evening waving her hand around frantically trying to free herself.
Liara T'soni watched from inside her bubble as the human and Turian examined the security system.
"It won't work," she called out "You will need to find another way to get me out."
"Relax Doc," smiled the red headed human female. "We'll get you out."
Ashley watched as Shepard and Garrus manoeuvred the heavy mining equipment to blast the Asari free. That's smart she thought.
"Fire in the hole," the Commander shouted. The chamber rumbled as the laser drill sprang to life, freeing the Asari from her prison. But when the drill stopped the rumbling continued to grow louder.
A chorus of shouts to evacuate the area rang through the dusty air as the team made their exit, only to find it blocked by another immovable force – a Krogan. But no one told that to the Commander who hadn't met an immovable force that she couldn't move yet. This Krogan and his Geth cronies were no different. They were in her way and she was not giving up her best link to Saren.
Weapons blazed and bodies dived as the walls shuddered and rocks fell. When the dust settled the Normandy crew were safely on-board the ship and the Krogan and Geth were buried under tonnes of rubble, perhaps to be discovered by another Asari archaeologist in 150 years.