Chapter 21 – Feros, the Thorian
They reached the garage for Zhu's Hope and started making their way down to the colony.
Liara was straining, holding a biotic barrier against weapon fire.
"Shepard, I'm glad to see you," Ashley said.
"You guys look like hell," Shepard noted. Both Liara and Alenko looked exhausted, and Ashley herself was scuffed up.
"We have no way to get back to the ship," Alenko said. "Half of what's left of the colony is trying to get at us."
Shepard looked at Liara's barrier, ten feet high and reaching across the doorway. She threw the grenade over, and as an afterthought asked, "Can the barrier block gases?"
The grenade exploded and a cloud of gas began to rise through the crowd, sending them in a greater frenzy.
"Can't…hold…much…longer…" Liara warned.
"Shit," Shepard said, throwing two more grenades over the top of the barrier.
"What is that?" Ashley asked.
"Nerve gas," Shepard said lightly. "Light, but I still wouldn't breathe it if we can avoid it."
"It's working!" Ashley said, watching the colonists fall down, one-by-one.
Liara's barrier fell, and a few colonists got through a few steps before falling.
Shepard knelt next to Alenko, "You okay?"
"Yeah, just a bit worn out," he said. "We weren't going to hold them much longer."
"You did great, Kaidan," she said, and went to Liara.
"We still have another fifty colonists out there somewhere," Ashley said. "I don't know if all of them went to the Normandy or not."
"I have a feeling once they realize we're going after the Thorian they are going to come back," Shepard said, handing the last three grenades to Ashley. "Liara and Kaidan, come with me for backup. Everyone else, if those colonists come I need you to use that gas on them. Gas first…spare them if you can," she said. "Williams is taking lead on this."
Williams' team got into position near the front entrance if the remaining colonists came back while Liara and Alenko looked at the center of the colony. "This is it, this freighter is hiding a tunnel," Alenko said and then pointed to the other side, "Crane over there, only way to move it."
"Got it," Shepard said, taking the controls of the crane. After some guesswork on how to run it and a few misses she grabbed onto the freighter and moved it away from the tunnel.
They dropped down and followed it. While walking along the tunnel she made sure they were caught up on the Thorian. Destroying the plant would be easy and quick once they found it, and since Liara and Alenko were worn out from holding back the colonists with their biotics it gave them a chance to rest.
"Sounds easy enough," Alenko agreed. "So we just need to find this creature and…" the tunnel opened into a large multi-level room, a massive plant hanging from the ceiling.
It was green with a few yellowish patches, easily twenty feet tall and sixty feet all the way around, Shepard guessed. Vines crisscrossed on the ground and walls, and a few fleshy pods on the walls. The largest part of it shuddered slightly.
"That does not look like any plant I've ever seen. This may be…problematic." Shepard said in awe as she looked it over. "Alenko, I need any spare grenades you may have."
"Yes, ma'am," he said, he too was in awe of the massive plant.
They got closer to it, examining it, looking for a weak spot. A way to take it down. But as they got closer it started convulsing and throbbing more noticeably, making them freeze in their steps. The bottom of the thing moved back and forth, and it began to make a noise like grunting.
A mucus like liquid fell from the bottom of it, and with it an Asari. The asari was green, no shade of blue to be found. She looked at Shepard with furious eyes, her body began to glow blue with biotic power.
"Invaders! Your every step is a transgression. A thousand feelers appraise you as meat, good only to dig or decompose," the asari said. "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!"
"Saren was already here?" Shepard asked. "Why was he 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 you push as lies! It will listen no more!"
"I can't let you keep those colonists as…as…as your thralls," Shepard said. "Release them."
"No more will the Thorian listen to those that scurry. Your lives are short, but have gone on too long."
A wave of biotic energy flowed through the green asari and hit Shepard, throwing her in the air and slamming her against the wall. Liara and Alenko opened fire on the asari. Once it was down they went to Shepard's side.
"Commander, are you alright?" Liara asked, putting a hand on Shepard's face.
"That hurt," Shepard groaned, grabbing Alenko's hand and pulling herself up. "We need to destroy this thing."
"But we'll never discover what it gave Saren," Liara said.
"I'm with you, Shepard. We can't let this thing go on, doing what it's doing to people," Kaidan said.
"I'm going to climb it," Shepard said.
"What?" Alenko and Liara said at the same time.
"Plant grenades at several spots, detonate from a distance. Do we have a better plan?"
Alenko and Liara both shook their heads.
Shepard began looking around the room, looking for the best way to go at it. And the Thorian began grunting again.
They watched as the same asari that was dead on the ground fell out of the Thorian again.
"They are clones!" Liara gasped.
Shepard began firing as the asari glowed blue with biotic power. There was no cover in this room, no where to hide. Once again she was hit with a powerful wave of biotics and thrown up high and against the wall. This time, before she fell down, she grabbed onto a thick vine. The vine was thicker than her waist, and she had to hold on with both hands.
"Shepard!?" Liara cried out.
"Just keep those clones busy," Shepard said, moving across the vine to the largest mass of the plant.
"Shepard, watch out!" Liara warned.
Something hit Shepard's back, and wrapped around her middle. A vine, this one as thick as her wrist and flexible, grabbed her and threw her in the air.
Alenko watched in fear as her limbs flailed in the air, looking for something to grab. He reached his hand out, grabbing her with his biotics and throwing her into the Thorian, which looked like a relatively soft landing spot.
"Ugh…" Shepard groaned as she landed in the slimy mass. Its exterior was firm, almost like a finger nail. Easy enough to penetrate with a bit of force. Below it was something squishy, almost making her bounce off, like it was full of liquid. She dug her fingers into the skin of the thing and held on, grabbing a grenade off her belt and sticking it into the Thorian's flesh.
Vines grabbed at her weakly, but she moved quickly to the top of the Thorian, placing a grenade at where it had attached itself to the ceiling. Then to the other side, shoving another grenade into it.
"Alenko! Toss your grenades up!" Shepard shouted.
Alenko shot a few more rounds at the newest asari clone, and grabbed his string of three grenades and threw them in the air. Shepard caught them, and continued placing them.
She prepared her omni-tool to detonate them, wanting to be ready when she got to a safe distance. Without warning it shuddered under her, causing her to lose her balance and slide on its slimy surface, slowing only when she was near the bottom of it. Next to what she graciously considered its mouth, the opening that spawned the clones. She shoved her hand in the opening, putting the last grenade in it, and shouted to her team to run.
The grenades exploded, and there was a massive splash.
"Shepard! Are you okay?" Alenko asked, seeing his Commander on the ground covered in green mucus.
Slowly she got to her feet, pulling her glove off and wiping her face free of the slime, "No, I am not okay," she said. "I just got my ass handed to me…by a plant." She turned around, limping back to the room.