Mass Effect
Digression

Written By Kenneth White

Chapter 7

Lying in the pile of desk debris felt like an eternity to Yalo, but he'd only been there just over five minutes when he sensed a presence looming above him. He'd heard noises around him, but had been too deep in thought and had pretty much ignored the ambience until now. It was a low and familiar voice that brought him out of his own thoughts and back to the real world, along with a firm kick to his left leg.

"Rise and shine."

Yalo opened his eyes to see Intarr staring down at him with those blood red marbles that shone like droplets of freshly spilled blood. It was never easy to tell with a krogan glaring at you whether he was angry, sad, happy or in any other emotional state. But after spending a few weeks with Intarr, Yalo had learnt that with some careful observation and by noting their body language, one could soon discover that it didn't make things any easier. What Yalo had learned was that a krogan's emotional state was more often determined by the way they spoke to you. Or, failing that, the way they didn't speak at all and then simply attacked you. Seeing as he wasn't being attacked and words had been spoken, Yalo assumed his actions only moments ago were still unknown to the krogan. He still had to remain completely still of course. After all, he'd been "knocked out" by an "escaping" salarian.

"Hey! Get up!"

A far more forceful kick accompanied the second encouragement from Intarr, and that was enough to convince Yalo a false stir would be better presented sooner than later. Groaning, Yalo perched up on one elbow and rubbed the back of his head, despite a preference for rubbing the side of his leg.

"Wha... what happened?" Yalo moaned to Intarr. The krogan snorted.

"You're asking me what happened? I was knocked out cold like the others. I was gonna ask you what happened. Gas couldn't have effected you."

Yalo made another sound of discomfort, then shook his head. He brought one hand up to his visor in a motion as if he had a headache. After a few seconds of this he responded.

"It was... it was Haedian. He came at me... surprised me." A pause and another groan. "He hit me... I fell backwards. And then... nothing."

"The salarian took you down?" Intarr said, brow raised slightly on one side. Yalo noted he sounded very unconvinced.

"He... he did something to... me..." Yalo answered, then remembered something. "He... injected me with... something."

Yalo crawled onto all fours, then looked around the floor amongst the debris and stones. Or at least that's what he made it look like he was doing. Moving behind some broken chunks of desk and still making it look like he was searching, Yalo produced the small vial with the needle he'd stabbed the turian on Palaven with. With a noise of triumph he then held it up to show Intarr.

"This. He... he stabbed me with this."

Intarr took it from the quarian as Yalo carefully got back to his feet. Taking in more of his surroundings, Yalo noticed a few of the other krogan were up and about, either helping others wake up or keeping any freshly woken scientists in check. His attention was soon drawn to another familiar and prominent figure standing directly ahead and above him atop the walkway.

"What happened here?" Gonamida growled, a hollow metallic ring sounding out as one of his meaty fists came down upon the handrail before him, misshaping it significantly in the process. "I want answers! Now!"

"Seems that Palmera's apprentice has been taught well," Intarr called up to his boss loudly. "He somehow gassed us all and escaped. This time without any of the others. All the others are accounted for. There's an ATV missing though."

"We found this," another krogan announced, entering from the entrance. He gave Intarr the object he had referenced.

"What is it?" Gonamida asked. Intarr shrugged, and Yalo could swear the floor shook a little when the krogan's shoulders dropped.

"I have no idea," came the answer, and he held it up for Gonamida to see. The krogan who had brought it in spoke up. "It was in the main ventilator."

"It's a remote gas dispenser," Gonamida explained. "A very specific one too. I've seen them before. It has three chambers which each have a different substance in them. It carefully mixes them to programmed specifications and then releases them when ready. Small and compact, so as not to need much of each substance to work effectively. Instead each one is very concentrated. That way it can be easily hidden and placed into a small area. In the main ventilator it spread the gas throughout the entire place within seconds."

The krogan warlord's attention turned to Yalo. Yalo had expected this, as well as the question that came with it.

"How did this affect you too then, Yalo?"

Yalo didn't even need to answer, as Intarr raised the object that Yalo had given him into the air.

"Haedian stabbed him with this."

"I've seen those too," Gonamida said. "It's probably filled with something that salarian scum knew would effect Yalo without actually harming him. Could even be a liquefied version of the same stuff we were exposed to."

"Considerate of the little bastard," Intarr snorted, eyeing the liquid in the vial. A growl sounded from Gonamida.

"I doubt he'll be so considerate keeping this place a secret though," the older krogan muttered. "Probably thought he'd have a better chance escaping alone rather than organise an entire escape like Palmera did. All he needs to do is to get back to Council space and it'll be all over."

There was a moment of pause from the krogan warlord and then his attention returned to Intarr and Yalo again.

"Intarr. Take Yalo and see if you can chase that salarian down before he can get to the spaceport. He's probably there already or close to it, but you might be able to stop him before he can get anywhere." His attention shifted. "The rest of you... be prepared to have to move out once again. Chances are we'll need to find another base soon."

Gonamida turned around and disappeared back into his office, while the other krogan began to bustle around. Intarr turned back to Yalo, flicking his head in the direction of the exit.

"Come on. We'll have to hurry if we're going to stop that slimy bastard."

Yalo and Intarr found it was still dark outside, with over four hours until sunrise. It was less than ten minutes' drive to the city and they'd been out for about the same amount of time, so if the salarian wasn't already there, he soon would be. They just had to hope that he'd need more than ten minutes to find a ship and get out of there. Or at least Intarr had to hope that; Yalo wasn't quite sure what to hope. Intarr clearly didn't care about finesse when driving, making for an almost straight path towards the city once they'd sidled around the maw pit and only avoiding rocks bigger than their wheels. Yalo was actually worried when approaching some of the larger ones that he might smash his visor against the dashboard or something in the process, bringing his pilgrimage to a premature and rather unsatisfying end.

About halfway there Intarr brought the ATV over a rocky crest to reveal the city lights there before them, just over a kilometre away. Unfortunately the city wasn't the only thing they saw besides rocks and dirt, as something zipped directly overhead their vehicle from beyond the city and towards the way they had come. They only got a brief look at the object, but Yalo had a fair idea what it might be. Intarr did too, instantly spinning the vehicle about-face and kicking up a wave of dust as he tore back to make chase. He and Yalo both knew there was no way they were going to ever catch the airbourne entity, but that didn't deter the krogan from giving the ATV its all to return home. It was something he never expected to see in the Terminus Systems, that was for certain.

Intarr stopped the vehicle about half a kilometre away from the base, parking on the edge of a small mound of dirt-covered rock that sloped away from the scene before them. There was the object that had streaked above them, hovering a few metres above the ground right near the entrance of the krogan base. It appeared to be bluish in colour, but that may just have been the tint of the light reflected from the moon, and was smooth and rounded. It was fairly long and noticeably flat, with a pointed front that branched off into two sweeping flukes that made up the rear. From his research prior to his pilgrimage, Yalo knew the ship was salarian in design, but also knew it was like no vessel he'd ever seen. Beneath it, at the entrance itself, he and Intarr could make out five figures. Intarr growled, leaving the vehicle and going to the rear to retrieve a sniper rifle. Yalo got out too, watching and wondering what the krogan was up to. He half expected him to run to the top of the mound and just start shooting down at them, but was pleasantly relieved when Intarr got down on his stomach, crawled to the edge and simply looked through the weapon's scope.

"Salarians," he grumbled. "Take a look."

Intarr held out the weapon, so Yalo got low and took it from him. Peering through the sight wasn't easy with a sloped visor in the way, but he'd got used to using the weapon thanks to practicing with Intarr, and it didn't take him long to pick out each individual down there. With another having left the ship to join the ones there, there were six salarians, all armed with guns. One in particular seemed more prominent; wearing a bulkier armour than most salarians Yalo had seen and appearing to be directing the others.

"That bitch," Yalo whispered.

"Huh?" Intarr asked.

"I said, 'son of a bitch,'" Yalo lied.

"We could take them out," Intarr said, sounding rather confident. "I should get another rifle, then we can get at least two at once before they even know what hit 'em."

"Are you insane?" Yalo said, lowering the weapon to glance at Intarr. "There's at least six of them... perhaps more. Plus they've got an entire ship. For all we know it has weapons that could level this entire hill."

"Are you suggesting we just watch and wait while they haul Gonamida and the others out of there and just let all we've strived for go to waste?"

"At the moment they don't know we're here. We should keep it that way."

"So we escape while the others all get captured?" Intarr growled. "I'm a fighter, Yalo... not a coward!" A pause. "I'll bet if it was your people down there you wouldn't just abandon them!"

"Getting caught ourselves isn't going to help them. While we're unknown we're not a problem and we're safe."

Intarr growled again, his attention turning back towards the invading salarian forces. Two of them had disappeared into the main entrance now.

"That conniving bastard must have had this planned out far more than we had thought," Intarr said. "No way a salarian special ops ship could have been here so quick otherwise."

"Indeed," Yalo added dryly, responding only to the latter portion of the krogan's statement. He heard a heavy sigh from Intarr.

"So what do we do then? Just wait until they're all taken away? That doesn't sound like much of a plan."

Yalo paused for a moment; one slender finger tapping the side of the sniper rifle. Eventually he turned to Intarr again and posed a question.

"How much does it take to rouse a Thresher Maw from its nest?"

"I dunno... it depends I guess. I can't honestly say that I've made a point of testing the limits of Maw nest tolerance."

"So if I were to shoot the surface of the nest from here with this, do you think it would pop up?"

"Probably not," Intarr said. "Plus it would give away our position most likely." There was a pause. "But I might have another idea."

Intarr turned around and snuck back to the ATV, heading around to the back of it. After opening it up and a few grunts, Yalo saw him holding a large wheel.

"Good thing I always bring a spare," he smiled. "Now all we need to do is get a good slope with a good angle."

The scientists left the caverns to the welcome sight of several armed salarians standing with a modest sized ship whirring above them. One of these soldiers was Agent Vaetorals of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch. While the other salarians under his command all wore a light armour in a brilliant white, Vaetorals bore a slightly heavier armour in jet black with dark blue trim and grey inset; the Spectre symbol gracing his left breast in contrasting silver. Like the others, his helmet covered his entire head, hiding it from anybody who would wish to glance upon his facial features. While the newly freed slaves marched out into the light cast by the ship above, one of the armed salarians approached Vaetorals, saluting him.

"What do you have to report, lieutenant?" the Spectre asked, arms crossed casually. His voice was slightly slower and deeper than most of his species.

"All but two scientists appear to be accounted for, Captain," the lieutenant answered swiftly. "According to one of the scientists one was killed and the other escaped just recently. As in veryrecently."

"And the krogan?"

"We're not entirely sure how many of them there were all together. We have the one in charge though: Durrlex Gonamida. The scientist I mentioned earlier said that one of them and a quarian left to chase down the escapee and hadn't yet returned."

"A quarian?"

"Yes, sir. Apparently he was working for the krogan for some reason. Wanted the credits to save his people, or something."

"A quarian and a lone krogan aren't enough to concern me, Lieutenant," Vaetorals said, impatience creeping into his voice. "We can't afford to spend any more time than we need to here in the Terminus Systems, and the proximity of this place to the main settlement has us in danger enough as it is without us chasing down stray fugitives. We have the scientists, we have the ringleader and we have most of his men. That's enough. Get them in the ship as quickly as possible so we can get out of here as quickly as possible."

"But sir... what about the scientist who just escaped?" the lieutenant protested.

"You have my orders," Vaetorals stated firmly. "Carry them out."

With a nervous affirmation and a salute, the salarian lieutenant returned to the entrance and disappeared. Shaking his head a little and muttering something inside his helmet, Vaetorals turned around towards the ship, only to pause for a moment to regard something in the distance beyond it. There was something moving out there, slowly coming closer along the ground, but it was too dark to tell what it was. It looked almost as tall as he was, and appeared to be rolling.

"What in the-"

Vaetorals cut himself off as the ground exploded where the mysterious object previously was, sending up a spray of dirt and dust along with a mighty roar. The large airbourne wheel glanced off the right side of the salarian ship then flew over the salarian Spectre's head, forcing him to duck slightly before it bounced off the rocky surface behind him and rolled away harmlessly. Another roar drew Vaetoral's attention back to the cloud of settling dust, and then to the gargantuan creature that loomed out of it.

Four blue eyes stared menacingly at the salarians and their ship, glaring from almost forty metres above the ground. A mostly dusty-brown complexion and with twitching insectoid arms, the wormlike beast's tentacled mouth gaped towards them with a long blue tongue that seemed to glow. The Thresher Maw was a formidable creature indeed, but this was not the first one that this salarian Spectre had dealt with.

"Keep the scientists from harm!" Vaetorals yelled to his men, his shotgun snapping into readiness as he produced it from his back. "Take them back into the cave if you have to... I'll deal with this!"

The frantic movement of his men and the scientists began to draw the attention of the Maw, but Vaetorals soon brought the focus back to him by sending a volley of mass-accelerated projectiles at the beast from the barrel of his weapon. The creature's head drew back with a noise of discomfort, then drew back even more a second time before flicking forwards towards the salarian captain. A ball of swelling emerald acid hurtled from the creatures mouth towards Vaetorals, forcing him to leap and roll to the side. A hissing splash sounded from the rock behind the Spectre, leaving a hole of steam, smoke and melted rock in its place. Vaetorals fired at the creature's face again, but knew that despite its flinching he wasn't doing terribly much damage: the range of his shotgun was too limited, despite its power. While his ship had weapons, they were meant for space combat, and he didn't want to risk using them with his men and the scientists still in such close proximity, not to mention himself. Stealing a quick glance towards the entrance to the base and noting all the scientists were now inside it again, he called out to two of his men who were waiting outside and watching.

"You two! Draw his attention away from me for a moment!"

The two salarians nodded without hesitation, then immediately ran to their left. Vaetorals found himself again having to leap out of the path of another projectile of thick acid spit, but this time didn't fire back. After the two soldiers were about ten metres away from the cavern entrance, they began firing with their light assault rifles at the beast. Roaring and swaying, the Thresher Maw rotated around to face its new attackers, who kept running and firing in bursts. Moving suddenly and then stopping to confirm that the Maw's attention was fully drawn, Vaetorals moved quickly again, compacting his shotgun and slapping it onto his back before making a leap at his ship. His slender fingers grasped onto the front of it and he hoisted himself up onto the nose of the craft. Engaging the magnetic soles on his boots, he deftly ran across the top of the ship and brought shotgun to bear once more. Smirking inside his helmet, he noticed the Thresher Maw was facing in the opposite direction and was only a few metres away now. Now was his chance.

Reversing the magnetism charge on his boots to literally repel him off of it, Agent Vaetorals leapt from the hull of his ship skyward and onto the creature. He landed on the final upper armoured section of the creature's back where its body joined to its head, which was thankfully at a mostly horizontal angle thanks to the way the beast curled up out of the ground. The Thresher Maw's thick armour stopped it from even feeling the Spectre make contact, eliciting no reactions from it. It was another story entirely however when he held the tip of his shotgun right up to the base of its skull and pulled the trigger.

With a tremendous roar, it bucked wildly, throwing Vaetorals into the air once more. The Spectre found himself spinning and then descending back down towards his ship. With a clattering crunch he hit the top of it, thankful that his armour was heavy rather than light, and began to slide across the smooth hull. He managed to gain enough grip to stop himself going over the side, just as his shotgun thwacked against the ship about a metre away and disappeared behind him. Pulling himself up and clamping his magnetic feet back onto the metal surface, he glared up in horror to see the Thresher Maw facing him once again. As it drew it's head back in its familiar pre-splitting motion, Vaetoral's right hand quickly flicked to his belt and spun a small grey disc with blue lights at the monster. The device whirred straight into the upper portion of the creature's mouth then exploded in a fireball, severing the large tentacle on its upper right lip and making it screech in agony. Flames and smoke still pouring from its face, the Thresher Maw threw it's head back, severing and flicking most of it's own elongated azure tongue into the air before finally descending back under the ground with an earthshaking rumble.

Vaetorals sighed with relief, then allowed himself to slide off the side of his ship and into the soft sandy Maw pit below. Collecting his shotgun and shaking the dust and sand from it, he left the edge of the nest to be met by his two assistants. They were about to congratulate the Spectre, but he spoke before they got a chance to say anything.

"Now that that's taken care of, let's get these guys out of here and back home."

"Wow!" uttered Yalo, moving his face away from the sniper scope for the first time in what seemed like hours. "That's certainly something one doesn't see every day."

"Yeah. Impressive," Intarr agreed, watching the two salarians jog from Vaetorals back to the base entrance through his own scope. "Shame it totally screws up pretty much any chance we had of stopping them."

There was a silence between them, and then Yalo turned his head to look at his krogan ally.

"Maybe... maybe we should have shot at them while they were busy with the Maw," the quarian stated.

Intarr looked at him, not saying a word, then looked back towards the salarians. Eventually he sighed, looking down at the rocky ground before him.

"Dammit," he uttered.