The bombardment began with little warning, cutting off the area surrounding the prospering community of Urdnot from its surroundings. With the vast majority of the Krogan military at Sol the attack from the Salarian fleet was virtually unopposed. They had simply appeared in orbit, having used newly developed stealth technology on their largest cruisers. It was a textbook invasion against minimal defenses, something the Salarians strove for in every conflict. The Krogan were caught flat footed.
Urdnot's Rearguard forces were doing their best to coordinate, but enemy troops were dropping in and around their positions in Atlas mechs and advanced armor. While the colors on the chassis undeniably belonged to Dalatress Linron and the Salarian Union, the technology left little doubt that Cerberus was involved. It seemed the woman was planning to grapple with the Krogan until her last breath and her choice of weaponry had sunk to a new low. The Atlas' were particularly effective against scattered Krogan ground troops and it wasn't long before they were forced to give way.
"Bakara!" growled Qrrash as one of her bodyguards blasted a power conduit beneath a row of fuel tanks. He threw his body between her and the explosion that upended one of the mechs and flattened their small group. Bruised but carried by adrenaline, they quickly rose and continued around the corner to a crumbling pile of rock. A wide dark hole in the ground greeted them and Qrrash gave Bakara a meaningful look.
"Stay or go?" he said with grizzled fury while releasing a thermal clip, "I'm fine either way."
Bakara had hoped never to have to hide underground again and the order stuck in her throat despite the obvious advantages. All the Salarian technology in the world couldn't jam the old fashioned communication lines that wormed through the tunnels and caverns riddling what used to be the capital of their world. The call for mobilization had already gone out, and her officers were barking plans and ushering her along. Now their backs were against the literal wall.
The tunnels would prevent the mechs from doing anything but securing the surface, effectively negating them. That just left the troops, which according to the latest reports numbered in the thousands. While it might take time, Urdnot and the rest of the Krogan supporting them planetside would rally to the cause; and the overwhelming focus on her location told her that the Salarian matron was in a hurry. Probably to capture her, in fact. Such a feat would cause enough confusion among the other clans that the Salarians might have the time they needed to secure Tuchanka.
So then, all they needed to do was outlast their attackers and coordinate a resistance. They had played the insurgent before and they would simply have to do it again. This time, Bakara swore, there would be no negotiations, no compassion. This time, Linron would pay with her life and not even Wrex would be here to claim that pleasure for himself.
"Let's go. The sooner we're gone the sooner we can return."
"Resistance is minimal, Dalatress. They are retreating underground just as you surmised," General Borvo's detached assessment confirmed the Matron's expectations. She slipped forward to the edge in her chair on the bridge of the Talorn, the largest and most technologically advanced Dreadnought in the fleet.
"And team Drega?"
"They are in position and await your orders."
"Commence drilling immediately." Linron's excitement was apparent, and she steepled her fingers while her eyes followed the strategic monitors. The layout of the tunnels was on display, and the drilling teams were in place at every location to which the acting Krogan leader could conceivably retreat. The nerve toxin that would be injected would disable but not kill any Krogan with whom it came in contact. They might not find the experience to their liking, however. Linron honestly didn't take pleasure in such things, but she also wouldn't waver in her duty. A duty that the council, the Krogan, and that infernal human Shepard seemed to be intent on subverting.
Fortunately the Cerberus sect of the human species was more forward looking. She had been among their most vocal detractors; but once she had spoken with the Illusive Man in person, she realized the wasted talent that was there for the taking. The technology they possessed was fascinating and could potentially alter the galaxy..in the Salarian's favor. If the Krogan would not be limited according to the wisdom the Salarians offered, then they would at least be harnessed against any potential threats; first and foremost the Reapers if it came to that. Their runaway reproduction rate would become a boon in a Salarian lab, and with the improvements that Cerberus had pioneered they would be an unstoppable but malleable force for the defense of the galaxy.
All that stood between her and success was the mate of one Urdnot Wrex. She didn't expect that Wrex would return from his cataclysmic crusade against the Reapers in Sol, but even if he did he would be forced to negotiate with her once Bakara was in her hands. He could be controlled, she was convinced, once the mother of his children was under her sway.
"Liara," came Commander Williams' voice on her Omni, "You'll want to hear this. I'm patching you in."
Liara sat up straight in her bed in the medbay as the voices on the command channel came through. Shepard's voice cut through the chatter and her heart squeezed in ecstatic relief.
"Admiral, we have to get them shut down right away. It's the only way they'll survive what is coming." Her voice sounded rough. Tired. Determined. If everything else about her was boiled away, that would be what remained.
"That will open them up to attack until this is done," Hackett replied, "We need to pull them back and cover them. I'll get the orders issued. What else?"
Liara could hear her voice gasping as if she was running from something, her words out of breath, "That goes for EDI as well. Get word to the Normandy."
EDI's voice came smoothly over the rest of the talk on the internal comms, "I am registering a build up in power from the Crucible. Shepard's estimate will be close, but I am not certain I can return full control to the ship as well as completely shut down in the allotted time."
She heard Williams asking for options but Liara selfishly tuned them out, straining to hear her beloved.
"Commander," Hackett said, "We have units inbound for extraction. Where are you?"
"Have them wait," she grunted in clear pain, the uneven pounding of armored boots becoming audible, "There's no reason to endanger them yet. The Crucible will affect me no matter where I go. With luck they will find me in or around C-Sec after the blast. My Omni-tool is the objective. It is imperative that evacuation operations begin immediately. Life support systems will be severely damaged when the tower systems overload."
Liara's skin crawled at the words and she shook her head. Tali was suddenly there, enfolding her in her arms, but the world spiralled away from her.
"Joker," came Ashley's voice, torn between her own choices, "Get her as much time as you can."
"Aye Aye," came his response, but the ship was already moving, accelerating, careening away from the Citadel and through the torn lines of battle. "We're getting out of here."
Hackett's voice was gruff, but firm, "Commander, I'm putting Dr. Lawson on alert and assembling a team. If there is anything we can do for you, know that it will be done."
"Thank you, sir. It has been an honor and a privilege."
The silence stretched before coordination started again amongst the fleet, and Liara thought those might be the last words she ever heard from her bondmate, but then her Omni flashed with an incoming communication. She keyed it desperately, "Shepard?"
"Liara."
It was all the asari could do not to sob, "Tell me there's something we can do. I...can't…"
She heard more panting, a held breath before some exertion, then a return to it's labored pace, "It's ok... Everything is going to be fine." Her voice brightened, "I eh….I got you a present."
The words were so out of place that she couldn't quite grasp them, "A...a present?"
"Yeah. A little something to keep you busy while Miranda figures out how she's gonna pull the next rabbit of her hat."
Liara suddenly felt as if she were imagining this entire conversation, "A...rabbit?"
A ragged chuckle came across plainly, "Nevermind. I managed to get hold of all the collected knowledge and culture of the Protheans and a few thousand of their closest friends and enemies. It's here, on the Citadel."
The scientist in her perked and her eyes widened. Tali took this as an opportunity to let go and give her the space she needed. Joker was telling everyone to hang on, their approach to the Relay at Charon would likely be 'a bit faster than normal'. Williams updated the count to fewer than 60 seconds remaining. EDI's voice intoned that her disengagement from the ship was at 80%, then 85%.
"That could be, useful."
"Yeah." Shepard took a deeper breath and it sounded like she had stopped running, "Everyone is going to want this information. I need you to promise me that you'll help keep them honest. They'll fight over it eventually."
The finality of her words brought the world crashing back down and Liara's lip quivered. She couldn't speak.
"I know you can do it."
Liara finally found her tongue, but her voice cracked, "Are you done distracting me from the fact that you are leaving, again?"
"Yeah well, there's that." she exhaled with a groan as she sat.
"I want to know what's going to happen," she said in no uncertain terms.
Shepard didn't hesitate. There was no time. "Some of my cybernetics are Reaper technology. They'll be destroyed when they are. I don't know exactly what's going to happen, but it's not going to be good."
The implications of that statement stretched farther than she cared to explore at this point, so she focused tightly, "I won't stop until we bring you back. Again."
"Well, I'd be disappointed if you did."
They both paused a moment, then laughed.
"If you can't, it's..it's okay. I don't regret a moment. This is a good way to go, saving the universe," she said with a bit of forced swagger before sobering, unable at last to disguise her fear from the one person who had seen her soul laid bare before her, "I love you, Liara. You've been my light when it was darkest."
Her heart felt like it was going to burst from her chest as Williams counted down the final seconds. She couldn't imagine what it must be like for her right now, all alone. "I love you….I'm right there with you. I'm sitting right there! Always and forever, Shepard!"
"Always and forever." Her words were quiet. Resigned.
The Normandy accelerated into the mass-free corridor and disappeared as the first reports of the Crucible firing came over the comms.
Arcturus station, or what was left of it, appeared on the front display and Commander Williams straightened in her chair. She smiled in relief at what she was hearing, "It's working. The Reapers are falling out of the sky."
EDI's occupied voice echoed from the bridge systems, "Cold shutdown process initiated. ETA, thirty seconds."
"Hurry up beautiful, there's a party waiting back home," Joker took them on a loop over the wrecked Shipyard and toward the the opposing Mass Relays. One took the next major leap into Alliance Space, The Exodus Cluster, while the other was a secondary relay into the Euler system. He was struck by how absolute the destruction was. It's like the Reapers…."Um, Commander? Did we just lose comms? I'm not getting anything from the Alliance."
The recently promoted human Spectre checked her channels, "I've lost them too. What the hell is happening?"
"I'm guessing it's...that?" he brought up the view from behind them, and pointed at a angry red glow enveloping the Mass Relay they just came through. The enormous gyroscopic rings that contained the Relay's store of Element Zero were spinning faster than he had ever seen them.
"Joker, get us out of here."
"Where, exactly?"
Her mind flew. There was nothing here for them if this went badly, "Euler. Get us to Euler!"
Joker's fingers flew over the controls and they leapt toward the Relay as the red glow rapidly expanded out and toward them. As empty as this place was, he was happy there was no competition for the jump slot. The display went white with the jump just before they were enveloped.
The relay on the other side was already beginning to spin up with it's own glow when they emerged, and as they raced away one of the gyroscopes broke up, a piece striking the back of the Normandy and rotating the whole ship on its X axis. Joker cursed as he did his best to compensate and maintain momentum away from the relay but the ship had taken on a life of its own. The bangs of explosions, alarms and bulkhead doors filled the air while the inertial dampeners tried and failed to keep the environment safe for the crew. The glow filled more and more of the display as they spun, and the crew grimly held onto the arms of their chairs for their lives.
"EDI! EDI I hope to Christ you are done!" He wasn't sure how to take the lack of reply but he kept working to regain control, flinching subconsciously as the energy swept over and through them all.
"Please be done. Please be done," he muttered as the spin began to slow, the abused maneuvering thrusters putting out everything they had.
"This is the Commander," Ashley said over ship-wide, "I need damage and casualty reports right away."
Minutes later the bridge crew grimly listened to the reports. The hull was gashed and part of engineering was a vacuum. The engines were spitting fumes, but they might have FTL up in a day. The ship continued to drift with what was left of their post-impact momentum. Two engineers had been lost to a fire and a third had been spaced. Fortunately the crew had been prepared for that possibility in endless drills. The third engineer was in his zero-g suit and communicating. Cortez would be able to pick him up.
"Can you get us planetside?" Williams asked optimistically, "We are gonna need dry dock for that hull, and we need to refuel."
"You mean the repair facilities? They're trashed along with the rest of the base, Commander."
"They also have food and air, and we'll need both. This system a dead end for us without that mass relay or repairs."
"I'll do my best. The old girl isn't happy."
"Yeah? Well either am I. What's EDI's status?" Williams couldn't help but second guess her decision to leave the biggest battle in the history of history to save her, and now it had cost 2 additional lives.
Joker ran some checks, unsurprised with the results, "Well, she's offline. That could be good or it could be bad. I was kinda multitasking and didn't hear any updates."
"I don't think there were any," which didn't bode well, but she left that out. "Regardless, if the ME comm buoys are down, we're in a crappy position to find out how to fix her." The commander took a deep breath, "Get us to Benning, Joker. We'll figure something out. She's not going anywhere."
"Yes Ma'am," then under his breath, "Hopefully before old age sets in."
"What do you mean there's no response?" Qrrash keyed his earpiece after blasting through a Salarian sniper who looked vaguely surprised at their team's speed across the open cavern floor. "All units are converging on the Throne Room. If there's a problem, we need to know what it is right now. Take 3rd squad and double time it!" The rest of the guard closed in tighter around Bakara as a portion of their force departed, determined to protect their pregnant clan leader.
They had already withdrawn from their first rendezvous point where they found a Salarian presence. For all their frailty, they were fast. The tunnels, while an effective defense, were labyrinthian. It was becoming clear that their enemy had accurate intel on them and it was damned frustrating to be outmaneuvered. Still, they were killing ten of them for every Krogran that fell. They moved smoothly through the poorly lit corridors without incident for a time until they saw the elaborate ancient columns that marked their destination. It was silent beyond, and that was disturbing to Bakara. She suddenly felt they were being herded, and that instinct was confirmed when another Salarian team opened fire behind them.
"Hold this line Urdnot!" Bakara cried, and was gratified by the snarls and grunts of her most loyal clansmen. They would fight to the death, and so would she. Being taken was not an option. When she felt the painful tingling in her limbs and face she thought briefly about turning the shotgun on herself and pulling the trigger. The child she carried dissuaded her, even if her fingers had cooperated, and the weapon was kicked from her hands by an armored figure with a hideously disfigured face. The half husk creature relaxed once the last of them was down and reported in. The Battle of Urdnot was over. As Bakara lost consciousness, writhing in pain, all she could hear was a strange discordant music in the dark.
"Where are you going? Get back here immediately!" The Cerberus Officer in charge of the 4th drilling team couldn't understand what was happening. The Salarians under his command had worked flawlessly, drilling and releasing the agent without incident. The retreating Krogans hadn't even made it this far into the tunnels, meaning their work had been a redundant action; yet his team was packing into the drilling vehicle and throwing it into reverse to climb ponderously back up the mined shaft as if the hounds of hell were nipping at their heels. The other Cerberus squad members looked to him for a command, and he caught one of the slippery Salarian bastards as he tried to run past him to his friends.
"You are going to tell me what the hell is going on right now or I'm going to break your god damned face with my bare hands," he looked up at the rest of them, "What are you waiting for? Stop them!"
The team nodded and started firing at the mining vehicle while trying not to destroy their only exit out. The looks on the fleeing faces was one of abject fear, overriding the threat of a few warning shots, and the vehicle was soon out of sight as they pursued.
"You must leave. Let me go." the Salarian engineer squeaked, "You must evacuate right away, they are coming!"
"Who's coming?" the officer shook the diminutive figure, "We've won already! There's nobody here!"
"Can't you hear it?" If it were possible for the little grey man's face to turn greyer it did, "It's them."
The officer punched the engineer in the face to snap him out of his horror, "Who, god damn it?"
His head lolled back and he brought three fingers to his bloodied nose vent, "The...the Rachni."
The wall to their left crumbled, and the slender Salarian miner began to scream as a nightmare from the depths of his species' subconscious unfolded from the earth and sliced the man beating him into two meaty pieces. The room around them came alive, and the rest of them died.
"Not possible," Dalatress Linron said with clipped words, "How many?"
"Unknown at this time," Borvo's voice was clearly nervous, and troops rushed around behind him on the screen hastily setting up defenses, "There is no word from Drega. Force must be considerable."
"Not possible," she said again musingly. There were no Rachni on Tuchanka. Why would there be Rachni on Tuchanka and how would her intelligence teams not have known? The nerve toxin they had used against the Krogan was tightly engineered given the possibility of both Human and Salarian exposure. There was no chance it would slow the Rachni down, "Use the mechs. Find out what we face. Get me Bakara!"
"It will be done, Dalatress," came the reply. Linron wasn't convinced. She cut off communication and turned her wide black eyes to the overwatch display. The only way they would not have known about the presence of Rachni would be if Urdnot did not know.
Her eyes narrowed. There were no telling how many Rachni were down there if that was true. Was it possible that the Rachni had been secretly building and then planning an attack for this very moment when Tuchanka was weakest? There were Rachni ships and troops in the forces that defended Tuchanka against the Reapers; there through some mysterious agreement with Shepard. They had been insignificant, with the rest of their assistance coming through the few Rachni assisting the construction of the Crucible.
Shepard had spurned the entire Salarian First Fleet in her efforts to cure the Genophage for the Krogan. She had nothing to gain by betraying them now. If there was another colony on Tuchanka, she was certain it wasn't Shepard's doing. Linron hated not having all the information. Someone in STG's head was going to roll.
"Dalatress, Captain Reynolds from inside the caverns wishes to speak," a pale male officer at the helm intoned. Linron made an abrupt motion with her fingers and the human's voice barked through without ceremony, the firing of weapons making it difficult to understand.
"..under attack from Rachni! Repeat we have acquired the target and are attempting to extract. We require reinforcements. Teams 7-10 no longer reporting in, assume they have been neutralized. Where the hell are your men?"
The Matriarch perked in her chair, "Reynolds, repeat, do you have Urdnot Bakara?"
"Affirmative, we are digging in. They've cut us off," an explosive noise followed by the unearthly screech of a dying Rach soldier broke over the comms.
"You will have your reinforcements Reynolds. Get the target out."
"Understood," he hadn't even finished the word before Linron flipped the comm to General Borvo's position.
"General, I'm sending reserves to your location. You are to immediately engage the Rachni and take back grid LR-72. The target awaits your retrieval at that position."
"Yes Dalatress. We have regrouped and are advancing now."
The Matron's fingers gripped the arms of her chair tighter. As long as she had Bakara, the planet could burn. She watched dozens of Cerberus shuttles enter the atmosphere toward the battle zone with satisfaction. She turned her head to her tactical officer, who was engaged in a whispered but urgent conversation with the helmsman. "Report."
When they both looked at her blankly, she nearly raised her voice. The look on her face must have motivated them, and the helmsman brought up a view of an angrily red Mass Relay and the wave of energy racing toward the planet and their fleet. When she asked what it was, she received the last three words that should ever come from a Salarian's lips. "We..don't know."
The Beta Queen's antennae waved rhythmically as she heard the cries of violence and pain from her children. Their ancient enemy fled before their fury, but the humans who had been fouled resisted, turning their fiery weapons upon them, burning in turn. She sung her song and they filled the tunnels, overrunning them with surprise. The enemy were a great many, she knew, but she had felt the despair from the Krogan Queen Mother and could hide no longer. Her own Mother had suffered the same fate. Painful restraints and discordant melodies awaited her, would turn her children against her just as theirs had been corrupted. They would be separated and sent into the silence without her guidance. She tasted that memory as if it were her own and every cell within her rebelled. She reached out to her Mother, across the vast emptiness of space and touched her with a plaintive note. If she must die to prevent this, then she must. They were carrying the Krogan Mother away. They must catch her quickly. Her song of mourning for the children that would be lost reached out to them all, empowering and encouraging them. Her Mother answered back, touching her as surely as if she was there. They would serve the colony by ending these invaders, and she felt her determination envelop them.
The enemy's resistance around the Krogan female was strong. She was their goal and they would not give her up easily. The battle raged back and forth, but the Beta Queen did not have enough to end them. The young Queen herself raced through the tunnels after them, her mass and mandibles tearing through the grasping walls and obstacles while her children swirled around her in a cloud of destruction.
They came through the entrance to the tall throne room, close to their goal, and found the painful defenses of the corrupted ones waiting. She savored the terror in their eyes as they beheld her giant form, and she released a vocal scream that deafened them, making them shrink for a moment as her children attacked.
Just before the lines joined in a final struggle, a pulse of energy swept through the caverns, through the very ground like a seismic shudder. It passed over and through them, and the enemy fell where they stood to move no more. Her children seized upon them and slew them in great numbers until their fluids pooled in the soil. When it was done there was a great chittering from her children. The Krogan mother and her kin were brought to her and placed gently on the ground. They still lived, but they also did not move. It was enough, for now. The Beta Queen sent a victorious trumpet to all her kind, and was answered with a victorious sound from the Sol homeworld as well. The corrupters were ended. All of them.
