Chapter 12 -
If Shepard had harboured any doubts to whether or not she really was attracted to turians, meeting Primarch Latus dispelled all these doubts.
The first thing she noticed about him was his size. He was at least a head taller than Garrus. His plates were dark and smooth like volcanic rock, and his eyes were just as dark and compelling. His clan markings had to be the least 'attractive' feature, for they were neither of a noble family, nor from an important city; they were moss green and lacked the elegant lines Solana and Garrus' facial markings had. His most distinguishing feature, however – and it drove even the unflappable Shepard almost to her knees - was without a doubt his voice. It was warm like dark chocolate molten in gentle heat, and then mixed with smooth cream; it flowed like silk.
If Primarch Latus noticed the reaction his presence provoked from the three females, he didn't show it. He walked around his large glass desk to grasp Shepard's hand.
"It is an honor to finally meet you, Commander," he said. "I have heard many things about you. I am looking forward to working with you personally." He gave her a knowing smile. "I trust the sources were fair."
Shepard's body had tensed like a bowstring, and to her dismay she felt her skin heat up. She prayed her face didn't show the blush.
Primarch Latus returned to his desk and offered them a seat.
"Alina, could you please bring another chair? I would hate for a guest to be left standing after the long journey."
Alina, the asari who had escorted them to his office, bowed her head and turned with a noticeable swing of her hips. Latus' eyes stayed on her until the door closed, then strayed from Solana to Liara. He gave her a once over, then returned to the female turian.
"You must be Garrus' sister," he said kindly.
Solana tensed. "I am," she said with utmost control in her trembling subharmonics.
"I have to say, based on how your brother talked about you, I expected to see your mother, but you resemble Talus more."
"You know my father?"
"I met him many years ago, which is not the same as – ah!" He stood up when Alina returned with a chair. He pointed at Liara and said, "If you'd be so kind – thank you."
His attention returned to Shepard, but she didn't miss how his eyes glanced back to the now seated asari. She also noticed how Alina pushed Liara harshly into the chair.
"But returning to the topic at hand…" He sobered, folding his hands on the desk. He gave Shepard his full attention. Shepard instinctively reached for Solana's hand. A shudder ran down her spine as she mentally prepared for the worst.
"I am sorry to inform you that your husband, Commander, and your brother, Solana, was captured by the krogan and we have no way of knowing if he is alive."
Shepard and Solana exhaled slowly. Jane ducked her head as she tried to calm down. All in her screamed. She was trembling inwardly and she pressed her teeth together to keep them from clattering. She had known… everything she'd heard had pointed to this. But hearing it from a direct source was… it was terrible. She exhaled slowly as she fought to stay calm.
"I… I thought so," she rasped, clearing her throat. "When… when was he captured? I heard there was an attempt to secure the com tower…"
He nodded slowly. "A month ago Garrus and I met to discuss the situation. We'd just reconquered Satah, but the krogan focused their wrath on Salva, the city surrounding the com tower. We knew that, in order to getting rid of the krogan problem, we'd have to – one, secure the com tower in Salva, and second, remove the source of problem, which is Sakkem."
Latus released slowly a breath, but his subvocals trembled. "Now, Sakkem never leaves Rankun, the main krogan settlement. And we're not thatdesperate to even think about attacking them there. We decided then to secure the com tower by blocking the direct access to Salva. The krogan, every time they attacked, they came with tanks. So we thought if we block the road, they will stay out. Simple."
"But it didn't work," Shepard said.
Latus bowed his head. "No."
He stood up then and led them over to the blinking military map. He touched the dark screen and it reacted instantly, revealing the colony's map. Latus tapped on a red spot, zoomed in on a large, circular city with the com tower in the very center.
"What did your husband tell you last time you talked?" he asked politely.
"Just that it was an important mission and… and that it might be a few days, before he'd get in touch with me," Jane answered and cleared her throat to get rid of the lump. "The rest I guessed and Victus filled me in later."
Latus nodded. "We wanted to block all the entrances to the com tower, which meant also destroying all paths to and from the main road," he began slowly "We figured it'd be best – the lesser of two evils – if the two city blocks facing the krogan's settlement were blocked, destroyed, it would be harder for the krogan tanks to pass through. They'd would have to pass in smaller shuttles or on foot, and our snipers, patrols and missiles could have removed all approaching threats…"
Shepard waited when the turian's pleasant voice faded; but time was too short to be patient.
"What went wrong?"
"We don't know!" he said, a frustrated snarl thrumming in his subvocals. He touched on four different points – the main gates separating each block from each other and through which the main road went. "We installed bombs in each gate, each connected to several critical points within the rings," he continued. "While the troops were busy evacuating the first and second ring, the others were setting up the bombs. These two rings were supposed to be left completely empty and destroyed… evened out, you could say."
"To have a complete overview of the place?"
He bowed his head slightly. "Cities can be rebuilt. A culture cannot."
Latus returned to his desk, Shepard and her team following him quietly.
"What did the evacuated citizens say? Weren't they witnesses or did the disaster happen, when they were gone?" she asked as she sat down.
Latus rubbed his eyes and released a deep, tired sigh, letting Shepard know more than he perhaps intended.
"Do you know how many citizens Salva had?" he asked.
She shook her head.
"Well, Salva was the second largest and most populated city after Prima. For Rubrum's standards she was quite big. And very beautiful, before the war began taking its toll on her…" He sighed again. "Anyway, there were about a four thousand citizens in Salva during the mission. Less than halfof them were evacuated in time. All evacuated said more or less the same thing: the troops set off the bombs too early. The krogan were unstoppable and were everywhere, and just as the ships were leaving Salva, the com tower exploded."
"How many stayed behind?" Shepard whispered.
"Not counting the soldiers, who stayed behind as they were ordered to? Almost twenty-five hundred people."
Shepard and her friends winced.
"The troops were ordered to give the evacuating ships enough time to leave and then – had everything gone right – they would have secured Salva and stayed to protect the com tower."
Shepard's lips twisted bitterly. "I guess none of those things actually happened."
Latus' mandibles twisted. "No…" he whispered and shook his head. "Any attempts to reconquer Salva have failed, Commander. Sakkem has the com tower and therefore controls all communication and satellites. Prima has been spared so far, but Satah has been under krogan attack very often lately and don't even get me started on what's happening in the science facility."
His mandibles flared and tightened as he took deep breath to calm himself. "It is only a matter of time, before they attack Prima. And I'm afraid we won't have the means to fight back victoriously by then."
He shrugged, mandibles shifting with bitterness. "It's been hard to… keep up the morale."
"Looks like you've been doing a good job, though," Shepard said. "You're still standing."
He smiled, his eyes watching hers intently. "This means a lot coming from you, Commander." His subharmonics released a low thrum. "I heard great things from you and your team. And I am expecting equally great things from you."
Liara crossed her legs and straightened her back. Shepard had to bite her lip to keep her laughter at bay and she kicked the asari's foot when her friend puffed out her chest.
"I am looking forward to the action, Primarch," Shepard said. "Is there anything I could do for you now?"
He gave her another blinding smile and leaned back. "Garrus was right about you. Always straight to the point.…" He cleared his throat and refocused. "There is something we need from a factory we were forced to give up a year ago. It's completely abandoned obviously. Alina has handed me the reports of the patrols in that area. They all say the krogan have not settled there."
"Yet," Shepard added.
"Yes. Not yet," he agreed with a slow nod. "There were unfinished projects left behind, containers full of resources the factory worked with…"
"Uh-huh, and what exactly did the factory produce, Primarch?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
Latus' dark eyes focused briefly on how her neck strained. "Just weapons and armor."
She chuckled. "Sure, 'just' weapons and armor."
Latus' answering chuckle sent a shiver down her spine. It wasn't an unpleasant one.
"You know these deals too well by now, do you Commander?"
Shepard felt both Solana and Liara shift in their seats at the silky feel of his soothing voice. She grinned back at him.
"I do, unfortunately," she sighed. "What resources do you need?"
"If the reports from the survivors are correct, then there was a container with metal from the mines. We used it to build our walls and many of our buildings," he explained, nodding at the walls around him. "The salarians, however, have found another use. They build special bullets with it. If they stay in the body, it gets infected and it doesn't matter where the person was shot, they will die."
Shepard nodded grimly. "I know. One of my men was shot. He was brought to the hospital as fast as possible."
"So you understand why I'm asking you to bring that to Prima?"
"I do."
"When will you be heading out? The earlier you leave the better. It's a long way to the factory… three hours to be exact and you don't know what will expect you on your way…"
"I will leave as soon as everyone in my team has sufficiently recovered from our journey," Shepard replied. "Until then, do you mind if I had a look around? Garrus told me a lot about Prima and I'm curious to see if he was right."
Latus stood up after her, his answering smile signalling the end of this meeting. "Of course, Commander," he said. "You can take your husband's room. It's empty and no one has entered since. If you don't mind, I can call the administrator and tell him to send up someone to clean up."
"And my crew?"
"If you tell me how many they are then I'll gladly order my assistant to reserve rooms for them in the barracks," Latus answered.
Shepard smiled and turned to leave. "Thank you, Primarch. It has been… a pleasure."
His chuckle was deep as he reached out to shake hands with the human legend and his grip was warm and strong. He shook hands with Solana, but his hand lingered longer on Liara than with anyone else, who blushed when her eyes met his warm gaze.
"So… our Primarch has a fetish for asari, huh?" Shepard drawled after Alina closed the door to the turian's office.
Solana barked out a laugh, twisting her body as it shook with every laugh.
"Oh, shut up!" Liara yelled, her face purple and her lips pressed thin as she tried to keep her embarrassment at bay.
Shepard spent most of the night planning and reading through endless files, before she forced herself to turn the lights off and sleep. She slept very little; four hours, and yet the next morning she felt more awake than when she slept her usual seven. She had just washed and dressed herself, when a knock on the door caught her attention.
"I hope I'm not interrupting you, Commander Shepard," Alina said, peeking in with a friendly smile. "May I come in? It's about the mission."
When Shepard gave a nod in permission, the asari entered and let the door fall shut behind her. She was pretty, Shepard observed, like a fairy one would see in a feverish dream. She didn't exert the same ruthless power like Aria T'Loak or the serenity and restrained strength Samara had. Alina walked somewhere in between, and she walked that line well, Shepard found. She walked with confidence, without hurry. No movement was wasted. Everything she did had a purpose.
Shepard gestured at the nearest chair, and the asari sat down, putting a datapad on her lap.
"I brought all the intel we have on the factory," she started.
Shepard nodded slowly, giving the other the incentive to continue.
She handed the datapad over to the human. "There's the ground plan of the building. The rooms and their functions are listed on a separate document. They are useful, but not very trustworthy."
Shepard's brows had furrowed as she read through the data. "When was the last patrol?"
"The last patrol that returned, was a month ago."
She lowered the datapad, eyebrows arched into an incredulous expression. "And when was the last patrol?"
"Two weeks before you arrived, Commander," Alina replied dutifully and gave her a thin smile. "What can you do? We're at war. Not everyone will return."
Ignoring the simple fact the asari had just thrown at her, Shepard turned to the next document on the datapad.
"And when was the compound abandoned?" she asked after a short, contemplative silence.
"About a year ago. As far as we know it's still abandoned."
Shepard pursed her lips. "That can't be or else the last patrol would've made it back – or some of the people at least."
Alina's full lips tugged depreciatory. "It is a long way to the factory, Commander. A lot can happen during that journey," she said.
"Yes, but you forget a lot can change in a month – not to mention a year!" Shepard countered firmly. "Who is to say the krogan haven't built a new settlement there by now?"
Alina's gaze darkened slightly, but gave a low bow with her head, "You have a point, Commander."
"It'd be so much easier if he had the satellites back in our control," Shepard sighed. "Plans never turn out the way you want them to, but I hate going to a mission blind."
"Are you planning on retaking Salva next?" the asari asked.
Shepard huffed a laugh, but kept the answer to herself. Truth was she didn't know.
Alina seemed to feel her reluctance and, courteous as she was, stood up to leave. She gave another bow and said, "If you have any further inquiries, please call into my office. I can't promise into my office. I can't promise I'll be the one picking up, but some of my assistants will surely help you."
Shepard quirked a smile. "Latus is keeping you busy?"
Alina side-eyed her, clearly gauging in what way this question was meant to be received.
"Yes," she answered slowly. "There's so much to do in so little time. I can barely keep up with all the new information."
Shepard stood up as well and followed her to the door. "He must have great trust in you if he places so much responsibility on you," she said.
Alina smiled, pleased, and stepped quietly out of Shepard's quarters. When the door fell shut, the deep silence that followed, almost made Shepard believe she'd been alone all along.
"I see you're up on your feet again," Shepard said with a crooked grin.
James turned, surprised, but he grinned as well. "What can I say? I'm hard to kill, Lola," he said with a light shrug. "Is there something I can do for you, Commander?"
Her smile stiffened as she regarded him. "How is your shoulder?"
He rolled his shoulder. No grimace twisted his face in pain. "Still a bit sore. As if I had teared a muscle, you know? But I'm ready to report for duty if that's what you want to know."
Shepard nodded slowly. "That's good, because we have a mission," she said.
His brows arched. "Already?" He crossed his arms. "What's it about?"
"We have to pick something up," Shepard answered vaguely and tilted her head to the side as she observed her two team mates practice. True to his word, James Vega was alright. His hand was steady when he fired and he hit all the dummies in very strategic places. While he and Solana practiced, Shepard took the chance to update him on the information from Alina's reports.
"And you're sure the place is abandoned?" James asked.
"No," Shepard replied frankly. "But honestly, I don't see how my approach would change if it wasn't."
He chuckled. "So, you're taking the classic approach? Barge in and destroy everything?"
"Okay, first of, I don't always destroy everything, only when it's necessary," Shepard sniped back. "And second, yes, you're right. If the factory does prove to be… uh… compromised, we will blow the whole thing up."
From the corner of her eyes, Shepard noticed how Solana's mandibles shifted the same way Garrus' did when something bothered him.
"Any thoughts, Sol?"
The female turian froze, her rifle held up as she forgot momentarily how to shoot. Shepard marveled at how different the Vakarian siblings were.
"Well… do you really thing destroying an entire factory is a good idea?" she asked.
Shepard shrugged. "Depends on the factory."
"Yes, but this is a turian factory," Solana replied. "The Primarch said we produced normal weapons and-"
"That was before the turians gave up on it," Shepard interjected. "A lot can happen during that time, Sol. We don't know what will be waiting for us there."
Solana nodded, then proceeded to shoot down a dummy.
James gave an impressed nod as the object was shredded to pieces. He reloaded his gun.
"Anything about Garrus?" he asked cautiously.
Shepard and Solana's exchanged glances, before they cut their eyes away.
The Spectre cleared her throat and forced herself to look at James, but was unable to meet his eyes.
"He… Garrus and his team were captured when the krogan took over Salva."
Vega breathed out slowly. "Man..." His shoulders dropped. "What are we going to do, Lola?"
Shepard huffed out a laugh and began to pace across the room. She brushed a hand through her hair.
"I…"
"You are going to rescue him, right?" Solana's eyes shot sideways to Shepard, an anxious sound trilled from her subvocals.
"Of course I am!" Shepard hissed, feeling anger, indignation flushing her neck. "But I can't just head out without a plan!"
"And do you have a plan?" Solana asked quietly.
Shepard sighed.
No.
"I'm thinking on it," she responded, turning to face her friends again. "Latus' mission should be ideal to give me an overview of the surroundings, a first feel of what to expect while we're here."
"And this mission is only about retrieving something?" James repeated.
She hummed in assent.
"And this compound is really abandoned?"
She shrugged. "As I said, as far as we know… it shouldn't be too dangerous, though," she mused. "Satah is in turian hand again, and Ilva, which is still in krogan hands, is on the other side of the river."
Solana swallowed audibly at the mention of a running water stream. "Is it the 'Water Demon'?"
"No, it's a relative," Shepard answered over James' snicker. She gave him a glare in warning.
Solana's brow plates shifted comically high. "The Blue Spawn?!" she squeaked.
James, who'd been holding in his laughter, exploded and doubled over. The turian glowered and advanced on him like a prowling cat.
"Enough, children!" Shepard said, rolling her eyes at their antics. "Come on, the gates will open soon and I want to head out as soon as possible."
They left punctually. Prima's gates opened and they drove away from the safety of the walls and into the wide grassland. They drove through it for a while, until Shepard turned abruptly right. Latus had mentioned a road that led through the forest and was the quickest way to get to the compound. Shepard opened the windows. It was a rather fresh day; the clouds kept the warmth of the morning sun at bay, and the wind only added to the cold. She hoped it would stay that way. She liked the summer, but it was horrible to work on a hot day.
The large trees grew even larger as they approached. Some of them were the usual green, the type you could find in any other world; but many of them were red like a sun dawn, their trunks dark as coal and of a width that only served as a reminder how peacefully empty the planet had been of any sentient life.
"I heard you can eat the leaves of those trees!" Vega yelled, peeking his head out to get a better look.
Solana searched for something in her bag. "Here," she said and threw a small satchel into his hand. "They were handing them over at the canteen," she explained with a shrug, and, after a bit of hesitating, fished a wrinkled leaf from it. She eyes it with a slight twist in her mandibles. Then she shrugged again and stuffed it into her mouth and chewed.
The two humans watched her raptly.
"And?" James nudged her, sitting down again.
Solana shuddered, subharmonics trilling wildly. She covered her mouth and continued to chew.
"You're not supposed to swallow," Shepard said. "Just chew like a gum or something."
She nodded, mandibles tight, and continued to chew. Then, she froze. Her eyes widened slightly, as her facial plates relaxed. She let out a low hum as her chewing slowed. She shrugged again and took another leaf.
"It's not so bad actually," she said. She ran her long tongue over her sharp teeth. The leaf had lost a bit of its color as she wrung the taste out of it. "It … it's actually quite good."
James grabbed one himself and eyed it with undisguised curiosity. "What's it taste like?"
"A bit spicy," she mused. "At first it was really bitter. I almost spat it out, but it changes. You get used to it."
He pursed his lips. But then he shrugged and said, "Oh whatever," and ate the leaf. His reaction was similar to the turian's. The first bit drew a tremor through his body. His face twisted into a grimace, a tear leaked from his eye as he forced himself to continue chewing. He relaxed quicker than Solana; his face softened and he sighed in pleasure.
"Well…" he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "I don't know about spicy, but it's good."
Solana frowned. "What do you mean?"
"It's sweet, not spicy."
"Wh- that's impossible!" She spat out the two leaves, and grabbed another one. She tasted it once more, but the result was the same. "No, it's not!"
He rolled his eyes. "Yes, it is! Lola, tell her!"
"Listen-"
"Guys, the leaves are for levo and for dextro," Shepard said with a resigned sigh. "You're eating the same thing, but it just tastes differently."
The two crew members eyed each other for a moment more. A sort of agreement ran unspoken between them. Solana turned to their leader.
"I'm sorry, Shepard, but we decided to ignore your theory," she said mildly.
Shepard rolled her eyes. "Oh really?"
"Yep!" Vega called out.
"Oh really?" She twisted in her seat to glare at them. "Then explain to me why several scientists have written papers on this… this phenomenon!"
James rolled his eyes. "Scientists are funded by politicians and corporations."
"Yeah, and they are only interested in money," Solana added.
Shepard stared at them, not really looking at where she was driving, and shook her head.
"Whatever," she muttered.
The two sitting behind her laughed. She felt Solana pat her head patronizingly.
"There, there, Shepard. Sometimes even the best have to be wrong."
She tried, really tried to keep pouting, but James and Solana were chatting and teasing and cracking jokes, not caring how ridiculous and childish they sounded, until even she gave in and laughed along with them.
James shouted out a cheer. He banged his fist against the roof. "I'm telling you, this mission will be a fun ride!"
"I regret everything I ever said," James muttered when they arrived at their destination.
"Shut up and let me think," Shepard gritted, eyes scanning carefully the place. "Yeah, this place is definitely not abandoned anymore."
"Did Latus lie?"
She shook her head slightly, Alina's calm face flashing before her eyes. "Nah, he's not a liar."
"What do we do? Drive them out?"
She cocked her head. "Maybe…"
"Good, I'll take the tank and-"
Shepard grabbed him by the collar, before he could leave. "Whoa there, cowboy! I haven't decided yet…
"Sol, how many do you see patrolling outside?"
"About ten, Commander," the turian whispered.
"That's about eleven too many," she muttered. "It's a good think we left the tank on the other side, or else we'd have trouble leaving…
"Okay, here's what we're going to do," she said. "We'll go back, take the tank, make a lot of noise to get their attention... Now…" She turned to James. "…Vega, how was your N7 training so far?"
"Exhausting."
"Good. You'll take the tank once we've gotten their attention. I don't know how many will come to bother us, but I want you to kill them, then return here to take care of those we can't kill, alright?"
"Aye, Commander."
"You and I will sneak in. Quietly and efficiently, can you do that?" she said to the turian.
Solana nodded firmly. "I can, Shepard."
Latus had been mistaken; the compound was not deserted. About four salarians and six krogan were patrolling the abandoned factory; but considering the humongous size of the building it was not far-fetched to assume there was at least a dozen more enemies waiting inside; and, seeing as what had been produced inside before the turians retreated from this territory, Shepard also assumed their weapons were much more developed and with bigger firepower than theirs.
The walk back to the tank was quiet and done in a great hurry, but thankfully they got there without being noticed.
Vega sat down behind the wheel. "So, do I start with the distraction when you're inside or do I start immediately?"
Shepard turned on the scanners, but it was acting off still. She huffed. They really needed to get the com tower working again.
"Give us a couple of seconds to take cover… Either way, I don't think we'll get very far," she said, punching the controls to convince them to work properly. "They will be on us the moment they see us."
James nodded and faced forward again. Solana tapped on Shepard's shoulder and nodded at the window.
"There's something out there," she said lowly, mandibles clasped stiffly on her face.
With a muffled gasp, the humans and the turian ducked in the tank.
"Did you see it?" Vega asked her.
"No. I just saw something big moving outside," came Solana's clipped answer.
Shepard breathed slowly through her nose and nudged the man behind the wheel with her boot.
"Open the windows," she whispered and waited until they were open. Then she motioned Solana to exchange places so that she could have a better view.
"Shit, why do these tanks have to be so small?" Solana whined, twisting her body to be more comfortable, but only succeeding in making herself more uncomfortable.
"You have yourselves to blame. It's a turian model," Vega quipped.
A whining noise rang outside. It sounded like the last groan of a wounded man, or a moan of a dying machine. It was a high-pitched sound; one, which froze the team to freeze.
"What the hell was that?" Vega hissed low under his breath.
Shepard risked a quick look over the window. She went pale and ducked. She willed her heart to stop beating so frantically and forced herself to release a deep, slow breath. Vega and Sol were watching her expectantly.
"Shepard?" the turian asked.
"Okay… Okay," she breathed. The gears in her brain were turning, looking frantically for an explanation to what she had just seen.
"What did you see?"
Shepard's green eyes met Solana's. All color had left her face, the blood frozen in her veins.
"Ravager," she said.
Her team jumped in surprise, but stopped themselves from crying out.
"I-" James peered through the windows of the tank. He gasped and slid back to his place, his gun clutched tight to his chest. Sweat dripped from his nose. "Shit, you're right."
"Why would I lie about that?" Shepard retorted with a hiss. She nudged at the turian before her. "Sol, aim from here out. Vega, aim with the tank's gun, okay? One shot won't be enough to take it down, and the shot will certainly lead others to our place. Watch out for them."
Vega nodded and got into position. Meanwhile, Solana had set up her rifle and was now adjusting the visor. Her mandibles spread as if to speak, but they dropped in shock. Her eyes widened and a shudder ran down her body, before it tensed. Shepard frowned.
"What is it?"
Solana looked away and met her eyes. "Shepard, that's not… that doesn't look like a ravager," she said.
Shepard looked through the sniper visor, moved it until the wandering thing came to view. Her brows scrunched together.
"What…"
"See?" Solana whispered insistently. "Ravagers look different. This thing is-"
"Smaller. It's definitely smaller," she murmured and bit her lip. "It has legs like a ravager, but…"
It was a monstrosity. Much like ravagers, it walked on four wheels and had something on its back that looked like an egg sack. It didn't glow like the perverted rachni. Its face was shaped very much like a turian's, but its eyes were round and hollow and flickered red like a dying lamp. The creature's mouth was grotesquely open, and dry moans dripped from it. It had four crooked arms and they geared in circular motions, moving sometimes forward, other times backwards.
"What should we do, Commander?" Vega asked lowly, after having checked the creature for himself.
"We kill it," she answered matter-of-factly. "Whatever it is, it cannot live. We kill it, but try not to destroy it. If it's something the salarians made then we need to know everything about it."
"Yes, Commander."
"No, wait!" A hand was pressed to her heaving chest. "I have a better idea. We need to catch his attention and lead it to the compound."
"You think it'll attack them?" Vega frowned.
She shrugged. "It's worth a try. If it doesn't work, then-"
"- we continue with the old plan, I get it."
James carefully drove towards the clicking ravager-imitation like a hunter would approach a deer. He drove in circles first, but the monstrosity only wheeled right past them. Vega gripped the wheel hard, the touch grounding him and helping him keep his patience. Shepard didn't have that. She followed the twitching creature with her gaze, all the while tapping her fingers against her seat.
"Ram it," she finally said, "but gently. I want to see what it's made of."
Vega released a deep breath as he stepped hard on the accelerator. The tank howled as it jumped forward. The team stormed at the oblivious monstrosity. James stepped hard on the breaks, manoeuvring until the side of the tank hit the perverted creature. The effect was immediate. The monstrosity screeched. Its limbs began to whirl as guns began to appear from their ends. The flickering of its glowing red eyes stopped as its system finally took notice of the intruders. The groan it released made Shepard's breath catch as a canon drilled itself out of its gaping mouth.
"Oh, shit," James muttered.
He didn't hesitate. The tank howled again as James drove it back towards the factory.
"Slow down, Vega!" Shepard shouted as they raced at the bushes.
He didn't.
The poor patrollers had no idea what hit them. The tank landed heavily behind them with a roar, followed soon by the clumsy landing of the ravager-imitation. Shepard's tank was immediately caught in the cross fire of both, but they shot back and ran over their enemies with equal ferocity. The salarians and krogan fought viciously, but had no chance to see the damage they inflicted when the monstrosity fell over them with a chortled screech. It shot aimlessly, thus mowing down everything that stood in its line of fire.
"Looks like it can't distinguish between enemy and friend," Vega observed. He caught Shepard's cold look. "What do you think?"
"I'm thinking off malfunction," she said, eyes fixed on the rampage ahead.
"Then why not destroy it?" he asked, driving over a bunch of mechs.
Shepard recalled the turian-shaped face and a cold shiver ran down her spine.
"Fear," she whispered, then stood up, loading her gun. "Drop us off here. And remember-"
James nodded. "Give 'em hell, I got it."
Solana and Shepard jumped out of the tank. They had no time to catch their breaths, instead raced to the nearest cover, sheer luck getting them there uninjured. They exchanged quick glances, before they started making their way to the factory.
The monstrosity was still wreaking havoc. Its screeches left them cold and shivering. Its endurance was shockingly strong, and soon their enemies switched their focus on their own creation, leaving Shepard and Solana an easy way into the factory.
The two women stormed into the building. Two krogan stood there prepared. They were quick, but not quick enough and died under the two intruders' ferocious attack. Solana was hit on the shoulder by a stray shot. She fell with a surprised and pained cry, while Shepard took to eliminating the shooter.
"You okay?" she asked her, helping her up with a concerned frown.
Solana's subvocals hitched in pain just as medigel kicked in. She nodded tersely. "Nothing that can't be fixed," she breathed, brow plates twitching as she noticed the dent in her armor. The turian sighed.
Shepard raised her brows. "What is it?"
Solana stood up on slightly shaky legs. She patted the dust from her arms and thighs. "Nothing… This is just the first dent on my armor. I was hoping it'd take a bit longer."
Shepard smiled weakly and squeezed her arm comfortingly. She looked outside. Her face darkened. Most of their enemies were dead. The few ones left were giving everything to defeat the malfunctioning ravager imitation, while James kept shooting at the thing from the tank.
"Why doesn't he just drive over that thing?" Solana asked.
"I don't want it damaged too badly," Shepard said. She looked up at Sol. "As soon as that thing is down, you get rid of the others."
The turian nodded firmly and took hold of her sniper rifle.
Eventually, the monstrosity died the way it lived; screeching pathetically, his ugly limbs whirring slower and slower. A salarian shot into its gaping mouth, then finally it crumbled into a pile of metal and oil. Its glowing red orbs dimmed, then died. The whirring sound strayed, before the inner motor shut down forever. The silence that followed was all the louder.
Four shots rang out, all in close sequence, and the remaining enemies died too. Shepard met Solana's blue eyes and gave her a pleased nod. The turian straightened, lowering the rifle.
The two women joined Vega just as he kicked open the door.
"What ride," he drawled, stretching his back with a loud groan. "I thought we'd be here till midnight."
Shepard kicked the dead monster and jerked back when it gave a high-pitched moan. It didn't stir otherwise. The three survivors knelt to study it.
"What the-" James touched the thing's leg. Its skin was hard, curtesy of the metallic plates, but beneath them, what kept these resistant pieces together looked an awful lot like... well, like skin.
"What is this thing?" Solana whispered, subvocals trilling with distress, as her fingers traced the plates on the monster. "Who… who would do such a thing?"
Shepard was quiet. Her eyes were glued to the monstrosity's turian-like face. In its mouth was the gun, which had nearly killed them many times over.
"Boy, do you think… do you think that's what they are doing to the prisoners?" James asked in a hushed whisper.
"But why would they need to do that?" Solana cried. "We have already technology to destroy and to kill! There's no purpose – no… no need for this!"
"We'll take it with us," Shepard rasped suddenly. She was standing. "We'll hand it to Maelon and Miranda. If someone can figure out what – what this is, then it's them."
She took a deep breath, forcedly looked at the still factory. "We still need the things Latus asked us for." She tilted her head toward the building. "Let's see what's inside."
The main gate opened to a large hall. Hundreds of containers were lined up, creating several corridors. Further in the back, as far as Shepard could recognize, were roller conveyors. Workbenches stood dark and quiet against the walls. Tools and blueprints lay discarded and forgotten on the even surfaces.
"So what are we looking for exactly?" Solana asked as they split up to cover more ground. The turian began opening and closing boxes and drawers; all but a few were empty, and those that were not had nothing of importance or value.
"Anything of value," Shepard said, her omni-tool glowing as she picked up left-overs from the consoles. "You can't do anything wrong."
With a slow nod Solana moved on.
"Haven't you done this before?" Vega asked suddenly.
Solana shook her head. "No," she added once she realized the others couldn't see her. "I was more of an analyst, you know? I rarely saw a battle, because I was too busy decoding messages, and trying to find new ways to communicate in secret."
"That wouldn't have been for me," Vega said.
"No…" she muttered, mandibles shifting tighter to her face as she scanned the containers around her. Her attention was diverted by a blinking light coming from the workbenches.
"Shepard, I think I've found something."
Shepard appeared by her side shortly after, Vega joined them just as quickly. The team looked at the unfinished projects, their parts distributed over several desks.
"I think we know now what they're using the metal for," James said, inspecting an unfinished arm. The inner canon had not been placed yet. He waved at Solana with the limb. "See? Shiny…"
The female turian rolled her eyes, then hummed as she studied the different tools and separate parts to the unfinished puzzle.
"For how long have they been producing these 'screechers', though? I don't recall anyone mentioning these things since we arrived," James remarked, a strong hand brushing over the cybernetics and metal plates on the table. Blueprints hung above each workbench; all with the same instructions on how to build a 'screecher'.
Shepard stepped in between them, eyes scanning over the plans as Solana picked up a stray metal plate.
"Weird…" she heard Vega murmur, dropping the loose arm of the creature.
"I was going for bizarre," Shepard replied. She began picking out the blueprints. "We're taking these with us."
Solana shook her head, eyes blinking as if she was awaking from a daze. She put the plate back. "Should we keep looking?"
"Yeah. We still need to find Latus' metal," Shepard said, walking away to where she'd stopped her search.
"What if the salarians used all of it already?"
Shepard picked up some credits, then resumed her walk. "Unlikely. According to the reports the resources were enough to last for a whole year."
Solana's omni-tool glowed as she scanned each container on her passing. "Yeah, but hasn't the factory been abandoned for a year already?"
"None of the patrols saw anything," Shepard called out. "The reports are flawed, a lot of the information is false, but even if the salarian had run out of the metal left behind, they surely would've brought in more from the mines."
She stopped before a large machine. "There's nothing here," she called out.
"I think I've found something, Shepard," Solana said, hitting the walls of the container to see if there was any latch to open it.
"Can you see what it is?" Shepard asked, moving towards where the Solana's voice had come from.
"No, I can't open it," Solana heaved out a sigh and climbed onto the container. Shepard found her testing the edges for any loose spots.
"Anything?" she asked.
Solana shook her head. Shepard pressed her lips together, thinking everything over.
"Vega, did you find anything?" she called out.
"A lot of things, except for what we're looking for," Vega shouted back. "But I found the controls!"
"Good. Can you see Solana?" Shepard turned to the turian. "Sol, stand up."
"Oye, Sol! Cheer up a bit and wave!" James yelled from the other side.
Solana's subharmonics let out a confused sound, but she waved anyway. Vega laughed and the crane began to move as he took hold of the controls.
"Get down, Sol," Shepard said as the crane began to lower itself to the container.
"What do I do with it?" James asked.
"I saw this laser machine on the left side," Shepard replied as she and Solana followed the container. "Let's try open it with that."
"Shepard, is it safe to open the container with the laser?" Solana asked hesitantly. "What if we damage the cargo?"
Shepard brushed her concern with a careless hand wave. "Nobody's going to kill us if we damage the cargo, Sol. Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."
A sudden shout from Vega was all the warning they got as the container crashed on the ground. Shepard and Solana jumped away, the splinters barely missing the two women.
Solana's mandibles tightened on her face. "I bet he didn't know what he was doing."
Shepard whirled around as she heard James run towards them. "What was that, Vega?" she snapped.
He raised a hand, showing off the control's handle.
Solana barely managed to suppress a snicker, but the shaky thrum in her subvocals betrayed her anyway. "Didn't think your grip was that strong."
Vega glared at her, but had the decency to shift uncomfortably on his feet. "At least it's open," he pointed out with a shrug.
Shepard turned to inspect the container. The fall had hit its weakest spot. The crash had left a dent on a side, the edge of the same had opened, leaving enough space for its contents to spill out. Shepard walked closer, eyes narrowed as she tried to identify the objects.
"I don't know what it is, but it's not the metal Latus wants," she said, kneeling to touch the scattered objects. Their colors differed, as did their shapes, although for the most part they were smooth and with a metallic surface. Solana knelt to inspect them closely, shaky fingers brushing over the plates.
"Weird," she heard James murmur. He lifted one of those plates, then reached inside the open container and began to pull out more of them. "Oh, look at this…" He took out a dense fabric of a rather pale blue. He frowned as his fingers felt the fabric. "No idea what it is, but…" He dropped the fabric and kicked a plate away.
"You IDIOT!" Solana screeched, making the two humans jump. "These are my plates!"
"What?" James yelped, staring down at the cluster.
Shepard's fingers trembled as she lifted one and inspected it closely again. She took off her glove and ran her finger pads over the surface. She gasped, or tried to, and scrambled away from them.
"Don't you think I would recognize the plates of my own race?" the turian shouted, face twisted into a horrified grimace. Her blue eyes were glazed and wide as they continued to be drawn by the container's spilled contents.
James heaved and pulled away from the sight. He stumbled away. His body swayed from side to side as if he was drunk and he finally supported himself on a different, unharmed container.
"You sure it – you sure it's…"
"Yeah," Shepard croaked, panting for breath. Her eyes were glued to the scattered plates, before inevitably drawn to the blue fabric. "Do you think the blue things is…?" She couldn't finish the question. Her lips trembled. She had an idea what it could be. What it had to be.
James groaned. "Oh God…"
Solana was trembling. "W-What do we do, Shepard?"
Oh, yes… she was the one in charge here. For a moment she forgot everything, her mind erased to a blank nothing. The wheels in her head were turning, furiously trying to come up with an idea. She grasped her head, pacing up and down. She wished she could look somewhere else, but her eyes were constantly drawn to the turian plates and asari skin.
"I… we need to take this to the Primarch," she rasped, finally stopping to a halt before her team mates. "We'll take the container with us."
A full body shudder went through the turian. "Will you show it to them?"
"Not immediately. I want to talk to Latus in private. I can't do that with his assistants around him." She took a step back. "You guys stay here. Get the container ready to move, while I put the ravager-"
James gagged. "Do you think that's why they needed the prisoners for?"
Shepard was already walking away. "Just do what I said," she replied, jaw set tight. "I'm done with this place."
"The blueprints -"
She stopped. "Take them with you," she said. "We can't fit the unfinished 'screechers' into our tank, but the data is important."
Vega began to march to the desks, his footsteps were heavier than normal. "Do you want me to place the bombs?"
Solana, mandibles tight to her face, and her neck pale like ash, looked up from the grey mandible she was holding. Shepard didn't meet her gaze.
"Do it," she hissed, "I want this place flattened."
James nodded, "Aye, Commander."
Leaving took them longer than the arrival. The monstrosity was tied to the tank, the turian plates and asari skin were distributed into smaller boxes and stuffed them into the tank. They detonated the bombs after they'd reached a safe distance. The fire blazed in fury, red and yellow, the smoke reached high, the ash clouds spreading over the cloudy sky.
They drove in gloom silence. The beautiful landscape and the interesting cloud shades were not beautiful and interesting enough to distract them from the evidence of the fate of Sakkem's prisoners.
A/N: Gentle reminder that everything about Rubrum is made up. And the leaves Sol and Vega tried, are inspired by the coca leaves which a lot of people in South American countries like Chile, Bolivia and Ecuador chew.
