Chapter 12: Ghost World
Shepard and Tali walked out of the small temple. It was still raining out. The dig site workers were long gone. They went to a terminal at the camp and called Alliance base.
"Alliance base, this is Colonel Mitchell."
"This is Commander Shepard. The workers at the dig site were Cerberus agents. Admiral Rubia is also an agent."
"Are you sure?"
"The bastard tried to kill Tali and me. I'm sure."
"I'll notify Admiral Hackett. It's too late to apprehend Admiral Rubia. He left the system just now."
Shepard let out a curse. "Alright. Just send transport to the dig site."
"Right away, sir."
Rain pummeled the tent top. Shepard placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled. "You want to have that dance in the rain?"
Tali smiled back and only responded by grabbing his right hand and dragging him out in the rain. They danced until the Alliance arrived.
Shepard stepped inside the Comm room. The holograms of the Council appeared before him. "We're glad to hear you were able to escape from Cerberus' trap, Commander," the Salarian said. "Though the fact that Cerberus now has access to Citadel Omega is troubling."
"Seer gave me the location of the Prothean homeworld. There I can get the IFF needed and I can give it to the Galactic fleet. He also told me the purpose of Citadel Omega."
"We're listening," Septimus stated.
"Citadel Omega is meant to be a two-stage trap for the Reapers. It overrides the existing relay making the Reapers arrive at that one. Once they arrive, the first-stage of the trap is sprung. A virus is uploaded to the Reaper fleet which will disable them temporally. The second-stage is a projectile loaded with dark energy is launched at the systems sun which will cause it to go supernova which will eliminate the entire Reaper fleet."
"I knew you were onto something, Shepard!" Anderson cheered as he slammed his fist into his other hand. "We'll be able to defeat the Reaper fleet with minimum losses."
"We still need to keep the Reapers, and possibly Cerberus, busy long enough for my team to infiltrate the Citadel to put both parts of this plan in motion. This is where the galactic fleet comes in. As soon as I recover the IFF, I'll send a copy of it to you so it can be applied to every ship in the galactic fleet."
"We still need to get Sacrosanct to use the relay for this plan to work," the Asari mentioned.
"That's where we learn from the ex-Councilor's mistake. Once the Galactic fleet is prepared for the final confrontation, we will leak the coordinates and IFF. Sacrosanct will find the leaked Intel and will act on it."
"This plan sounds risky," the Salarian commented.
"It is, but it is our best chance to defeat the Reapers. I'll contact you again once we retrieve the IFF."
"Very well, we'll speak to you soon, Commander," Septimus said.
The holograms cut out. Shepard walked out of the room into the lab where Mordin was busy at work. "Shepard! Need me for something?"
"Yeah, I need you on my ground team for the Prothean homeworld. Tali will be joining us as well. I don't think we'll be seeing too much combat and I need scientists and technicians for this mission."
Mordin smiled. "Ah yes, would love to. Excellent opportunity to see Prothean homeworld. Much history, technology and culture. High chance that most of the planet will be rubble, but will still be an excellent experience. Just notify me when we're within an hour of the planet. Need data gathering equipment."
"I'll let you know when the time comes." Shepard went through the small corridor only to be greeted by Tali who lunged at him and kissed his lips. She pulled away and smiled. "I see you found your new armor suit."
"I did. It's incredible. You still kept the cloth designs, and I noticed you made it more suitable for conflict."
"Yes. I had the armory staff make a new suit that would provide better protection. Since you don't need the level of medical tech your previous suit had, we were able to focus on the suit's functionality and defense."
"Thank you."
"Well, be ready in about six hours. You're going to be on my ground team."
"I'll see you then." Tali walked into the elevator and disappeared to deck 4.
Shepard got walked up to the galaxy map and was ready to plot a course, when Kelly said, "You have a new message from Aria."
Shepard looked to her and replied. "Thank you, I'll have a look."
He opened up his terminal and pulled up his inbox. The message read:
Shepard,
I saw what that Reaper did to the Citadel. While it's outside of my character to say this: You have my sympathy. This event has really put things in perspective for me. What these things can do. It seems you beat me to the punch when it came to Vido. And as of yet I have not found any reliable sightings of the Rachni. But my actions were not limited to intelligence search. I know about Citadel Omega and the final fight that is approaching. I have managed to get the Eclipse and several other merc groups to accept the necessity of fighting in the final fight. When the time comes, send us the coordinates and IFF. We will fight for you.
-Aria
The inbox screen closed and Shepard walked back to the Galaxy map. "Joker, I'm punching in the coordinates for the Prothean homeworld."
"Okay, oh mighty Messiah."
"I'm not sure I get the joke."
"Seriously?" Joker said with genuine surprise. "You haven't heard?"
"Heard what?"
"Your cult."
"My what?" he yelled. The engineers and technicians working on their consoles turned to his direction.
"A multi-race cult was recently created, The Exemplars. They claim you're a god-in-the-flesh to protect the galaxy." Joker laughter was evident. The rest of the staff couldn't help but join in the laughter.
"And that you are prophesized to defeat the forces of darkness and bring balance to the galaxy," Joker said in a mocking voice. "Actually removed the parts about being a god, and it's not too far off."
"Keep going, Joker, I'll smite you."
The staff couldn't help but break into a room-wide laughter. Shepard smiled.
"But that's not the best part," Joker added. "According to them, Tali is your goddess mate, and your ground team are your disciples."
The laughter rose. "Will the mighty god give me his blessing?" one of the staff asked sarcastically.
"You shall have it!" Shepard replied, joining in on the joke. Another wave of laughter went through the room. Shepard regained his composure. "Okay, seriously people. Back to work." Shepard used the holographic interface to locate the Prothean star cluster that was designated Threshold. System is designated Theisosis.
"Coordinates punched in ETA six hours."
Six hours later...
The shuttle flew in through the atmosphere. Through the window, the squad could see the ruins of hundreds of buildings, mass accelerator impact craters and large growth of vegetation. It was dusk at the area of the planet they were landing on. The two moons were rising over the planet's surface. According to the memory that Shepard was given, this planet was called Delarous. It's two moons were Yout and Qikle. Yout was half the size of Qikle and was slightly blue, whereas Qikle was two-thirds the size of luna and was slightly green. "Keelah," Tali sighed. Her new suit looked similar to her previous one, but it had a new form of flexible plate armor that went down her chest and legs. Her shins were now surrounded by mechanical boots that improve her storm speed. "The Reapers barely left anything behind."
"Hard to imagine the Reapers leaving anything behind," Mordin observed. "Protheans were wiped out all across the galaxy. Yet on their home planet, some buildings still remain."
"Maybe they were not important," Shepard added. "Like apartments. Filled with nothing that would benefit any future generation."
"A worthy suggestion. We'll learn more once we get groundside."
The shuttle hovered over what the squad thought to be a plaza. The shuttle landed and they disembarked. The shuttle lifted off and flew away. The area was eerily quiet. Shepard nodded to Mordin and Tali to move forward in this ghost city.
"I'm getting the same feeling here as we did on Ilos," Tali muttered. "Like we don't belong here."
"This planet has been abandoned for fifty thousand years, I don't think we have any resistance," Shepard said, "but just to be careful, be ready for anything. We don't know if Sacrosanct or any other Reaper has come here recently."
Shepard walked ahead of his squad with his Locust SMG in his hands. They walked at a steady pace. Even though he assumed it was just nerves, he had to agree with Tali that the city just felt off. On occasion they would hear a rock or debris fall making quiet crackling sounds. Wind started blowing through the area. Tali could swear that the wind was singing.
"You hear that?" she asked.
"Hear what?" Shepard stopped moving forward.
"Listen."
The wind picked up again. The tune was clearly heard. It was beautiful to listen to. "Just the wind," Mordin stated.
They continued forward. Tali held her shotgun high watching the area around them. The ambience of the city was making her jumpy. It was to the point where she was seeing things in the shadows. Something moving.
"You alright, Tali?" Shepard asked.
"Just a little jumpy," she answered. "How do you know exactly where we're going?"
"It's like how I know where on Mindoir I lived. It's just there in my mind." He looked around at his surroundings. "We're not far. There should be an open plaza of sorts just ahead, and the building that contains the IFF will be there."
"Hopefully it wasn't destroyed," Mordin thought out loud.
"No, the IFF is in a bunker under the building. It should be okay."
They still continued at their current stride. At this point the feeling of being watched was overwhelming. They were soon at the plaza. There was a sight that made the three freeze in place. In the center of the plaza was a large statue. The statue was twice the size of the Krogan statue that was on the Citadel.
Tali was the first to speak out, "Sh-Shepard... Is that?" She walked forward a little more. "Is that you?"
The statue was of Shepard donned in his armor hold a pistol in his right hand and was lowered to his side. His left hand was reaching out. Blue flames came from the palm and several areas around the top of the hand. It looks like an imitation of biotics. His head was uncovered. There was a serene look on his face. It almost looked like the statue was trying to play him as a god.
"I-I think it is," he stammered. "But why would the Protheans have a statue of me?"
"Hmm, unlikely," Mordin commented. "Look at the statue. It lacks cracks or imperfections. It must have been recently made."
"There appears the be writing on it," Shepard observed. He walked over to the base of the statue. There were three lines on it in an unrecognizable language. Shepard's omni-tool lit up as he scanned it. "Hmm. My omni-tool is unable to decipher the language. It's definitely not Prothean. So Mordin you're right."
"If the Protheans didn't make it, who did?" Tali questioned.
Her question was answered by a loud squeal. The squeals surrounded them. They went back-to-back and searched the area around them for the sources of the noises. Mordin was the first to spot the creature. It came out from an alleyway. It was very large. "I see one, Shepard!"
Shepard and Tali turned to his view.
"Creature is... Insectoid. Klixen? No, no, no. Klixen has two lower jaws and large horns. Creatures have tentacles. New specie?"
The creature came close enough for Shepard and Tali to get a good view. His eyes widen.
"Why does this creature seem familiar?" Mordin said to himself. "Wait! Could it be? No... Rachni... Can't be!"
"Mordin, weapons down," Shepard ordered. He placed his SMG on the side of his leg.
Mordin turned to Shepard. "What? Are you mad?"
"Trust me."
Mordin gave only a moment before lowering his weapon. Shepard put his SMG away. Tali was a little hesitant. "Are you sure, Shepard?" He nodded to her. She placed her shotgun on her back.
Shepard approached the drone in a non-threatening walk. "Hello, I'm Commander Shepard. Is the Queen here?"
The drone got within ten feet of Shepard before it stopped advancing. It was dressed in unusual armor that went down its back and chest. It looked at Shepard inquisitively. It took a couple steps forward. In an act that surprised Shepard, Tali and Mordin, it bowed before Shepard.
"H-How? W-Why?" Mordin stuttered. A rarity for him.
"I guess the Queen really appreciated Shepard's mercy," Tali answered.
The drone got up and waved with its arm and tentacle, signaling Shepard to follow him. A couple dozen more drones came into view as the squad walked through the plaza towards a worn down building. "That's the building," Shepard pointed out.
They followed the drone inside the building. A large tunnel came out of the ground. The drone went inside. The squad followed suit. After walking through the dark tunnel for a few minutes, they could see a light coming from its end. They reached the end and were dumbfounded at what was before them. It was an entire underground city. It was massive. Large support structures ran throughout the cavern to hold up to walls and ceiling. Inside were termite-mound shaped buildings. Thousands of Rachni crawled throughout the underground city.
"Keelah, the Rachni were busy."
"Incredible," Mordin mumbled.
They continue following the Rachni drone until it led them to a chamber were the Rachni Queen rested. Eggs lined the walls and ceiling. She rose up when her drone sang to her. The queen let out a noise that was best described as a combination of a roar and a high-pitched note. A holographic display appeared before her.
"Shhhhepard," she said in a slow tone. Each word came out individually in a similar rhythm and tone as when she communicated through the Asaris. "It is an honor to see you again. How did you find us?"
"Wait, how are you talking?" Shepard asked.
"We created a program to translate our songs into words you can understand. How did you find us?"
"We're currently on a mission to find an IFF. The IFF will allow us to go through a relay that connects to another Citadel. This Citadel is a trap for the Reapers. Do you know where it is by any chance?"
"Yes... We found the Prothean database when we came to this world. Here you may have it."
Shepard's omni-tool lit up as the data transferred to it. "Thank you. But tell me. How did you find the Prothean homeworld?"
"Similar to other races, my people got their technology from the Protheans from their outposts. Once we discovered the relay in our home system, we went through it to discover it connected directly to their world. It was here where we got the majority of our technology that made us so advance. When we left Noveria, we went to our homeworld hoping to rebuild. We found our world to be uninhabitable from the war. Impact craters covered its surface. We had to find a new world. The Prothean homeworld of Delarous environment was suitable for us and their technology and resources would allow us to rebuild quickly. We heard about the destruction of the Citadel. You have our sympathy. These Reapers are a darkness that needs to be purged from the galaxy."
"Yes," Shepard muttered. "What about your forces? Are you ready for the fight?"
The queen turned and the shutters of her chamber open. Light pierced into the dimly lit room. The squad was dumbstruck. It was an enormous hanger that was filled with frigates, fighter ships and several dreadnaughts. "We are ready. We will fight for you Shepard. You've given us another chance. In return we will help you purge the darkness from this galaxy."
"I will send you word when we are ready to mobilize. We are going to cause the sun Citadel Omega's system to supernova. We're going to wipe out the entire Reaper fleet all at once."
"We will come when you ask us to, Commander. It is the least we can do."
"What is your name by the way? It's a little weird to call you Queen or Rachni."
"You may call me, Aphora. Songs be with you, Shepard. We will sing of your courage and mercy."
Shepard walked into the Communications room and stood to the side of the table. The holograms of the Councilors appeared before him.
"Hello, Shepard," Septimus greeted. "Were you able to retrieve the IFF?"
"Yes. We have the IFF. I'm sending you a copy now."
Each of the Councilor's omni-tools lit up as the IFF reached them.
"We now have a chance to end the Reapers," the Salarian added.
"My ship will be able to install the IFF in a couple of days. We will go through and take care of the Cerberus resistance. Once done, we will send a message to notify the Galactic fleet to go through."
"Good job, Shepard," Anderson cheered. "You really pulled through for us."
"There's one other thing. We found the Rachni." The Councilors stood a little straighter and a look of worry came across their faces. "We have nothing to worry about. They are committed to fighting the Reapers who started the Rachni war. They have a fleet ready to fight when the time comes."
"Are you sure we can trust them?" the Asari asked.
"Yes. They allowed us to meet with Queen Aphora directly. They are fully committed to the cause."
Anderson's omni-tool beeped. He looked at it and his eyes widen. "Shepard another colony set off a distress call. I think you'll want to check this one out personally, Commander. It's Mindoir."
Shepard nodded. "I'll go immediately, Councilor."