Amongst the numbers of Ambassador Goyle's mission was Captain Alec Ryder, a decorated member of His Majesty's Imperial Cadre. Captain Ryder's presence served multiple roles, some dealing with the internal political calculus of the Empire while others were geared towards the Council. Perhaps the most critical of the latter was Captain Ryder being a synchronizer, a human with an AI partner. Such synchronizers were not unknown to the Council, nor was Captain Ryder the first such to interact with the Council or its representatives. The Captain was merely the latest, and arguably after the mission the most successful, attempt by the Terran Empire to convince the Citadel races that it had managed to harness AIs as productive and integrated members of its society.

Captain Ryder's attempt may have not met with any further success than past synchronizers, save for a friendship the officer struck with a turian C-SEC investigator by the name of Castis Vakarian. Impressed by Ryder's competence, professionalism, and loyalty, Vakarian's advocacy helped open many doors for the captain. Many years later, Castis' own son would become friends with another synchronizer, and help set the foundation for a much greater partnership.

-Forward Unto Twilight: The Terran Empire

Chapter 11

Hic sunt dracones

Blessed was the commander with punctual subordinates, so long as one was not too tardy oneself. Shepard did not suffer from that particular failing, if only because her AI partners tended towards somewhat maniacal about keeping to timetables themselves. Something about having thought processes that could be measured in nanoseconds. Despite this Shepard was still the last person to arrive in the Normandy's communications room, with the rest of the staff and senior officers seated around the circular room waiting. Only Joker was absent on account of his condition, but the pilot would be listening in over the radio and would undoubtedly be contributing his snark as the occasion warranted.

The rest of her crew showed a greater degree of deference to their commanding officer however, as demonstrated when they all rose upon Shepard's arrival.

"As you were," the major said as she made her way to her own seat and plopped down. Once everyone was back down she began the briefing. "We've received our new orders from the admiralty, as well as an update from Captain Anderson. And Ambassador Udina."

A few smirks at that bit, even from Pressly. As far as acceptable targets went, bureaucrats were pretty high up the list.

"And Executor Pallin."

Fewer smirks there. Pallin might have been a bureaucrat, and a turian at that, but the C-SEC executor was arguably one of the good guys.

"According to the Executor," Shepard nodded over at Garrus to indicate through whom the information came, "the Council is acting upon the intel that Wrex provided us. They've dispatched two Spectres, one to Illium, and the other to Noveria. What those two will find, God only knows. At this point however there's not much else that we can directly do. Ambassador Udina has emphasized to the Council that the Empire expects to be kept in the loop, especially with respect to leads developed by intel we provided, but how much good that'll do is anyone's guess."

Not much, was everyone's guess.

"In light of the fact that we ourselves have little in the way of actionable leads, the admiralty has determined that the most effective use of the Normandy would be to have us patrol along the Empire's galactic eastern borders. There have been increased sightings of unidentified transients through those systems, which may or may not be geth. If Saren and his bots decide to put in a showing, the admiralty wants us in position to intercept."

A cough sounded over the intercom. "Ah Major, question."

"Let me guess Joker," Shepard preempted her pilot. "What the Hell does the admiralty think a frigate can do against that dreadnaught?"

"It is a fair question ma'am," Adams said. "The Normandy's a good ship, but she'd be a mite outgunned going up against a monster like that."

"Which is why our job won't be to try and stop this Old Machine," Shepard said. "Our job will be to locate and track it."

Looks of understanding spread across the assembled crew and from the cockpit cameras Shepard could see even Joker grudgingly acknowledge the merit of the order.

"I know, I know," Shepard said with a grin, "the brass is actually making sense for once. That all being said." The major glanced over at the non-imperial servicemen amongst her crew. "There is a high probability that we might be responding to signals and requests that have nothing to do with the Saren investigation. Wrex, you're getting paid the going rate, so you I'm going to drag into every firefight I get into."

The krogan gave a hearty chuckle at that. "Wouldn't have it any other way."

Shepard smirked before looking over at the others. "The three of you however are here for a very specific reason. If any of you feel uncomfortable participating in official imperial business, you are free to recuse yourself from such deployments."

Garrus, Liara, and Tali all exchanged looks with one another. Each of them had any variety of reasons why they might accept that recusal, sound ones at that. As a member of C-SEC, Garrus was here on an official and very specific capacity. If it was known that he participated in strictly imperial affairs, both he and Shepard, and their superiors, and their respective governments for that matter, might be in for some sticky diplomatic and political fallout. Liara as a civilian did not have quite the same restrictions, but asking her to put her life on the line for internal imperial affairs would be boorish to say the least. Tali was in a similar situation, with the added complication of the dangers a compromised environmental suit would mean for her if things got that bad.

"You say that we'll be patrolling regions where there've been sightings of unknown transients," Garrus repeated.

Shepard nodded.

"That means any time we deploy, any time we step off the ship, we won't know whether it's related to Saren or the geth until we're in the field," the turian continued.

"There is a high probability of that," Shepard allowed.

Garrus' mandibles clicked. "Then I think it would be outright negligent of me to not accompany you."

Shepard cracked another smirk. She then looked over at Liara and Tali.

"I signed on to help you in whatever way I could," Tali said. "I don't see how this is any different."

All gazes now fell upon Liara. The asari smiled weakly.

"Garrus and Tali are both right. There's no telling what we might find out there, and it would be pretty stupid if we missed a clue just because I tried to play it safe."

Shepard nodded, and so did the rest of her human subordinates. They all recognized the risk the trio were taking, and appreciated their willingness to do so. The respect that several gazes now conveyed was a stark contrast to the polite but wary attitude the non-human crew had initially been greeted with. This was not to say they were now all one big happy family, but it was a step in the right direction, and the first of many.

Shepard sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. Despite Normandy's patrol being so routine as to be outright boring, there remained an almost obscene amount of paperwork demanding her attention. Readiness reports, crew evaluations, signing off of requests from her subordinates, all the little details that came with actually commanding instead of just leading. The non-human complement of her crew was also causing the admiralty to request more detailed and frequent status updates. In Shepard's opinion her superiors were being just a tad paranoid, but so long as they continued singing the checks, for Wrex especially, she would put up with the added workload with only a tiny bit more grumbling. When she was not sleep deprived.

"Perhaps you should get to bed, Major," Artemis suggested.

"What I should get is more coffee," Shepard rose, taking her empty mug with her.

"The human body is not meant to rely on caffeine as a substitute for sleep, Major," Artemis chided.

"Just because you don't like how noisy my brain is when I'm hopped up on a psychoactive," was Shepard's response.

"That you somehow derive any enjoyment from drugging yourself beggars any rational mind," was Artemis' repost.

"Humans aren't rational," Shepard countered. "Thought you'd have learned that by now, Artemis."

"I continue to hold out hope, however forlorn."

A slight chuckle sounded from the major as she emerged from her private quarters. On a ship the size of the Normandy, she was the only one fortunate enough to have one. Everyone else hot bunked, including the non-human crew, though Shepard suspected Wrex just plopped down and slept down in the storage bay. And at this hour sleep was exactly what most of the rest of the crew that were off duty was doing, so the mess was almost completely empty. Almost, save for a solitary marine lieutenant nursing a cup of his own.

"Major," Kaidan greeted as Shepard wandered over.

"LT," Shepard replied. "Burning the midnight oil?"

"Not exactly," Kaidan said. "Headaches are making it a bit difficult to fall asleep."

"Ah," Shepard said, giving her subordinate a look of sincere sympathy.

The L2 implants that allowed Kaidan to control and manifest his biotic abilities made the lieutenant a deadly warrior in the field, but the complications that came with them could be outright debilitating under the wrong conditions. The migraines that plagued Kaidan were the most evident of the problems he faced, though far from the worst. And despite the advances in medicine there was a limit to how much Chakwas or any doctor could do to alleviate them. There was also a limit to how much medicine he should even take, lest he develop an even worse dependency.

Walking over to the coffeemaker, Shepard sighed at the clean and empty pot. "Damn it."

"I was about to put on a fresh pot," Kaidan said as he rose.

The Major gave him a wry smile. "Aren't you a marine, Kaidan?"

"Hey, there's no rule that says marine coffee has to be horrible," Kaidan said with a smirk.

"I don't know," Shepard said with feigned reservation even as she took a seat. "I heard that if they catch you making good coffee as a noncom, they bust you down to private, third class, first offense. Second, they kick your ass outta the corps."

"Good thing we have a commission then," Kaidan said as he took out some of the ground coffee. "We got a New England Roast and a Dark French Roast. Got a preference?"

Shepard frowned. "What happened to my Dark Italian Roast?"

Her Dark Italian. Coffee addicts could be very possessive.

"Looks like we're all out," Kaidan said, looking at the container in question.

"What? How is that even possible?" Shepard rose and walked over to check herself.

"I saw Wrex having a pot or two earlier today," the lieutenant said. "He seems to have gotten a taste for it."

"Krogan don't even feel the caffeine in human coffee," Shepard grumbled.

"Considering your implants, can't the same be said about you?" Kaidan pointed out.

An eyebrow quirked upward on Shepard's expression. "You make it a habit of pointing out the holes in your superiors' logic, Lieutenant?"

"Only those I respect, ma'am."

That earned Kaidan a snort.

"Nice save, LT. But try not to push your luck too much in the future."

"Roger that Major," Kaidan said, even as he mirrored Shepard's smirk. "Anyway, one cup of Dart French Roast coming up."

Shepard watched the lieutenant work. From the way he measured and compacted the grounds, the lieutenant obviously knew what he was doing. It was amazing how many people could screw up and make the coffeemaker turn out stuff that was even worse than instant. Thus when Kaidan presented her with a steaming mug a few minutes later, the Major's appreciation was sincere.

"Thank you." She gave it a single blow before taking a sip. "Hmm, not quite up to the standards of Dark Italian, but I suppose beggars can't be choosers."

"You know, Dark Italian pretty much completely burns out any of the original flavor," Kaidan pointed out as he settled down with his own mug.

"That's the point," Shepard retorted. "Don't tell me you're one of those people that actually likes green coffee?"

"God no," Kaidan said, "but I do appreciate the kick that a bit of the acidity adds."

"Fair enough," Shepard said. "Not like drinking coffee has any more effect than beer for biotics."

"You know about that, huh?" Kaidan said.

Shepard nodded. "Cadre are similar, even if for slightly different reasons. Our implants cause us to flush out poisons so quickly we really have to overdose if we want to feel a damn thing, even if our AI partners insist otherwise."

"Fraid you've got me at a slight disadvantage there ma'am," Kaidan said. "Information on Cadre implants are so classified, I'm not sure I'm even allowed to listen to your small talk about them."

Shepard chuckled. "Well, it's not quite that bad. Still, I probably do know more about your L2 implants than the other way around. Impressive tech, in some ways, but they cut a few too many corners."

Kaidan nodded, considering his own problems were a symptom of those cut corners. "I've heard work's begun on a fourth-generation implant, one that allows for the L2's output but without the physiological burden. If that really is true, I just might risk going under the knife again."

"Gotta say, mighty gutsy of you to still keep the L2 what with the L3 being available," Shepard remarked. "I know the L2 peaks higher, but the complications…"

"Great power always comes with a cost ma'am," Kaidan said. "And considering what we're up against, I think we'll be needing as much power as we can get."

To that Shepard nodded. Then chuckled. "So you'll be lifting that dreadnaught of Saren's and tossing it around like a ragdoll next time we run into it?"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves there Major," Kaidan quipped back. "After all, that is a priceless archeological relic we're talking about. Wouldn't want to bang it up too much."

"I see you've been chatting up the good doctor," Shepard said before taking another sip.

"Thought I'd see if I could get her perspective on biotic abilities," Kaidan replied without missing a beat. "The Empire did use some alien trainers back when our program was just getting started, but they all got the boot the moment the government thought we could do things in-house. A bit of a shame, that, since it's pretty clear we have a lot more to learn."

"That's certainly true enough," Shepard said, "but there is something to be said for keeping control of the military biotic program as tightly held as possible. Saying we have a lot to learn also means we have a long way to go before we catch up, after all."

"No argument there ma'am," Kaidan agreed. "Still, since the opportunity has arisen, might as well take advantage of it."

To that Shepard nodded. "So what do you make of Dr. T'Soni?"

"Well, she's smart," Kaidan answered readily enough. "And enthusiastic. It's actually kind of hard to stop her once she gets started on a topic that really interests her, like the protheans. She has this, almost childish energy that makes it feel rude to try and cut her off."

"And that's how you ended up getting an earful about the protheans when you actually were asking her about biotics?"

"Sort of," Kaidan said with a shrug. "I might have made the mistake of asking her if she thought the protheans were biotic."

"Ah, I can see how one might do that, accidentally," Shepard said with a slight smirk. "So did you at least get an answer?"

"Sort of," Kaidan said, mirroring the expression. "According to Liara, the protheans obviously were able to use eezo in ways far beyond the capabilities of contemporary races. And while direct archeological evidence is scant, what bits and pieces that have been found indicate strongly that the protheans were biotic."

Shepard stared at Kaidan for a beat. "How much of that was verbatim what she said."

Kaidan smiled wryly. "Most of it."

The Major chuckled. "Well, so long as the good doctor is acclimating to being part of the crew."

"I think she's fitting in pretty well myself ma'am," Kaidan said. "Though I have to say, for someone that's over a hundred years old, she's still got that sort of naïve optimism of a teenager."

"In asari terms, that's probably what she is," Shepard pointed out.

"That's true enough, but look at us. You and I have been around for maybe a quarter of her lifespan, and we've probably seen way fewer things than her, quantitatively speaking. But her mentality, the way that she processes things. Maybe it has to do with how long-lived asari are, that the amount of time it takes them to build up confidence in themselves is longer. Or maybe it's purely sociological instead of being biological. Asari that are Liara's age are considered juvenile and treated accordingly, and so they end up thinking that way about themselves as well."

"It's probably at least a little of both," Shepard said. "I mean, look at it from the salarian perspective. Their average lifespans are under 40 years. By the time we're playing with Legos, they're applying to universities. They think faster, process stimuli faster. They also change faster, and all that comes down to their faster metabolism. Sure there may be some nurture involved, salarians are expected to grow up faster, but put a human child in that sort of environment and she'd be hopelessly overwhelmed."

"That's true enough ma'am," Kaidan agreed. "I suppose part of it is just that, when you talk to an asari, you don't necessarily get the impression that their thoughts work on a different timeframe. With the few salarians that I've met, you know."

Shepard grinned. "Imagine a salarian hooked up to an AI like me."

"The mind boggles," Kaidan said, responding in kind. "Though I have to wonder if they'd ever dare try it, considering how jumpy the Citadel races are about AI."

"Publicly," Shepard pointed out. "Privately, I'd be more surprised if their governments weren't covertly examining the tech. I mean, they even have companies that are officially licensed to develop AI in Citadel space."

"True enough there ma'am," Kaidan conceded. "Still-"

"Major, we are receiving a distress call from an imperial forward outpost in the Acheron System," Artemis cut in on the intercom.

Shepard's mug froze halfway to her mouth. A second later both marines were on their feet.

"Any tactical data with that distress call, Artemis?" Shepard asked.

"Nothing substantive, Major, the attackers appear to have managed to destroy the primary and secondary communications array in their opening assault. The emergency transponders do not have the bandwidth to send more-the distress signal has terminated. It is likely the transponders have been compromised."

"Bloody lovely," Shepard muttered. "All hands, general quarters. Navigator, plot course for Acheron System, planet Altahe, best speed. Helmsman, engage stealth system once we arrive in-system. Comms, notify the admiralty that Normandy is responding to a truncated distress call."

As Shepard and Kaidan emerged onto the command deck, other crewmembers could already be seen settling into their stations. Kaidan himself headed for the cockpit, where his gunnery station was sited next to Joker.

"Artemis, details on Acheron base," Shepard said as she climbed up to her own station overlooking the main holographic projector.

"Listening Post Theta is a forward station responsible for monitoring intrusions into imperial space from the Terminus Systems and other general signals intelligence duties," Artemis reported, bringing up a projection of the base in question. "The main facility is subterranean, with a single point of entry. Surface emplacements include defensive batteries and communications arrays."

"Single point of entry," Shepard said unhappily. "No backdoors or the like, Artemis?"

"None that my records have access to, Major."

Shepard pursed her lips unhappily at that. "Put in a request to ONI. See if this place is one of theirs and if they have additional records, my authority."

"Yes, Major."

"Pressly," Shepard said, looking over at her executive officer. "ETA to Acheron?"

"One hour twenty to the system proper, Major," Pressly answered. "After that an additional hour to reach Altahe itself."

So a little over two hours. Shepard gripped the guardrail. They were probably too late already considering the loss of even the emergency transponders, but Shepard could not help but wish they might reach the outpost sooner. But if they were indeed too late, it would at least be within her means to make sure the men and women of Theta were avenged.

"Those look like ant mounds," Shepard remarked.

The those in question were a series of dirt mounds being displayed on the command deck's main projector, scattered about inside the perimeter of Listening Post Theta. From orbit it was trivially easy for Normandy's sensors to map the base, providing Shepard with a bird's eye view of the situation topside. Unfortunately none of the base's internal systems were responding to queries so she was still mostly blind to the actual situation.

"That might explain how the base was compromised ma'am," Kaidan put in over the radio from his station. "Whatever these, things, are, they managed to dig their way into the base instead of fighting through the defenses."

"Maybe," Shepard said, "but that doesn't explain how they would have managed it without the seismic sensors picking them up. Those things are so sensitive a rabbit burrowing should set them off."

"Guess we'll find out when we retake the place ma'am."

Or at least the follow up teams would.

"Alright," Shepard said leaning against the railing. "Since this is obviously not a geth attack, we'll drop the sneaking around. I want a firing solution that'll close off each of those mounds before the Mako hits the ground. Fireteams prepare for insertion."

"Roger that," Kaidan said, "handing off."

In truth the only members of the ground team that weren't already locked and loaded were Shepard and Kaidan, seeing as both were at their naval stations while the Normandy approached their target. As it was it only took the two a few minutes to get geared up and meet the others down by the Mako.

"The outpost's internal sensors are all offline, or at least cut off from comms," Shepard began the brief. "That means right now we can't tell if anyone, or anything is down there waiting for us. That something was down there is pretty evident from the dirt mounds though, so we'll play this safe and do a hot insertion with the Mako with the Normandy sealing those holes with her guns."

Heads bobbed up and down at that.

"Officially the Mako is rated to carry a full infantry squad plus heavy weapons support," Shepard continued, looking at Wrex, "so we should all fit. Might be a tight squeeze though."

"I'll try not to bump my head," Wrex said sardonically.

"I'm less worried about your head and more about my upholstery," Shepard retorted.

That was probably a grin, or at least Wrex's mouth was shaped the same way it was when he chuckled, or at least when Shepard thought he chuckled.

"Scans indicate that the base's gun batteries are still intact, though their control and power lines have been cut. They've fallen back onto automated control and internal reserves, and once we're in range we should be able to take control of them." Shepard now looked over at Ashley and Tali. "If for whatever reason they don't respond, I want you two to do a manual bypass."

"Got it skipper," Ashley said confidently.

Tali also nodded firmly, which was good enough for Shepard.

"We can't tell whether anyone is still alive down there," Shepard stated frankly. "At the same time, that is not the same as knowing everyone down there is dead. Until we get confirmation that they are dead, or I give the word, this is still a rescue op. So keep your eyes peeled, watch your shots, and do not go in guns blazing."

No one looked as if they were prepared to argue that point, not even Wrex. Good.

"A taskforce from Second Fleet is inbound with a marine battalion, but it'll be another five hours before they arrive," Shepard said. "Once they arrive, assuming things aren't a complete Charlie Foxtrot, we'll hand the situation over to them. Until then however it's up to us to figure out what hit the base, and to make the bastards pay."

By this point the non-humans amongst her crew had been with them long enough for Artemis to provide tailored updates to their translators to catch any slang or jargon Shepard and the imperial servicemen might use, so no one was giving her odd looks anymore. It was remarkable just how much the official translators missed.

"This'll technically be the first time we deploy as a single unit," Shepard continued. "I know we've run through procedures, even a few small drills with the space permitting."

She allowed the snickers at that, and even cracked a grin of her own.

"I'm not going to tempt Murphy by saying I think we've worked out all the kinks. I will however expect no one to shoot themselves in the foot on our first deployment. Is that clear?"

"Clear ma'am," Kaidan answered for all of them, and then cast a beady look at the others daring anyone to disprove him.

No one seemed to show any such inclination and after a moment Kaidan was satisfied enough to look back at Shepard. The Major herself nodded.

"Alright, saddle up."

As a frigate capable of intra-atmosphere travel, Normandy was designed to fulfill a wide range of functions. As close air support the caliber of guns it mounted might have been considered overkill by some. Any proper soldier however would tell you, there was no such thing as overkill. There was only open fire, and reload.

In this particular case, the Normandy's main guns were stepped down so as not to cave in the entire base. What they wanted here was a surgical strike, not a saturation bombardment. Besides, if the need to sterilize the site actually arose, the frigate had other weapons better suited to such a task. The hits that registered from these shots sent pillars of dirt shooting up into the sky along with gushes of fire as the incendiary payloads went off. Anything in the immediate tunnel openings was swiftly turned to ash. The incendiary bombardment was not the only thing the Normandy released however. Several spikes also slammed into the ground, seismic sensors to compensate for the ones the base was supposed to have installed but which were unresponsive. As the Mako landed with a thud, nothing emerged to challenge it.

"Alright LT, you've got the wheel," Shepard said, hopping out the side.

While Garrus remained in the gunner's chair, everyone else piled out the rear.

"Turrets still aren't responding," Shepard said as she worked her omni-tool. "Gunny, Tali, you're up."

That was all the prompting the two needed and they headed for the first gun emplacement. Wrex trotted behind, keeping a watchful eye on both them and the perimeter. Liara stayed close to Shepard, cradling her submachinegun with passable familiarity.

"Artemis, any signs of movement?" Shepard queried.

"A substantial amount, Major," the AI responded. "In fact, the readings suggest whatever is down there is continuing to borrow."

"Con-Everyone back to the Mako!"

While Tali seemed taken aback slightly, Ashley was less slow on the uptake and hauled the quarian girl to her feet.

"Seismic activity is increasing Major," Artemis warned.

"No shit!" By this point she could even feel the tremors with her own feet.

Despite her orders Wrex was still standing at the Mako's side, waving for them to hurry up. She had to give the krogan some credit, he was at least not bailing out to save his own hide.

"Alenko, prepare to head half a click northeast, there's a rocky outcropping that should make it harder for these, things, to tunnel after us."

"Aye ma'am."

"Artemis, get Normandy to drop more seismic sensors around that outcropping just in case those things try.

"Order relayed, Major."

Tali and Ashley darted past into the Mako, with Shepard and Wrex right behind them.

"Go!"

The hatch was still shutting when the Mako shuddered as its thrustors activated. Kaidan's solution to the issue of tunnelers was simple enough, get them off the ground. While the Mako was not quite capable of flight, its small eezo core was enough to let it make small hops. And just in time too as the ground began to crumble where the vehicle was a moment before. Something hit the Mako.

"Reading some damage on the armor," Kaidan called back. "Whatever that was, it got past the shields!"

"Got past or got it down?" Shepard asked as she hauled herself up to the driver's section.

The thud of a landing did not make that any easier, but she was hardly slowed by it either.

"Got past ma'am," Kaidan answered. "Shields are still at full charge."

"The bloody hell," Shepard said as she queried the Mako's telemetry herself. "Alright, we'll take a look once we get to the outcropping. Artemis, did Normandy get eyes on whatever hit us?"

"No Major, Normandy had already moved off station to begin its deployment run," Artemis answered. "Incidentally, second set of seismic sensors have been deployed."

"And what are they showing us?"

A projection of a tunnel network appeared in her eye as Artemis' response.

"That's, pretty extensive," Shepard remarked. "How long has it been here?"

"Unknown," the AI stated. "The latest data dump from Theta gave no indication of such a network developing."

Shepard frowned. The timestamp of that dump was only a week ago, and while it might be possible for some subterranean animal to do all that in such a short amount of time, the ecological survey of Altahe had not turned up anything that would fit the bill. For that matter the planet did not actually have any native life, the world being little more than a hunk of rock.

"What do we do now ma'am?" Kaidan asked. "Sterilize the site?"

"Tempting," Shepard said, "very bloody tempting. But sterilizing it won't tell us where these things came from, and if there are more out there."

As small a yield as a one kiloton nuke was, that was only relative to that class of weapons. It would still be more than enough to destroy most any useful evidence if the Normandy actually dropped one of its tactical nukes on the outpost, with an appropriate penetrator to get the nuke into the tunnel network of course.

"Artemis, any indication on just how many, things, are in those tunnels?"

"At least a dozen contacts, Major," the AI answered. "I would not recommend trying to engage them in what appears to be their native environment."

"I wouldn't either," Shepard said, though she raised an eyebrow at the audible sigh of relief from her nominal second in command. "We need to flush them out. Pressly, I want the Normandy to make another attack run. Deep penetrators armed with incendiaries. Just enough yield to force them above ground, not enough to turn them all to ash."

"Aye Major," Pressly's voice sounded over the radio.

"S'not as much fun if the enemy's already dead before we can stick it to 'em," Wrex said from behind.

"Yeah well if I had a whole pack of krogans I might just send all of you down there for some fun," Shepard said. "Isn't that your specialty, hunting monsters back to their lairs?"

"Hah, I see you've been reading up on the Rachni Wars," Wrex said approvingly.

"It's important to remember one's history, lest you make the mistake of repeating it," Shepard said offhandedly.

"Targeting solution plotted and ordnance loaded Major," Pressly reported.

"Very good Lieutenant, now-wait, we got movement! Out of the Mako, defensive perimeter now!"

Considering the back and forth, some of her squad seemed almost eager to finally face an enemy to properly get stuck in.

"Wrex, take point" Shepard continued issuing orders. "T'Soni, hang back and support the Mako if it comes under fire, maybe your barriers will work where the shields didn't! Vakarian, anything that pops up, I want it perforated, but don't go hitting Wrex now! No friendly fire until at least the second deployment!"

The bark of laughter by Wrex was audible even as the ground began rumbling.

"Good God, how are they tunneling that quickly?" Shepard wondered aloud as she watched the enemy's progression.

Seeing as no one had an answer none tried to offer one. Instead they took up firing positions where appropriate and waited for the enemy to reveal themselves. The wait was not long. A geyser of dirt erupted, showering them with dust and debris, likely an attempt to obfuscate their vision. Tied into the Mako's, her own suit's, and the Normandy's sensors, Shepard could see exactly what was emerging. She opened fire, and was rewarded with highly, overly energetic reactions as explosions blossomed.

"Detecting acidic compounds being released," Artemis warned.

That actually explained a lot of things, like how these creatures were able to tunnel so blindingly fast. Or bypass the Mako's shielding, for that matter. Another geyser of dirt erupted and more of the critters surged forth. And again a quick shot from the Major punctured one's skin, setting off a chain reaction that took out its compatriots.

"Do NOT let those things close in!" Shepard ordered. "Woah!"

The Major ducked, just in time as a greenish stream seared through the air above her head. A few droplets splashed her armor, burning away at the outer mesh but mercifully stopping there.

"Grenade!" Ashley called out, lobbing one into the middle of the haze.

The detonation swept away the dirt and dust, revealing a total of three holes, and a swarm of insectoids pouring out. With clear line of sight, the fire from the rest of the squad zeroed in on the incoming threat. The Mako's main gun thundered, punching clear through one of the larger bugs. Its machinegun began spewing rounds with abandon, kicking up more of the very dirt and dust that Ashley's grenade had swept aside.

"Hold suppressive fire!" Shepard ordered. "Make your shots count!"

It wasn't doing much good from what she could tell, the bugs were charging forward with reckless disregard right into the teeth of their fire. Better to actually take the time to aim and kill the enemies approaching. The whine from the Mako's machinegun died down. It was more than made up for as the main gun finished cycling and thundered again.

Even with the Mako's machinegun silenced, the volume of fire from around Shepard could hardly consider to have slackened. Rifles barked as her squad blasted apart the incoming wave of roaches even as they took cover from the jets of acid streaking towards them. Unnaturally accurate jets at that as Shepard backed away from the rocket she was using for cover as it melted right before her. Some droplets actually splashed against her armor and her kinetic barrier collapsed almost instantly. Not good. Shields tended to do very poorly against acids, and in some cases could be completely bypassed by them. This was usually not much of a problem seeing as few militaries fielded acid-based weapons as standard issue. Said militaries had not counted on needing to fight giant bugs that naturally produced acid as part of their biological processes.

"Wrex, Liara, barrier!"

The krogan grunted, letting his shotgun drop and proceeding to erect a biotic field alongside Liara. Shepard grunted in satisfaction as the acid sprays splashed off the barriers without any visible degradation. The gravitic nature of the biotic fields were obviously not susceptible to the same complications that rendered their kinetic counterparts vulnerable to acid. Seeing their attacks stymied, the larger insectoids began charging, waving their long tendrils around. Shepard doubted anyone would enjoy being grabbed by one of those.

"Liara!" Shepard called out. "Singularity!"

The asari withdrew her support from the barrier but Wrex seemed hardly inconvenienced. With a gesture Liara created a gravitic ripple, pulling at the advancing insectoids. Their legs flayed about frantically, but the pull was too strong to resist and soon both the larger and smaller bugs were clustered together. A single roar of the Mako's main gun was enough to turn that cluster into a bloody, acidic smear. A few of the bugs had been outside of the blast radius, but the shockwave was enough to stun them if only momentarily. That moment was all Shepard and her squad needed to pick them off, and soon there was only stillness in the approach before them. Looking about, the Major did a quick scan to make sure all hostiles had actually been neutralized.

"Clear," she declared a second later.

Despite her proclamation no one lowered their guard just yet. They each advanced gingerly, weapon in hand, and kept an especially careful eye on the tunnel exits in case they started disgorging more bugs.

"Artemis, any further seismic activity?" Shepard queried.

"None in your immediate vicinity, Major, but the area under the base is still registering movement."

"Lovely," Shepard muttered.

"What the hell are they even?" Ashley said, bending over to examine the broken corpse of one of the larger insectoids. "Never seen anything like them."

"I have," Wrex said grimly, walking over to join the sergeant, "though I sure wasn't expecting to see 'em again. They're rachni."

It took a moment for the word to click.

"That's impossible," Garrus protested over the radio. "The rachni were all wiped out, by your own people!"

"And to thank us for it the Council neutered us," Wrex said with just a hint of disdain. "But I've studied my people's history, and I've seen the old recordings. These are definitely rachni."

Shepard's eyes narrowed. The implications if this was true. As she had indicated to Wrex, she was a student of history, and the Rachni Wars was an especially nasty bit of galactic history. It was a war that the Citadel had been outright losing before they uplifted the krogan to serve as cannon fodder in the conflict. If these things were genuinely back, it was not as if the krogan would be willing, much less capable, of doing so again.

"Artemis, can you confirm?" Shepard asked.

"My local database only permits me to do so with a 70% confidence level, Major," the AI answered, "but yes, physiologically these creatures do resemble historical records of rachni."

Shepard took a deep breath at that. The others regarded her, a nervous tension starting to fill the air. If the rest of the rachni underground came at them, they might be able to hold them off. Then again they might not. The only one that seemed eager to find out was Wrex. The others were reacting more naturally at the prospect of being swamped by acid spitting bugs. Shepard did not take long to come to a decision however.

"Wrex, did the rachni ever take prisoners?"

The krogan's expression darkened noticeably. "Not for very long."

"I see," Shepard said softly, and then, "Pressly, do you have that incendiary run ready to go?"

"Ordnance loaded and awaiting your word, ma'am," came the response.

"Change of plans," Shepard said. "Increase the yield. Burn these bastards out, begin run when ready."

"Acknowledged ma'am." Again the wait was not long. "Firing in three, two, one, mark."

A loud rumble was soon audible even if the cause was nowhere in sight. What did come into sight however was a series of streaks that slammed into the ground both around and inside the outpost's perimeter. A second later, geysers of fire erupted from where the tunnel roofs were too thin to contain the maelstrom. The flames did not quite reach their position, but soot and smoke did gush out the nearby holes to create a darkened cloud.

"Think we got all of them?" Wrex wondered aloud.

"Maybe," Shepard said. "But the galaxy thought they got all of them once already."

"But how did they even get here?" Liara asked. "And why did they show up now?"

"Damn good questions," Shepard said. "And something tells me we better find the answers before it's too late."

End of Chapter 11

Presumably everyone has been wearing helmets while deployed.

I've already been using multiple "books" for the opening snippets.

I don't know if I quite agree with the claim that I'm including too many "side missions" in the story. The claim feels odd to me because for all practical purposes, the inclusion of specific events is geared towards feeding into the larger narrative. Every single "side mission" included thus far serves some purpose to either reveal an aspect of Shepard that I feel is important or is setup for something down the line, they are not just things to give Shepard something to "do" in between major excursions.

Now it is a given that Shepard isn't just hunting for Saren, she has other duties as an imperial servicewoman, and especially as Cadre. There will also be downtime of sorts when the Normandy is undergoing maintenance or resupply and the Major is going to run into situations, or be asked to look into situations. In every situation that Shepard looks into however, she's not going to get some material reward like credits or gear or xp. She might win some goodwill, make an enemy, or make friends, all of which will weave in and out of the story as appropriate. The ultimate goal is to make the unfolding interactions organic to the main story instead of being an obvious time filler. Why did Shepard look into Ernesto? Because her mother explicitly asked her to. Why did she help Samesh? Because the man was literally yelling at one of the navy offices aboard Arcturus Station. Why did she intervene with Fist? Because the imperial government actually has a warrant out for him and it might help earn her some goodwill from C-SEC.

Concurrently ask yourself, which "side missions" am I excluding outright. Which do I never bring up, which do I have Shepard ignore outright, and perhaps most importantly, which do I have Shepard not take the lead in? After all she's not a Spectre, so her authority in Citadel space is extremely circumscribed. So basically, wait until we get further into the story to decide whether the myriad of things Shepard does constitute "side missions."

Morality is what you believe to be right and wrong. Ethnics is the exercising of that belief, especially externally.