"So EDI, are you ready for your first mission?" Shepard asked her.
"Yes, thank you for this opportunity Shepard."
"No worries, you deserved it. I looked into your data log with trial runs and it was impressive. Also, Vega is scared as hell of spiders, so he wasn't an option anyway." Shepard smiled at EDI, trying to get rid of the darkness inside her.
"EY Lola, I heard that!" Vega sounded through Shepard's headset.
"It was meant for you to hear." Shepard laughed, EDI and Liara joined with her. "So the mission is recon on Attican Traverse." Shepard sounded serious again. "The Krogan were checking out rumors about Rachni sightings, but lost contact with their team."
"Is there any backup when we arrive there?" Liara asked.
"Yes. They will be waiting for us at the drop off. Aralakh company, Krogan commando's."
"But we let the Rachni queen go, under the conditions she would disappear. Why would she come back and risk everything? It just... does not make any sense, Shepard" Liara said. "She would not risk everything to start a war."
"Just be ready for anything." Shepard replied while Cortez landed the shuttle. Shepard opened the door to step out and heard a voice. Wait I know that voice! "Grunt is that you?
"Shepard? SHEPARD!" Grunt ran to her and they gave each other a chest bump. Something they started doing since they met a year ago. "Shepard heh heh heh"
"Grunt."
"Shepard!"
"GRUNT!"
"Sheeeeepaaaaarrrrrdddd"
"GRRRRRRRRRRUNNNTTT!" Shepard snickered. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same question. Didn't those idiots locked you up?"
"Yeah they did. To keep the Batarians off my back, apparently they are not to happy that destroying the relay, also wiped out their planet." Not that I care about those filthy batarians. "Also, to please the council. Then things changed. Inevitable doom, galaxy as we know it being destroyed bla bla bla… the usual, so they needed me, again…" Grunt laughed loudly at Shepard.
"I understand, that's why I'm out here running with Aralakh company. They're tough, they think they are invincible. Reckless, but effective. I owe you for this. I'm here because I completed my rite of passage, with you, under your command."
"Well if they are half the soldier that you are Grunt, we might make it out of here."
"Glad to hear you are here to crack some heads with me, Shepard. Hard to believe it might be Rachni. It seems crazy."
"Wouldn't want be anywhere else, Grunt." Shepard elbowed him. "The sensors didn't detect any signs of activity when we arrived though."
"I know, but this place smells wrong. "Grunt said while facing the tunnel entrance. "Like a bad wound. Our scans shows the tunnels down there lead to a large central point. With any luck it is a nest. Heh heh heh. I can't wait to fight the old enemy" The smile on his face couldn't be bigger. "Who is the tin can you have with you?" Shepard looked at EDI and smiled.
"I'm disappointed you did not recognize me Grunt. We have spent so many hours together with intellectual conversations on the Normandy." EDI said sarcastically.
"EDI?! HA! You have to be kiddin' me!" Grunt punched her shoulder a bit to hard. He looked at his hand and shook off some pain and laughed loudly. "HA you're tougher then you look EDI."
"I'll take that as a compliment, Grunt."
"It was indeed. And Liara, good to see you as well." He didn't dare to touch her. He knew all to well she was able to just throw him to wherever she wanted.
"It is good to see you to, Grunt. It looks like you have fared well in the past six months or so."
"Indeed I did, Indeed I did." Grunt looked more proud than ever before. "We should get going, Shepard. Grab what you need, and meet us at the scout camp ahead."
"Sounds good to me." Shepard and the rest started to gather their stuff and joined Grunt at the camp. Curious as Shepard was, she started to poke around in one of the bunks of the scouts. When she reached the other end of the bunk, the ground beneath her started to make a rumbling sound, and before she knew it, the whole bunk fell down the cliff. After a few feet it landed on its side and started tumbling further down. Oh shit Shit SHITTTTT! After a few, what felt like neverending seconds, the bunk finally came to a stop.
"Shepard, Shepard, SHEPARD!" Liara shouted at Shepard.
"I'm ok, I AM OK!" Shepard panted, still shocked of what just happened, she didn't even noticed she popped a few more stitches. Shepard crawled out of what was left of the bunk and looked around her. An eerie feeling crept up her spine. She looked up, and only saw darkness.
"Shepard!" Grunt shouted. "We will meet up with you, just follow the tunnel that is there.
Shepard picked up her rifle and started walking. I didn't take long when she stumbled upon the first scout and she checked him, and the environment, out. Been dead for a while now….what happened…. wait…. Is that an enormous spiderweb? Oh crap, it is…. there are indeed Rachni here.
"Grunt, Liara, EDI, can you read me? Shepard heard only static on her headphone. Shit, too much interference from the rocks…
She walked to the web and touched it. It felt like a combination of gooey and rock like substance. Not able to remove the web by hand she shot it a few times, with hardly any results. Damn it! She scanned her surroundings one more time and then saw a glint of something behind some rocks. It was a Krogan flame thrower. Nice! Now let's torch down this web. It only took a few seconds before the web caught fire and burned away. Shepard continued down the path that laid behind the spiderweb . After a few minutes, she noticed sounds around her. She stopped for a minute to listen. It sounded as if something trickled inside the walls. The sound prickled the hair on Shepard's neck. Nope nope nope… not good. Not good at all! Shepard started walking again and even picked up her pace. After a kilometer or so, she finally heard voices again. Thank god… "GRUNT, LIARA, EDI, IS THAT YOU?!" Shepard flamed down the last web that kept her away from her squad.
"Shepard?! Thank the goddesses you are okay?!" Liara repressed a hug.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's just finish this and get the hell out of here. This place gives me the heebie jeebies…" Everybody looked confused at her, except EDI.
"Heebie jeebies is an earth slang for feeling uncomfortable. It is not a common word anymore." EDI explained before Shepard could.
"Is Shepard scared? Grunt said in a baby like voice.
"NO!" Shepard said a bit too defensively. It's just the sounds surrounding us… I don't like stuff I can't see. Apparently these sounds were unnoticed by the rest because everybody suddenly stopped moving and listened if they could hear anything as well.
"Shepard is right." EDI stated. "Due to the nature of the sediment, my scanners didn't pick anything up. I had to re calibrated my sensors, and there is indeed movement around us." A subtle change appeared in Liara face, it was briefly, but Shepard caught it immediately. They started walking down the tunnels again, shooting all the rachni eggs they encountered.
"Grunt, where is the rest of your squad?" Shepard asked.
"I sent them down a different path to find you. Don't worry, we'll encounter them soon." Grunt knelt next to a few more bodies of the missing scouts. "It looks like we are getting closer to the center, Shepard." Grunt tossed her a new propane tank for her flame thrower that he found next to the body. Shepard eagerly switched it with the almost empty one and burnt a few more eggs that already started to move slightly. It took them a good half an hour to reach the central hall. It could have been quicker, but they stumbled on some rachni. Liara also insisted they should destroy all the eggs that they encountered as well, just in case they were ready to hatch and attack them in their backs. Grunt rejected this idea at first, but in the end he agreed, knowing it was tactically the most logic thing to do. Cautiously they walked into the enormous hall
"Si…lence..." A dead Krogan started to speak in a hollow voice. This startled everybody, even Grunt. "The… maddening sour note has ceased." They looked around and up and saw the giant rachni queen. "We listen for the children, they are silent, hollow. The machines come and take them to war. They die alone, silent, far away."
"I've let you go, back on Novaria. You promised not to interfere anymore. The rachni were supposed to disappear."
"We remember." now all the death krogans mouths were moving when the Queen spoke. "We kept our promise, retreated back through the relay. We started a new home. Beautiful children. Harmony." EDI walked up to one of the Krogans, fascinated how the Queen used them to speak with. "But the machines came, they heard our song. Their shriek of sour notes drowned us out."
"Did the Reapers do all this, too you?"
"Yes."
"Well they can't hurt you anymore." Shepard said
"Yes, we…. understand."
"Can you still feel the Reapers? Can they influence you?
"We can hear the machines, but they cannot control us. Remove this last shackle and we are free." The Queen pointed to a lock with her head. "What? The children return! They will destroy us all. Release us!" The Queen sounded nervous.
"Shepard." Grunt started. "My squad is detecting movement, a lot of movement." Shepard nodded to Grunt in understatement.
"Are you capable of fighting of the Reapers? Shepard walked up to the Queen, hoping she could see if she was lying or not.
"We hate the machines. We will fight for our unborn children. Release us." The nervousness now replaced by panic."
"She is badly wounded, Shepard. She will need too much time to escape." Liara said to Shepard.
"Shepard, we are out of time! If we stay here, Aralakh company dies. Do you understand?!" Grunt was pissed he still wasn't reunited with his company.
"They need to hold of the Rachni while the Queen escapes, we'll buy them some time"
"Damn you Shepard. Are you insane?!"
"That's an order, she is a to valuable asset to lose." Shepard walked up to the shackle and shot it with her side arm. With a jolt, the Queen was freed. "Now get us out of here!" Grunt set a charge on a wall and blew it up. They quickly ran through it, but directly ran into a horde of bugs. They started to shoot everything that moved while trying to keep moving forward. They were surrounded.
"The shuttle is down that path."Grunt pointed to the left. "I'll hold them off!" Shepard lowered her gun. "Get out of here Shepard!" Grunt shouted in her face. Not wanting her to waste any time, something they didn't have. The Rachni closed in quickly. Shepard hugged him quickly and ran away. A feeling of failure and guilt started to swallow her when she heard Grunt's battle cry and his shotgun firing. Then the sound of his shotgun stopped, the battle cry fading away. Shepard knew she had lost, yet, another friend. Her eyes pricked, but again, no tears followed.
They finally left the darkness of the tunnels, all happy to see the shuttle.
"Cortez, we're the last ones out." Shepard said while trying to keep her voice from shivering.
"Copy that, Commander. We're good to go." Shepard looked back, just one more time before she stepped in the shuttle, hating herself for letting Grunt down. But then she saw something move. Shepard grabbed her gun, just in case it would be Rachni. It couldn't be…. Could it? IT IS!
"Grunt?!" Shepard shouted whilst running to him. Grunt was completely covered in Rachni blood, stumbling while trying to walk up to her.
"Anybody got something to eat?" He fell down Shepard's arms. Edi walked up to them and helped Shepard getting Grunt into the Shuttle. The last thing that could be heard on the planet before they got in the Kodiak, was Grunt laughing; "Heh heh heh."
