AUTHOR'S NOTE: Apologies if you got updated earlier this week without a new chapter. It was brought to my attention that there were a handful of errors that I couldn't delay until today and fixed then and there. Sorry for that, but it likely shouldn't be anything you need to go back and search for. However, it may be possible that the whole thing with Vetra not understanding the Rough Ryder pun didn't carry over because of my little screw up, but should be there now. Again, my apologies. Hope you enjoy today's chapter!

The trip down lasted close to a minute, we only slowed down when we entered a large chamber. Peebee said it was like a kind of gravity well. This place was deep. And this large open room we were in? Likely just the start of it. Like some kind of bunker… or a Vault.

"Anything could be important, let's be thorough," Peebee suggested. Makes sense, we knew nothing about this place, or how it worked. Anything could be helpful. The room held odd pieces of floating Remnant tech, my scanner flooded with data upon scanning them.

"Watch your fingers… might be traps," Vetra warned.

"I'm not detecting any," I replied, scanner picking up nothing.

"I've made that mistake before…" Vetra muttered.

"Can't say that sounds like a mistake I'm eager to repeat," I chuckled.

"Well… shit…" Peebee muttered. "There's element zero threaded all throughout this tech, imagine the engineering that would take," she exclaimed. Well… that is impressive. Towards the back of the room was an elevated area with a console. Interfacing resulted in some of the tech activating, whirring to life.

"Only minimal power, doubt it triggered the atmo processor but... It did something," I informed the team.

"Pathfinder, a conduit beneath the floor just activated. Fluid is running through it. It could be generating emergency power. Your scanner will have more details," SAM revealed. The scanner showed that conduit, leading out of the room on the lower side.

"So, is anyone else noticing the distinct lack of Kett and Kett tech down here?" Liam asked.

"I think we beat them to it Liam. They never got those Monoliths online and it was only after that this place opened up in the first place," I reminded him.

"That's gonna piss them off," Peebee muttered. She had a point. We followed the wire, the large wall opening and some of it vanishing as we came close, revealing another corridor. In the center was another console but in front of it… a wall of a glowing blue light. I brought up my scanner, and it was a holographic projection of Remnant glyphs. Heavily corrupted or damaged however. Only part we could translate told us we had to read for access. The scans also picking up that the console links to the surface.

"That must control the atmo processor!" Peebee exclaimed. "But… no glyphs. It's powered down. Just like the rest of this place…" she muttered. Scanner showed that the conduit led further into the vault, through another door. More holographic data patterns to the side.

"Follow the wire, find the system lockdown, turn it off, turn the console on, and then it gets to work," Vetra remarked. "Heh, no way in hell it'll be that easy…" she chuckled. Upon scanning a data pattern, Peebee theorized that each could hold Zettabytes of data. I'm not quite sure just how much data that is though, so I'm going to go with more blunt terms. An absolute fuck-ton. I opened the door, the others following me to see a shifting tower of glowing blue yet solid blocks of Remnant metal surrounding what appeared to be another gravity well.

"Well… that's new…" Peebee remarked when she saw a kind of capsule sitting on a railing. She ran a quick scan and picked it up.

"Any theories? Resident Remnant expert?" I asked. She threw a bemused look my way before theorizing.

"Maybe a symbol of authority or a key perhaps… It's not hard to speculate when it comes to Remnant. What is hard is getting facts on them. I'll see what I can find on this beauty. Maybe over this way…" she began to wander off.

"Woah, hold on a sec there Peebee. Whatever has this place on lockdown is that way," I reminded her.

"I do my best work solo Ryder. You fix up the vault, I'll investigate the relic, and together we'll figure this place out," she proclaimed. Well she doesn't lack for confidence.

"So, in other words: Let's split up gang and search for clues! You don't watch many horror vids, do ya? We don't got a clue what's down here," I told her.

"And we never will, if we miss something because we're huddled in a group. I'll be careful," she would not relent. I let out a sigh,

"Fine, but I'm not letting you go out there alone. Those bots can be a right pain in the ass. Cora," I called out to her. "Go with Peebee, follow her and keep her safe from the bots. Let her look around, just help her out if any shooting starts. Got it?"

"Wilco," was Cora's only reply. Peebee let out a small sigh,

"Alright, fine, so long as she doesn't rush me," she reluctantly agreed.

"Good, the three of us should be able to manage. Cora, patch her in to our team com channel, and good luck," I ordered as they left through the other door. Liam walked up beside me.

"So, bets on spike pit?" he joked. Vetra and I chuckled at that as we moved on, weapons in hand but not quite at the ready. We followed a ramp on the right side leading up and around the blocked off gravity well. Or as SAM decided to specify, was more of a well with variable gravity. A gravity well. Up that ramp was a shielded off room with a Remnant container inside. Nothing to interface with and no way through. Perhaps it would open later?

"Comm check, it's well, you know," Peebee's voice came over comms, making sure she was patched in on the right frequency.

"Read you loud and clear. Keep in contact. Scott out," I told her. Following the wire led us into another open room, but different. Here we could see the rocks of the planet making some of the walls with some kind of star like structures as supports.

"Damn, they dug this place deep," I muttered.

"Look at the ceiling, see those… star… things…? They must be holding it up," Vetra observed. We kept walking forward, towards a steep ramp. Looking down was a reservoir filled with a fluid not even SAM could classify. But it did bare many similarities to Omni-gel upon scanning. Perhaps that what was in the conduit, fixing shit and getting it started. There were platforms along the reservoir to allow passage. Making use of our thrusters, we made it to the opposite side of the reservoir to another door. I opened it, revealing a small passageway curving to the right. Vetra believed it looked like storage, but we readied our weapons anyway.

Slowly, I peeked around the corner. The room already had some cover, and good thing too as I eyed some Assembler bots. I signaled for the others to take cover, facing down at them as I crouched down behind a barrier at the corner. I held up a hand for Liam and Vetra, three fingers out. Then two, then one, then a fist. The three of us stood and opened fire on the unsuspecting trio of Assemblers, each going down before they could get a shot off. As the last one fell, I holstered my Valkyrie. Again, not needing to worry about reloading. Damn I love the old heat sinks. There were a few inactive Assemblers on the walls, and a container that contained various Remnant salvage.

We exited the room and got back on the trail of the conduit. It was to the left of where we began in this chamber but now it was to the right. Much less jumping would be required, but I could also see several Remnant bots in that area, without any cover up on our ridge. At a distance, the bots wouldn't harm us so I stood back and surveyed the area, looking for some trick to get by. Rush a few to get a foothold?

"Look at this place… no way we'd be able to describe it. People will need to see this for themselves," Liam exclaimed.

"Ha, then remind me to never tell my little sister about this place," Vetra joked. I let out a small laugh, but Liam turned to her and glared.

"Just how little?" he asked. Sounding both suspicious and angry. Vetra turned, to face him, a glare of her own back at him.

"Older than I was when I started out Kosta, luckily for her I've made sure she hasn't had to," she told him, on the defensive. I wonder what she meant by "started out."

"How. Old?" he demanded. Vetra crossed her arms over her chest, the two of them glaring at each other. Vetra let out a sigh:

"She's almost 17," she told him. I don't get what his problem was. His eyes narrowed and his mouth formed into a snarl.

"The fuck is wrong with you," he growled. Time to intervene.

"Hey, hey, chill out! Liam, if you have a problem with it, at least wait till we're back on the ship. Either way, you should probably let her explain before judging it, whatever the hell it is your judging. I'm willing to bet Vetra has a good reason. I've spoken with Sid, doesn't seem like the two of them have a bad relationship," I explained.

"You can't possibly be fine with how she brought a goddamn kid here! To endure this shit!" he nearly yelled.

"Of course I don't like that there is a kid who's had to go through this shit, I don't like that anyone has! But it's not exactly Vetra's fault that the whole plan and pitch went tits up is it?" I asked him, rhetorically.

"Don't you dare lecture me about this Kosta. After everything I've done for her, of how I've spent every waking moment of every single day thinking about how I dragged my only sister into hell with me. Fuck you Kosta. Fuck you," she growled, glaring daggers straight into him. His face softened a bit with her response, but kept the glare.

"I… fine. Time and place. Let's just get the hell out of here," Liam grumbled.

"Good, now fortunately, I think I got a way to get past those Remnant ahead," I changed the topic. I don't know why I was so quick to jump to Vetra's defense, but… I don't know. I just feel like I understand. I trust her. We haven't spoken that much true but… well I guess I can relate to fighting for your sister and what-not. "On the other side of the reservoir you can see the Assembler on the left, and the right. Liam, I want you to havoc strike the one on the right while I charge the one on the left. We time it right, and the one patrolling in back mid won't have a chance to open fire on us, giving Vetra a moment to cross while we take it out, and any buddies it might have back there. The moment your assembler goes down, grab cover, just to be safe," I ordered. He nodded, but didn't look me in the eye, clearly still angry.

I waited until the middle Assembler had moved from view. The moment it had I signaled Liam and we both launched ourselves at our respective targets. Liam shoving his blades down into the head of his assembler, frying circuits, rendering it dead, and my charge staggered mine allowing me to shove my omni-blade through the glowing red light in the center of its "head" and the lights flickered and died. At that moment Vetra had both crossed and the third Assembler had come to investigate. I launched an Overload and apparently Liam had the same idea, the combined attack far too much for its systems and it exploded in a cloud of blue smoke and electricity. Quickly, two more Assemblers appeared from further along the path on the right. Vetra launched a concussive round at one, knocking it to the ground and opened fire on the other. It managed to get a burst off before the onslaught of rounds from her Cyclone tore it to shreds but her shields and tech armor could absorb it. The final Assembler was only getting up. A double burst from my Valkyrie putting it down for good.

With the last of the Assemblers down, we continued following the conduit. This time though, we were finding out just how massive this place truly was. The Platform we were on just… dropped off. An absolutely massive cavern stretching for possibly hundreds of miles, left, right, and forwards. Dotting the landscape were dozens if not hundreds of massive Pyramid like structures.

"Holy shit… look how far it goes," Vetra muttered.

"This can't possibly be just for an atmosphere processor, can it? The hell is this place?" I asked. I noticed Liam was still keeping quiet… I went left instead of right, just in case there were any hidden goodies. I did find pieces of Remnant bots and some Remnant metal. Maybe with this kind of stuff we could make Remnant armor or weapons even. Those might come in handy.

"How come this liquid hasn't dried up?" Peebee asked over the comms. "Unless turning that conduit on started it all flowing again. Wouldn't that be something," seems she answered her own question. Now heading to the right, which was coincidentally the right way to go. Along the way was another door, with more salvage and minerals. Turning the bend, we saw another Aqueduct, like from earlier.

"Another one? How many do they need?" Liam ended his short-lived silence, asking a question.

"If it really is like Omni-gel it could be what keeps this place going," I suggested.

"And the hell are those pyramids? They gotta be huge," Vetra asked. No one had an answer. Around the next Aqueduct I noticed a handful or so of Assemblers. I couldn't see Observers fortunately but that didn't mean they weren't there. The only way for them to get to us was across a ramp. Not incredibly wide but not thin either. Could still make a nice kill-zone for us. I pulled out my Widow, taking aim at an Assembler at the top of the ramp. I ordered the team to keep any Breachers off me, and if possible, Overloads from Liam on any of the Assemblers.

I pulled the trigger, the Assembler going down as circuits and wires exploded out from the other side, the lights going dark. The part that surprised me was that none of the other bots seemed to be alerted. And the Widow is not a quiet gun. It wasn't impossible that I was giving them too little credit, and there was an ambush waiting. So instead I stayed where I was, and took aim at another Assembler farther away, on the opposite wall. One shot, one kill yet again. This time the bots took notice, their lights changing from blue to red, and moving into cover close to the ramp.

"Vetra, get ready to repel a charge, Liam, get ready to help her, grenades if you have to!" I ordered. The bots didn't disappoint. As I was swapping to my Valkyrie, a trio, seemingly all that were left, leaped out of cover and began running towards us, firing. Their fire was being focused on Vetra and she was only able to get a few shots off before she needed to crouch. And they were almost on top of us.

"SAM, boost my Biotics, STAT!" I ordered. I began to focus my biotics into one small area, just in front of the Assemblers, using the Eezo in my head to continuously increase the mass and density of a small pocket of molecules. The dark energy around it getting stronger, and stronger. Soon, just as the Assemblers passed by, that little pocket reached infinite density.

A singularity was formed. It dragged the Assemblers back, they floated helplessly in the air as they were dragged closer and closer to absolute oblivion. One by one each Assembler was consumed, every atom that made them up literally and absolutely destroyed by quantum physics. And just like that, as my Biotics released their hold on the pocket of molecules, the singularity was no more. I took a few deep breaths, that ability was always exhausting. Thanks to SAM, I wasn't nearly exhausted as I would normally be.

"Always hated doing that one," I let out between gasps.

"Wow, I have not seen that move used often. Remind me never to piss you off Scott," Vetra chuckled.

"All in a day's work," I joked back.

"By the way Scott, how was SAM boosting your biotics?" Vetra asked. Shit, I forgot to explain that.

"Sorry, meant to explain that back on the Tempest earlier. When we're done here I'll explain, too lengthy for the field," I told her, hoping that would be enough for now. She tilted her head quizzically, but shrugged and readied herself. We continued up the ramp, past several locked doors and along to the other side of the Aqueduct. It led us around another bend with a structure across from us. Way too far to jump. Luckily enough the path continued to the right. We continued walking along the path when a familiar pair of figures walked through one of the doors.

"Peebee! Cora!" I called out, trying to get their attention. Peebee looked over with a wave as they continued walking along.

"Ryder! So, that relic box I found? Definitely not a symbol of Authority. The bots still shot at us. All good though. Maybe it'll work with one of those data patterns," she suggested.

"Alright, just keep watching your backs," I called out. Peebee didn't reply, instead just giving a thumbs up as she and Cora entered another door. To my right was a large door, and where the conduit was going. But damn my curiosity, making me take a look forwards, around another bend and through another small door. Among the salvage from before was something more… unique. I scanned it.

"Pathfinder, it appears to be a kind of decryption key. It should allow us to bypass the encryptions on any Remnant consoles we come across. However, it appears to be a single use only. I recommend holding saving it for a particularly strong encryption," SAM explained. Made sense at least. We doubled back to the large door, entering another corridor that bent left and then right towards another door. The corridor was dark, not pitch black, but dark. Upon walking a few meters in, a pillar rose from the ground and a blue… object in a shape I can't quite describe floating above it appeared. The blue object illuminating a large portion of the area. A scan revealed its purpose was just that. A light. More appeared as we traversed the corridor.

"The atmo processor Dad used didn't need all these steps. Dad just interfaced directly. What made that one so different?" I asked SAM.

"Given the damage to the Monolith, and likely the vault, direct interface was required. However, it was clearly unwise," the AI explained.

"Damn it… if only we had gotten out of the way…" I muttered. Vetra walked over, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, Scott, that wasn't your fault. I wasn't there but I read the report. You had no way of knowing, either of you," she gave my shoulder a small shake and flashed a Turian grin. It felt good to hear that. In fact, now that I think about it, I have been feeling some guilt about dad. It was my mask that broke after all. His sacrifice so I would survive. If it wasn't for me… But… I don't know why, but… maybe it was the way she said it, maybe it was just hearing it and realizing what I was feeling, maybe just support from a good friend, but it made me feel… better? About it? Perhaps better to simply say more at ease. I've never been really good with even understanding my own emotions aside from the painfully obvious ones. I looked back at her and gave a small smile.

"Thanks, but come on, we have a job to do," I recovered. Moving on to the next room, I noticed it bore many similarities to the vault's entrance, at the base of the gravity well. Not fully identical, no, but a ramp at the left and right side of the room with a large open area in the middle, likely another gravity well. The center and far side of the room were covered in bots. Several Assemblers and I could see a single Observer. The left side had more cover along the ridge and the right side had little cover on the ridge and more to the back of the platform. But it also had a construct that appeared inactive. It had four long rods protruding from each of the four corners on a front. Had no confirmation, but I'd bet good money that was a turret.

"Hold position here," I ordered to Liam and Vetra. "I'm going to try and sneak over to that construct on the right and destroy it. Damn sure that's a turret. The goal is to do that before anything in this room starts shooting, but if that doesn't exactly go to plan, you two are my covering fire."

"Got it, just be careful. Maybe see if SAM can't take control of it," Vetra suggested.

"A moment Pathfinder. Your father's armor is capable of a limited tactical cloaking device, which I have the means to control to peak efficiency. However, I cannot confirm whether or not the Remnant possess methods to detect you regardless. I suggest caution," SAM spoke up.

"Huh, another damn good reason I decided to wear his armor," I muttered. I also wondered if Cora would either understand and accept both my old reasoning and newer reasoning, the combat drone and tactical cloak, to wearing his armor. Let alone armor marked N7. I do understand why some people would have issues with me wearing that symbol, but I just hope they also sympathize or understand with my reasons.

Activating the cloak, I walked up the ramp towards the construct, so far, undetected. I got behind it and lit up with what I saw. A console.

"Well SAM? Can you take control?"

"Affirmative Pathfinder. Interface and I will re-write it's targeting protocols." I did just that and the turret lit up in a blue light, the head floating up and then pointing down as it took aim at the now highly alert Remnant bots.

"Vetra! Liam! Up here! Now!" I yelled out, seeing them immediately begin sprinting as the turret charged a shot and fired straight into an Assembler, a large smoking hole left in its "head" as it collapsed to the ground. One of the Observers raised itself into my sights just as Liam and Vetra made it up to the platform and an Assembler charged from the left. I turned to fire a burst just as a swarm of bullets from a Cyclone tore it to shreds.

I forgot about the Observer. The beam struck me dead on, shields flaring and draining fast. I jumped to the ground into cover behind the turret as they collapsed, the Turret charging a shot at the Observer.

Note to self: Do not EVER, get hit by a Remnant turret. That one shot went right through the Observer's shields and it practically shattered into various scraps of burning and melting metal.

"Ok, REALLY fucking glad that thing is on our side," I exclaimed.

"Heh, I think I'm going to give it a grenade or two when we're done. Just to be safe…" Liam half-joked. At this point only a pair of Assemblers remained. I quickly brought one down with a double burst from my Valkyrie, and the Turret destroyed the other. The three of us holstered our weapons as we glanced around the room, for what to do next.

"Pathfinder, there is a console on the other side of the room, it is connected with the one we just used for the Turret via the same conduit we have been following. As this console has already been activated, it is reasonable to believe that the other shall provide emergency power to the gravity well, allowing us to proceed," SAM explained.

"And the turret?" Liam asked.

"I suggest saving your grenades. There are no programs attempting to re-take control and the only way to restore the turret's original programming is through direct interface of the same console we used to control it," SAM revealed. Liam glanced at me and I just shrugged, turning to move to the other console. Upon activation, a dome of greenish light appeared around us, like a shield, coming from a small pylon behind the console which was now descending into the floor. Upon a scan, it seemed that this pylon was boosting my shields, but could also be manipulated to overload them instead. Pleasant.

The gravity well opened and down we went once more.

"How the hell is a place so old so clean?" Liam asked.

"Radiation readings indicate the Vault has been offline for several hundred years," SAM revealed. Seems a pattern is cropping up. These structures are several hundred years old, our Milky Way scans, several hundred years old did not detect the scourge, and now these vaults have likely been offline for several hundred years.

"Around the time the Scourge appeared?" I suggested. "No way in hell is that a coincidence. The scourge might be why all this tech is abandoned." Peebee's voice popped up on our comms.

"Damn, the implications alone… gaaaah, now I only have more questions," she groaned, but I could still hear mirth in her voice. We touched the ground in another large and open room, door ahead, two slightly raised platforms on our flank, and a sparking console behind us. There was a light on the right platform that drew my attention, walking over, there was a container at its base, a container I opened.

Inside was something… odd looking. It seemed to fit over an arm, like a gauntlet. Scans revealed that it contained technology that would freeze whatever a certain side struck.

"Pathfinder, I can integrate this into the Omni-tool on one of your arms, however it would replace the Omni-blade for that arm. This cryo gauntlet will form around that arm as you move to strike your target, and de-form afterwards. However, it is not a full freeze or lethal, it freezes the outer layer, still rendering them frozen in place for a moment, it causes pain, but not extreme pain," SAM explained.

"Well, I suppose I should give it a shot," I considered. Surprisingly, it folded up into a small chip that I could fit onto my right forearm. SAM informed that he had successfully linked it and I moved to the console at the back of the room. Not only was it sparking, but a fluid was pouring out from the back. "Damn it…" I sighed.

"Don't touch the console, sparks are flying all over in front of it," Vetra warned. Unless we found a solution, we would not be proceeding any farther.

"Damn it there has to be something!" I exclaimed. I was not turning my back on this place. Not now. We're so CLOSE! I know it!

"Ryder! Up here!" Peebee called out from above. I looked up, noticing two platforms higher above us, separated by a moderately sized gap, but too long for a jump. Peebee and Cora ran out to the edge and looked down at us. "Any idea what's go-oh. It's that console there, isn't it?" Peebee groaned. Her face lit up as she remembered something. "Wait wait wait wait… THE OBSERVERS! We saw one blasting some weird laser frequencies to fix a broken wall back there."

"I don't think that console is a wall, Peebee," Cora turned to the Asari.

"Well yeah!" She sighed, "But that doesn't mean it can't work. Ryder, I'm sending the frequencies. Give those a shot," she suggested. My Omni-tool pinged as the frequencies were received.

"Got em, I'll try em out," I called out. I sent out the frequencies to the console and the flow of liquid stopped. "Looks like it's just a patch job, but it should work now," I called out again. I activated the console and a bridge appeared between the two higher platforms and the door behind us began to open.

"And look at that! A bridge! Keep this up and I might just start owing you Ryder," she chuckled.

"And where are you two off too?" I asked as Peebee began running across the bridge as Cora shook her head to the side, beginning to move faster to keep pace.

"We HAVE to be close to the lockdown by now. First one there gets all the glory," she teased.

"Well if it's a race she wants…" I chuckled, turning to Vetra and Liam as we continued. Through the door, the structure opened again into another system of caverns. Off the edge of the platform was more of the fluid with no way back up, and lower, on the platform in front of us, was a kind of tree.

"I get the feeling it's going to be a long time until I'm no longer impressed by this shit," Vetra muttered. I couldn't help but chuckle a bit myself. To the side of me was another console. Upon activation, a cluster of pillars rose from the fluid, providing a path so long as we jumped.

"Careful, you go down there I don't think there's any chance of being fished back out," I warned. We made our way across the chasm onto the platform with the tree. "How the hell is plant life even growing down here?" I asked.

"And for a moment there I thought all that gravity shit fucked with my eyes," Liam muttered. Not sure that even begins to make sense.

"No sun, no water, they should all be dead," Vetra wondered. "This planet may be a wasteland but no plant life is that hardy." Seems this shit was full of mysteries. I activated a console, retracting a cluster of platforms behind us yet raising another to our left, leading us up to a path. It had a lower route and a higher route. Two observers were already on the higher route and spotted us as we crossed the chasm.

"Fucking hell I am really starting to hate these things," I groaned as we ran into cover to avoid their beams. "Liam, I want you to charge up your overload on the right one, and I'll do the same on the left one. Vetra, when we launch them I want you to be raining hell on 'em. Charge up Liam, and on my mark," I ordered. Noticing his Omni-tool was ready, as was mine, I gave the mark. We all stood up as the charged overloads arced between the two, and thanks to the timing, both detonated with electricity leaving easy pickings for Vetra before Liam and I could even ready our weapons. Though the firefight drew the attention of three Assemblers, I simply launched a biotic shockwave into the middle of them, knocking them off the edge and into the chasm below.

We continued through a door at the far side of the area, likely not where we needed to go, but it likely held something of interest. The room was like the storage room we found earlier but it bent to the left instead. I readied my weapon and peeked around the corner, almost pulling the trigger at what I saw. Each wall was lined with Assemblers.

All of them inactive.

"No. Nope. Nopity Nope. Fuck that. Nope." Liam exclaimed.

"Scott…" Vetra cautioned. Slowly, and against my better judgement, I walked forward. Slowly, Vetra and Liam followed, weapons at the ready. "Hate this… Hate it." she groaned. I found a container with various valuable supplies and metals. Really hoping the scientists can do something with all this shit. Fortunately, the Assemblers did not pull some Indiana Jones shit, where removing the treasure activates the guards.

At least not yet.

Slowly we began walking back to the room's exit. We made our way past the last of them and began to holster our we-

CLANG!

"Oh crap!" Vetra yelled out, turning around with her weapon drawn to see that an Assembler had simply fallen over. I quickly tried to replace my petrified face with one of teasing and humor as I began chuckling, trying to restore color to my face. She took one look at me and raised her brow-plate, knowing full well I was full of shit. I shrugged and we moved on. On the way back to the first platform was another console that activated a path to the right of it.

"10 creds say that is the right path. We go that way, we go to the lockdown," I mentioned. Before anyone could respond, a trio of Observers hovered up, blocking our path. The three of us ducked into cover. Ordering Liam to do the same Overload combo, we were fortunate that the middle Observer had detonated, draining the shields of the other two just next to it. Fortunately, we had attacked just before they separated. Each of us fired a burst into an Observer, sending them crashing into the ground.

Following the path, we made it to the other side, there was a closed door, and another terminal in front of us, yet also a ledge with a console to the side. Activating the one in front of us first, I had assumed the path back would remain. I was wrong, but could likely fix it. However, a few Assemblers appeared on the platform across from us and opened fire. I biotically pulled one from the ground and immediately followed up with a throw, the detonation utterly destroyed the first Assembler and knocked the other two to the ground. One of which was so close that I saw that it's right side had simply crumpled up like paper, and the last was finished off by a quick burst from my rifle.

Retracting that path brought a confused look on my squad mates faces but I simply told them to wait as I interfaced with the more hidden console. A third path appeared branching off to the back left of the original platform. We followed.

"Two gravity wells deep, and this place goes even deeper… once we get a foothold a science team could investigate this place for years, decades even. Wonder what's at the bottom…" I thought out loud.

"Who says there is a bottom? Honestly at this rate I wouldn't be surprised if this place reached down to the core," Vetra remarked.

"Ryder! I think I've figured it out! This relic is some kind of data storage device!" Peebee's voice once more filled our comms.

"Any idea what's on it?" I asked.

"Give a girl some time Ryder," she teased. "When we're done here I'll need my notes back in my shuttle to crack it. But just imagine if it has just one of those data patterns intact! Think what mysteries we could solve!" She exclaimed. Peebee certainly seemed to love a good mystery. Unsurprisingly, our side path was not sunshine and rainbows. We'd need to fight our way through once again. A pair of Observers and Assemblers stood in our way, and they had the high ground, two separate ledges, one higher than the other and both higher than us. If we let those Observers get too high they would simply shoot over our cover.

I launched an energy drain at one as Vetra opened fire with her disruptor rounds into the other one. A quick charged overload from Liam detonated them both, the combined damage sending both crashing into the ground. I charged at one of the Assemblers up above and activated my new Cryo-gauntlet, slamming it into the bot as it was in-cased in ice. Quickly, I generated a Nova in my fist and slammed it into the ground, shattering the Assembler and the other one collapsing onto the ground. The others followed and we entered another room with a tree but the walls were lit up with lights. No, not lights…

Data packets. Glyphs. Information.

"Look at all of this… It's like a Library," I exclaimed.

"Hold the fuck up, you're kidding," Peebee exclaimed over comms.

"Nope."

"And I went the other way!? Damnit I'd kill to be standing where you are," she groaned. I scanned everything. Most of all the data was severely corrupted, only a few terms surviving. Vaguely translated I might add. Some glyphs on the walls allowed me to Decrypt via Remdoku a container. It was filled to the brim with metal and tech. A few select pieces appearing extremely unique, as I had yet to see them. A scan revealed that they were a compact core of Remnant circuitry and power cells. Could well come in handy. Quickly we made our way back to the way we should have been going. My mind drifted back to my father, seeing all this amazing technology and mystery.

"Dad would have loved this place," I thought out loud. Almost not even realizing it.

"Heh, he'd have us scanning every millimeter," Liam chuckled.

"Maybe one day it'll be Sarah exploring down here. Back in the Milky way she worked with a team digging up old Prothean ruins," I explained.

"She'd feel right at home here then," Liam chuckled. Finally, we made it to the end of the room and made our way through another door. As it opened, we could see a thick white beam of light or perhaps a stream of fluid, it was difficult to tell. We strode forward, noticing the platform and the room around us housed various plant life. The beam was resonating out of an odd cone like pillar that… moved. Opening up at its bottom and closing as segments above it did the same.

"Well, I think this is it. The heart of the Vault," I stated, some awe in my voice.

"Never seen anything like this before," I heard Vetra mutter.

"All conduits converge here, Pathfinder," SAM informed, confirming our suspicions.

"Well… Let's go turn this thing on," I stated. Moving over to a console I saw. Standing in front of it, I lifted my right hand and placed my palm on the center of the console. The pillars within it shifted, moving downwards under my hand and rippling outwards as the Vault responded to my command. The beam and its emitter whirred with energy, in a flash, the beam was gone, and in another instant, replaced by a beam of red energy. Red is never a good color to see. But it seemed my fear was for naught as the beam quickly thinned out and disappeared. Noticing another Remnant data box like Peebee found earlier, I grabbed it and attached it to my belt.

"Pathfinder, the system lockdown is disabled. The Vault, and the atmosphere processor, should return to full operation," SAM explained. Wonder how long that will take…

"Ryder? You just fix the lockdown?" Peebee asked over the comms. "The whole place is lighting up. Power readings off the chart… Really… Really off the charts…" she sounded concerned.

"Well… if it's back online we should be good…" I looked up, a mass of a dark brown with reddish light smoke was heading our way. Similar as to what happened on Habitat 7. I had a real bad feeling about this. We started backing up, the smoke reached a plant that was on a distant platform.

There wasn't a plant there anymore.

"Ok. Fuck this shit. Let's get the fuck out of here!" I yelled, the three of us turned to run, noticing that the door we came from was closed, but a shield blocking another path had opened. Given that the door we came from was red, it was locked. We dashed to the other path. This path was narrow, what appeared to be emergency lights flashing orange guiding our way.

"Peebee! Cora! Get the fuck out of here! NOW!" I ordered. As we continued dashing, following the lights.

"Yeah, we saw that shit too, already running as fast as we can!" Peebee responded. We turned a corner and a square in the floor burst with flame. A vent.

"Oh shit, watch out for more of those," Vetra called out as we continued.

"It would be wise to escape, Pathfinder," SAM remarked.

"NO FUCKING SHIT SAM!" I yelled back, continuing to run. We turned another corner to see a more lit room with more plants. There was a console with a large gap separating the next area. Not going to risk it. Running to it, I quickly interfaced and a bridge appeared. Just in time too as sparks began shooting ahead of me. We continued running, gaining ground on whatever the fuck it is.

"FASTER! DON'T LET IT CATCH US!" Vetra yelled out. The way ahead was a series of raised platforms with ramps leading up them. Too much time. Instead we jumped up, just making it up the ledge, making good time as we climbed rather than walked. The path changed to the side, we wouldn't be gaining ground on the smoke during this. It was getting close. Fortunately, we made it through the door on the other side in time, but no way had we escaped it. The door led us towards another gravity well room. There was a blue ball of light at the base, possibly how we get it to lift us up rather than down. Sticking out my Omni-tool as we got close it disappeared and an invisible hand plucked the three of us from the ground and lifted us up.

This seemed to be putting a good distance between us and the smoke. We made it to the top of the gravity well and the floor formed beneath us as the invisible hand released us.

The smoke was right in front of us.

"MOTHERFUCKER!" I yelled, a bit of terror in my voice as we turned to run. I noticed we were in the same room that housed the container behind a barrier. Ordering at the others to continue as I ran and jumped up the edge, I ran into the room and grabbed two handfuls of whatever the fuck was in it and ran out, just barely ahead of the smoke. I ran down the ramp as they got the door open.

"We're almost out, where are the rest of you?" I asked over the comms as we continued running to the other door. They were running out of time. "Peebee? Cora?" I turned to look back and saw as the two appeared around the corner, both stopping in their turn and continuing their run towards us. I continued moving to the door but stopped, making sure the others would make it, standing there and motioning for them to hurry the fuck up.

"MOVE! It's right on our damn heels!" Peebee yelled. They all ran past me and I moved to the door which remained closed, everyone searching for a way to get it open. We did NOT come this far just to die.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Vetra muttered as she slammed a fist against the door. "It's sealed! Try to get something under it!" She suggested. Nothing was working. I turned to look at the smoke and noticed a console. No other choice. I ran for it slamming my palm against it to interface. I could feel the heat from it, making me sweat.

"Console is attempting surface reconnection," SAM informed. It was getting closer, the heat more and more intense.

"Shit." I muttered, expecting that to be my last word as sparks flew out around me and the smoke came near inches from me.

And then it retracted. Falling back, clearing out, the heat gone.

"Vault restart is now complete," SAM informed. The others slowly walked up behind me, all breathing heavily.

"That was… Talk about a rush," Peebee sighed.

"What… the hell… was that…" Vetra asked. "I know a trap when I see one…"

"Immune response? One last scrub before startup? This place is full of surprises," Peebee theorized. I could still feel the adrenaline in me. As it was coming down… it felt… good. Fun, even.

"Nothing like outrunning death," I chuckled.

"Or reactivating a huge, mysterious vault. Nice going, by the way," Peebee remarked.

"Atmosphere processor is online. Recovering last console activity," SAM spoke up as the console projected a large, glowing, yellow, and round hologram. The hologram shrunk and thousands at the very least sprung up across the room. A map of Heleus? The yellow dot gained a marker over it that I couldn't read, and a handful of lines shot out from it. The thousands of dots were replaced by more spaced out and slightly larger dots. Still more than I could focus on but fewer than there was. Quickly, SAM managed to translate the label for me.

"There we are," I said, pointing at the yellow dot. "That's Eos. This must be a map of Heleus."

"Look, these lines moving. Some of the dots changing. Something happened. All because we restarted the system?" Vetra pointed out.

"If that light is us, all these other points could be other vaults on other worlds. Dormant, like this one," I theorized.

"Maybe, but why a whole network of em? What's all this for?" Peebee asked. I smiled as I thought of the implications. We can do this. We can make it here.

"This tech can create Observers from thin air or ravage an entire planet, and that's just what we've seen. The bots, those plants back there, the atmo processors…" More and more awe and hope filled my voice as I spoke.

"Once I was a part of a Council team that was seeding some ice planet's atmo. Trying to melt the ice caps," Vetra remarked. Seeing a similarity.

"To help it support life," I finished for her. Still smiling.

"We already know the one on Habitat 7 was broken. Destroying it instead of fixing it," Cora remembered.

"Guys… do you understand what this means?" I practically beamed as I spoke up. "I think these builders were trying to make worlds habitable. Maybe even terraform the whole cluster. We can do this… we can make it!" I exclaimed.

"Fucking A…" I heard Vetra mutter, a Turian grin on her face.

"Hey, look at this," Peebee pointed out. She moved into the hologram and pointed at one specific dot, one different than the others. The lights weren't flashing, but instead a stable green color. The hologram expanded into a planet, glyphs appearing. "This one is different. Maybe it's active? We need to check this out!"

"Coordinates received Pathfinder. This planet lies beyond the space we have currently surveyed," SAM informed.

"Mark it down, we need more info," I ordered. "Come on, let's get back to the surface. Could do with some fresh air.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey guys, hope you're still enjoying everything! Now, you may be asking questions in regards to some of Scott's ability usage. The combat drone last chapter, maybe the singularity in this chapter, and the Tac cloak. Simply put, I find the level up system to work fantastically in game, but highly difficult to explain for writing. So, changed it. Ryder can use essentially any biotic ability now, though some just need a bit of help from SAM. Some tech abilities, such as the drone and cloak, don't work with just an omni-tool function, the armor needs to have some kind of capability like that to use it, so I have it be thanks to Alec's armor, for now at least. The same kind of logic is why I just made it so that the squad has their full abilities and modified ammo now rather than post loyalty. As for how I had the singularity itself work? I you've ever read the Mass Effect Book Retribution; Paul Grayson is implanted with Reaper tech by Cerberus. Skipping some details, he ends up on Omega and wreaks some havoc amongst Aria's forces. He launches several singularities at clusters of her troops and they do in fact get sucked into the singularity just as if it was a regular black hole. Obviously, they can't do that in-game as it would simply be overpowered.