Chapter One: Paradise Lost: Part II
The sky over Eden Prime was as red as blood. Shepard knew it was just the setting sun reflecting off microscopic debris, but she couldn't help but read too deeply into it. So many turning points in her life had been signaled by the color red: the dingy red wristband that had marked her admittance to the Tenth Street Reds; the red cadet jumpsuit she'd received when she left Earth for the first and last time; her first posting, on the surveyor Rose; the human blood that had been smeared across the walls of Remus City on Elysium; Beaky's blood. Red had been the harbinger of momentous things, both great and terrible for Morgan Shepard, sometimes both at once. Right now, though, she decided she should just care that it meant that the sun was going down. Every moment wasted was burned daylight.
"Move out," she barked to Jenkins and Alenko, hand-signaling for them to head northwest and then taking off in the indicated direction at a steady trot. She slowed down when she spotted some sort of floating lifeform ahead of her, bubblegum pink and bulbous, with trailing brown tentacles.
"What the hell are those?" asked Kaidan through the open lower half of his faceplate. He sounded incredulous, as though the existence of the pink things was in violation of every reg in the book. Morgan had to admit, the land-jellyfish or whatever they were, were one of the odder lifeforms she'd seen on a planet this close to Earth norm.
"Gas bags," said Jenkins. "Don't worry, they're harmless."
"Good," said Shepard. "Keep moving."
The clear expanse of exposed ground they'd touched down on soon gave way to a fairly narrow path between two rocky ridges of land. They proceeded cautiously, moving from one outcropping of rock to the next, taking turns on point. They found one body, charred nearly to the bone.
They'd just come down a shallow slope when Shepard heard… something. A low hum, at the edge of her hearing. She waited a moment and the hum subsided. She signaled Jenkins forward, adding the sign for caution. Jenkins shifted his grip on his assault rifle, stepped out from cover with it ready to sight, and was immediately hit by a barrage of fire. He let out a single scream as he fell.
Shepard gritted her teeth, estimated the attack's point of origin and sprang up from her crouch.
She saw three synthetics, all hovering. Two shots from her pistol and one of them exploded as Morgan ducked back down. That humming she'd heard earlier had to have been their main propulsion, but they were obviously silent when they stopped moving and simply floated. Damn it! she thought.
"Synthetics," she growled to Kaidan. "Hoverers, two left."
He nodded. Shepard risked a look over the boulder that was providing them with cover.
"One at twelve o'clock, one at one o'clock," she said, voice more even. "Push the left one back while I take the one on the right, then take out the left one."
The lieutenant nodded. Morgan gave the signal, and the two of them stood up. Kaidan gave a slight grunt of effort and the commander felt the shift in reality as her fellow biotic slammed the synthetic on the left far backwards. As Shepard took out the other bot, she felt vaguely shocked at the power behind Alenko's throw. Then she turned her pistol on his target and fired off another four rounds.
"Go," she said to Kaidan, jerking her head towards Jenkins. She shifted to the other side of the boulder, keeping her gun pointed in the direction the synthetics had come from.
Alenko knelt down next to Jenkins's prone body and examined it. He turned to Shepard and shook his head.
"Ripped right through his shields," the lieutenant said. "There must have been something wrong with his suit. He never had a chance." He opened Jenkins's faceplate all the way and closed his eyelids.
Shepard let her arms fall to her sides and walked over to stand beside Kaidan. "We'll see that he receives a proper service when the mission is complete," she said, "but I need you to stay focused."
"Aye, aye, ma'am," he replied, standing. "Let's head out."
They headed uphill.
"Get down!" yelled Alenko. Shepard immediately dropped and rolled behind a convenient piece of debris. She climbed up to a kneeling position and twisted, warping reality around the hovering synthetics and damaging their structural integrity. She and Alenko finished them off with their sidearms. She was standing guard as he applied some medigel to a deep graze on his calf from a stray bullet that broke through weakened shields when Nihlus's first transmission came through.
"I've got some burnt-out buildings here, Shepard," said the turian's voice from her helmet's speakers. "A lot of bodies. I'm going to check it out. I'll try to catch up with you at the dig site."
"See you there," she said into her mic. She flipped off the mic and nodded to Alenko. "Should be through that grove," she said. "Keep to the high ground."
They encountered a few more of the floating synthetics, but they were easily dispatched. Shepard realized that the drones were almost stupidly weak, both in terms of shield strength and offensive power, meaning that they were obvious scouts for whoever sent them out. Her shields could easily withstand their fire and Jenkins would have walked away without a scratch if his shields had been working.
Shepard became aware of the sounds of gunfire as they reached the top of a rise just outside the grove of trees. She motioned Alenko forward, towards cover, and then joined him. Holstering her pistol, she pulled her shotgun from the frame pack on her back. Then she eased around the side of the large rock they were crouching behind, looking for any sign of synthetics.
A figure in red and white combat armor, possibly the same person from the video transmission, was running towards them, pursued by two synthetics, the source of the gunfire. The figure, a woman, looked back at her attackers. Her foot caught on a piece of rock embedded in the ground and she fell forward. Shepard cursed mentally and brought her shotgun to bear on one of the synthetics – but the woman had already taken it out, having neatly turned her fall into a roll and fired off two shots with her sidearm. Shepard re-sighted on the second synthetic and blew it out of the air.
The woman simultaneously got to her feet and turned towards Shepard, pistol still held in a firing position. Then the scream came.
Morgan Shepard was a soldier. She wasn't exactly used to screams, but she was familiar with them. This one sent her right back to Elysium. It wasn't a combat scream, the last vocalization of someone who had been defeated, like Jenkins's had been. This was the scream of someone who had never had a chance.
The woman in the red and white armor spun around, eyes so wide that Shepard thought she saw a glimpse of white. Kaidan joined Shepard beside their cover. Shepard stayed where she was for a moment, frozen. Then she came to her senses and pushed the lieutenant back into cover. The two of them cautiously peered over their rock.
Two synthetics, not floaters but bipeds with heads that looked like another limb, had a man in a red cadet's uniform held over a strange tripod. They seemed to examine the screaming human for a moment, then one of them tapped a control on the ground with its foot and a two-meter high spike telescoped up, impaling the man and cutting off his screams.
The woman with the pistol traded it for an assault rifle and ran forward, seemingly enraged, but not so blinded by anger as to charge the synthetics head on. She took cover behind a tall boulder, lying in wait as the synthetics approached her position. She sighted to her left, probably guessing which side the leader was approaching from based on the strange sound of their joints.
"Our turn," muttered Shepard.
She broke cover and ran towards the lead synthetic, warping space around it as she went and weakening it for the shotgun shell that followed. Alenko was right behind her, finishing it off with a burst from his pistol. The woman in red and white took the opportunity to swing around the side of her rock that wasn't under fire and pound into the second synthetic with a burst of fire from her rifle. They all stood still for a few moments, waiting for any unpleasant surprises.
"Stand down," said Shepard finally. The woman in red turned to her and saluted.
"Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212. You the one in charge here, ma'am?"
"Are you wounded, Williams?" asked Morgan, letting that answer the question.
"A few scrapes and burns. Nothing serious," the woman replied. "The others weren't so lucky."
Shepard nodded grimly. "Give me a status report, Williams."
The gunnery chief began pacing back and forth, probably trying to cope with an overload of emotion and adrenalin. "Oh, man… we were patrolling the perimeter when the attack hit. We tried to get off a distress call, but they cut off our communications. I've been fighting for my life ever since."
"Where's the rest of your squad?" asked Morgan, bracing herself for the response.
"We tried to double back to the beacon," said Williams, "but we walked into an ambush. I don't think any of the others… I think I'm the only one left."
"Any idea what kind of enemy we're facing?" asked Shepard. Despite her calm exterior, her mind was working furiously. Seventeen minutes from when we got the message to arrival at Eden Prime… maybe ten since then… her whole squad was wiped out in less than thirty minutes.
"I think they're geth," the gunnery chief said bluntly.
"The geth haven't been seen outside the Veil in nearly two hundred years," said Alenko. "Why are they here now?"
"They must have come for the beacon," said Williams. "The dig site is close, just over that rise. It might still be there.
Shepard nodded. "You're coming with us, Williams. We need that beacon."
"Aye, aye, ma'am," the other woman said. "It's time for payback."
Shepard bit her lip lightly, fighting the urge to say something. She tended to see revenge as counterproductive, but given what had happened here, she didn't think now was the time to argue over motives. "Move out," she said.
They headed over the rise Williams had mentioned and down a natural trench, passing more impaled bodies on the way. The bodies were desiccated, nearly mummified. Shepard realized the spikes must be doing more than impaling the bodies. They had to be drawing the moisture out of them. But why? she thought.
They closed in on the dig site cautiously, moving from one piece of cover to the next. They found three more geth, or whatever they were, at the site.
Morgan glanced over at Williams, or rather at her equipment. She motioned to the sniper rifle strapped to the marine's back, and then towards the synthetics. Ashley nodded. She slipped her assault rifle back into its carrier slot and pulled out the other rifle. Then she sighted on the closest synthetic and looked to Shepard for permission. Morgan nodded and Ashley squeezed the trigger once, sending a single round flying into the geth's torso, ripping it in half. Shepard and Alenko took out the other two synthetics with shotgun and pistol fire respectively.
Shepard examined the dig site from where she was standing. It appeared to be a fairly cramped space and she wasn't sure if there would be enough room for her shotgun, so she traded it for her pistol before leading the squad forward.
"This is the dig site. The beacon was right here. It must have been moved," said Ashley, as Morgan knelt to examine the circle of metallic material, though it felt like stone, that appeared to have been the base for the missing artifact.
"By who? Our side? Or the geth?" asked Kaidan.
"Hard to say. Maybe we'll know more after we check out the research camp," replied Ashley.
"You think anyone got out of here alive?" asked Shepard, standing.
Williams grimaced. "If they were lucky. Maybe hiding up in the camp. It's just at the top of this ridge, up the ramps."
"Then we make for the camp," said Shepard.
As they started to make their way up the earthen ramps, Nihlus's voice came over Shepard's radio. "Change of plans, Shepard. There's a small spaceport up ahead. I want to check it out. I'll wait for you there."
"Acknowledged," said Shepard. She turned to Williams. "Chief, I don't think I've mentioned this to you yet; we've got a Spectre with us, a turian named Nihlus."
Ashley whistled. "This whole thing must be bigger than I thought, ma'am. Sounds like everyone is showing up for the party," she said, with a bitter edge to the last sentence.
"I'll say," said Morgan. "In any case, he wants us to meet him at the small spaceport up ahead. Is the camp still on our way?"
"Yes, ma'am. We'll need to use the monorail to get there. The camp's right between us and the station," answered Ashley.
"Good," said Shepard. "Let's move out."
The camp came into sight as they reached the top of the ramp. The geth had clearly been here. They'd left some more impaled bodies to greet anyone who came after them.
"Looks like they got hit hard," said Williams.
"Could still be here," said Shepard, checking to make sure that the safety on her pistol remained off. A motion to the left caught her eye. The spikes, and the desiccated bodies – these ones with patches of blue phosphorescence covering their bodies – were descending.
One of the bodies twitched.
"Oh, God!" said Kaidan. "They're still alive!"
The bodies had reached the ground now, and were pulling themselves off of their spikes, leaving behind small pieces of dried tissue. They began walking towards Shepard's squad.
"What did the geth do to them?" said Ashley, not believing what she was seeing.
Shepard brought her pistol to bear on the lead… thing. She absolutely refused to say zombie. Husk. That'll do for now, she thought.
She hesitated. These things had been people once. Even though they looked like something out of an old horror movie, she couldn't afford to make assumptions.
"Can you hear me?" she yelled. "I need you to stop moving if you can hear me!"
The husks continued their advance.
"Fuck it," said Shepard. She pulled the trigger.
The fight was over in less than a minute. The husks had charged them and set off some kind of electrical pulse as an attack, but their unarmored bodies were easily blown apart by gunfire. Shepard, who had suffered an electrical burn to the neck and feeling slightly light-headed because of it, was wondering what kind of havoc the husks' attack would have done to her hair had she not been wearing a helmet. She realized that, if she was thinking things that disjointed from the reality of what was happening, she was probably in shock. Kaidan was patching her up, while Ashley stood guard.
"All done, Commander," said Kaidan, sealing off the partially used medigel pack. "You should be fine."
Shepard nodded distantly. "I think I need a minute," she said.
"Let's get inside one of those equipment sheds," said Kaidan. "Better not to be out in the open."
They headed over to one of the modules, Kaidan walking close to Shepard in case she fell over.
"It's encrypted," said Ashley, after examining the lock. "Let's check the other one."
"No," said Shepard taking a seat on a convenient rock. "That could mean someone's hiding in there. See what you can do with it, Lieutenant."
"Right. Chief, you watch the comman – "
"I'm still here, Alenko, and I'll be fine in a minute. Take care of that lock."
"Aye, aye, ma'am."
It took him a couple tries, his fingers fumbling on his omni-tool slightly, obviously shocked by the battle himself, but Alenko got the lock open. Shepard, by then feeling much more stable, led the squad into the shed.
"Humans! Thank the maker!" said a tired female voice. A woman with close-cropped red hair and in the uniform of an Alliance-funded researcher walked forward.
"Hurry! Close the door! Before they come back!" said a frantic male voice from the shadowy back of the shed.
"What are you doing here?" Shepard asked the woman.
"I'm Doctor Warren. I was in charge of this excavation. We hid in these sheds during the attack. They must have come here for the beacon. Luckily, it wasn't here," the researcher replied. She seemed to be slightly panicked underneath her calm exterior. "It was moved to the spaceport earlier this morning. Manuel and I stayed behind to pack up the camp. When the attack came, the marines held them off long enough for us to hide. They gave their lives to save us."
Warren seemed sincerely upset, but Shepard still couldn't help feeling a short flash of anger. Civilians or not, an entire squad's lives for those of two people was hardly a fair trade. She managed to keep the anger from her face. Be angry at the geth, she told herself, and proud of the bravery and sacrifice of those soldiers. You would have made the same choice. The fact was that she actually had made the same choice, on multiple occasions, but she had made it out of those situations alive. These marines hadn't.
Morgan's thoughts were interrupted by the second voice, which belonged to a middle-aged man with thinning brown hair. "No one is saved!" he said, eyes moving rapidly from one point to another. "The age of humanity is ended! Soon, only ruin and corpses will remain!"
Shepard glanced at the man's rank badge and turned back to Dr. Warren. "What's wrong with your assistant?" she asked, leaning against the wall. She was nearly better now, but she needed a little more time to get her heart rate back to normal.
"Manuel has a brilliant mind, but he's always been a bit… unstable," said Warren. "Genius and madness are two sides of the same coin."
"Is it madness to see the future? To see the destruction rushing towards us?" rambled Manuel. "To understand there is no escape, no hope? No," he said, shuddering, "I am not mad. I'm the only sane one left."
"I gave him an extra dose of his meds after the attack," said Warren, sounding worried.
Shepard wasn't sure that was a good idea, but she had another question. "Did you notice a turian in the area?
Manuel interrupted before his superior could answer. "I saw him. The prophet. Leader of the enemy. He was here, before the attack."
"That's impossible," said Kaidan in a calm, measured tone, one that would hopefully get through to the frantic scientist even if his words wouldn't. "Nihlus was on the Normandy before the attack. He couldn't have been here."
"Could have been another turian," mused Shepard, straightening up.
"On a human colony?" asked Alenko with a raised eyebrow. "Possible, I guess, but it seems pretty unlikely."
Ashley nodded. "I've seen one or two aliens around the big population centers and spaceports, but out here? I think the doc's just losing it."
"She's right. Manuel's still a bit… unsettled. We haven't seen your turian. We've been hiding in here since the attack," said Dr. Warren.
"No offense, but are you sure giving him more of his meds was the best idea?" asked Williams, looking at Manuel, who was now staring intently at a wall, out of the corner of her eye. "Some dosages are limited for a reason…"
"I know, I know! But he was practically screaming, he would have given us away," said Warren, the stress of what she'd been through in the last few hours finally making its way to her face. "I had to do something."
"Calm down, Doctor. You're safe now," said Shepard. "We're here, and there's a Council Spectre waiting for us at the monorail station. Just stay here and you should be fine."
Warren sat down on a crate and rested her face in her hands. "Thank you, Commander. I'm sorry. It's just that – "
"I know. You're not trained for this kind of situation," said Shepard. "You're doing your best. We're going to head out now. Stay safe.
"Good luck, Commander," said Warren as the squad turned to leave.
"Luck won't save you," said Manuel.
Shepard ignored him. "Williams, take us to the spaceport."
"You can't stop it," continued Manuel as they left the shed, surprisingly calm. "No one can stop it. Night is falling. The darkness of eternity."
"Hush, Manuel," said Warren as the door slid closed behind Kaidan. "Go lie down. You'll feel better once the medication kicks in."
Saren Arterius paced back and forth, waiting. He knew the Council had sent a Spectre, and that the Systems Alliance had sent in a strike team. It was just a matter of time before the Spectre reached him, and perhaps even the strike team, if they were very lucky.
Saren's senses had been enhanced of late, and he could hear the scrape of armored boots on the station ramp. He continued pacing, not bothering to turn.
"Saren?" asked a male turian voice. A very familiar male turian voice.
Saren turned. "Nihlus." Why did it have to be Nihlus? he thought. This is… regrettable.
"This isn't your mission, Saren," said Nihlus, lowering the gun that had been aimed at Saren's torso. There was a slight note of annoyance in his voice.
Afraid I'll steal your thunder, old friend? Or still insecure about measuring up to your old mentor?
"What are you doing here?" continued Nihlus.
Saren forced his features into a pleasant expression. It wasn't as hard as he had expected. "The Council thought you could use some help on this one," he said, putting a hand on his former protégé's shoulder and giving it a friendly squeeze as he walked behind the younger man. He didn't turn to face Nihlus's back. Not yet.
"I wasn't expecting to find the geth here," said Nihlus. Saren was impressed. Nihlus's words implied he had been aware of the geth's movements to at least some degree. "The situation's bad."
It was regrettable that it was Nihlus, but not that it was someone aware of the length of this operation.
"Don't worry," said Saren, turning to face his friend's back and drawing his assault rifle silently and single-handed. "I've got it under control."
Author's Note: Once again, YouTube has served me well. Thanks this time to SpectreShepardSSV, NextGenWalkthroughs, and Stealthspectre. I'd also like to thank the amazing thejadefalcon for betaing. Check out his profile at: h t t p : / / w w w . f a n f i c t i o n . n e t / u / 1 0 7 2 9 6 4 /.
Some of you may have noticed that the previous chapter has been edited, as I now have aforesaid beta. You'll also notice that I've played around with the dialog some more in this chapter. Opinions on that would be awesome and all reviews are, as always, most welcome.