The Normandy cautiously approached the dead Reaper floating over a brown dwarf. The ship shuddered. Joker was struggling to keep the Normandy steady. Shepard cling to the head rest of his chair.
"What's with all the chop, Joker?"
"I'm doing my best. The wind's gusting at 500 KPH!" He checked a blinking alert on the display panel. "There's another ship along side the Reaper. It's not transmitting any IFF but the radar reads it's silhouette as get."
"Guess we know why the science team stopped reporting in..." Shepard said. That's just what she needed. Geth.
The Normandy abruptly regained a steady flight. She wasn't ungrateful, but it was an change.
"What just happened?" She asked, studying the displays over Joker's shoulder.
"The Reapers' mass effect fields are still active. We just passed inside the envelope." Joker made some adjustments. "Eye of the hurricane, hu?"
Shepard walked over to the docking doors. She wanted to give the ID tags a squeeze, but they there well protected beneath the layers of armor and cloth she wore. Garrus and Jack were ready to go. Shepard had talked Jack into wearing a bit more clothing. The leather top she now wore hid the skin, but not her curves. Shepard would take what she got. The girl wasn't stable. Garrus stood at her side, ready for anything. She was glad to have him with her. She resisted the urge to look at his face and find the security she needed to be there. She was as much a bastion for him as he was for her. She couldn't allow him to see her weakness.
Shepard rounded the first corner making certain the muzzle of her rifle went first. Vakarian was close on her six.
"Exploring an abandoned area, expecting something mechanical and nasty to jump out at any moment. Just like old times..."
"Was that supposed to make me feel better? 'Cause it didn't." Jack said in her usual tone.
Shepard hacked a few credits from a wall save before crossing over to a terminal on the other side of the room. There was a recording from one of the officers on the team. At the end of the corridor there was another console with another officers recording. Both stories gave Shepard chills. She took a few medi-gel packs from the wall and moved toward the doors to the main ship. When they opened both ships shuddered violently.
"Normandy to shore party." Joker's voice came over the com.
"What just happened?" Shepard asked, succeeding in hiding the alarm from her voice.
"The Reaper just put up kinetic barriers. I don't think we can get through from our side."
"So, we're trapped. Great." Said Garrus.
"We'll have to take down the barriers from in here. Any idea where the controls are?"
"At the moment of activation, I detected a heat spike in what is likely the wreck's mass effect core." EDI responded. "Sending the coordinates now. Be advised. This core is also maintaining the Reapers' altitude."
"So when we take the barriers down to escape, the wreak falls into the planet core."
"And that means everyone dies. Yeah, got it." Said Joker.
"If any helmsmen can pull us off this thing before it reaches crush depth, it's you." She hoped to the Fates she was right. "We'll make a sweep for survivors and recover what data we can. Stand by."
"Aye, aye. Good hunting." Joker pushed the standby button and leaned into his chair.
Shepard nodded to her team and they moved in. Mangled corpses lay on the floor, barely recognizable as ever havering been human.
"Looks like we missed the party." Jack commented.
Shepard shot her a look through her visor. There was another console. It had a recording of two crewmen discussing a memory. One they both seemed to think was their own. Shepard was officially creeped out.
"Sounds like they were being indoctrinated." Garrus said. He felt at ease about as much as Sonya did. He knew because she kept grabbing at her chest only to have her fingers glance off the armor.
"Nihlus, I can only do so much," He thought. "She's going to need you're help." He didn't know if the dead turian could hear him, but he hoped he could and that he was able to do something about it.
"Let's move on."
A few steps down the ramp Garrus thought he saw something, but when he looked there was nothing there. Shepard passed a tank full of explosive matinal when a husk crawled over the edge of the catwalks.
"Look out!" He shouted and fired a round into it's face, sending back down into the darkness below.
"I wondered if the husks had been Reaper or Geth technology. I guess now we know."
Shepard retreated up the ramp, Garrus and Jack followed, sending fire out as the backed up the incline. Shepard waited for a group of them to converge near the tanks then shot several rounds into the tanks. The resulting explosion took out the remaining husks.
They ran down the ramp and passed a console. It didn't matter what it said. She knew what was going on. The started up the ramp on the other side. Three shots came from the next room taking out three husks that were waiting for them.
"Sniper! and a damn good shot." Garrus said.
"One of the survivors?" Shepard wondered allowed.
"Don't count on it." Piped in Jack.
Shepard cautiously rounded the bend. There were two sets of stairs, one against each wall. She took the short flight of stairs nearest to her to the main floor. Jack took the other. There was no one there.
The room was daunting. Large crates lined the railing. She could see dragons teeth off bow of the balcony. They were not unadorned.
Garrus came up behind her, close enough that he could lean down to her ear and whisper.
"I don't like this, Shepard. I've got a bad feeling."
Shepard nodded. She'd come to trust his 'feelings'. Especially when her gut agreed with him.