AUTHOR'S FOREWORD:
Sorry again for the delay, this chapter was very difficult to write as I wasn't quite sure how to deal with the end of this part of the story. Anyway, with this, our Feros arc comes to a conclusion, and with the next two chapters, the first act of the story comes to a close. Cheers again to you, my readers.
If you're reading this, please review. Even if you hate it with a passion.
Enjoy!
Chapter 17: The Old Growth
Shepard approached the steel plate and ran her hand over its surface. It was a rough but sturdy piece, solid enough to withstand fairly substantial detonations. Cassone's men had done a good job in sealing up the underground of Zhu's Hope after the krogan were discovered. She gave it a heavy push to test it. It didn't move as she expected. She yawned uncontrollably for a moment, and she covered her mouth with her palm before turning back to her crewmates and the soldiers. No problems so far, now it was a matter of waiting.
The infiltration group sat in the darkness of the skyway underpassage in front of Shepard, the glow of lights and omnitools piercing the veil of black that enveloped them. They had parked themselves on a pipe that ran the length of the space, checking weapons or waiting quietly. One was clearly checking out the other. That was one way to keep morale high Shepard supposed, as the watcher received a slap on the head from the subject of his gawking.
The Commander had selected Vega's Delta Squad to support her for this part of the attack. They had performed admirably under fire against the krogan and they were familiar with the terrain they were about fight on. The injuries they had sustained had been minor, and they had been assigned to the rear until now. They were eager to fight again. Shepard had been quietly impressed by Vega's actions under fire, and the continued thirst for the fight from his squad merely confirmed her evaluation of the soldier. He had made sure his subordinates made it to safety, and would have died for that decision if she had not arrived in time to save the day. She saw more than a little of herself in that.
Shepard walked past the soldiers to her own crew.
Wrex was leaning against the wall, scratching his headplate with one hand and holding his shotgun with the other. His eyes were fixed on the metal barrier ahead, not even acknowledging her as she passed. Impatient for the fight, she figured. Behind him, Garrus and Ashley sat. They seemed to be coaxing metallic noise from their weapons and calibrating their sights. Unsure if it was a sign of nervousness or zeal, she simply passed them by to leave them to it. Every soldier had their own ritual before a fight, interrupting it was a bad idea.
Behind the two sharpshooters, Kaidan and Tali were busy on their omnitools.
"Commander, we've almost figured out an improvement to the stun programme," the lieutenant said when he saw her approach. Tali had come up with the idea of modifying the overload function of omnitools to stun the colonists, but it had very limited range and no one was sure if it would actually work. Shepard had the programme distributed to every soldier in the company. Better to try.
"That's good news," she replied, looking in on the power chart glowing off of Tali's arm.
"I hope it helps," the quarian said, worriedly.
"It will, I'm sure of it," said Shepard confidently. Tali seemed to take that well, and resumed her tweaks.
Shepard smiled, and came to the last member of the crew. Liara sat on top of the pipe, her legs crossed, watching a schematic of the Zhu's Hope spire. The Commander sat down beside her.
"Are you ready?" she asked.
"Ready to kill or maim our way through innocents in order to destroy an ancient sentient being, in order to prevent it from falling into the hands of a rogue Spectre? No, I cannot say that I am, but we do not have a choice, do we?"
The asari turned off the omnitool, brought her knees up and put her head on them, looking at Shepard. This made her feel uncomfortable. She still did not know what exactly had stopped her executing Jeong, and the present was not the time for thinking about it.
"Is it always this hard?" Liara asked.
"Is what?"
"Saving people," the asari continued, "I read about you on the way here, is it always... bloody?"
Shepard considered the question. Her military experience was entirely filled with killing evil people in order to prevent harm. It wasn't her job to "save" people at all, technically. She grimaced as she remembered some of the worst things she had done, before putting the memories away. She didn't want to think about them anymore, even as she used the lessons they had taught her.
"There are a lot of ways to save people," said Shepard finally, "But yes, sometimes it does end in violence."
"Shepard, I..." Liara started.
The comms hissed three times, interrupting the conversation. It was the signal to begin. Shepard stood up, and locked eyes with Liara again.
"Afterwards," she said quietly, unslinging her shotgun.
The asari nodded, and stood up herself. The Commander was relieved that it was time to fight. She was not in the right mind for talk.
"Alright, everything off!" Shepard ordered loudly, "We do this, and then we go get Saren!"
A noisy acknowledgement was followed by the glow of lights and omnitools flickering off, as their users killed the power. The power generators were at the top of the spire and Shepard's team was near the bottom of the liveable sections, but the Commander was taking no chances. The others turned off their comms as well, just in case.
"Commencing EMP strike," Pressly said, right on schedule. Shepard reminded herself to thank the man for his diligence.
"You guys better be ready!" Joker added finally.
Shepard walked back the way she had come. Wrex followed, shotgun resting over his shoulder. He would be the first in, for the obvious reason. They reached the front of the pack as the structure shook slightly but repeatedly. Shepard grinned a little, but realised no one could see it in the pitch black. She turned her light back on, and found the squad leader standing right beside her.
"Okay Vega, your turn," she said, holding her arm out towards the metal plate, "Everyone else, get ready." Delta Squad's engineer handed him a plasma-cutter with a built-in weld-shield. Ashley and Garrus moved to the front to join Wrex and the other assault soldier in Vega's squad, Kamille. Vega fiddled with the valves on the side of the tool, and then turned to the others.
"You might wanna close your eyes, this will be bright," he said. Shepard complied, closing her eyes and turning away as the soldier fired up the cutter. She listened as the fizzing sound of metal melting washed through the underpassage. The noise of Vega cutting his way through was joined seconds later by the sound of Cassone's troops opening fire. They had been ordered to open fire if fired upon as they advanced towards the garage doors, but only to suppress the colonists. She hoped they weren't getting torn to pieces above.
The sound of the cutting stopped, and Vega tapped Shepard on the shoulder to indicate that the job was done. She opened her eyes, as the squad leader recovered his rifle and aimed it at the cut section.
"Switch to IRNV-heatsync," said Shepard, as she turned off her torch and activated her helmet's overlay system. The world turned grey-green, but she could see clearly in all directions despite the dark. She watched the others don their own headgear and switch off the white beams that had flowed from the ends of their weapons. The Commander's helmet VI painted light boxes around them, indicating that they were alive according to their body temperatures. Satisfied that the colonists wouldn't see them coming, she gave Wrex a tap on the back. The krogan loomed over her, his full-face helmet covering his expressions.
"Do the honours," said Shepard, nodding at the steel.
Wrex's head turned forwards, and his biotics flared. The steel section floated backwards and set itself down softly on the ground with a quiet thud. Shepard felt an eyebrow rise. She hadn't expected the krogan to be so subtle about it, but he stepped through the hole anyway, closely followed by Vega.
Shepard stood aside as the rest of the assault section went through in pairs. Kamille and Garrus were soon followed by Ashley and the sniper from Vega's squad. The Commander escorted Tali through, while the rest took up the rear.
"Clear" said Vega, half-whispering.
"Nothing here either," Wrex said.
The soldiers spread out, covering all possible firing points as they moved into the large intersection of corridors. Shepard was struck by a sense of deja vu. The layout was very similar to the area where Delta Squad had found itself pinned down the day before. She observed her surroundings for a moment more as the rest of the team entered the spire, taking mental note of the floor-plan as best she could. Just in case. When she was satisfied, she turned to Liara.
"Which way to the garage?" she asked quietly.
"That way, and then we go up one floor," the asari said, pointing to a corridor littered with rubble. Shepard signalled, and the assault section filed forwards with Wrex at the head. The Commander stayed with the support section, and walked just ahead of the rearguard. Kaidan and the Delta Squad biotic called Essex, the one who had been checking out his squad-mate, were last. They advanced wordlessly towards their objective. There was still no sign of the colonists.
They reached and climbed the stairs without incident, but when Wrex reached the floor above, he called a halt.
Shepard moved through the team as they crouched on the stairs, weapons at the ready, and came up alongside the krogan. She immediately understood why he had stopped. Footfalls could be heard down the next corridor, the one that could only have went to the garage. She waved the others up, and as they got into position, she activated her cloak. The active camouflage covered her, flickering her visible form away.
The Commander crept forward, ahead of the others, as the orange glow of fires rose across the walls. Her helmet's night vision turned itself off automatically when the light became too bright. The colonists were dealing with the lack of power very quickly. She kept moving, shielded from sight. The garage was under a strange, heavy atmosphere when she finally rounded the last corner and entered. She could only see onto the raised walkways, but dared not go any further on her own.
Shepard crouched down and hid behind a pillar, watching the scene in front of her. The Alliance veterans and corporate security troops, who had fought so hard against the geth, were engrossed with the garage gate. Standing behind the barricades, they stared like it was the most interesting thing in the universe, unable to tear their eyes from it. They were all armed, and not one said a word to another. A few tended fires in barrels, adding fuel to the flames so that there would be light, but their heads swivelled on their necks between the direction of the door and their work. The only noise was that of the fires, hissing and crackling. What faces she could see were pained and tired. The control was taking a toll on them.
Shepard watched them, left cold with disgust at their fate. This was a form of slavery beyond anything she had seen or heard of, and she had seen plenty. Taking a breath, she put this thought aside and examined the positions of the colonists. They were standing close together in firing positions arranged around where they thought the Alliance soldiers would enter from. She made a quick calculation in her head, and confident they could be surprised, turned around.
She moved back to where she had arrived, and found her squad waiting in the darkness. She decloaked, startling a few of them, and motioned for them to gather around. The team very carefully moved to her.
"They're all watching the main gate," Shepard whispered, "We take them by surprise, use Tali's shock device and stun them. No firing unless you absolutely have to."
All heads nodded. The team stood up, weapons at the ready and waiting for her to lead the way. Shepard's jaw clenched for a moment, nerves getting to her. This was getting far from the sort of stand up fight or stealth mission she was used to. She unslung her shotgun confidently, hoping to hide her feelings. It seemed to fool the others, who fell in behind her without betraying any nerves of their own.
They advanced with their weapons held up and their omnitools at the ready.
Stepping into the warm light, the assault team picked their targets. The Commander watched them crouch and crawl to the best positions to hit as many of the enthralled as possible.
"Now," said Shepard quietly. She fired her stunner, as did most of the others, the electrical discharge sending bolts around the bodies of the targeted individuals. It was quite a show.
All those who were hit went down, but the corpers started getting up again almost immediately. Their armour had provided too much insulation. As they got up, those who hadn't been hit turned as one and began firing. Cursing, Shepard dove for cover with her crewmates as the colonists' shots began pinging and booming off the concrete around her. They held their fire in a remarkable display of discipline, to her surprise.
"Commander, orders?" Kaidan asked, as he attempted to suppress the shooters with his submachinegun by shooting at the roof above them. They remained unperturbed by the bullets, and continued shooting, as if they weren't human at all.
Shepard hung her head. She realised that there was only one option. She had already failed. Another massacre for the history books with her name beside it. She opened her mouth to give the order to open fire.
Liara hopped over her cover before the others began to shoot, and with a clenched fist, lifted almost all of the colonists into the air with her biotics. They span and tried to grab hold of something as the gravity well pulled them off their feet. Kaidan got up as well, and flung a bolt of biotic power into the singularity, causing it to explode. The colonists were flung about, landing awkwardly. The Commander climbed to her feet, surprised that the bold move had worked but very glad for it.
"Quickly, stun them!" Shepard said.
Roaring, Wrex was the first to respond. He charged in and punched the first of the thralls to get onto his feet, knocking the poor man out cold. The others quickly fired their stunners at the groggy and injured alike. Liara stumbled as she deflected a stray pistol shot with her barrier. Shepard grabbed to support her, but the asari soon straightened herself.
The few colonists that hadn't been caught out, Wrex ended with his shotgun. They tumbled with large bloody holes carved in their upper bodies, dead before even hitting the ground. Shepard watched them fall, recognising them as some of the veterans. She felt like getting sick. They had retired to a quiet colony only to be used first as guinea pigs and then as cannon fodder. The rumbling, familiar anger rose in her throat again.
"Shepard!" Garrus exclaimed, pointing at something behind the Commander. She turned.
A moan sounded around the large space.
From the entrance at the other side of the garage, the most disgusting creatures she had ever laid eyes on shambled into the light of the fires. They appeared almost human. Each of their faces was exactly the same, like clones. The pallor of their skin was a sickly grey-green, as if they had green pus for blood. Tendrils of plant-like fibres grew from their eye sockets, covering large parts of their bodies. Instead of fingers, they had long, sharp claws made of a chitin material. Behind the first, their numbers filled the corridor beyond from wall to wall.
Shepard watched these horrors and felt her blood boil over, realising that these things had been made by the Thorian as a sick parody of humanity. She had found an outlet for her anger.
"Dios Mio, what are those!" exclaimed Vega.
"Dead," growled Shepard, glancing at the deceased veterans and stunned corpers, "Tali, get the gate open!"
"We're definitely going to need the help," Ashley added, as the quarian ran to the control interface.
Everyone else began pouring fire into the mass of creepers. A cacophony of hums and blasts echoed around the chamber as the squads cut the creepers down. Still more came on, moaning like something from a B horror movie. Shepard watched with grim fascination as she fired. The things needed to be literally shredded with fire to stay down. Headshots seemingly did nothing. Where had these monsters been hiding all this time?
"These things just don't die!" said Kamille, as she fired on more of the creepers. The enemy had found their way around to the only other exit. Shepard fired her shotgun on full automatic into the newcomers, as she realised she had been cut off. The targets had more holes than Swiss cheese after the barrage, but only about half went down. The Commander and Kamille backed off as Kaidan threw the survivors at the wall with biotic force.
"Any time now Tali," said Garrus, an edge of worry in his voice as he reloaded his rifle. Shepard glanced back at the quarian, and she was fiddling with the console quickly.
"I've almost got it!" she replied.
The creepers advanced, forcing everyone backwards into a ring around the young engineer. They ignored the knocked-out colonists, pressing forward despite the waves of shots piercing their bodies. Kaidan and Vega pulled some of the civilians' bodies back behind the cordon quickly, so the teams wouldn't accidentally shoot them.
"We're out of time!" shouted Ashley, moving back as Essex covered her with warp bolts, proving himself.
Shepard flinched as the gate to the skyway exploded, falling inwards with a huge clang as the metal hit the ground. Bright white light poured into the garage, illuminating the horrors in front of her. Its source was a spotlight, mounted on top of one of two walkers. The war machines strode into the building, towering over the other occupants. For a moment, the enemy stood still, as if unsure what to make of the new opponents. Shepard looked on in disbelief. Some of the monsters even had their heads cocked to the side in an almost comic gesture.
The creepers snapped out of it, jumping off the walkways and onto the main floor of the garage to charge at the metal beasts. The walkers' gatling cannons spun up and fired, turning whole groups of the monsters into chunks of green meat and goo. To Shepard's surprise, the things still kept on coming, trying to take her along to whatever hell Cassone's pilots were sending them to. It did no good. She cut her attackers, their diminished numbers unable to overwhelm the firepower of her team.
The fighting stopped just as abruptly as it started, without a command. There was suddenly nothing left to shoot. Shepard edged forwards, into the light. She flipped one of the corpses with her foot. It gurgled at her. She recoiled, and shot it. She thanked her lucky stars that the things didn't have kinetic barriers or biotics. They were bad enough as it was.
The Commander turned back to her team-mates. They were all relieved to be alive, but ready for more. Wrex in particular seemed to be enjoying himself, quite a feat of communication considering he still had his helmet on. She walked to Vega's group.
"Good work, Gunnery-Chief," she said, "The rest of you too, thanks."
"It was our pleasure ma'am," said Vega in return. Shepard smiled at the man, and held her hand out for him to shake, which he took.
Shepard turned to find that Major Cassone had arrived with his infantry. They moved around the legs of the walkers, weapons raised as they followed their CO. She watched him pick his way rather casually through the bodies, albeit with care not to step in anything.
"I see you ran into these things as well," he said as he stumbled his way up to join her.
"That's why you opened fire earlier?" Shepard asked, "The colonists didn't shoot you at all?"
Cassone shook his head.
"We haven't seen a single colonist since the weigh-station back at Exogeni," he replied, "Unless these things are the colonists?"
Shepard shook her head, and pointed at the sprawled out unconscious bodies of the corporate security troops and the Alliance veterans.
"They came at us like they were possessed," Shepard said, "No fear at all. The stunners didn't work so well against the armoured ones, but I think they're all accounted for now."
"It was nasty, Major," added Vega, "We almost had to kill them all, until that asari hit them with her biotics."
Shepard frowned. She had been hasty to try and order the colonists killed, but then again, she hadn't known that Liara could achieve such a feat. A matter to consider later, she decided, returning her thoughts to the present.
"We need to press on," she said, "Major, push into the building and surround the main plaza. Damaged or not, that's where the rest of them will be. And watch out for more of these things."
Cassone nodded at a subordinate nearby, who began chattering on his comms.
"What makes you think they'll be there?" the Major asked.
Shepard turned to Liara for the explanation. After a moment on her omnitool, the asari brought up a schematic of the building.
"I looked up the plans for the colony as soon as I knew we would have to find the Thorian ourselves," she said, "They have concealed the entrance to the central structure of the spire underneath the prefabricated buildings they use for housing. It is the only entrance to that area. They will guard it."
"Couldn't we knock a hole somewhere else to gain access?" asked Cassone.
"The walls around it are the main weight bearing supports for the spire," Liara replied, "We could force our way in, but we might cause the whole structure to collapse on top of us if we try."
Cassone grimaced at the thought.
"Which wouldn't be good," he said.
"Obviously," said Shepard flatly, "We kept the gas just in case, so we should be able to get through them before they can stop us. What we need you to do is contain the rest while we deal with the Thorian itself."
"Got you," said Cassone nodding, "Alright Commander, let's get through this."
The man saluted and exited onto the skyway again. Squads of soldiers moved past their leader, bound for the corridors into the spire proper. Vega saluted and led his squad to join them. Shepard watched them pass for a moment, hoping they wouldn't die because of her lack of foresight.
"Wrex, you got what you need?" she said, walking over to the krogan as he talked to an Army corporal. The krogan turned around and held the item in question out, chuckling deeply as he did so.
"Shepard, you humans have some of the best toys!" Wrex declared, his voice rendered deeper and louder by his helmet's speaker. The krogan began stowing the object on his back with a mag-holster.
"It's a turian design, actually," said Garrus, clearly amused.
"As long as you're happy, Wrex," said Shepard with some sarcasm, "Let's move out!"
The salarian wandered along, sweeping his shotgun from left to right as he did so, black eyes darting around. He licked his lips slightly, a condition of his nervousness or perhaps his control by the thing living a hundred feet below. The light on his weapon followed his moves, jittering about as much as he did. Shepard recognised him immediately as the merchant that had been hanging around Zhu's Hope. She watched him coolly from the shadows, her cloak active again, waiting for the chance. He had suffered enough, it was near time to put him out of his misery as far as she was concerned.
Seemingly satisfied that he had looked over the area enough, he walked forward towards where the rest of his would-be enemies were hiding. Shepard stepped out and deactivated her cloak. She padded as lightly as she could into the corridor and took up position directly behind him. As she was about to activate her omnitool to stun him, the echoes of a firefight rose along the walls. It took both of them by surprise.
The salarian turned his head around as quickly as only one of his kind could, searching for the source. His eyes almost popped out of his skull upon seeing the armoured human female standing behind him, and he began to swing around his body to bring the shotgun to bear.
Shepard reacted quickly to the change in his demeanour. She balled her right hand into a fist and jabbed it straight into the salarian's face. The blow caught him dead centre in his skull, with a satisfying thump. He dropped his shotgun and brought both his hands up to his face by instinct. She followed up by finally activating her omnitool. The stunner glowed orange, and lanced an electrical arc into his body. The poor soul slumped to the ground unconscious, the faint smell of ozone lingering about him for a moment.
Shepard took a breath, relieved that she hadn't been compelled to use lethal force. Looking around to make sure the coast was clear, she whistled. The others emerged from a doorway about twenty feet down, and gathered around the incapacitated salarian.
"Huh, it's Ledra," said Tali, "Poor guy, he helped me with some components I needed to get around the jamming signal."
"Tried to rip me off for a mod," muttered Wrex, evidently not shaken up about the salarian's fate.
Shepard bent over and dragged the salarian into a corner, propping him up against the wall. She made a pair of plastic cuffs with her omnitool, and slapped them onto his hands before standing up again.
"They're sending colonists out to scout for us," she said, "I guess the Thorian's figured out that we have some non-lethal weapons."
"Which means that more of those monsters will be coming for us," said Ashley, "But we're so close!"
Another set of echoes bounced off the concrete, indicating that another firefight had broken out somewhere. Shepard frowned. Even without direct reports, it was obvious that the attack was meeting stiff resistance. She reflected with some sadness that this probably meant more dead colonists.
The shooting noises were soon joined by another; a deep, guttural moaning and rasping.
More of the Thorian thralls came shambling out of the darkness, coming down the final stretch of corridor from the main plaza. The Commander raised her shotgun, revealing the twisted identical faces of the creepers, pale green and ruptured with gnarled root growths. Shepard's lip curled with disgust. She set her weapon to semi-automatic.
"Speak of the devil," Kaidan muttered, as the team crowded behind cover.
Shepard opened fire, taking greater care to aim before each discharge. Simply spraying the creatures with accelerated buckshot was satisfying, but it was far less efficient at incapacitating the creatures. They could take a lot of hits before going down. Most of the shots were caught by the front row, and the creepers behind simply stepped over the bodies of their fellows. Instead, she aimed for the knees and legs.
It worked. With each shot, more and more of the things were crawling rather than running, clawing their way along the concrete in a green smear. The team's barrage started, finishing off the ones that fell with extreme prejudice. The creepers that were still standing slipped on the mess, adding to the quagmire in front. Liara held her hand up in a clenched fist, putting a singularity into the air above, sending corpses and living weapons alike sprawling. Shepard bit her lip, and kept firing. This was a pointless slaughter that wouldn't delay her from getting to the Thorian for long, and it was obvious. Something else was going on, but what?
The Commander got her answer when the groaning of yet more creepers sounded from the rear, coming up the stairwell from which the team had come. She was surrounded. Cursing, she reloaded her weapon and began to shoot at the newcomers. They fell with their knees and thighs ripped apart, but without the weight of fire of the entire team on them, the sheer weight of numbers let the monsters advance.
"We need to retreat!" said Garrus, between bursts of his rifle, "They're closing in from both sides now!"
Kaidan sent a flurry of biotic attacks into the rear, throwing four or five creepers into hard contact with the walls, but double the number simply stepped into the gap. Shepard kept her cool.
"No, we can't retreat now, not when we're this close!" the Commander shouted, "Time to see if that gas really works."
She grabbed two of the grenades from their pouch, and activated the first. She flung it neatly. It arched over the front ranks, and landed in their midst. A soft hiss, and the gas spread through the crowd as a pale green fog. In seconds, the creepers fell as if they were pushed by an invisible force, tumbling over each other and piling up.
"Well, that worked," said Garrus with incredulity, "We should have opened with those."
"They don't grow on trees, Vakarian," replied Shepard, as the whole team turned back to deal with the frontal assault. When she was satisfied that enough of the thralls had gathered, the second grenade was tossed at them. Once again, the mist enveloped the creepers, and they fell in droves.
Shepard got up and looked. The path to the plaza was a little more open. Pleased with her handiwork, she was interrupted as Tali went over to the nearest victim. The young quarian poked it with the end of her shotgun, before flinching, realising that everyone was watching her.
"Sorry, I was just wondering if they were dead or asleep," she said sheepishly.
"I am not sure they were ever truly alive," Liara said, "Though xenobiology is not my field of study."
"Whatever they are, they're disgusting," said Ashley, "Let's go."
"Agreed," said Shepard, motioning Wrex to join her on point. The krogan complied, and the crew fell in, stepping over the dozens of oozing corpses.
When they finally made it to ground that wasn't covered with the "dead" bodies, they made good time. No matter how many sweeps she made, no more of the creatures or enslaved colonists could be found. Shepard began to feel more uneasy with every step.
"This is a trap," growled Wrex, as he opened the second-to-last door on the way. Yet another undefended hallway lay ahead, the beams of light finding nothing but dust. The final portal was visible in the gloom, standing invitingly. The sounds of fighting still echoed from below and from side passages. Shepard realised that there was only one explanation.
"They're waiting for us," she agreed, "The colonists."
"Doesn't help that they're all armed," said Kaidan, "They'll have hundreds of weapons pointed at that door, and we don't get to download into a new body like the geth do."
"If you invade the United States, there will be a rifle behind every blade of grass," quoted Ashley, frowning, "Never thought they'd be aimed at me."
"We still need to get to the Thorian," said Liara, "The colony is counting on us."
Shepard took off her helmet and ruffled her hair for a moment, thinking about what to do. Simply opening the door and rushing in would get everyone killed. No doubt all the other entrances would be similarly protected. The gas grenades, what little of them she had, wouldn't do much good if no one was alive long enough to throw them. Frustrated, she kneaded her palm.
The comms burst into life. Gunfire and groaning echoed around the chamber, as Cassone began to speak.
"Verdun, this is Bad Company, we are encountering heavy resistance from the colonists and whatever those damn things helping them are. We can push through, but it'll cost us. Request orders."
Shepard sighed. The Major had a talent for passing the buck. He'd go far, she reckoned. The plan to contain the colonists and then punch through without killing them all had gone completely wrong. Time to improvise.
"Bad Company, this is Verdun. Withdraw, we'll take care of it," she said, before closing the comm-link
"Without support, we're not going to be able to do this," said Garrus.
"And if I order the troops forward, hundreds of colonists and soldiers will die," replied Shepard, "What do you think will happen to morale if it gets out that Alliance forces were forced to kill Alliance citizens?"
"So what is your plan?" asked Wrex, impatiently.
Shepard grabbed the grenade pouch off of her belt, and held it up at arms length to the krogan with a grin.
"You are my plan, Wrex."
A ripple of disbelief went through the team, but Wrex simply showed his teeth and drew closer. Shepard weathered his attempt to intimidate, and kept her eyes locked on his. The krogan stopped short.
"I'm not going to die to save your civilians, Shepard," he growled, "You wouldn't do the same for me."
The Commander threw the krogan the pouch, which he caught.
"That's not the plan," she said, "You're the only one who can survive long enough to get those grenades where they need to be. Liara, Kaidan, I need you to help. Throw the colonists off balance, lift them off their feet, do whatever you can to make sure they can't fire. The rest of us will rush to the crane controls and open the way to the Thorian. We regroup and go kill the damn plant."
Shepard waited for someone to respond. No one said a word. Faces were concealed behind helmet plates or were deliberately neutral. She began to worry that they wouldn't go further, that they thought she was completely mad.
"I'm with you either way, ma'am," said Kaidan, breaking the silence.
"It is a dangerous job, but I am a biotic," Liara added, "We have to stop the Thorian."
Shepard nodded her appreciation to the two, and looked to the krogan. He had turned his back, and was watching the far door.
"Wrex, are you in?" she asked, "I don't think ordering you would get us anywhere."
"Damn right it wouldn't," he said, "But if the asari is in, it would be embarrassing if the krogan sat on his ass. Let's do this."
Wrex marched directly at the door with a purpose, not wasting a second. Shepard quickly waved the others forward. She knew what he had in mind as soon as he had taken the first step. Putting her helmet back on, she fell in behind him. He kept moving, gripping his shotgun.
The krogan's pace increased from walking to running to charging. The door got closer and closer by the second. It opened seamlessly, as Shepard suspected it would. The Thorian wanted them to try and stop it. Wrex ran straight through, into the dim moonlight of the plaza.
The gunfire erupted like a volcano, strobing light from the barrels of the weapons flashing around as tracer shots flowed from every direction. Behind every barricade and pillar, the colonists were . Wrex continued forwards, roaring with pain but still very much alive. Liara and Kaidan used their biotics, covering the advance, but it was like trying to bail out the ocean with a bucket. There were just too many of them to deal with.
Shepard could only watch him from the corner of her eye. The shots bounced off her own kinetic barriers, forcing her to duck behind the broken blocks of concrete and metal. The ricochets carved shallow grooves in the ground around her position. She found herself unable to advance further than a mere handful of metres from the doorway. A quick look around confirmed that the others were in the same situation.
The Commander took a breath and exhaled it, readying herself. She glanced around the corner of the rubbled concrete. The colonists were crowded together tightly, standing room only for the turkey shoot. She ducked back as the shooters noticed her, and looked over at Wrex as the bullets ricocheted around her position for the second time.
The krogan stood up from behind the barrier and tossed his grenades one after the other. The gaseous haze spread from all sides, obscuring the walls and sky from view. Much of the shooting died down immediately. Sensing her chance, Shepard jumped over the concrete and activated her cloak, moving through the fog. A quick glance behind confirmed that Ashley, Garrus and Liara were following behind. Confident she'd survive the next few minutes, she reached for the first barricade and pulled it down.
The colonists were heaped about, their weapons scattered. They were still alive if their heavy breathing was any indicator. Some of them groaned, others twitched slightly before calming down, but all of them were incapacitated completely. Shepard cautiously entered the main space of the colony, weapon raised. She lowered it as soon as it became apparent that no one else was moving around except her own people.
"A single whiff of that stuff and they all went down," said Ashley, hardly believing her eyes as the fog began to disperse, "Are we sure it's safe?"
"It's weed-killer, I wouldn't breath too deeply if I were you," replied Shepard, "But we should be okay for now."
"Come on Chief, I think the crane controls are over there," Garrus cut in, pointing towards a console at the far end of the space, "I'll need some help."
Ashley nodded, and the two walked around the piles of sleeping bodies towards their goal, weapons at the ready. Shepard watched them go, satisfied that they were falling into the proper relationship that should exist in a squad despite the history of their two species.
"Wrex is hurt!" said Liara from behind.
Shepard spun on the spot, and found the krogan propped up against a barricade with Kaidan and Tali attending to him. She moved, and looked him over. The entire front of his body was perforated with wounds, his orange-red blood covering him. He coughed a little, but seemed otherwise unconcerned.
"Are you alright Wrex?" said Shepard, "That was pretty damn good back there."
The krogan's eyes turned upwards to look at her. The Commander just stared back, trying to convey her concern for his health. He waved his hand flippantly.
"This is nothing," he said at last, "And of course it was good, I've been doing this for a very long time. Now leave me here and kill that thing so we can get out of here."
Shepard slowly nodded, and stepped back again.
The crane attached to an old Grizzly colonial transport vehicle screeched to life, turning all heads to it. Ashley was prodding the joystick, and lifted a section of the housing clean away from the rest. The Chief set the room down on top of another, and jumped off the control platform to join Garrus by the space she had created. Shepard waved the others to follow her to join them, eager to see what they had uncovered.
It was a steep staircase, that seemed to go on forever, veiled in darkness that seemed deeper than that in the tunnels and corridors.
"Well, that's ominous," said Garrus, peering into the pitch blackness, "I don't suppose we're going to wait for the rest of the Alliance before we head down?"
Shepard shook her head, smiling as she did so.
"They'll catch up, but we don't know how long the gas will be effective," she replied, "We can't take the chance the colonists will wake up and cut us off."
"What are your orders, Commander?" Kaidan asked.
Shepard took off her helmet and rubbed the back of her neck. Wrex was in no shape to fight, and leaving him alone wasn't a good idea. More of the creeper creatures could appear at any moment. Someone would need to stay behind to act as a rearguard until Bad Company could reinforce them.
"Alenko, you'll stay behind with Williams, Wrex and Tali. Cover that entrance and defend it from hostiles. Vakarian and Liara, we'll take care of the Thorian."
Shepard activated her comms, stalling Ashley's complaint with a raised hand.
"B Company, this is Verdun, the colonists have been knocked out, we need you up at the plaza ASAP," she said.
"Copy Verdun, en route now," replied Cassone, "We've encountered more of those monsters, but they appear to be retreating as fast as they can."
"The Thorian knows we're close, you better hurry up here."
"Copy."
Shepard closed the comm-link again, and turned to her crewmates.
"Stay alive."
"You too, Commander," replied Ashley, seemingly resigned now that she wouldn't be coming along.
Shepard clapped her on the shoulder, and turned to leave with Liara and Garrus.
"Wait Shepard," called Wrex, standing up awkwardly, "You'll need this."
The krogan grabbed the bulky item from his back holster, and held it out. The Commander took it from him and attached it to her own armour, handing Garrus her rail-rifle to make room.
"Don't worry, I'll give it back," said Shepard.
"You better!" replied Wrex, as he sat back down, "I'm looking forward to using it on Saren."
Shepard stopped dead in the darkness. She had finally reached the bottom of the steps with Liara and Garrus after what seemed like an endless spiral, only to be greeted by the sight of yet more of the creepers. She flinched and centred her sights on the targets, and waited for them to move. They didn't. Upon further inspection, they appeared to be sitting down in a strange foetal position. Her helmet picked them out as living creatures, or at least something the right temperature.
"Are they asleep?" asked Liara softly, not quite whispering.
Shepard said nothing, but waited for a moment to see if they'd move after hearing the turian speak. They did not. She crept forward a few steps to the nearest, and kicked it in the head. The thing gurgled, sending a shiver down her spine, but remained seemingly unconscious.
"This just keeps getting better and better," she muttered, wondering what the hell she had stumbled into. Why were the things suddenly so docile?
"There seem to be a lot of them," said Garrus, his targeting visor humming slightly as he scanned the space ahead, "Tell me again why we left the others upstairs?"
Shepard sighed, regretting the decision herself.
"I thought we'd get attacked from behind," she replied, "Besides, if the colonists wake up, I'd prefer that you two weren't involved if they start hurting people again."
Garrus scoffed.
"You're thinking like a politician already, Commander," the turian said, "Keep the Council species away from massacring human civilians... Smart, if things get ugly."
Shepard didn't know how to reply to that, or if it was a compliment at all. Annoyed slightly, she shrugged it off and watched the space around them for any signs of movement.
"Liara, bring up a floor plan and tell us where to go next."
The asari complied, her omnitool activating and sending orange light around the room in a bubble. The map she brought up was complex, but she soon had a hold of where they were. She turned off the tool and took her pistol back into her hands again.
"There is a large space just ahead," explained Liara, "We should be able to spot the main tendrils of the Thorian from there."
Shepard tightly grasped her automatic shotgun and moved forwards, meandering her way through the "sleeping" creepers. Each of them seemed to shudder slightly as she approached, but remained as still as statues as she passed. Disgusted, she picked up her pace.
They made their way forwards and approached a huge space within minutes. The walls seemed to curve around, suggesting it was at the very centre of the spire. Shepard noticed this as she spotted something in the dark gloom, hanging from the sides of the surrounding walkways, but was unable to make it out even with her night-vision and heat sensors. She called a halt, confused as to what exactly she was seeing.
"You see that?" the Commander whispered to her friends, pointing ahead to the platform that seemed to hang off the edge of the abyss.
"Could it be the Thorian?" asked Liara.
"Doesn't look like a plant to me," replied Shepard, "Looks almost like it's part of the structure."
"Well, this is where the data said the thing was, so it has to be here somewhere," said Garrus, "Only one way to find out."
Shepard slung her weapon and reached for her belt, eventually producing a red chemical flare. She twisted the top of it, and the bright red flame burst to life, causing her helmet to turn off its IRNV once again. She whipped the flare over to the platform, and it landed below the 'structure', revealing it.
The sight left her gasping in shock.
What was before her could only be described as a biological abomination. If it was a plant, it was the most bizarre specimen ever observed. Its huge bulk hung over the precipice of the spire's core, from thick, cable-like vines that curved around the support pillars that lined the sides of the space. Its body was a huge, bulbous mass. The worst was what could pass for a face. Tentacles hung from what looked like a mouth, as multiple eye-like structures in sockets sat still above them. The flare's light threw shadows across the thing.
Shepard felt a gut-wrenching fear fall over her, and she grabbed the only comfort she had to stop it overwhelming her.
Wrex's flamethrower.
She brought the cumbersome weapon up under her arm, holding it on her hip, and activated the pilot flame. The others raised their weapons by reflex as they took in the sight.
"What is this?" asked Garrus.
"It is unlike anything I have ever seen," said Liara, her voice wavering.
"This might be a problem," said Shepard, struggling to control her urge to wash the being with flame without further hesitation.
To make matters worse, the tentacles began twitching furiously.
"What is it doing?" asked Liara.
Mucus began pouring out of the mouth of the Thorian. A shape emerged from the mouth slowly, landing between the tentacles. It got off its knees and stood up into the light, revealing itself to be an asari of an unusual colour that could quite be ascertained. Shepard pointed the flamethrower directly at the newcomer, holding on to the contents of her stomach galantly. Was this one of Saren's people? Or one of Benezia's?
"Invaders! Your every step is a transgression, a thousand feelers appraise you as meat, good only to dig or decompose. I speak for the Old Growth, as I did for Saren. You are within and before the Thorian. It commands that you be in awe!"
Shepard stared at the asari, her trigger finger getting ever more itchy. But she had to ask something first.
"You spoke for Saren?" she growled, "He was here?"
"Saren sought knowledge of those who are gone. The Old Growth listened to flesh for the first time in the Long Cycle. Trades were made. Then cold ones began killing the flesh that would tend the next cycle. Flesh fairly given! The Old Growth sees the air the meat pushes as lies. It will listen no more!"
Shepard stepped forward.
"In that case, I'll kill it with fire."
She triggered the flamethrower at last, hosing a blast of ignited liquid at the Thorian itself. The flames splashed over the surface of the thing, and it screeched in pain. Or maybe its thralls did. The Commander held down the trigger until she was satisfied that the 'plant' would burn completely, emptying half the tank in a single attack. She had brought it expecting something more along the lines of a tree, but it seemed to be effective anyway. The whole space of the central spire was lit up now as the Thorian began to ignite.
The enslaved asari danced out of the flames and sent her target sprawling with a biotic throw. Shepard flew into a pillar with enough force to kill an unarmoured person. The air knocked out of her, she struggled to breath. She looked up, to make sure the enemy wasn't standing over her, ready to deliver the killing blow. Instead, she found Liara and the thrall trading biotic attacks in a flurry, testing each other's capabilities as if in a duel.
"DOWN T'SONI!" shouted Garrus from out of Shepard's sight.
Liara complied immediately, dropping to her stomach in an instant. The enemy swung around, looking to take advantage. It was too late. Garrus triggered the anti-materiel rifle, and the shot tore right through the pseudo-asari, spraying blood all over the floor and walls behind. The thrall collapsed, very much dead with her entire upper body broken.
Shepard coughed deeply, wondering if she had broken ribs. Her sides ached like they never had before. Liara came over and helped her up, an action that almost had her screaming with pain. She clenched her jaw shut to avoid it, and opened her eyes. The Thorian was burning entirely on its own now, parts of its mass falling off into the pit below.
The Commander grinned through her pain.
"That's for the colonists, you bastard," she said.
"Are you alright Shepard?" Liara asked, as she supported the Commander's weight.
"No," she replied, wincing as she bent a little too far for a moment before looking around again, "Where's Garrus?"
Liara motioned upwards with her eyes, and Shepard followed them.
"Commander, you're going to want to see this," Garrus said, leaning over the edge of the balcony on the floor above. Shepard groaned, and motioned with her head for Liara to help her up the ramp to join him as she clinged on. A few excruciating moments, and they made it. She thanked her rescuer with a warm smile, before nearly jumping out of her skin.
The same asari that had just been killed stood beside Garrus, though she was a much more healthy shade of purple-blue as opposed to the green of the Thorian's slave. Shepard's hand twitched towards her weapons, but Garrus' expression was calm. Hesitating at the last second, she opted to listen instead.
"I'm free!" said the asari, "I can't believe it."
Shepard and Liara looked at each other in confusion. Garrus coughed and pointed to some sort of sack-like growth on the wall behind him. The Commander got his meaning immediately. This asari had somehow been trapped inside it, and now had escaped.
"I suppose I should thank you for releasing me," the asari continued.
"Who are you?" asked Shepard, "Are you alright?"
"I am fine, or I will be. My name is Shiala. I am a commando. I serve... served Matriarch Benezia. When she allied herself with Saren, so did I."
A great howling sound went up through the air. Shepard quickly looked down at the lower levels. The Thorian was a charred shell of what it was before, but the creepers were on the move, running around in every direction. She groaned again, this time out of exasperation. She had hoped the thralls would die with their master, but she wasn't that lucky.
"Let's continue this conversation on the Normandy," the Commander said, "Can you move?"
The asari seemed unsure, but the group was interrupted when two dozen creepers began storming up the ramp to get at them. Shepard reacted immediately, leaning on Liara with one arm and bringing the flamethrower to bear with the other. The cluster of green thralls walked right into the wave of fire, and stopped dead immediately.
"It seems that fire disagrees with them, Commander," said Garrus, before he put a few shots into the creepers that were still standing with a pistol.
"The smell is horrendous," noted Liara, putting her free hand to the side of her helmet to close the full-face visor.
"I've only got a quarter of a tank left," replied Shepard, "And I think I've broken a rib or two. This is going to be difficult."
The cosmos heard her, and the sounds of gunfire began echoing through the halls as When Johnny Comes Marching Home filled the air for the second time in as many days. Shepard almost collapsed to the floor with relief right there and then, and would have if Liara hadn't been supporting her.
"Verdun, this is Delta Squad," said Vega on the comms, "We ran into your Chief Williams and figured you'd need some help down here."
"Gunnery-Chief Vega, I owe you a drink," said Shepard, "Mission is complete, we just need to get out of here. Relaying our position to you now."