AN: So, here's chapter four for you. Hope, you like it (and if not, tell me what can be improved).

Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect, the Mass Effect Universe, or anything within.


Chapter 4: Therum

SSV Normandy, Artemis Tau Cluster 2183

"Commander?"

Shepard opened her eyes and activated her comm. "Joker? What is it?"

The Flight Lieutenant answered, "I think I've found something on Therum. An excavation site of some sort. Seems to be your prothean ruin. I'll keep scanning. Just wanted to let you know."

"Yeah, thanks."

Joker closed the comm and Shepard got up from her bed. Well, that was fast, she thought. The Commander had expected to have to search at least three or four days, until they've found the prothean ruins. But they left the Citadel not one day ago. It certainly had its perks to work with the best men and women the Alliance had to offer.

After getting dressed, Shepard left her cabin to grab something to eat. She checked her omni-tool. 0630. That was pretty early, Shepard thought as she left her cabin. The Commander headed to the Mess Hall, lost in her thoughts.

Who should be on the team? I think, I'll take Hon with me, and Alenko if his migraine is gone. Well, and Garrus. I'm curious if he really is that good.

"Good morning, Commander."

Shepard startled and looked around. The Mess Hall was empty, but at the end of the corridor where the stasis pods were placed sat somebody in the shadows. She couldn't exactly see his face at the distance, but remembered his voice.

"Morning, Hon."

Shepard curiously walked towards him. "What are you doing here?"

"My morning meditation. It's quite impossible down in the Cargo Bay, with a snoring krogan."

Shepard chuckled. "And I suppose sleeping with turians isn't much better."

"Turians don't snore." Hon deadpanned.

They fell in silence for some seconds. Shepard observed Hon closely. His breath was deep and calm and he didn't stir. Then, she asked Hon, "How do you think, Garrus copes with his sister on board?"

At that, he stirred slightly. Slowly Hon answered, "That depends. They didn't see each other very often lately. Of course they stayed in contact, but it's not really the same. The real question is, how does he cope with his sister being a Spectre."

"Why so?" If Shepard still had a sister, she would be proud if she would have become a Spectre. But thanks to the batarians, this would never happen.

"Garrus' father was one of the best C-Sec officers at his time. He still has some connections and used them to hold his son off Spectre training.", Hon said matter-of-factly.

"He what?", Shepard was stunned. Why would Vakarian prohibit Garrus from Spectre training but not Solana? That didn't make any sense. "I take it, Garrus wasn't really fond of him after that?"

Hon shook his head. "He wasn't. Their relationship always had been … complicated. Garrus thought, his father wanted him to follow in his footsteps and held him off because of that. Well, until yesterday that was."

"I would be pretty pissed about that too. I mean, it's Garrus' life! He can do what he wants to do, can't he?"

Hon chuckled. "You're human. Turian society works differently. Somebodys father has a great deal to say about his children, even if they're mature. For example, arranged matings are not uncommon, especially in the higher tiers of society."

Arranged matings?, Shepard echoed. That sounded awfully like what nobility did in the Middle Ages. But she had to to learn more about turian culture, before she could judge about them.

"Is there any news about the mission, Commander?", Hon asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"Yes, there is. We're investigating an excavation site on Therum. Likely prothean, so that's where we'll find Dr. T'Soni. I want you on the ground team."

Hon nodded. "Of course, Commander. I will be ready."


"That looks like we're going on foot," Garrus commended, glancing to Shepard. For what he's seen so far, her driving style with the Mako was … unsettling at least. Please, don't let her try to drive over this rock formation, he thought. But the Commander just nodded and said "Well, then we're heading out."

She opened the Makos hatch and stepped out into the open, followed by Julius, Tali'Zorah and Garrus himself, weapons drawn. The turian quickly scanned their surrounding for enemies. Nothing. Good.

Shepard originally wanted to bring Alenko along, but he seemed to have a headache. And when Jokers scans confirmed geth activity, she chose the quarian for obvious reasons. Garrus had been worried about Tali's combat capabilities at first, but Julius stood close to her all the time. That leaves it to me to watch the Commanders six.

On Shepard's signal they slowly walked through a small gap in the rock obstacle that blocked the Makos way. Garrus checked the area: a few small rocks for cover, higher ones to the left and right. Suddenly, his scanner jammed.

"Get to cover!", he shouted and dove behind the nearest rock. Half a second later, Shepard joined him, her own sniper rifle at the ready. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Julius and Tali doing the same ten metres away.

And then the geth attacked. Garrus pulled the trigger. The first geth's head exploded. Half a second later Shepard shot the next one. One – one, Garrus counted. A rocket trooper suddenly crackled with electricity, as Julius' overload hit it. Tali hacked a white geth platform that began gunning down its former allies, while Julius gunned down the rocket trooper.

But more geth came in, faster than they could kill them. Garrus glanced worried to his friend and the quarian, because the geth seemed to push on their location rather than the two snipers.

There was a slight twinkle three metres behind Tali. Cloak, Garrus thought, and for a moment his heart stopped. Julius has seen the cloaked geth too and within half a second he was between the geth and Tali, shielding her with his own body. The geth's shotgun unloaded at point blanc range, but the human didn't even stagger as his barriers absorbed the shot.

Then, Julius drew a long knife and rammed it in the side of the geth's neck, effectively severing its processor from the rest of its hardware. Only when the geth unit dropped and Julius got back to cover, Tali recognized what just happened.

"Vakarian! Are you waiting for the geth to surrender or why aren't you doing anything?", Shepard mocked between two shots. That brought Garrus back to the situation at hand. Damn it, you're in a combat zone. Keep your focus!

"I just wanted to give you an advance. Seemed fair to me.", he answered cocky. Then, Garrus dropped another unit. A few minutes later, the onslaught was over. Garrus checked for any more cloaked geth before lowering his rifle.

"Everyone alright?", Shepard asked. Garrus nodded. Julius gave the thumbs up, as he rose from cover. Only the quarian still crouched behind the rock, shaking slightly. Shepard knelt beside her. "Are you hurt?", she asked with a hint of worry in her voice.

Tali shook her head. "A cloak. It had a cloak. I knew the geth hat this technology, but I didn't watch out for it. Keelah, I'm such an idiot!", she stammered. "Can you pull the cloaking device out of it?", Shepard asked gently.

Garrus admired the Commanders ability to work with people. The quarian was doubting herself for not seeing the cloaked geth sneaking up behind them. Now, Shepard gave her something to do she was good at, before they ran into the next horde of synthetics. This care was something not many leaders had. Most of them would have ordered Tali to keep it together and move on – likely making a real mistake.

Shepard noticed Garrus' gaze on her and smiled. "Seven for me, big guy.", she said with a huge grin plastered on her face. A grin, that immediately vanished as Garrus answered "Nine."


As they headed on, Shepard found herself worrying about Tali. The girl still didn't take it well that the geth sneaked up upon her. I have to watch her closely, Shepard thought. For now however, the quarian focused on the mission, for what the Commander was glad.

Suddenly, there was a red flash of light coming from one of the mining facility's towers. "Sniper!", Shepard yelled and dragged Tali with her into cover. The shot missed her head and stripped Garrus' shields.

Shepard quickly found the sniper on top of the tower reloading its weapon. Now or never, she thought and lined up her own shot. As soon as the cross-hair was on its head, she squeezed the trigger. The geth dropped, and Garrus made a strange noise. Was he trilling? No, that can't be. Humans can't hear turian sub-harmonics.

"That was a damn impressing shot, Shepard", Garrus said. His mandibles flared, and he added "But it's still nine to eight for me."

Shepard shook her head grinning at the turians antics. "Let's move, we shouldn't keep the doctor waiting."

They slowly climbed a small hill up to what seemed to be a warehouse in construction, of some sort. Only one wall was finished, and there were crates and steel beams everywhere. It's too quiet. They haven't encountered any geth lately and the entrance to the excavation site was up ahead. This eerie silence worried Shepard more than the noise of battle.

"Be cautious, people", she whispered, switching for her pistol. If there was an ambush, she wouldn't have enough time to properly aim with her sniper rifle. Garrus however, didn't switch weapons. She planned to ask him once this mission was over.

They were directly underneath of some steel beams, as something huge hit the ground before them. Shepard recognized it as a geth colossus, flanked by various smaller geth units. You gotta be shitting me.

The team dove into cover immediately, and an energy pulse shot past them, erupting the ground behind them. "Tali, hack one of those rocket troopers!", Shepard said. The young quarian nodded and opened her omni-tool, beginning to work on it.

Garrus already had dropped one of the cloaked geth units, and Shepard gunned down the other one. She then heard something up above her and saw a lizard-like geth unit aiming down to her. Before it was able to shoot, Hon made a pulling gesture with his left hand, biotically smashing it into the ground. He then drew his second pistol and gunned another geth down with both of them.

Shepard saw the rocket trooper open fire at the colossus, and Tali overloaded another one. She certainly knows how to handle herself, Shepard thought, Once she has some self-confidence, I wouldn't want to mess with her.

All in all, Shepard was impressed how fast her team dropped the geth platforms, until only the colossus remained. It destroyed the hacked rocket trooper and everyone opened fire on the hulking geth unit. But no matter what they did, its shields didn't drop.

"We'll be out of ammo, before this thing goes down", Garrus said, voicing her own thoughts.

"Overload on three", Shepard ordered, "One … two … tree!"

Four omni-tools lit up and blue electricity crackled around the colossus, dropping its shields by a fair amount. It's still not enough!, Shepard thought. "We could use an EMP", Hon suggested, "but its shields would be up again in a matter of seconds."

"So what? We have to penetrate its armour and kill it in a few seconds? That's crazy, Jul, even for you!", Garrus objected. Shepard was inclined to agree with the turian, as an idea occurred to her.

"Tali, are there any weak points in its armour? Or little vents?", she asked.

"There are some vents, but they're on its belly where you can't reach it.", the quarian answered confused. "Why? What's your plan?"

Shepard took a grenade in her left hand. Tali understood. "Keelah, no! It smashes you if it detects any movement beneath it. That's insane!", she protested.

"Hon, if you use that EMP, will it only kill its shields, or will it shut down completely?", Shepard asked the other human. He frowned. "It should shut it down completely", he said slowly, "But I can't promise it." Shepard nodded.

"That's insane, Commander! It will shoot you thrice until you're there. You'll never make it!", Garrus objected. There is this trill again, Shepard noticed, but ignored it. Instead, she glared at the turian sniper and said "Then make sure, it doesn't shoot at me."

And with that, Shepard sprinted towards the hulking geth platform, hearing Garrus swear behind her. The team opened fire, and as the colossus fired its energy weapon, it aimed at them and not at Shepard. Distract the colossus? Check.

A small device shot past her, enveloped in the dark blue glow of biotics. It beeped trice, then the colossus' headlight went black. Shepard was now directly in front of the geth. Disable shields? Check.

Shepard dove beneath the colossus' belly, the grenade at the ready. She saw the vents, Tali was talking about, activated and put the grenade in one of it. It stuck inside the vent, and Shepard got up, bringing as much distance between herself and the geth platform as possible. Placing explosives? Check.

The next thing Shepard heard was a deafening explosion and the shock wave hurled her forward several metres. Destroying ominous geth machine? Check, Shepard thought, wincing with pain. She heard fast steps closing in and a worried turian kneeling besides her.

"Shepard? Are you hurt?", he asked, obviously worried about what the shock wave had caused. Shepard slowly got up, wincing again, as she felt a sharp pain in her right thigh. She looked down and saw a small piece of metal sticking out of her armour. Well, that's just fucking great.

Shepard grabbed the shard of the colossus and slowly pulled it out, clenching her teeth. As soon as it was out, Garrus applied some cool medi-gel on the wound, sealing and anaesthetising it. Shepard thanked him and slowly stood up. She staggered a bit, but stabilized fast. The wound wasn't that serious and the pain was just a dumb pounding.

"That was the most risky, unplanned and crazy thing I've ever seen", Garrus scolded her. Damn, he really was worried about me. "And it still counts as one.", he added slightly amused.

"Well, then we're even now, I guess", Shepard grinned at him. "Good work, guys. Now, let's grab T'Soni."


So far, the excavation site was deserted. The crates in the dimly lit caves drew long shadows, giving many opportunities to hide. But the haven't encountered a geth attack yet. Which made Julius even more nervous. Since the cloaked geth tried to kill her, Julius kept an eye on Tali. During the fight with the colossus, she'd remained surprisingly professional. Julius supposed, she let out her frustration on the geth, rather than letting it eat her up from within.

Good, this lecture she's learned better than I.

Shepard led them through another tunnel, and Julius noticed how smooth the walls were. He wasn't the only one.

"Why are these tunnels so irregular? A mining laser would have cut the stone in a straight line.", Tali said. At least she still speaks.

"These are no mining tunnels. The caves must have been formed by lava. Question is, why did the protheans build their homes in the middle of a volcano.", Julius answered, remembering the lava seas on the surface. This planet was in an early stage of development, far from becoming a habitable world like Earth or Palaven.

Garrus snorted. "The more important question is: is the volcano still active?"

"Well, we shouldn't provoke anything", Shepard said, "that means no explosives down here."

Explosives are never a good idea when in a cave, Julius thought but remained silent. He was rather impressed by the Commanders leadership abilities and combat skills. And he was very amused about her shooting contest with Garrus. Julius thought, how his friend would take it if Shepard really was the better sniper. Not so good, I think. But his ego is big enough to handle it.

Shepard rounded another corner and quickly dove into cover. "Drones", she whispered, before shooting one of them. Julius saw another one and smashed it into the next wall with his biotics.

A few minutes later, they entered a larger cave with a tower of some sort on the other side. It was black, even darker as the cave itself, with big oval openings. Most of them were protected by a kinetic barrier. Julius looked down. They were on a walkway near the top of the cave, far beneath them Julius could see the bottom of the cave. Tali gasped and clung to the handrail.

Of course she fears the hight. She's grown up on ships.

"Look straight ahead.", Julius said to Tali and she nodded.

"Shh!", Shepard signalled them to silence. Julius listened and heard voices down below.

"I suggest you to shut down this barrier now, before I loose my temper", a deep, grumbling voice said. It sounded very much like a krogan. The voice that answered however, was much higher, female, and obviously very scared.

"I already told you, I'm trapped in here. I can't even move!"

"Then tell me, how to cross the barrier, damn it!", the krogan roared. Slowly Shepard's team sneaked forward to get a look at the scene. On the bottom level of the tower, a krogan and several geth stood in front of the blue barrier. Julius couldn't see what was behind it, they were too high for that.

"I have no idea!", the female said, "All I know is, that it has been activated on the terminal on this side. There must be another way in, somewhere, but I don't know where it is."

"Well, I don't have time searching it. Saren wants you, and he wants you now."

Shepard switched to her sniper rifle and signalled Garrus to do the same. Then she pointed at Julius and Tali and gestured at the elevator. Julius nodded and they moved into it, waiting for Shepard to give the signal.

"Why does he even want me?", the female asked.

"You're a prothean expert, aren't you?", the krogan shot back. So she is T'Soni, Julius thought, his assumption confirmed. "You there! Put the charges. We blow right through this thing.", the krogan ordered two of the geth.

"What? Are you crazy? We are in a volcano! These ruins are not stable. You could trigger a seismic -"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP?", the krogan bellowed, his voice echoing in the large cave.

Shepard gave the signal and Julius pushed the button of the elevator. Two sniper shots crackled and dropped two geth. The remaining geth immediately scanned the area and dropped into cover. One of them saw the elevator coming down and fired a rocket. Shit.

Julius held out his arms to expand his barrier, enclosing the elevator. There was no other protection for them, and the rocket exploded on the barrier. The elevator shook violently, and stopped screeching a few metres above the ground.

Tali hacked one of the larger geth units, confusing the remaining geth. From above, Shepard and Garrus shot everything on sight. There was no shelter, so the snipers hit with every shot. Tali covered herself in the elevator cabin, and Julius jumped down to the bottom of the cave, drawing fire away from her.

Julius' barrier began to shimmer, wherever a bullet hit it, and he felt it weaken quickly. Julius sprinted behind a crate to his left, warping a geth who leaned out of cover to shoot Tali. As soon as Julius regained his focus, he dove out of cover again. One geth trooper was in the open, obviously trying to flank him. He lifted it with his biotics, then threw it into the blue barrier. Julius observed the situation: only a few geth remained, pinned down by the others. The krogan was nowhere to see. Where is he, damn it?

As to answer his question, something slammed into Julius' side, throwing him through the air. He used his biotics to steady himself, and scrolled as he impacted with the bottom again. The krogan was directly in front of him, ready to finish Julius. He dropped his pistols and grabbed the battle staff from his back, knowing that they were useless in hand-to-hand.

The krogan seemed surprised by the change of weapons, and hesitated one moment. Big mistake. Julius swirled the staff and swiftly smashed it down on the krogans leg with all his strength, biotically enhancing the strike even more. It hit right between the armour plates, shattering the krogans knee and he yelled in pain and rage.

Julius dodged the mighty blow the krogan aimed at his face, and immediately smashed his battle staff at the krogan again, this time aiming at his face. It hit him right in the mouth, knocking out some of his teeth and leaving him disoriented. Then, Julius drew a knife and rammed it into the krogans throat, like he did with the cloaked geth. The hulking alien dropped dead, and Julius looked around.

There were no more geth alive, and Tali climbed down from the broken elevator. "Everyone okay down there?", Shepard asked. "We're good", Julius answered and walked toward the barrier. Behind it, he saw an asari floating in some kind of stasis field. The fear was clearly written in her face, and she didn't say anything.

"You're Liara T'Soni?", Julius asked gently, trying not to scare her even more. Which was probably needless, since she'd just watched him executing a krogan. But she nodded, and asked with a shaking voice "Wh-who are you? What do you want with me?"

"You're Benezias daughter, right?"

"Yes. Why? I haven't spoken to her in years."

Julius hesitated for a moment. Then, he asked, "So you don't know anything about her alliance with a rogue Spectre who attacked a human colony?"

"N-no. Nothing. We're cut out from news a bit out here."

"How did you get in there?", Julius asked.

"The – the geth, they came in here. And they – slaughtered people. I panicked and activated the ruins defence system. Well, at least I thought I did."

Julius observed the blue barrier closely. It seemed strong enough to withstand fire, and explosives were a no-go. Tali tried to deactivated it, but shook her head. Damn it. I hoped, I didn't have to do this.

Julius stepped back from the barrier a bit and closed his eyes, breathing deeply. He gathered his biotic energy and focused on the place directly behind the barrier. Then, Julius jumped forward and phased through the blue obstacle. He stumbled and hit the ground, feeling slightly nauseous.

"How did you- ?", the asari began, obviously stunned.

"I've spent some years in an asari Monastery. They taught me how to phase, but … it's rather uncomfortable."

He stepped to the console and asked, which button to press. The barrier shut down and T'Soni dropped from her stasis field. She stood, shaking, and Tali steadied her. The asari nodded her thanks and said, "Back there is an elevator. It should bring us up to the upper walkway."

Once the elevator stopped on the upper level, they were greeted by Shepard and Garrus. "Dr. T'Soni, I am Commander Shepard. I would like you to come with us now.", she said friendly. The doctor nodded, and Shepard called the Normandy. "Joker? I need a pick up at the excavation site. Oh, and don't forget the Mako."

Julius recognized the pleasant hum of Garrus' sub-harmonics. "What is it?", he asked curiously. Garrus grinned and gazed at Shepard. "17 to 15."

To Julius' surprise, Shepard clenched her fists, and pretended not to hear the turian while heading out of the cave.