Right on schedule, Normandy pulls out of dry dock and starts a course toward the Artemis Tau cluster. Joker and the flight crew estimate another few hours before approach, so you decide to take the opportunity and grab a bite to eat.
Mess is empty - the crew is still busy, and most just finished breakfast an hour or two ago. You've been up for hours, and you didn't have much in terms of breakfast. It's always hard to eat much before a big run. There's always other things that need to be done.
You take a bite of your egg sandwich and sit back, slouching in your seat. Now, there's really only one thing to do. Wait.
It takes you about one minute before you're tugging a data pad out of the pocket of your cargos and flipping through its contents idly. You've never been good at just waiting.
This trip to Therum is at the Council's recommendation. Turns out Matriarch Benezia, Saren's cohort, has a daughter. Dr. Liara T'Soni. Councillor Tevos pulled some strings at the University of Serrice and was able to get you data about the daughter's whereabouts and her recent projects.
Tevos and Udina both suggested that Dr. T'Soni may offer insight into Benezia's work with Saren, but you're not so sure. She's a xenoarchaeologist, and since she got her doctorate a few decades ago she's been travelling from dig site to dig site, contributing to an occasional research paper in between. She's been on Therum for several months already, and before that she was out in the Attican Traverse for years. Not the type of lifestyle made to sustain close mother-daughter relationships.
That's something you can relate to.
Still, not everyone's as cynical as you are. You might get there and find that the doctor has a wealth of information about her mother's whereabouts. Or she might not. Or you might find that she's working with her mother and Saren, and she'll sound the alarms and have you killed on the spot.
You toss the data pad onto the table and rub at your eyes, trying to ignore the dull pain in the back of your skull. If only cynicism didn't come so naturally.
It's a flimsy lead and you know it. Anderson did, too. You could see it in his eyes when he shook your hand to send you off, in the way lines worried their way between his brows. Good luck, he said. You brushed it off, with a nod and an easy grin. But truthfully, you do need luck, and a lot of it.
You don't want to let him down. Him, or anyone else.
"Commander?"
You look up at the quarian approaching you. She stands tall, with her hands behind her back, but her voice is tentative, like she thinks you might turn her away. You point at the chair across from you and give her a small smile, trying not to let your frustrations show. You might feel like this mission's a waste of time, but it isn't her fault. "What can I do for you, Tali?"
She sits down, crossing her arms on the table in front of her. "I was going through the data I recovered from the geth, to see if there was anything else useful. I found out more about the Reapers, and I thought you should know."
A chorus of harsh whispers cascades through your head, soft and unintelligible. You clench your teeth against the flare in your headache and pick up your bottle of water carefully, trying to look nonchalant. "What did you find?"
"The Reapers are an ancient race of sentient machines." She starts using her hands again, waving them in front of her as she tells her story. "The geth see them as gods, the pinnacle of non-organic life. They call them the Old Machines. The Reapers hunted down the Protheans fifty thousand years ago, wiped them out completely. Then they just...vanished, without a trace. At least," she hesitates, "that's what the geth believe."
You let the images from the beacon into your mind, trying to ignore the rush of nausea they make you feel. The memories, or imprints, whatever they are, don't work like normal thoughts. A flash of silver here, hard lines and scraping sounds...it could be machines, you suppose. It would help explain that deep, mechanical hum, that vibration that makes you think your skull's breaking in half.
Maybe you should ask Chakwas for help with that. You could pass it off as a stress headache easily enough.
You take a sip of water before you respond. "How do machines just vanish, where could they go?"
Tali shrugs. "I don't know. Before taking this memory core, I had never heard of the Reapers. The geth must have learned about them somewhere, but it wasn't from the quarians."
"And that's what the geth think happened to the Protheans?"
She nods. "I'm no expert, but it's not the craziest theory I've ever heard."
You frown, and glance back over at the discarded data pad. You pick it up and flip through, trying to find whatever it was that tugged at your memory.
Tali keeps talking. "The Protheans vanished quickly, over the span of a few centuries at most, but the rest of the galaxy was left intact. The quarians, for example, and early humans. Such selectivity...what could have wiped out the most advanced species in the galaxy, but left our ancestors alone?"
You find what you were looking for - Dr. T'Soni's bio from the University of Serrice extranet site. You grin and spin the data pad around so Tali can see. "I don't know, but I know someone that can help us find out."
The quarian reads over the bio, a gloved hand idly brushing the side of the data pad, before her head snaps back up to yours. "Dr. T'Soni is a Prothean researcher?"
You smile. "So it seems." You down the rest of your water and take back the data pad. You can almost feel the fire light in your belly, now that this mission has more purpose - however unexpected it may be. Even if she's a dead end in regards to Benezia, Dr. T'Soni can at least help sort out this business with the Reapers. "Thanks for telling me all of this, Tali. Can you write it up in a report, with the data from the memory core attached? I'd like to have it for reference."
"Of course, Commander."
"Shepard," you mumble, thoughts still distant. "Just call me Shepard."
It takes you a good two hours to fight through the platoon of geth stationed around the research facility on Therum, and you eventually find Dr. T'Soni - alive, but stuck in a Prothean force field and yelling for help at the top of her lungs.
You have to remind yourself that not everyone was taught discretion as a child. Or at some point before their 106th birthday.
"Hello? Hello? Is someone there? Help me, please, I'm trapped!"
You shake your head and jog up to the force field, planting yourself in T'Soni's line of vision. "Williams, hold our six, and watch for an escape route while you're at it. Vakarian, try to get that comm channel open so we can get through to Joker from down here."
The asari's about a foot from the ground, arms outstretched at an awkward angle and the toes of her boots pointed to the ground. You can spot an off-color patch on her sleeve, probably marking her as a researcher. Wide blue eyes meet yours, and even frozen in the field the asari visibly relaxes. "Oh, thank the goddess."
"I'm Commander Shepard, with the - the department of Special Tactics and Recon." You trip over your new title. It's strange, not claiming the Systems Alliance anymore. Unsettling.
"A human Spectre? Well, that is news. I thought - well, never mind. I'm glad you're here." Her brow furrows. "But...who sent a Spectre to find me? So few people even know I'm here...is this a dream? Goddess, how long have I been down here?"
She's panicking. You see it in her eyes, hear it in the rising pitch of her voice. You wave her down carefully. "It'll be okay, doctor. You're not dreaming, you'll be okay. We can talk about it after we get you out of this field. Do you know how to deactivate it?"
She relaxes a bit at your softer tone, and her eyes scan the room thoughtfully. "There is a switch there, behind me, but I don't know how to get to it."
"Commander," Williams calls, "there's an old mining laser back here. Might be able to rig it up, blast through that side wall."
You turn to Vakarian, sending him running back into the cavern with a nod. Alenko hovers a few feet behind you as you step closer to the asari.
She's younger than you expected. Well, that's not exactly right - you know exactly how old she is. T'Soni is young by asari standards, but she looks younger than you. Her eyes are big and light blue, and there's a light dusting of freckle-like marks over her nose and cheeks. She's exhausted, judging by the tightness of her mouth and the strain at the corners of her eyes.
"I'm leading a team that's trying to track down Saren Arterius." She blinks in recognition at the name, but that's all. You continue. "He's gone rogue, and attacked a human colony on Eden Prime with a company of geth."
That earns you more of a reaction. "There are geth here on Therum, as well. I was running from them when I got stuck in this thing. So Saren Arterius brought them from beyond the Veil?"
You nod absently, watching her closely. "Yeah, it looks like you have him to thank for this little run-in. Saren, and Matriarch Benezia."
She flinches. "What?"
"This thing's live, Commander," Williams calls. "You might want to move!"
Alenko grabs your elbow and you both scramble out of the way. There's a buzz, and the pealing sound of a laser shot cuts through the protective barriers of your helmet, making your ears ring. The laser plows through the far wall, blasting the rock into a massive cascade of stone and dust.
You wait half a minute for the debris to settle before you make your way back to the asari. Even through her exhaustion she looks furious, but you speak before she gets the chance. "We'll deactivate this thing as fast as we can, doctor. Relax, we'll get you out of here."
She doesn't let you off so easy. Her voice is hot and sharp. "What did you say about my mother?"
"Commander!"
You whirl around at Alenko's urgent tone, in time to see him grab his pistol from his hip and set up a pulsing blue barrier. Your HUD radar's still jammed, you grab your own gun but you don't know what he saw - and then the krogan and four geth troopers clamber over the rubble of the wall, guns aimed at your squad.
The krogan is massive - he's covered in ragged black armor, and the way he holds the shotgun at his hip makes it seem like an extension of his arm. His growling voice is higher than Wrex's, but no less threatening. "So, which one of you do I have to thank for tearing down these walls?"
Walls? You peer through the dusty air behind him - sure enough, the laser punched a huge hole through the far wall of the next cavern, too. You figure that's probably where this bunch was stuck, trying to get through to the doctor from the back.
There's movement - a fifth trooper, at a control panel at the side of the room, partially obscured from your view by the krogan. Your eyes flicker to the asari, still suspended in the force field.
For now.
"That would be me." You take a slow step forward, keeping your eyes and your gun trained on the krogan and his squad. "I'm surprised Saren put a krogan in charge of the mission here. You know," you wave your hand to the side, hoping the movement looks nonchalant, "with him being a turian, and all that."
Your HUD beeps three times, confirmation from each of your squad members that they caught your signal.
The krogan growls, lurching forward a few steps to intimidate you. You take his sudden movement as an opportunity, stepping forward and to the side, putting yourself between him and the asari. The rest of your squad moves, as well.
"I am krogan! I My position here is a well-deserved honor, given to me by Saren Arterius, battlemaster and leader of my kraant!"
Vakarian is the first to speak through the private comm channel, shut away from the krogan and the geth. "Commander, comms with Normandy are five-by, they're flying in close to prepare for recon."
You lower your voice and tap into the private channel as the krogan rants on. "Prepare for a fight. We have to keep it short - that force field's coming down any second, and I don't want to put the doctor in any more danger than we have to."
"I've got sights on that trooper, want me to take him out?" You see Williams out of the corner of your eye, set up in a makeshift sniper nest next to the mining laser.
A tremor makes the ground shudder under your feet. Your arms fly out to steady yourself. One of the geth makes a mechanical screech as it tumbles to the ground.
"Commander, we're picking up massive seismic readings from your location," Joker's urgent warning breaks through static noise on your emergency line. "You gotta get out of there fast, the whole facility's going down!"
"All due respect," you shout, "but can we take this discussion somewhere else?" A second, smaller tremor vibrates through your legs. "I'd rather not get buried under a pile of rock."
The krogan snarls and raises his shotgun. "Not a chance. I'm taking Benezia's daughter to Saren, and I'd like to see you try and stop me."
The boom of a sniper rifle slams through the air, slamming the geth in the far room against the wall just as the blue force field falls. Dr. T'Soni falls to the ground with a cry of surprise, the krogan roars, and all hell breaks lose.
You back up, standing protectively over the asari as you fire a round of slugs into the geth trooper nearest you. The armor-piercing mod you bought back at the Citadel works like a charm, shredding through the geth like butter, and it crumples to the ground in a pile of metal and white sludge. You hear another boom from Williams' sniper rifle, and another geth falls to the ground.
The krogan laughs, sending a chill down your spine as another tremor surges through the ground. Alenko lashes out with a warp field, but the krogan swipes it aside with a wave of a glowing blue hand and fires two shotgun rounds. They hit hard enough to send the Lieutenant sprawling, though his shields stay intact. Vakarian, preoccupied with the two remaining geth troopers, doesn't see the krogan charging his way.
"Vakarian, move!" You curse under your breath - you know your warning is too little, too late - and you leave your spot by the asari's side. You grab Alenko's shoulder on your way by. "Guard her!" you order, pointing at the asari, but you keep your eyes trained on the charging krogan as you run.
He swings his shotgun, hitting the turian in the shoulder with a sharp crack, and then you hit him.
The impact jars the krogan sideways, and you have to grab his shoulder guard to keep your own balance. He recovers much faster than you, swinging his arm around to throw you free, slamming you into the ground. Your helmet hits the stone floor hard, hard enough to disorient you, hard enough that you don't see him level his shotgun on you before it's too late.
The blast rips through your shields in such close quarters, but your armor holds. He lunges forward, grabbing you by the arm and pulling you to your feet. He takes another swing at you with his free arm, but you manage to turn just far enough to avoid him. You take advantage of the krogan's weight and momentum, and bring your free elbow down onto the exposed side of his neck. He howls in pain and his grip on you loosens enough that you can tear free. You raise your rifle and fire, sights trained on his head.
Even once his shields are down, the rounds hardly damage his thick, leathery skin. He faces you again and laughs. "A worthy foe!" he crows. "A good fight!" He's moving at you again, shotgun raised and mouth cocked in a grin.
So maybe getting into a one-on-one fight with a krogan wasn't the best decision.
He fires again, but you're already moving, tucked in a combat roll to the side. You spring back to your feet, tossing your rifle aside and grabbing your own shotgun from your back. He's slower than you, so you focus on moving, watching, waiting for your opportunity.
"Good fight? By what standards?" You work to keep your voice steady, so you don't betray how hard you're working. You shoot, and he turns to the side, letting his armor take the bulk of the shot. "I guess if your only other fights have been with pyjacks, sure, this is great."
He snarls, and his grin is gone. His next shot goes wide, you've already moved to the side. You take the opening and run forward, slamming into him again. He's off balance this time, and he trips backward. He falls to the ground with you one top of him. You force your shotgun barrel into the unprotected underside of his neck, and you fire once, twice, three times.
Shot rips through him, covering your gun and the back of his armor with dark blood and flesh. You freeze, waiting for him to move, to take another swing at you, to start up again with that goddamn laugh...but nothing happens.
You're up on your feet and accounting for your team as soon as you're sure he's dead. The cavern is quiet, empty without the sounds of battle. Williams is jumping down from the mining laser, rifle strapped back to her pack. Alenko is at T'Soni's side, arm around her to help her to her feet.
Vakarian is still down.
You jog to his side. He's surrounded by two dead and broken troopers, and there's white slime everywhere. You clench your jaw, noting the blue blood mixed with the sludge. You kneel down and grab his arm. "Vakarian, report."
He groans, flinching. "Can you maybe use the other arm, Commander?"
"Sorry," you mutter. The wound is ugly. The krogan's blow crushed in the turian's armor, punching it right into his arm. You take his other hand and help him sit up, but you keep him on the ground.
"Come on, Commander, we gotta get out of here! Do I really have to remind you this this is an active volcano?"
"I'm working on it, Joker!" The ground shakes again, as if on cue.
"I got it, I'm fine," grunts Vakarian as he hauls himself to his feet. You stand too, keeping a hand up to make sure he's steady.
"Williams, take point. Alenko, follow with the Doctor. I've got our six, with Vakarian. Now move."
The five of you run as fast as you can - which is not very fast at all, with the doctor in the state she's in - through the long, dark caverns of the facility. Electricity's out, so your helmet headlamps are the only light you have to go by. You clamber up sets of metal stairs, hoping against hope you're moving fast enough as you hear the groans of breaking earth and twisting metal behind you.
"Here we go!" Williams yells, pointing at the circle of light in front of you. The entrance.
The biggest quake yet hits in a wave, throwing all of you to the ground, rumbling through the earth and the air and sending a cascade of dust down on your head.
"Move, move, move!" This tremor doesn't stop, not like the others. You crawl to your feet, barely keeping your balance. You help Vakarian up and slap his back, and he grunts and takes off running.
Alenko has the asari's arm around his shoulder, but he can't get her up. You take her other arm and help, and you're able to lift her together, to move ahead over the shaking ground. Just a bit further, just a bit more…
There's a noise behind you, a rush of hot air and a deep, rumbling crash. Dust and debris are falling heavily, now, rendering your lights almost useless, but you keep your eyes trained on the light from the entrance. You try and speed up, pushing, straining, wishing for Alenko and the doctor to move just that much faster…you're so close, just there…
Rock slams into your shoulder, and you lose your balance. No. You use your last bit of momentum to push Alenko and T'Soni out to the sunlight before you crash to the ground, pinned under the weight of the falling rock. The thought flashes through your head...and a hand grabs your wrist, tugging you out from beneath the debris, pulling you to safety.
Just like that you're out, you're free, and the scorching heat of Therum feels like a comforting embrace. The Normandy's hovering low, waiting for you to return to the Mako and get back on board. Williams still has your arm, is still pulling you forward. "Close one, there," she nods casually, as if you all hadn't almost just died.
You can't help the laugh that bubbles up from your gut. "Sure was, Gunny. Sure was."
"For goodness' sake, Commander," Chakwas chastises, "how do you just not notice that you've dislocated your shoulder?"
"I did notice!...eventually." When you tried to get your armor off and couldn't move your arm, that was kind of a dead giveaway.
"Well, how long were you running around like that?"
"I'd say it happened either when she was in hand-to-hand combat with a krogan, or when half the facility entrance came down on her back." Vakarian is seated at the edge of his own bed in the med bay, feet swinging casually. His mandibles twitch in amusement at your glare.
"Why do I even ask?" Chakwas mutters. She pulls a sling off of the bed next to you and wraps it around your neck and left arm. "You're both cleared for light duty, so you can have your mission debrief. But you have to keep that sling on for two days, except to perform the exercises I've sent you and for sleeping. And you," she turns to the turian and misses your frown, "see me again in six hours to change that bandage. No exceptions."
Both of you clamber off your beds and mutter "yes ma'am" in her direction before heading out toward the comm room.
Everyone else was cleared for duty pretty quickly - even Dr. T'Soni, at least until after the debrief - except for the pair of you. You eye the bulky bandages wrapped around Garrus' upper arm, where his armor's been removed. "Got you pretty good, eh, Vakarian?"
"Nah, just a flesh wound," he drawls. "Nothing a bit of medi-gel can't fix. Unlike you."
"What do you mean, not like me? I took on a krogan and there's not a scratch on me!"
He chuckles. "Right, right. I definitely could have taken him, you didn't have to steal my thunder like that."
"I'll remember that for next time. Krogan's all yours, just don't let him scar up that pretty face."
His flanged laugh echoes through the comm room as you enter. The team stands when they see you've arrived, and you wave them down with your good arm. When you take your own seat at the end of the room, all eyes are on you. You figure that everyone's probably gotten Tali and Wrex up to speed - they had enough time, to wait, anyway - so you get right to business.
"How are you feeling, Dr. T'Soni?"
She's perched on the edge of her seat, worrying her hands in her lap. Despite her strong posture, she still looks exhausted, and very nervous. "I am tired, Commander, but I will be fine. I'm so glad that you found me, and got me out of there...I don't think…well," She glances around the room and offers a tight smile. "Either the volcano or Saren's geth would have gotten me, eventually."
"Why was Saren looking for you, too?"
She shakes her head. "I don't know. You and that krogan both mentioned Benezia, on Therum - how is she involved in this? What is she doing with Saren?"
Williams pipes up. "Actually, that's why we dragged you out of that volcano in the first place. You mean you don't know anything?"
"I haven't seen Benezia in...I don't know, ten, twenty years?" Maybe it's your own life experiences clouding your judgement, but T'Soni sounds bitter. "As a matriarch, she is always tied up with asari politics, and spends her time on Thessia. My research takes me far away from my homeworld, I have not been back since I left the University."
Her answers aren't unexpected, but you're still a bit disappointed. "Do you know anything about something called the Conduit? We have a recording of Saren and Benezia talking about it, but we don't know what it is."
She frowns. "The Conduit? You mean the Prothean Conduit? I've come across it in my research, but I'm afraid no one knows much about it. Just that it's somehow tied to the Prothean extinction."
"That makes sense," says Tali. "Benezia mentioned the Reapers when Saren brought up the Conduit."
Dr. T'Soni shifts in her seat. "What are the Reapers?"
You nod at Tali. "Tali has been working on a theory about the Prothean extinction."
"Yes, doctor, I was analyzing this geth memory c-"
"With all due respect, Commander," Liara interrupts, "I have heard every theory out there. The problem is finding evidence to support them - the Protheans left remarkably little behind."
Williams snorts. "Why is it whenever someone says 'all due respect' they really mean 'kiss my ass'?"
"Kiss my - no, no! That's not what I meant at all," T'Soni backtracks, putting her hands up apologetically. "I admit, I have not had much interaction with humans in the past, I'm unfamiliar with your mannerisms, and…"
She sure does get flustered easily. "It's fine, Doctor," you cut her off, shooting a glare at Williams. "As Tali was saying, she hacked a geth memory core and found out that the geth think advanced AIs called 'Reapers' were behind the Prothean extinction."
The asari shrugs, twisting her hands together back in her lap. "And as I said, that theory sounds as good as all the rest - plausible, certainly, but without evidence to back it up."
Tali jumps in, sounding adamant. "The geth work as a consensus. Any information that one unit has, they all have. The consensus believes this theory about the Reapers, and without evidence they would have no reason to. They're machines!"
"I'm a scientist, I do not trade in secondhand information and supposition. It is an intriguing idea, and one that I have not come across in the past," she shrugs again, and her eyes meet yours, "but there is simply no proof. I'm sorry, Commander."
You look to Tali, hoping she'll have more to add, wishing you could see her face, but she simply shrugs. Emptiness fills your stomach. You move on.
"So Benezia has never worked with Saren in the past?"
"No, not that I'm aware of. Benezia is not particularly fond of Spectres."
"...Right. Okay." You hear Williams snigger around her fist, which she's using to try and cover up her smile. You try to ignore her. "So why would she partner with a Spectre? Do you think she made him go rogue, maybe?"
T'Soni shakes her head. "No, that's not like her. Benezia is driven, passionate, but she is caring, above all else. She would never do something so malicious." Her brow furrows in thought once again. "You said that she mentioned the Conduit, as well. That is strange, as he has never shown interest in the Protheans before. She tolerated my studies, but never had a vested interest of her own. I don't even think she's even read my publications. Though, I will admit, I do not believe many have...I am too young to be taken seriously by asari, and you short-lived species just aren't as interested in the Protheans."
"Hey," grumbles Wrex. "Watch who you're calling short-lived."
The doctor's mouth snaps shut, and she looks back down at her hands, thoroughly cowed.
You rub your forehead in consternation. This isn't going anywhere, and your head hurts. You need sleep just as much as the rest of your team. "We can talk more about this later. Mission reports are due by 1700, I'll send alerts regarding our next destination after I receive them. T'Soni, find a bunk - Saren wants you for one reason or another, and until we find out what he's up to you're safest here with us. Dismissed."
Alenko and Williams salute before they leave, and everyone files out haphazardly.
You reach across your body to hit the call button on the left side of your chair. "Joker, you there?"
"What's up, Commander? Calling to apologize for dragging the ship on top of an active volcano? It tends to overload our systems and, you know, fry our hull. Speaking of which, we need to find somewhere for a discharge ASAP."
"Sorry, Joker. I won't do it again. Does that make you feel better?"
"It does, actually. What do you need?"
"Can you get the council for me?"
He laughs. "Copy that. Patching them through. You know, it's kind of nice having the Council at my beck and call. Totally a power trip."
"Think so? I'll keep that in mind, have you come down here for report next time."
A pause, which makes you grin. "Touche, Commander, but I'm pretty sure that's way above my pay grade. Let me know if you need anything else."
When you take your place in front of the holo pads, it takes a moment for the Council's silverized holographic forms to take shape.
"Commander Shepard," Tevos greets you cordially, "it's good to see you well."
Sparatus cuts to the point. "Initial reports indicate you're holding Dr. T'Soni on board. I assume you're taking the necessary security precautions?"
"If you're asking if I'm holding her in the brig, the answer's no. The geth on Therum were trying to kill her. She's on our side."
Tevos' form flickers and frowns. "Benezia would never let Saren hurt her daughter."
"Maybe she doesn't know."
"Or maybe," Sparatus cuts in again, "we just don't know Benezia. We never expected she would become a traitor."
Valern shrugs. "At least the mission was a success."
"Aside from the destruction of a major Prothean ruin." You feel Sparatus' beady glare on you, even more than you see it on his hazy form. "Was that necessary, Commander?"
You find yourself rubbing your forehead again, and force yourself to drop your hand. "You were never a military man, were you, Councillor? The mission is always priority, and part of that mission requires getting everyone out alive. My apologies, but if you were concerned about the architecture you shouldn't have sent me and my crew into an active volcano swarming with geth troopers."
Sparatus' mandibles twitch furiously, but Valern cuts in. "Yes, of course, of course. The mission comes first, and we are glad that you and your team are well. Do keep us updated with your next course, Commander."
"Remember," Tevos adds sagely, "the universe is counting on you."
The holograms wink out. You roll your eyes.
Williams is waiting for you when you leave the comm room. "Commander," she salutes, "do you have a minute to talk?"
You nod. "Of course, Gunny. Been to mess yet?"
"No, and I'm starving."
She follows you downstairs and you both grab some food, finding a table in the far corner away from a few other crew members. You eat in silence, waiting for her to say her piece.
"To be honest, Commander? I'm worried about the aliens."
"The aliens? Why?"
She shifts in her seat. "I'm just not convinced they need full access to the ship. It's the most advanced ship in the Alliance Navy -" she gestures toward the back of the ship with her hand, leans in a bit closer. "I saw Vakarian messing around with the weapons systems yesterday, and Tali spends all her time down in the drive core. Do you think a quarian really needs access to that information? Think of what damage the Migrant Fleet could do with drive cores like ours."
You poke around at the last bit of food on your tray. "You realize Normandy is a joint human-turian ship, right? The Hierarchy already has access to all of its specs, and if they do then so do the asari and salarians."
"I know, but…" her mouth twists to the side. "I just mean that we, as humans, need to be able to stand up for ourselves. We're the new guys here. T'Soni was just telling everyone how young she is, and she probably remembers the First Contact War like it was yesterday. The Council's in with us now, but I don't want to count on it staying that way."
"I get it, Williams." You set down you fork. "I come from a family of service members - I get it. But the way I see it, we have to stop seeing everything as us versus them. That's not how the galaxy works, these days. We're all just people, from different planets and species and all walks of life, but just people."
Even as you say them, the words bring back memories. They're people too, Jen, she used to say, as you watched the traders fly in and out of Elysium. They have families and friends and loved ones, no different from any of us. No different from you and me.
Williams puts up her hands. "I'm not trying to be racist, Commander, just realistic. When it comes down to it, we're a damn good squad, aliens or otherwise. I'll follow my orders. You tell me to jump I say how high. You make me kiss a turian, I'll ask which cheek."
You laugh as you stand and pick up your empty tray. "I'm telling Vakarian you said that, Chief." The other crew members turn to watch as her sputtered pleading follows you on your way out, grin still plastered on your face.
They are coming.
Your headaches have been getting worse. You can't sleep well, and since Chakwas won't fully clear your shoulder for another 10 hours you can't work through it in the gym. You thought maybe a bit of relaxation would be good for you, which is how you ended up down here staring out the massive window in the observation deck, but it hasn't helped a thing.
You can't stop thinking about what the doctor said - that without evidence, the Reapers are just another theory to add to the hundreds of others surrounding the Prothean extinction. She dismissed it so easily, with the practiced hand of academia, that it's made you reconsider your perspective.
Maybe you're just going crazy. Maybe the beacon...messed with your head, somehow, scrambled it up and pulled all these images from your own subconscious. It was defective anyway, it exploded once it let you go...maybe you're just trying to make connections where there are none, just to justify your own insanity.
You close your eyes tightly. You don't really believe that, but...you have to admit it's possible.
The door opens behind you, and your back tightens. You didn't expect company.
"Oh," says a small voice. "I didn't expect to find anyone else out here."
You turn and meet Dr. T'Soni's shy, uncertain eyes with your own. She stands at the entrance, half in the room, uncertain whether she should stay or leave you alone. You suppose a little company can't hurt, so you wave her ahead. "It's fine, doctor."
She clasps her hands tightly in front of her and joins you as you watch the open expanse in front of you. You watch her as she studies the view. Her face softens in the soft glow of the dimmed lighting. She's very pretty, you notice, when she's not caught off guard and stammering nervously.
Actually, you frown, she's very pretty then, too. You hastily look away.
It's some time before either of you speaks, and her voice is soft when she does. "I've spent all my life tucked in the pages of books, or deep in the tunnels of some dig site, some library. I rarely get to appreciate a view such as this." She shakes her head in awe. "It's beautiful, Commander, truly beautiful." Her eyes flick to yours, holding them unabashedly. "Thank you for giving me this opportunity."
You tug at your ear, suddenly feeling like you're in the spotlight. "No problem. It's a mutually beneficial situation. I mean," you add quickly , realizing how weird that sounded, "we can help keep you safe, and you're a Prothean expert, and all…"
She laughs, tucking her chin down to her chest. "It's alright, Commander, I understand. Actually, I'm...I'm glad I ran into your here." Her nervous countenance begins to return, her lips are tight and her eyes wide. "I wanted to speak with you about the Reapers."
You school your face, trying not to react both to your surprise and to the flare of pain in your head. "What about them?"
"I did some research - well, as best I could down in the lab. I reached out to some old colleagues, re-read some papers that I've come across over the years." She takes a breath. "It seems your theory is not as...far-fetched as I initially believed."
Relief washes through you, loosening the muscles you didn't realize you were holding so tight. Maybe you're not crazy, after all.
"I talked to Tali, and she was kind enough to give me access to the files she recovered from the geth's memory core. I originally thought she must have been making assumptions based on corrupted data, but my own analysis led me to the same conclusions. The geth, at least, think that the Reapers are real."
"The Old Machines," you remember. "That's what they call them."
"Indeed. After gathering all of this, I went back through my own research, to make sure I hadn't missed anything. The main thesis of one of my doctorate papers is that the Protheans weren't the first to disappear this way."
You raise your eyebrows. "They weren't?"
She shakes her head. "Ruins upon ruins, on almost every planet I've visited. A civilization will rise, and then suddenly, violently, will fall, leaving others to take their place. Even the greatest achievements of the Protheans - the mass relays and the Citadel - were based on technology from their predecessors."
You mull that over for a moment.
Blue eyes watch you carefully. "I...I want to apologise for discounting your claim so quickly. It was rude, not to mention unprofessional. I am a researcher, a scientist, I should know to be more open-minded about these things." She shrugs. "I've just spent so many years searching for an answer...it was a gut reaction, you could say, to lash out."
You can understand that. "Don't worry about it. I get it - you've had a hard week, you were tired and hungry and stuck in a new place. You don't have to apologise for anything."
You're glad she did. You already feel more like yourself. You're not crazy, it's not just in your head, it's real.
"Even so, I am sorry. I will continue searching for more evidence, more information about the Reapers. It may help us find this Conduit, and stop Saren before he can follow through with whatever he's planning."
"Thank you."
You stand in a companionable silence, watching the stars, lost in your own thoughts. You think maybe you should come down here more often - it really is helping you relax.
A question starts tugging at your mind, but it's some time before you find a voice for it. You're not sure if it's something you want to talk about. Actually, you know it's something you definitely don't want to talk about, but you're starting to run out of options.
"Do you know anything about Prothean beacons?"
You bite the inside of your cheek after the words slip out, forcing yourself to keep your eyes trained out the window. It's just a question, after all, just curiosity.
"Not much, I'm afraid. I've never come across one in my own studies, they're quite rare." You can feel her eyes on you. "I think you might know more about them than me, Commander."
She's fishing. For someone with a self-proclaimed lack of social know-how, that was pretty smooth. The thought relaxes you enough that the words spill out, the ones you've been holding tight to yourself since Eden Prime.
"It did something to me. The beacon. It...messed with my head." You rub the cloth of your sling with your right hand, feeling self-conscious under her silent gaze. "I...saw things."
She watches you thoughtfully. "Well, it's certainly possible," she says. The clinical tone in her response calms you down a bit, makes you feel less exposed. "There's a lot of evidence that Protheans could communicate through touch, with their minds. Similar to asari."
You frown. "Like asari? What do you mean?"
Her laugh is soft, just under her breath. You might have missed it if you weren't listening so closely. "And I thought my knowledge of other species was lacking."
Heat rises in your face, and you duck your head, smiling self-consciously. "Hey, I'm just a marine. Blame the Alliance for my ignorance."
"It is called melding," she explains. "It's...oh, I do not know to describe it. It is a connection of minds, at a subconscious level. Physiologically, it is a symbiotic connection of central nervous system processes through telepathic contact mediated by - um," she must see on your face that she's totally lost you, because she slows down and steps off the jargon. "Regardless, it is a unique method of communication that we asari only use in certain circumstances."
"What kind of circumstances?"
"There are different kinds of melds. Most are used to trade information, there are just...varying degrees. It is an intensely personal experience, so it is not common unless there is a great need. It is also used when we bond with mates, as a way to better share the experience and to facilitate procreation."
"So you - oh," you stop yourself. It sounded so innocuous, and coming from her, it almost went over your head. This was not supposed to be a discussion of asari...relationships. "Never mind."
"I am sorry," her eyes widen, "I did not mean to make you uncomfortable - oh, goddess. I'm so sorry, I forget other species are not used to speaking of sexuality so...candidly." She's back to the nervous, anxiety-ridden mind frame you thought was her baseline, before this conversation. The air between you is suddenly tense rather than familiar, and it makes your skin itch.
Before either of you can get any more flustered - what a goddamn mess - you hastily change the subject. "So this meld, you think Protheans could do that?"
"Not exactly." You gave her the out she needed, and the words come spilling out of her. "Asari need contact to meld, but it is not what causes it. The theory is that contact enough was enough for a Prothean to connect with someone, or with something."
You frown. "But I never touched the beacon. It just...I don't know, pulled me in when I got too close."
"Interesting." She's back to looking out the window, with distant eyes and a lightly furrowed brow. "I am not sure what mechanism the beacon could have used to affect you in that manner. My studies are more of Prothean culture, rather than physiology. I can try to find out, if you would like."
"It's fine," you choose your words carefully, "but I'm more concerned about what I saw."
She turns to you, but you stay facing the window. It's easier to talk about without making eye contact. Even then, it's hard to find the right words. "It was...really overwhelming. It was like it attacked my mind, or something, pushing all of these images and sounds into it. I couldn't understand, but it was trying to force me to." The sound starts at the base of your skull, the deep buzz that always causes a feeling of dread to seep into your bones. "There were bright colors, like fire, with hard metal lines, and whispers of voices, and this sound…I get these headaches, now. Mostly when someone mentions the Reapers. The vision is connected to them, I think."
You're getting carried away. Suddenly you're self conscious, and you squeeze your eyes shut as if it'll push all of it out of your head. You shouldn't have said anything at all. She'll just think you've lost it.
Time stretches out a bit longer before she finally breaks the silence. "That must have been difficult to experience."
When you glance up, she's watching you with an unreadable expression. After a moment, you nod slowly. "I just wish I was able to understand, you know?"
"The beacons were intended for use by Protheans, and tailored to their physiology - a lesser mind would have been utterly destroyed by the process." Her next words sound hesitant, deliberate. "I think you are an incredibly strong woman, Commander. But...I also think it is okay to be weak, sometimes."
You don't say anything. Your position, your life, requires you to be strong. Always.
"I appreciate you telling me about this." The doctor doesn't seem like the lying type, and there's too much sincerity in her voice for you to do anything but believe her. "If there's anything I can do to help, Commander…"
"Shepard," you correct absently. "Just Shepard."
"Oh. Okay...Shepard." A tentative smile crosses her lips, and you can't help but match it with one of your own.
The Mako roars down the face of the mountain, your hands splayed carefully over the controls as you try and slow it down. Vakarian is gripping the handles above his head tightly despite the fact that he's buckled in, and you're certain Alenko and Dr. T'Soni are doing the same in the back.
"Does this thing not have a brake?"
"Shut up, Garrus," you say through clenched teeth.
"If it does, could you maybe use it?"
"I'd love to see you try and drive this piece of shit any better."
"If that's a serious offer, I'm taking you up on it."
You manage to slow the vehicle down enough that hitting the rocky crags at the base of the hill doesn't throw you completely out of control. T'Soni lets out a surprised gasp and you're pretty sure you even hear Alenko curse under his breath when the Mako jumps a few meters into the air, but hey - at least it didn't flip. You know from experience that it's a very real possibility.
The expanse in front of you is flat, so you're able to relax and roll out your tense shoulders. "See? That wasn't so bad."
"Is that so? Then do me a favor and leave me shipbound next time if you think it will get bad."
"Your color commentary isn't funny, Vakarian. Keep your day job."
"Okay!" The doctor interrupts, trying to keep the two of you on topic. She convinced you to let her come, even though you wanted her to stay in the lab to rest. Chakwas cleared her for duty, though, and since it's just a quick drop mission, you figured it'd be a good chance to see her work with your team. "The signal is coming from the edge of this valley, just over there."
You hear shuffling from the back, and Alenko's muffled voice from the turret. "I don't see anything. Maybe some...yeah, there's some scattered debris, but nothing big."
You came to Edolus not only for that badly-needed hull discharge, but to investigate an Alliance distress signal Joker picked up when you left the Knossos system. The transmission was really poor quality, so you didn't expect much, but no signs of a vehicle, even? That's not good.
You swing the Mako around and park it at the far edge of the small debris field. Alenko was right, there's not much around - some twisted pieces of metal, a plate or two that could have belonged to anything.
You rap on each person's breather helmet before you unlock the Mako's hold - you're not about to lose someone to a suit breach. It takes you a bit of effort to swing out of the hatch, and you help each of your crew members in turn. The gravity's a little less on Edolus than you're accustomed to, so it takes you a few steps to get your pacing right, but in no time you're searching through the metal array, looking for the transmitter.
It's pretty easy to find, actually, which makes you worried. Nothing this messy is ever so convenient. It's right in the center of the debris, practically unharmed. You pick it up and brush off some of the dust, deactivating it with an input code from your 'tool. Something about it isn't right, but you can't put your finger on it. You hold it up to the dim yellow sunlight, studying it for some cause of the strange feeling it gives you.
"Alenko, come look at this." You hand him the transmitter. "What do you make of it?"
He inspects the piece carefully, turning it over a few times in his hands. "Do you know what kind of ship put out the signal?"
"It wasn't a ship, it was a marine unit. Probably came in with a Mako, or a Grizzly. Probably a Grizzly, by the size of some of these pieces."
"Well, that's a problem." He points to the serial code on the bottom of the device. "This model's only used in ships."
So it's a plant. You pull your rifle off your pack as you start heading back for the Mako. You raise your voice so the team knows to listen over the comm. "We need to get out of here, fast. It's a setup. Hold on to that transmitter, Alenko, that's our evidence. Keep an eye out for any tags we can -"
The ground shakes beneath your feet, and you grab Alenko's arm for support.
"What the -"
The noise drowns out whatever he planned to say next. It's a loud, wailing shriek, strong and foreboding, full of terror and memories best left forgotten.
Your heart sinks to your toes, and an ice cold chill sweeps through your entire body. It's all you can do to shout out the warning in a hoarse, terrified voice.
"THRESHER MAW!"
It bursts through the ground like a demon from flames, sending a cascade of yellowed dust and rock into the air. Its scream fills your head, matches the screams you remember so well, that you've tried so hard to forget.
Come on, Gunny, what's the hold up?
Something isn't right, Lieutenant, I think we should stay here.
Fuck, Shepard, don't be such a pussy. Get your ass back in line.
You slip on a flat chunk of metal as you scramble back to the Mako and fall forward, landing hard enough it forces the air from your lungs. You dig your fingers in the dirt, struggling to get up, you have to get away -
We're trapped here, we can't move! Oh fuck, oh fuck…
Stay with me, kid, you'll be okay, I'll get you out of here -
Shepard, behind you!
It's screaming up behind you, its keeling wail ripping through the air. You have to run, you have to save your team...you can't carry the Private back and shoot at the same time, he has to walk himself. How can he walk, on that leg? You have to make a choice, you have to...you have to move. You start running, as fast as you can, and you don't look back, not ever when you hear the screams, not even after you trip and fall again -
"Commander!"
The yell catches your attention, jolts you back into reality.
Your team is all here, they're still alive, and they need your help. You roll to the side, instinct and memory guiding you, and you can almost feel the heat coming off the acid sludge that slams into the ground you just vacated. It sends you into high alert, your training finally kicks in, you get up and start moving.
Garrus is sighting his sniper rifle, prepping for a shot while the maw's facing you. Liara and Alenko are both watching you, torn between running and staying to fight, waiting for your call. You take a deep breath and sink into command.
"Spread out, don't let it get a good sight on you!" you order. "T'Soni, anything you can do to weaken that thing so our shots get through, hit it with whatever you've got. Alenko, back to the Mako, I want you on that gun!"
"Yes ma'am!"
You fire an entire clip into the maw's gaping mouth, and it hardly flinches. It retches out another bout of acid sludge, which you outrun easily as you discharge the spent clip. You load a new one, and start firing all over again.
How many clips you got?
Not enough. You're not going back out there, Foley, we're bunkering here until we get backup.
Bullshit, I don't have to listen to you, Shep.
Yes you fucking do. You saw what happened to the LT, that puts me in charge!
The boom of a sniper rifle makes you wince. The maw whips to its side, trying to get a sight on Garrus, who's already running, trying to stay to its backside. A blast of blue snaps the maw's neck back - the doctor is right there, surrounded by a circle of energy, throwing out wave after wave of biotic fury.
You've heard the stories about asari biotics, you've studied how to fight with and against them, but holy shit.
The maw ducks down and rears back, and your eyes widen. That barrier she put up won't do anything against the maw's acidic bile.
Don't let me die, Shepard! Oh, fuck, don't let me die, I can't die like this - don't fucking touch it, it burns!
You're alright, it'll be okay, just hang in there.
No, it won't, it just burned off my fucking leg. None of us will be okay, we're all fucking dead and you know it!
You take off as fast as you can.
"Move, T'Soni!"
You crash into her side, sending you both reeling. You land on top of her ungracefully, sending up a cloud of dust as you both slam into the ground. A gob of acid slaps into the ground near your feet, and you roll away so none of it touches your boots.
Garrus takes another shot, nailing the maw between two of the hardened plates on its side. It screams, god does it scream, the unholy noise ripping through the air. It thrashes to the side, shooting another stream of acid from its mouth that the turian barely avoids.
You take advantage of the distraction, hauling yourself to your feet. "Come on, doc!" You stick out your hand and pull her up. To her credit, she doesn't waste a second before furrowing her brow and lashing out another warp field with a splayed hand, earning another scream from the maw.
A blast rips through the air, so loud and low that you feel it in your teeth. The heavy ammo from the Mako slams into the creature's neck, sending a cascade of dark blood and viscera across the clearing.
There's no way she's gonna make it, look at her, she's covered in blood.
It's not all hers, that's maw blood, man. Get the medic!
Another shot rips through the creature. With a groan, the maw falls, slowly but definitively, twisting and collapsing in a heap with enough force to shake the ground again.
The silence it leaves behind is deafening. It presses in on your ears, interrupted only by your ragged breathing and that of your team members through the comm. You feel your knees give way under you, and sit down heavily on the yellowed ground.
You thought you were over this. Over the memories, the flashbacks, the fear. You had to deal with maws in ICT, as part of your final training to make N7. They made you face your fears, relive them and stare them down again and again until you were sure you would not fail.
Like you almost just did.
"Commander!" Dr. T'Soni kneels down next to you, her voice full of concern. "Are you alright, are you hurt?"
"No, I'm fine." you bite off the words. "I'm fine, just...give me a second."
You aren't fine. Not at all.
"Let's get out of here," Garrus is there, he offers his hand and you take it, pulling yourself up. You don't say anything, you just walk back to the Mako.
You get back to the Normandy in record time, pulling into the docking bay and slamming on the brakes. When you and your team get out, you finally start to appreciate how filthy you are - the layer of yellowed grit covering your armor is in stark contrast with the ship's gleaming metal. You pull off your helmet and toss it toward your locker, not even bothering to take off the rest of your gear. "Debrief in one hour, after we're back in the air," you announce, and punch the elevator switch to take you up to your quarters.
You lock the door behind you and slump to the ground, head in your hands, and finally let yourself cry.
A/N: Again, I apologize for the wait. I had a few big curveballs thrown my way in real life, but the good news is I came out of it better than I started. Anyway, I really hope you like this one - it's definitely my favorite so far, and I put a lot of work into it. Plus, it's a long one, so hopefully you'll forgive me for the long wait. Let me know what you think!