A/N: BioWare owns the Mass Effect Universe. Finally, we get to the first real mission as a Spectre. I hope you guys didn't mind the wait. I try to balance my story between the personal interaction aspects and the action pieces. This chapter is a little shorter than I usually aim for, but I like how it ends, so this update gets two chapters instead of one, woo! Let me know what you guys think, I am always eager to hear from my readers. Thank you to all the new followers, to the followers who have been around, and to anyone who reviewed or commented or PMed me. I love you guys!

Chapter 6 – Therum

After the excitement of Edolus, planet scanning resumed its normal, boring aspects. They scanned the final planet of that system, and then headed out to Knossos, the last one in the Artemis Tau cluster. Dr. Liara T'soni had to be there somewhere. The interim allowed Garrus to repair the Mako, and Shepard had to admit that he'd done an excellent job. He'd somehow even managed to find paint and re-detailed it; it looked good as new, and she told him so.

She'd went down and checked on him occasionally, and each time had led to his mocking her driving skills, something he'd never really witnessed for himself, which made the jibes that much funnier. He also had mentioned so many ways to improve the Mako that Shepard finally granted him all powers of decision regarding the vehicle while it was on the Normandy. Anything involving away missions was still her call.

She tried to follow along the explanations of his upgrades, but he talked to her as if she already knew the basics, which she didn't, so most of it went over her head. She was genuinely interested, but just didn't have the time to learn this branch of mechanics. What she did gather was that the next time she drove the Mako, it would be like a completely different, superior vehicle. Mostly, she was excited for that to be true, but a little part of her was hoping that Garrus was exaggerating his skills so she could poke fun at his downfalls like he'd been doing to her these past few days. Turnabout was fair play.

Finally, after scanning almost all the planets of the Knossos system, they found something. Therum, the second planet out from the sun, was giving off very strange readings. According to Joker, they were off the chart and coming from somewhere underground. He also mentioned that a signature similar to one from Eden Prime was being picked up, which they now recognized as a marker for geth. Due to rivers of lava coursing over the surface of the planet, the Mako had to be dropped off quite a bit away from where the nexus of the signal was located.

On the planet, Shepard steered the Mako carefully around the lava, until they had to take out two large geth armatures that a geth dropship placed in their path, with Alenko and Vakarian controlling the guns. The thrusters reacted much more quickly now, thanks to the upgrades, so Shepard relied on those to avoid anything that flew their way. Continuing their meandering path to their objective, they eventually came across a large closed gate guarded by three turrets. Luckily, there was a small side route on the right, which they took instead.

Another turret was planted there, which exploded from an excellent shot fired by Vakarian on the cannon, and some geth rocket troopers were mowed down by Alenko with the machine gun. Behind the gate, a large number of geth ran around, but eventually they were all felled. They got out of the Mako briefly to reconnoiter, and discovered that they had to drop a gate identical to the one they had just driven around to continue. After the way was opened, they got back in the Mako and proceeded forward.

Orange lava flowed slowly by on this side of the gate too, which Shepard avoided. They destroyed two more geth armatures before they came to a manufactured tunnel guarded by the largest geth machine they had yet seen. Shepard tried to keep the Mako behind some large piles of fallen rock for cover, but that made aiming the weapons mounted on top difficult. She realized she was just going to have to face the colossus down and rely on the thrusters again, the roadway being too narrow for any serious maneuvers. It was a fairly long fight, and Shepard's muscles were tense with strain by the time it exploded in a shower of blue sparks and slumped in a heap of wires and fabricated plates.

They took a moment to gather themselves and check over the Mako, Vakarian making any repairs that were necessary, which weren't many, or particularly bad. Shepard rolled her shoulders and stretched her neck side to side in an attempt to ease the tension, then shook out her hands and wrists before gripping the steering handles again. She drove them up into the tunnel which wound its way around before coming out again in the open. Geth guarded this side of the tunnel too, but only two puny rocket launchers. After that colossus, anything seemed puny. They went down easily, and the team went on.

They made their way in and out of a second tunnel, running over a few more geth along the way. There they had to stop and continue on foot, the only way through being a narrow cleft between two rocks. Shepard readied her sniper rifle and omni-tool while Vakarian equipped his assault rifle and omni-tool, and Alenko checked over his pistol, blue biotic electricity tracing over his body in waves. When all were prepared, Shepard motioned for Alenko to take the lead, followed by Vakarian, with herself bringing up the rear.

As they started to take fire from the enemy, Shepard ducked behind a rock for cover. She prepared her Overload program on her omni-tool, found a target and let it loose. The geth's shields went down, and she took it out with a well placed sniper round to the head. She leaped over her cover and found another rock to hide behind. Surveying her surroundings, she noticed a red laser sight coming from the top of a tower across the basin. She took aim through her scope, and brought down the geth sniper quickly before checking on her team mates who were farther down the slope. They seemed in good condition, Alenko Throwing a group of geth in the air while he and Vakarian wiped them out with their guns.

A couple geth stragglers were coming up on them, and Shepard used Sabotage on one, overheating him before sniping the other. Then she went back and shot the one she'd left standing, unable to move while his circuits fried. That's four, she thought to herself; keeping track was a main focus of hers while in the field with Vakarian. It would be foolish to yell it out and give away her position, but she'd keep him updated anyway, telling him when she got the chance.

They regrouped and double-checked their surroundings before climbing back out of the hollow, taking a path on their right. It curved up and around the top of the giant hole they'd just come out of before leading north to some old structures. In the distance, she could see a ramp leading up to a thick circular door into the side of a mountain. She checked her omni-tool for the signal Joker had mentioned, and it seemed to be coming from almost directly beneath her. This looked to be the place.

It also looked to be the place for an ambush, so they all reloaded their weapons and continued ahead slowly. Shepard thought she saw something leap or fall through the air underneath a catwalk, but before she could investigate, a geth dropship practically landed right in front of them, and a group of geth jumped down. There were a few armed with rocket launchers, a couple with sniper rifles, two very fast geth that hardly looked mechanical at all with no weapons, and a geth armature. It unfolded from the ball form it had dropped down in, and towered over the humans and the turian on four legs.

As they could see energy building in front of its headlight, they all ran for cover behind some crates to the left. If they didn't take out the two-legged enemies quickly, they would be pinned down and surrounded. She peeked out from behind her crate, rapidly taking in the positions of the geth. The ones that looked like they were made of muscle instead of paneling had disappeared, one sniper was untargetable behind a crate, one was going for cover to her far right, a position that would allow it to hit them where they were, and the three rocket launchers were out in the open aiming for them. The armature released its blue ball of energy, and she ducked back as it sheared along the edge of her crate and past her head, centimeters from her face.

She decided the sniper would be her first target. It was going to put them in the most immediate danger, but was equipped with low shields so one shot should take it down just like the last one. She tracked it through her scope as it ran, calculating her shot. She squeezed her trigger at the right moment, and the sniper spun around from the force of the impact before sprawling in the dirt. She could feel Alenko and Vakarian at her back, firing their weapons around the other side of the crate, but didn't turn to look; there wasn't any time.

She readied her Overload and released it at one of the geth firing rockets, one that was taking assault rifle damage from Vakarian. With its shields gone, it was down quickly, but Shepard didn't waste time watching, she'd already moved onto another, hitting it with Sabotage. While it stood there frozen, she fired two shots one right after the other into its head. As it crumpled, she caught the shine of a red laser sight through her scope as it focused on her helmet. Without thinking, she followed it to its source and fired smoothly, not stopping to aim. She was so practiced with her rifle that her aim was true without conscious thought, and the second sniper went down without getting off a shot.

Shepard ducked back behind cover to check on her duo and reload. By her count, one rocket trooper was left, the two hoppers, and of course the giant armature. Another one of its crackling energy balls flew past her cover just as she thought that. It was a good thing it took so much time to warm up before it could fire. Alenko had one of the hoppers in the air with his biotics and was shooting it with its pistol. The other lay dead on the top of their crate; Shepard could see one of its arms dangling over right above her head. She looked around Alenko to Vakarian who was reloading his assault rifle calmly. She didn't hear any enemy weapon-fire, so the other rocket launcher must be down. That left the armature.

Alenko let the hopper drop to the ground, dead. He reloaded his pistol and waited for his biotics to recharge. Another pulse from the armature flew between him and Vakarian, missing. Shepard checked her omni-tool, and her Overload and Sabotage programs were both ready for use. Her team mates looked to her, nodding their readiness and waiting for her signal. She held up a fist and counted to three on it, at which point they all ducked their heads around cover to fire on the giant geth.

Shepard let loose with her Overload immediately followed by her Sabotage before taking aim with her rifle. The machine was too far away for Alenko to use biotics on it, so he just concentrated on his pistol. Vakarian let out a steady stream of fire from his assault rifle. The target was so large, aim wasn't such a focus, and a lower accuracy weapon would do alright. Shepard fired multiple shots at its headlight before her Sabotage wore off and it readied another shot from its pulse cannon.

They all ducked back into cover and reloaded their weapons, whether they needed it or not. Shepard's tech skills weren't cooled off enough yet to use, so her bullets were just going to have to finish the job. The armature's shot flew past, and they all poked back out from cover together. While Shepard was taking aim, she saw through her scope the armature get hit by a Sabotage that wasn't hers. Vakarian, she thought. It was a reasonable assumption, he was very good with his omni-tool. He must have been using it on all his targets and Shepard just hadn't caught it until now. Just one more skill they had in common. She fired her sniper at the headlight while Alenko stayed steady with his pistol, and Vakarian returned to his rifle. With three people firing on it at once, the automaton was soon done for.

They all stood up and took a moment to catch their breath, regrouping. Shepard strolled out into the open, trailed by Alenko and Vakarian. She was studying the mountain the walkway led up to, and something about it reminded her of volcanoes she had seen pictures of. Her head was tilted to the side, eyes squinting up behind her helmet's visor, her right hand on her hip and her left holding her rifle down by her side. Alenko placed himself back and to the right of her, but Vakarian walked on up to stand next to her on the left.

Before he could say anything, she said without turning her head, "Anything in the Mako doesn't count, and neither does that last armature. Those were team kills."

"You'll take any advantage to come out ahead," Vakarian snarked, but secretly agreed.

"Advantages like my superior skills with a sniper rifle and tech programs? You're right." She turned her head and looked up at him. For once, she didn't hate her helmet hiding her face from view, or his. If she couldn't see his cerulean eyes, maybe she could keep herself under better control. And if he couldn't see hers, she wouldn't have to avoid his gaze and turn away.

"Speaking of which, you should show me that program of yours that drops enemy shields. That's a very useful one to have," he said.

"What? You mean you don't have that one?" she asked with mock surprise. "I guess that's just to my...advantage," she said grinning.

"Well, when you put it that way, I'd better not get it for myself. How else will you keep up with me?" Vakarian asked.

Shepard scoffed good-naturedly at this. "I don't need to cheat to win. When we get back to the ship, I'll give you all my offensive tech programs. But what will you give me in return?"

"Fixing the Mako isn't worth enough to balance out?" he said, pretending to be indignant.

"No!" she scoffed. "You volunteered for that. It doesn't count, besides the fact that it's already been given and you can't give it again."

"Oh, with your driving skills, or lack, I'm sure that opportunity will present itself sooner rather than later."

Shepard gasped. "Hey! I'm not that bad! The ground is rocky!"

Alenko stepped forward and cleared his throat. "Sorry Shepard, but he's right. I've been with you plenty of times to know that this time wasn't a fluke. I eat stomach settlers before every mission when I know you're going to drive."

Shepard was speechless for a moment, looking back and forth between her two helmeted team mates. She couldn't tell how much they were saying was an exaggeration, and how much was true. "I don't have to listen to this. We have an asari doctor to find."

She turned and stalked away, walking to the gangway without looking back. Alenko and Vakarian looked at each other and started to chuckle together.

"Looks like we found a sore spot," Alenko said.

"Yes," said Vakarian still laughing quietly, watching Shepard stomp away, little puffs of dust rising in the air after every footstep. He started after her, quickening his pace to meet up before she reached the door, Alenko close behind.

The giant circular door opened onto a metal tunnel lit at regular intervals with blue-white light strips. Shepard kept the lead, walking as quietly as she could, her rifle at her shoulder, but not looking through the scope. Alenko put a Barrier up around himself, both hands on his pistol that was trained over Shepard's right shoulder. Vakarian was in a similar pose on her left.

She caught movement ahead and signaled a stop. She looked through her scope and targeted a geth trooper that hadn't noticed them yet. She steadied herself and took the kill. Then, knowing her shot had alerted any other nearby enemies, she rushed forward to where the geth had been and the tunnel opened up. She pressed herself against the left side as a geth below fired up at them. Alenko and Vakarian opened fire on it as Shepard took aim through her scope. Her shot that went perfectly through the center of its headlight ended its quasi-life.

"Two for me," she said, heading down the metal grated floor, not looking back. She reloaded her rifle without missing a step, walking down from landing to landing. The tunnel dead ended into an elevator, which they took down. It started to spark and shudder, a squealing shriek coming from the friction of the elevator and the shaft. Then it came to a halting stop. Luckily, the mechanical safeties held and it didn't plummet them to their deaths. They pried the door open and jumped down the few feet to the next level. Maybe it wouldn't have plummeted them to their deaths after all.

As Shepard jumped down to the next level, she could hear a feminine voice calling for help. It sounded like it was far away, or coming through water. She looked around and saw an asari floating trapped in a bubble of some sort behind a blue barrier. Her arms and legs were spread wide, clearly unable to be moved. Shepard removed her helmet and walked up to the barrier. She touched it, and though it didn't hurt her, she couldn't get through either.

"Help! Please, you've got to help me!" called the asari through the barrier, her large blue eyes wide with fear.

"Are you Dr. Liara T'Soni?" Shepard asked.

"Yes! Please, you've got to help me. Geth showed up with a krogan leading them. I think they were here to capture me! I activated these Prothean barriers to keep them out, but I must have hit something I wasn't supposed to, and now I'm trapped!" Her voice was hysterical with a thin veneer of control.

"Calm down, Dr. T'Soni. We'll help you get free. I have some questions to ask you, but now is obviously not the time. Will you answer them once you're safe?" Shepard asked with a low, soothing voice.

"Yes, anything! Thank you so much! But the controls are on this side of the barrier, and there's no way to get through them! The geth and the krogan have been trying for hours."

"I think we'll be able to come up with something. Don't worry, and try to stay calm," Shepard said, putting her helmet back on. She motioned for Alenko and Vakarian to follow her, and she headed down the metal planking to the rock and dirt-filled area below to see if she could find something useful. Her shields sizzled as they caught a bullet right before it hit her shoulder.

Immediately, she dove for cover nearby, and she could hear her team mates doing the same behind her. She popped her head over the crate and took aim with her omni-tool, releasing her Sabotage at one geth trooper while Vakarian did the same beside her. Alenko Threw the third into the air, and they all opened fire at their individual targets. Once the geth were eliminated, they investigated the surrounding area.

They found some salvage and some credits lying around, which they took for later use. Then Shepard came across the controls for a mining laser. Her face spread in a wicked grin that no one could see. She looked over her shoulder at her crew to make sure they were well back, and then got to work on the panel. Within a few short minutes, Shepard had the large piece of machinery up and running. She pointed it at the dirt wall beneath and to the side of where Liara was trapped, and fired it.

The laser bored a hole through to the other side in no time at all. Shepard shut it back off, and gleefully ran towards the clearing dust to check out her handiwork. Alenko and Vakarian looked at each other again, shook their heads at her antics, and followed at a more sedate pace.

Through the Shepard-made tunnel, there was a platform of some kind that did not look like the structures that had brought them down this far. It was Prothean. Shepard was already standing at a terminal, studying it. She made sure her duo was on the platform with her, then pushed a holo-button. The platform rose like an elevator and stopped at the next level, the one where Liara was trapped. Shepard removed her helmet before talking to the asari once again. She felt that people always reacted better to someone whose face they could see, as opposed to an emotionless helmet.

"You got through? But how?"

"We used the mining laser to blast a hole," Shepard said with a grin.

"Oh, yes. That makes sense," said Liara, stunned into calmness. "Please, help me get free before more geth appear! The controls over there should release me," she continued, her old anxiety returning.

Shepard walked over and looked for a moment, and then found the right button to press. She heard Liara hit the ground before she could turn back. When she did, Liara was dusting her hands off, looking no worse for the wear from being trapped by unfathomable ancient technology.

"Do you think that elevator will take us back up to the surface?" asked Vakarian.

"I think it will. It seems to have been built for that purpose, among others," answered the archeologist.

"Let's go, then," said Shepard. She put her helmet back on again, and walked over to the platform's control panel.

Liara followed, but stopped Shepard with a question. "What I don't understand is why the geth are after me to begin with. What are they even doing on this side of the Perseus Veil?"

Alenko answered before Shepard could. "An ex-Spectre named Saren is trying to find a Prothean piece of technology called the Conduit. He has the geth working for him. He probably heard you were an expert on them and has chased you down to force you to work for him as well."

"The Conduit? I've never heard or discovered anything that mentioned something like that. I don't even know what it is!" Liara said, looking from helmet to helmet for a better explanation.

"We don't know what it is either, except that it is Prothean," said Shepard.

"But how did he even hear about me? Almost none of my research has been published. I'm practically a laughing stock in asari archeological circles." Just then, a distant rumbling could be heard, and the platform shuddered under their feet. Liara continued, "These ruins are not stable. That laser must have triggered a seismic event. We must leave before the whole place caves in!" She worked at the platform controls while Shepard hailed the Normandy.

"Joker, do you read me? Lock onto my signal and be ready for pickup. Things are getting shaky down here!"

"Aye aye, Shepard. ETA eight minutes."

Vakarian's helmet turned towards Shepard. "Things are getting shaky down here? Very funny."

"I'm glad you liked it. I try to be as accurate as I can," she answered, a self-satisfied smile behind her helmet.

The platform rose smoothly all the way to the top. The party could see a small shaft of daylight through the passage in front of them, but as they started to walk towards it, the infamous krogan battlemaster and two geth shock troopers showed up from that direction. They stood blocking the way.

"Surrender. Or don't. That would be more fun," the krogan said.

"We don't have time for this," Shepard said under her breath. To the krogan, she said, "This place is coming down!"

"That makes the fight more exhilarating," he answered. Stepping closer, he said, "Thanks for getting rid of those barriers for us. Now hand the doctor over."

Liara, sounding quite firm for someone who was so close to panicking just a little while ago, said, "Whatever it is that you're after, you're not getting it from me."

"I think Dr. T'Soni would like to stay with us," Shepard said.

"Saren wants her. And what Saren wants, Saren gets," the krogan replied. "Kill them!" he said to the geth.

Shepard readied her rifle while shouting, "Alenko! Protect Liara! She has no weapons or armour, and that's who they're after!"

"Aye aye, Shepard!" he hollered back, already running towards the asari that was trying to hide behind the platform's console.

These geth soldiers were much faster than the ones they'd been fighting. Shepard tried to hit one with her Overload, but missed. She tried to hit the same one with her Sabotage, and it worked. While it was momentarily frozen, she took it out with two consecutive sniper shots through the headlight. She lowered her weapon and turned, trying to find the other one. Vakarian was working on the krogan, the last geth trying to flank him while his attention was elsewhere.

With both of her tech skills in cool down, she'd have to do it the old-fashioned way. She ran to the right, her back to the tunnel, trying to get into a good position to fire on the geth before it could attack the turian. She quickly aimed a shot at its chest to drop its shields and get its attention. When it turned to look at her, she shot it again through the head. While it staggered, something hit Shepard in the back of her head, which dropped her own shields and made her stumble.

"Shepard!" Alenko screamed through his Barrier he had up around himself and Liara.

She turned to look at him and saw him aim his pistol at something behind her. She turned quickly as Alenko shot, and saw a geth sniper hiding behind a crate part of the way down the hall. Alenko was at the wrong angle to hit it even though he tried, and couldn't reposition himself away from Liara. She aimed at the sniper that had brought down her shields, and squeezed the trigger. Her shot was a good one, and the geth fell out from behind cover, not moving.

She whirled back around to check on Vakarian and saw that he was no longer shooting at the krogan, but was just finishing off the geth she thought she had already killed. Shepard was instantly furious with herself for leaving him in danger from two enemies on either side, no matter what the reason was that her attention was drawn away. So where was the krogan? She spun, trying to spot movement behind the mechanisms of the platform tower.

Too late, she heard a deafening roar behind her. She half-turned, mostly looking over her shoulder at the monstrosity barreling with impossible speed towards her. He smashed her to the ground with all his weight and fury. Her shields had already been deactivated by the geth, and she felt her light armour crunch into her left arm and torso, ribs snapping as she was flattened underneath him at an awkward angle on her side.

She didn't move as he climbed up off her, intent on killing another of her crew the same way, his battle fury completely in control. Dazed and fighting off the blackness at the edges of her vision, she tried to see what was happening. She slowly craned her head around, pain from the movement along her side and across chest making her almost lose consciousness. She gritted her teeth and fought it off, her focus on her team mates. It looked like Liara had her own Barrier up, and Alenko and Vakarian were facing down the krogan from either side of it. Alenko Threw it up into the air, and they continued to pelt it full of bullets. It came down dead.

Ominous rumbles could be heard far beneath Shepard's ear, down the platform shaft working their way up, accompanied by a severe vibration that shuddered into everything around them. Pieces of rock began to fall from the ceiling, and Shepard tried to move, crawl or drag herself or something, to safety, but rolling over made her black out.

"Get Liara! She's in shock!" she heard a double-toned voice say from nearby. How long she'd been unconscious, she didn't know, but probably only a few moments. Something was going on that required speed, but she couldn't remember what.

Why was everything shaking?

She felt large, gentle hands roll her slowly over onto her back, and she blacked out again.

She blinked her eyes as cool air touched her face, but couldn't quite make out the blurry shape moving right in front of it.

"Spirits, she is still alive," said the voice above her. It came out as a gasp, someone talking who was shocked or awed.

Of course I'm still alive. Why wouldn't I be? she thought in a daze. The words in her mind floated by gently, carried on a breeze.

"Hang on, Shepard. We'll get you out of here. This is probably going to hurt," the bleary roundish silver shape said.

That voice...I know that voice... "Garrus?" Shepard mumbled, barely a whisper. Then she thought, What's going to hurt?

A large strong arm worked its way under her shoulders as carefully as it could, while a second one went under her knees more easily. Shepard's breathing, already shallow, caught in her throat and came out a hiss.

That does hurt, she thought. As the arms underneath her put pressure on her shoulder blades and back to lift her, she tried to scream, but only a whimper came out. Then, with more upward movement, blessed, blessed blackness overtook her for good.