Mass Effect: Accidental Hero of the Galaxy
Chapter 15
After passing a set of turrets that were pointed inwards, we might have been a little more jumpy than usual. Even the obligatory round of scrounging was done with more haste than usual. And the tension in the elevator ride could probably be cut with a dull knife.
Consequently, it was almost a relief to deal with the geth we found in a rather large room. Our HUDs picked them up in advance, giving us plenty of time to prepare a suitable response. One involving lots of firepower, with the odd bit of tech and biotics prepped just in case.
Just as we downed the last geth, we heard an audible groan and creak, like something heavy pressing on metal.
"What was that," Ashley said, as we all raised our weapons and searched around. The lobby we were in was empty. There was a stairway leading up to a second floor, one whose corridors and rooms were clearly visible, thanks to their glass walls. They were also empty. So what the hell was that noise?
"Probably debris," Wrex said. "Don't have a panic attack. I'll protect you."
Turned out to be more than just debris. A dozen little green bugs suddenly darted down the stairs and charged towards us. My paranoid streak insisted that these guys probably weren't friendly, and prompted me to open fire. The rest of the squad followed suit—a good thing as it turned out. They had a nasty habit of exploding if they got too close, spraying their acidic insides around to dissolve anything it landed upon.
Did I mention that our barriers did squat against acid?
Our sighs of relief were cut short by shrieks from a pair of larger bugs. Large, brown bugs. They charged towards us on four of their six legs—the other two looking almost vestigial and were tucked against their carapace—waving a set of tentacles with really sharp pincers at the end. As they attacked, they traded our weapons fire for acid spit. Until they got into close range, that is, at which point they enthusiastically switched over to using their tentacles to bludgeon us to death. Or punch holes, I'm not sure. The only saving grace was that they didn't explode when we killed them.
"What were those things?" Garrus asked incredulously, after we took the last one down.
"I've never seen anything like them," Tali panted. "Maybe someone in the labs knows what they are."
Our questions would have to go unanswered for the time being, as we were the only ones there. Except for a couple more of those large bugs, who kept popping out of the vents whenever we got too close. In hindsight, we probably wouldn't have found them if I didn't keep searching every single room on the second floor for spare supplies. Probably a lesson there, somewhere.
Eventually we made our way to an elevator, which led us to a room filled with computer banks and generators. There were two doors facing each other at the far end of the room, bracketing an entrance into a dimmer, cylindrical chamber.
"Looks like a backup power system, Shepard," Tali said confidently. "For the station mainframe, probably in that chamber over there, I'd say."
"It should be easy to fix," Kaidan said. Looking around, he spotted a power junction. "Based on the layout, all we have to do is go over to that power junction and flip it on."
I walked over and, after taking a moment to examine the controls, flipped the switch.
"Critical error," a synthesized voice came over some hidden speakers. "Virtual intelligence interface offline. Manual boot required."
"Or not," Garrus murmured.
We went to the computer core chamber, which housed a hollow cylindrical floor-to-ceiling computer with a cut-out space on one side for a holographic projection system. Unfortunately, the damn thing was still offline.
On a hunch, I walked over the projection system and entered the interior of the computer core. Circuitry panel, circuitry panel... hmm. Another switch.
Pressing the switch, I stumbled for a moment as the platform I was standing on sank down into an inner chamber filled with red glowing lights. Well, now I could see the problem: several patches of circuitry were damaged or fused. Maybe I could bypass it.
"Shepard," Ashley called out. "What's going on down there?"
"Circuitry's blown," I called back. "I'm trying to bypass. Gimme a sec."
As it turned out, it was more like a couple minutes, but I managed to get a jury-rig set up. Looked like a kid's version of that ancient Tower of Hanoi game, but it should work, I thought. I reached over and manually turned on the power, praying I didn't just set up a short circuit that would fry me to a crisp.
To my delight, I heard the computer core start up. The platform automatically lifted back to the surface, where I quickly rejoined the squad. A second later, a holographic woman flickered into life.
"It looks like you are trying to restore this facility. Would you like help?" it politely asked.
"Uh, yeah. You're the VI that runs this place?"
"This system is programmed to respond to the name 'Mira.' May I ask your name?"
Well there's a first. "Why do you need to know?"
"To determine the data access available to you," Mira responded. "Basic Access is limited to non-secure queries. Secure Ac—"
"Commander Shepard. Citadel Special Tactics and Reconnaissance," I interrupted before I got bored to death.
"One moment, please. Council authority confirmed. You are entitled to Secure Access of all systems. Please note that queries relating to corporate secrets require Privileged Access, which is available only to executives of Binary Helix."
Naturally.
"This system is ready to process queries. You may access me at any holographic interface within Peak 15."
"Where can I find Matriarch Benezia?" I started.
"Lady Benezia departed on the passenger tramway to the Rift Station subsidiary labs. User alert! The tramway system is currently inoperable."
Of course it was. "What happened?"
"One moment please. Diagnostics in progress. Critical failure: main reactor shut down in accordance with emergency containment procedures. Manual restart required. Critical failure: landline connections are disabled. Passenger tram systems are offline. Do you have an additional system status query?"
I quickly found out that the reactors were shut down to drop the ambient heat, in the hopes that the cold outside would kill or damage any biological or mechanical contagions, but could be restarted by manually opening the helium-3 fuel lines one level down. Unless it was idiot-proof, I had no idea how to do that. The landlines, on the other hand, could easily be restored by going to the roof and flicking a switch to re-connect the datalink cables.
"Kaidan, take Team Two down to fix the reactor. The rest of us will go topside," I decided. My paranoid streak was starting to stir, but I couldn't see why. Surely a little fresh air wouldn't hurt.
Garrus and Wrex followed me up to the roof, a fairly uneventful trip if ever I had one. I mean, the worst that could happen was getting frozen, right? Of course, that charming little illusion was shattered as soon as we emerged from the building and our HUDs started cluttering up with contacts. Lots of contacts.
Slowly, the three of us pulled out our weapons and started to advance. Step by step. Nothing so far. Step by step. Silently, I cursed all those damn pipes for cluttering up our line of sight. And the snow blowing in our faces.
Step by step.
How the hell were we supposed to properly defend ourselves if we couldn't even get eyes on target?
Step by...
Wait a sec. That sound. Was that...
...shrieking?
Aw, crap.
"Get—" I started to say, before a small green bug darted out, made a bee-line straight for us and blew itself up in our faces. Well, not literally, but it was bad enough. As the acid started to sizzle against our hardsuits, the shrieking rose to a din.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Wrex put away his assault rifle and grab his shotgun. Good idea. At close range, the impact spread of a shotgun round would deal more damage to those mini-kamikazes than any other weapon. And if the green guys were at a greater range, then they weren't really a problem, were they?
"Wrex, take out the green bugs," I ordered. "Garrus, you and I'll tackle the big ones."
"You really think they're up here?" Garrus asked.
"I could be wrong," I admitted. Then I saw a large, brown mass moving through the flurry of snow towards us. "I'm still waiting for that, though," I added, motioning towards it.
"Yeah," Garrus sighed as he opened fire. "Me, too. No offense, Commander."
"Stop yammering in the middle of a firefight," Wrex barked.
The next few minutes were spent popping out behind cover, firing, and ducking back. All those pipes I was cursing earlier turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as they wound up absorbing the majority of the acid spit from the big bugs. Of course, they also meant that we had no warning whatsoever when their smaller cousins decided to charge at us.
Eventually, the HUD showed we were in the clear. Unless some of those bugs could mask themselves against our sensors, but we hadn't seen anything like that. If we had learned anything from our brief encounters, it was that these bugs were too damn aggressive to be sneaky. Then I took the opportunity to look at my hardsuit status, I was alarmed to see that its integrity was down to a sliver. Garrus's wasn't much better. As for Wrex, his hardsuit was at 31% or so, but his hardsuit could take more damage to begin with.
Before we left our much-corroded cover, I passed around a pack of medi-gel. Hardsuits might be designed to absorb damage for the grunts who were wearing them, but they couldn't take that much punishment without some of it leaking through—something that my acid-burned skin and screaming muscles could attest to. The sooner we administered some genetically-engineered cure-all, the sooner the hardsuits could divert power to the self-repair fabricators and start fixing itself. (1)
Once the hardsuits were well on their way to fixing themselves, we moved out to reconnect the landlines. There was another holo-plate nearby. Guess whoever designed this place wanted its users to access the VI whenever and wherever they wanted. Out of curiosity, I walked over and activated it.
"Connections restored," Mira stated, flickering to life. "Helium-3 fuel lines restored."
Guess Kaidan and his team completed their task. Hope they had less fun than we did.
"User alert! "
Now what?
"Loose contaminants detected in the tramway station."
Of course.
"Could you define 'loose contaminants'?" I asked.
"Dangerous biological contaminants are loose in the tramway station. The tram station has been sealed in the interest of crew safety."
First sensible thing I'd heard in a while. Especially as those "biological contaminants" probably consisted of big acid-spitting bugs and tiny exploding bugs with a death wish.
"Activation of the plasma jet failsafe is recommended prior to access," Mira continued.
"And how do I do that?"
"Controls for the failsafe systems are located in the security station outside the tramway. User alert! The failsafe system is currently inoperable."
Okay, you'd think the corporate bigwigs who set up this place would actually shell out a couple creds for halfway-decent equipment... wait a minute... never mind.
"What would it take to get the failsafe systems operational again?" I sighed.
"There is a hardware fault in the control system. This can be repaired on-site using any standard omni-tool."
"You said Matriarch Benezia is at this 'Rift Station,' right?"
"Lady Benezia departed on the passenger tram—"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I interrupted. "What's going on at Rift Station? How're the staff holding up?"
"Rift Station has been locked down by the staff. There are presently no contaminants within the facility."
"The staff is alive, then?"
"Yes, though the number of personnel is below the official staff count."
Swell.
"Give me a status report on Rift Station."
"I am sorry. The network connections to the labs have been damaged. Data is limited."
I groaned to myself. This is why I hate VIs. You always have to drag information out of them. They're never user-friendly. Especially the "user-friendly" ones. I eventually learned that Rift Station boasted a variety of labs, including one dedicated for "hot lab" wetwork that required isolation of any hazardous material, whether biological, chemical or cybernetic. As an extra safety measure, the entire complex was housed inside an actual glacier. If something went seriously wrong, the staff had the option of irradiating the bottom of the complex. The resulting generation of heat would actually melt the underlying ice, sinking the complex into the ice—well, further in, anyways—where the cold would kill anything that got loose. Even cybernetic automatons wouldn't fare long in those kinds of conditions. The fact that that hadn't happened yet meant that we could still find out what Saren's second-in-command was doing here. Of course, it also meant that we'd definitely be walking into a deathtrap. Typical, really.
Once we got as much as we could out of Mira without physically yanking out its circuits, we headed back to the room outside the computer core, where we'd first attempted to power up Peak 15. As memory served, one of the doors in that room headed to the tramway. And the "loose biological contaminants," but one thing at a time.
Kaidan and Team Two were waiting for us when we arrived.
"I gather you succeeded," I started.
"We did," Kaidan acknowledged, "though it wasn't a piece of cake. We ran into some company along the way."
"More of those bugs, right?" I said.
"Uh... no. Geth, actually," Kaidan replied. "Did you encounter more bugs, Shepard?"
"On the roof," I admitted.
"Tough bastards," Wrex rumbled.
"Our hardsuits barely held up under the onslaught," Garrus added.
Team Two looked at each other. "Sounds like we got off easy," Ashley commented.
Don't remind me.
Without further ado, I led the squad to the security station outside the access tunnel to the tramway. It had nice floor-to-ceiling panes of transparent material, offering us a nice view of all the bugs that were crawling inside.
Spying the control console, Tali immediately headed over towards it. While she was tinkering with it, I noticed a blinking light on a nearby computer console. Looked like it was a audio log that hadn't been archived yet. Curious, I reached over and played it. Most of it was drowned out by static, but what we could make out didn't exactly set our minds at ease:
"... control group... loose in the... they're... can't escape. We're sorry. The project leads couldn't get to the... get out while you can." Then there was a pistol shot, followed by a continuous hiss of static.
"This man killed himself because he was part of whatever here?" Liara asked in disbelief.
"There must have been something he could do to help his comrades," Kaidan whispered.
"Unless those bugs forced his hand," Garrus said grimly.
Tali interrupted our cheerful little chat with the news that she'd fixed the failsafe. It's entirely possible that I moved over and entered in the activation sequence with a little too much enthusiasm. It's also entirely possible that we took a perverse joy in watching those retractable nozzles pop out from the walls of the access tunnel and barbecue the bugs with sprays of hot plasma. Of course, if anyone asks, I'll deny it.
After that, it was a simple matter of heading into the tunnel, dealing with any bugs that the jets missed and hopping on the tram. Next stop: Rift Station.
The ride itself was refreshingly dull and uneventful. As was the little trip through the foyer to a bank of elevators. One of them, which a brightly lit sign told us headed directly to the hot labs, was locked out. So we piled into the other elevator. I suppose I could've hacked the controls, but I wasn't really in a rush to head down into the maw.
After a minute, we arrived at our destination. Fastest elevator ride we'd had so far, or so it seemed. We headed down a corridor, rounded the corner, and saw a bunch of men in a room at the end of the hall. Men who jerked their weapons up as soon as they saw us.
"Stand down," their leader called out a second later. Shaved bald; dark skin that stood out against the white hardsuit he was wearing. Slightly less jumpy than his companions. As we entered the room, we saw that there were several crates carefully scattered around, providing numerous areas of shelter while simultaneously setting up fire-lanes. Looked like they'd been there for at least a couple days, too.
"Sorry," he apologized. "We couldn't be sure what was on the tram."
"I'd only be upset if they had fired," I replied, waving his apology away.
"Even hopped up on stims, my people know the rules: 'Two legs good, four legs bad.' Look. You're human. Well, some of you," he amended, acknowledging the non-humans that made up over half of the squad. "That's enough that I won't shoot. But I'd like to know who you are."
"My name's Shepard," I introduced myself. "I'm a Spectre," I added, recalling Mira's earlier inquiry.
"Huh. Didn't know they were letting humans into the Spectres." He shrugged. "Well, I won't look a heavily-armed gift horse in the mouth. Name's Ventralis," he said.
"Ventralis," I nodded. "What's the sitrep?"
"The aliens overran the hot labs last week. Only Han Olar got out," he explained.
"And he is..." I prompted.
"One of the scientists assigned to the hot labs," Ventralis elaborated. "Anyhow, he's the only survivor."
"So he might know what happened down there?"
"Maybe. He ain't all there anymore, though."
"But he was lucid enough to warn you about those aliens?"
"Actually, we found out about those bastards when they clawed their way into my command post." He looked around. "We had a lot more staff back then."
"Don't be so hard on yourself," I told himself. "You were taken by surprise and had civvies to protect. Looks to me like you did a hell of a job."
"Yeah?" he asked sceptically. "Sure as hell doesn't feel like it. The Board sent an asari to clean up the mess. She just showed up yesterday and headed for the hot labs. We haven't heard from her since."
"Benezia? Is she still over there?" Liara jumped in. Probably wanted to know where her mom was. I knew I was curious as well, albeit for different reasons.
Ventralis shrugged. "Guess so. She hasn't come back here. You guys came through Central Station, so she ain't there. Mind you, I don't see what one person can do." He rummaged in one of his pockets and pulled out a keycard. "In the meantime, there's an emergency elevator behind me that connects to the other levels on Rift Station. This card'll let you activate it. Oh, and if you need any first aid, Dr. Cohen's downstairs."
"Sounds good," I thanked him, taking the keycard. "No chance we can get into the hot labs?"
He shook his head. "Nuh uh. First thing I did when everything went to hell was to cut the hot labs off the network."
"So there's no way to know what's going on down there," Garrus concluded.
"Not without sending someone down the elevator to the hot labs. And I'm not sending my people to their death."
"Fair enough," I conceded. "What kind of research is done down there, anyways?"
"Beats me. I'm not supposed to know. So long as people didn't start dying, it wasn't my problem."
"And now?"
A disgusted look spread over his face. "You want my personal opinion? Labs like this exist to do stupid crap that gets people killed."
"How're you guys holding up," I asked, playing the concerned hero card. I looked around, to drive home that point. It was then that I noticed that the guards were paying an awful lot of attention to us. Odd, considering that they should have been paying more attention to the perimeter, where the bugs would likely come from. Unless the bugs were probably gonna pop out from under my feet, grab me, and drag me off for food, my paranoid streak suggested. I quashed that theory as soon as I glanced down and saw nothing but the floor. Last I saw, those bugs weren't able, or willing, to punch through solid materials like that. Still didn't explain why the guards kept staring. Didn't they have anything better to do?
Ventralis drew my attention back to him when he shook his head. "We weren't expecting the initial wave. We lost some good people. Those of us left have kept order by long shifts and stims. I don't like it, but I don't see an alternative.
"Well, we won't find out what 'stupid crap' they were doing over here," I concluded. "Guess it's time to get to work."
"Yeah, I hear th—" he broke off as a familiar shriek rang out. "Hell!" he cursed. "Man the perimeter!" he yelled to his guards, who were already moving towards cover.
It sounded like the noises were coming from our right. I quickly motioned Team Two to cover one half of the room while we took the over. We'd just set ourselves up when two of the large bugs hopped out of the nearby vents and opened... fire? Spit? Anyways, they attacked and we responded. The guards did a decent job too, given that they'd been mainlining stims for the past week. I suppose practise makes perfect. (2)
"You okay?" I asked, once the bugs were put down.
"Yeah," he panted. "Thanks for the help. Every few hours, a group comes up the tram tunnel. That was one of the smaller ones."
"No wonder your guards were so... alert when they saw us," I said. Now that the excitement, the guards were focused on me again. Kinda creepy, really.
"Believe it or not, we got lucky. Things actually got better once we locked down the elevator," he replied.
"Wait," Wrex interrupted. "They always attack here? Through those vents? Every time?"
"Hey… you're right," Ashley said. "I mean, I know they're just animals and all, but that's an obvious kill-zone."
Ventralis shrugged. "Well, their only other option is over the mountain and down through the ducts. Out there, they'd freeze just like anyone else." Then he shook his head. "I don't know why they keep throwing themselves against our defences, though. Even animals should know not to stick their noses where it hurts."
I quickly said my goodbyes and hurried the squad along. The guards were starting to creep me out, and I wanted to get moving before one of them made a pass at me. Hell, even Ventralis was doing it now.
Rather than take a trip down the elevator, I thought I'd check out who else was on this level. Anything to keep my ass out of the fire…
The first room we came across had a bunch of cranky guards, an elcor merchant who was selling anything Ventralis and his men hadn't already snatched up, a couple seriously traumatized scientists and an asari who looked like she was bored out of her skull. After seeing that the elcor, named Petozi, didn't really have anything left worthwhile buying, the asari looked like the most interesting person.
"What?" she snapped when I said hello.
"You seem less upset at this situation than the others."
"That is one of the virtues of the meditation you interrupted," she said sweetly. And rudely. Almost like she was talking down to someone.
"My name is Shepard. I'm looking for Lady Benezia as part of my duties as a Spectre. Do you know her?" I asked.
"Do you know President Huerta of Earth?" She continued without waiting for a response. "I did not think so."
"Benezia passed through here. You didn't see her?"
"I saw her. You asked if I knew her. I do not."
Nit-picker, eh? All right. I can work with that.
"So your name is..."
The asari sighed, as she realized she wouldn't be able to get rid of me with her charming personality. "Dr. Allestia Iallis."
"Are you a member of the science team?"
"Recently transferred, yes," she replied shortly.
"What do you do here?"
"Molecular genetics. I specialize in biotic-enhanced allele-specific hybridization. "That means I am very good at tracking inherited variations in genetic sequences," she added, deliberately enunciating every syllable. Definitely talking down to me. "I am sure you would find it quite dull."
"Actually, I think it's pretty fascinating," I replied. "There are lots of different applications of biotics towards the sciences, several having to do with hybridization. Biotic manipulation of atomic orbitals to form hybrid orbitals with new bonding properties. Hybridization of nucleic acid strands to form various sequences, though why you'd want to do that when plain ol' polymerase chain reaction is so much simpler, cost-effective and reproducible is beyond me. But you said 'tracking inherited variations in genetic sequences.' Normally, that would mean interbreeding organisms from different taxa over several generations—you know, you never indicated what organisms you were studying. Flora? Fauna?—and studying inherited traits. Allele-specific traits, in your case, rather than epigenetic inheritance. Yes, yes, I know, that's implied by the term 'epigenetic'."
I definitely had Allestia's attention, if her open mouth was any indication. My squad had a similar reaction. I could have chalked it up as a victory and called it a day, but I wasn't done yet. I hadn't had this much fun in months.
"Anyways, you said you're focusing on 'biotic-enhanced allele-specific hybridization.' So that would imply mutations that directly or indirectly correlate to biotic manipulation of dark energy. I thought that was a rather controversial position, given that the mainstream opinion is that those mutations would be due to the mutagenic, and potentially carcinogenic, properties of element zero within an individual's nervous system, particularly in utero, rather than mass effect fields or 'biotics'. More importantly, no one's been able to prove that such mutations could be passed on to future generations. Mostly because the majority of those individuals die due to terminal cancers. But, hey, what do I know? I never bothered to pay much attention to that kind of stuff. Like you said, it's all rather dull to me. Anyway, I'll leave you to your meditation—which, by the way, looks more like being bored out of your skull. Nice talking to you. Bye!"
"I like how you put that bitch in her place," Wrex approved as we left for the medical bay.
"That was quite impressive, Shepard," Liara complimented me. "I did not know you had such a firm grasp on applied biotic sciences."
"I don't," I admitted, glancing behind me. Allestia still hadn't closed her mouth yet. "I did consider going to graduate school at one point, though." (3)
"But you chose to enlist, instead. Any particular reason?" Kaidan asked curiously.
I shrugged. "I could never get through a scientific journal article without falling asleep. Even the reviews knocked me out. So I wasn't exactly lying to her."
By this point, we had arrived at the medical bay. There were a few men lying down on beds. Two were unconscious; the other was moaning and writhing in pain.
A fourth man, presumably Dr. Cohen, was talking absentmindedly to the conscious patient, while administering some kind of drug to him. "Hang on," he soothed.
The sick patient merely groaned.
"I know you'd have a cure by now," he said sadly.
I cleared my throat to catch his attention, an act which caused him to jump. "What? W-what do you want?"
"Sorry," I apologized. "I didn't mean to bother you."
"No," he hastened to reassure me. "You did nothing wrong. I'm just distracted. Um, I'm Dr. Cohen, by the way."
"Shepard," I replied, before tilting my head towards the patient he was just talking to. "What happened to these people?"
"They're suffering from a toxin. There was an accident. I..." he paused, belatedly realizing that he had said too much. "I, uh, I have a non-disclosure agreement. I shouldn't discuss it with anyone outside of the company."
"But you're going to, because I might be able to help," I prodded.
"I'd like to think that the company finds our lives more valuable than their secrets," he relented. "You know Mira? The VI for Peak 15? She handles the safety protocols for our experiments here."
"We reactivated her on our way through Central Station," I confirmed.
A look of dawning realization spread over Dr. Cohen's face. "That was you? I'm grateful. Until she came back online, the automatic equipment wouldn't work. We lost the connection in the middle of an experiment and the quarantine failed. These three were exposed to a toxin. Something we were working on."
Great. All this, because the people working here relied entirely on a VI to handle their safety protocols. Didn't they ever hear of backups? I mean, there was a time when the Citadel races didn't have VIs, right?
"What can you tell me about this toxin?" I asked instead. Dr. Cohen's mouth opened for a moment, as if he was about to respond, but ultimately shut.
"Look, I understand your caution, but I need details. What you say won't go beyond these walls."
"It's a bioweapon," he confessed. "Based on an exotic life-form discovered on the frontier. The company wanted something that could kill the creature. But there was no profit in something that kills only one species on the frontier of known space. So we kept working on it, adapting it to affect more species. Thoros-B is highly infectious, but can't pass from one person to another. Standard biowar attack, without the risk of a pandemic spread." (4)
"It doesn't matter how 'safe' you make it," Garrus said stiffly. "Biological weapons are illegal."
"Militaries, governments—they'll get this kind of weapon one way or another. We're trying to limit the damage. I know you can't see that," Dr. Cohen rebutted.
"We can discuss whether it's appropriate to conduct such research here, and whether the amount of oversight and accountability is adequate, another time," I jumped in. I had to get things moving before we got bogged down in one giant ethics debate. The Alliance doesn't pay me enough to deal with that crap. "What I want to know, Doctor, is whether there's a cure or treatment for this toxin?"
"Our top priority was getting the toxin working," Dr. Cohen replied. "We were close to synthesizing an antidote when Mira went down. Our notes and equipment are locked in the quarantine labs, but Captain Ventralis won't let us go down there. He doesn't want to risk any more contamination."
"Is he right to keep people out?"
"No!" Dr. Cohen burst out in frustration. "The toxin has a brief period of viability. After that, it breaks down into simple protein chains. That's why it has virtually no risk of causing a pandemic, and one of the major reasons why we were researching it in the first place. But he won't listen to me!"
"Perhaps we could persuade the captain to let us try," Tali suggested.
Nuts. Now that Tali brought it up, there was no way for me to get out of it. Not without damaging my reputation as a hero. Tali meant well, I know, but she just volunteered the lot of us for a world of hurt. "Why don't I talk to him?" I said, giving in to the inevitable.
Dr. Cohen let his shoulders sag in relief. "I can't ask you to do this officially. But if you can do anything, I'd appreciate it."
"What will it take to get the cure for these people?" I asked. If I had to do this, I might as well know what I was getting myself into.
"The quarantine labs are near the science team's quarters, one level down. Once you're in there, look for our notes. It should just be a matter of following our processes."
"Got it," I nodded, before moving on to my next question: "How're the rest of the science team holding up?"
Dr. Cohen glanced unconsciously over his shoulder, as if someone might overhear. "Better than Ventralis's guards. They've been on alert since the first attack."
"So we heard," Kaidan said. "He also said they've been staying awake through stims."
"I've been administering them at their request," Dr. Cohen acknowledged, "but every species needs to sleep. They're getting twitchy. Irrational."
Wrex snorted. "We noticed."
"Well, that cure won't make itself," I said. "Time to get to work."
"I hope you can do something," came Dr. Cohen's parting words, before he turned his attention back to his patients.
This time, the guards weren't pointing guns at us when we showed up at the command post. Their attention still gravitated towards us awfully fast, though, which did absolutely nothing to silence my little paranoid streak. "Something you need," Ventralis asked.
"Dr. Cohen told me about the problems in the quarantine lab. I'd like to recover the toxin cure," I told him.
"God, I wish we could help those guys," Ventralis sighed. "How're they doin'?"
"They're either moaning incoherently or unconscious," I replied. "They could use some help."
"Look, if there was something I could do, I'd do it. Really. But we can't risk contamination."
"Dr. Cohen seems to think we're past the point where the toxin would be contagious. He says we're safe now," I said.
Ventralis shook his head. "The eggheads have a real funny idea of what's 'safe'. Besides, I need every spare guard up here against those bugs. At least if something happens, it's something they can see."
There was only one more card to play. Unfortunately. "Look, we're not part of your defence plans. We're just taking up extra room, extra rations, extra medi-gel…"
"Yeah, but you're also packing extra guns," Ventralis pointed out, before his shoulders sagged. "All right, you're not under my command. You wanna gamble with your lives, fine. I'll have the guard let you in, but he'll seal the door behind you. And he'll run a full scan before he'll let you out. If there's any anomalies, you stay in there."
Swell. Expected, and totally reasonable—hell, I'd do the same if I were in his shoes—but still: swell. "Sounds like reasonable precautions, Ventralis," I agreed.
"I'll radio ahead and let the guard know you're coming. Good luck," he said, shaking my hand.
"Then I better go to work," I concluded.
Ventralis laughed bitterly. "You and me both."
Thanks to all the neon signs everywhere, it didn't take long to find the elevator that led down to the quarantine labs. The labs themselves had been sealed off, with an armed turian guard standing watch. There were still a couple scientists congregated in the foyer outside, though. There was also a separate door on the other side of the foyer, leading to a maintenance area of some sort. Sealed off, naturally.
One of the scientists, who happened to be standing off to the side, was a volus. Remembering Ventralis's words, I moved over to him. "Han Olar?" I began.
"You came here to find out about them, didn't you?" he replied.
"You mean those things out there?"
"Yes. I'm the only survivor from the hot labs, you know."
"So I heard. Look, I'm sorry I have to ask, but I need to know more about those things."
The next thing Han Olar said caught all of us by surprise: "Ah. Of course. What did you want to know about the rachni?"
"Rachni?" Liara managed. "I don't believe it."
"Is this someone's idea of a joke?" Wrex rumbled.
"Where did they come from?" I asked.
"They found it on a derelict ship. An egg. Waiting since the Rachni Wars. They brought it here—"
By this point, the other scientists had realized what we were talking about. "Shut up!" one of them urged. "You're gonna get us all killed."
"I don't have any control over who lives or dies here," Han Olar replied. "Do you?"
"If you're going to be crazy," snapped another scientist, "be the quiet kind."
"Crazy? I'm sane," Han Olar whispered bitterly. "God, am I sane."
"How did you make it out alive?" I asked, trying to resume the conversation.
"I killed her," he replied.
That statement caught Garrus's attention. "What?"
"Dr. Zhonmua. We were going to lunch when the alarms went off. I ran into the tram. And I closed the doors. She banged on the window once. Then they sliced her to pieces," he explained in a dull voice. "Her head came apart like a melon. I closed the door. I killed her."
"If you hadn't, you'd be dead too," I pointed out.
"Of course. That is perfectly true," Han Olar admitted. He hardly seemed convinced, however.
"Matriarch Benezia arrived recently and headed to the hot labs," Liara jumped in. "Could Matriarch Benezia have survived in there?"
Han Olar considered that for a moment. "It's possible," he finally said. "The specimens were sensitive to biotics."
I asked him a few more questions, but it was clear that he had nothing more to say, so I led the squad over to the quarantine labs.
The guard jerked his shotgun up as we approached. "You're not part of the crew," he barked belligerently when we came close.
Real observant sort. Hostile, too. Clearly he'd been on stims too long. I decided to calm him down before his trigger finger got the best of him. "You're right," I told him. "But I do have Ventralis's permission to go in there."
"Yeah. He radioed," he replied shortly, lowering his shotgun a little too slowly for my liking. "He also told me you have to prove you're not contaminated to get out." He reached behind him and punched a code into the keypad before stepping aside. "You got a death wish, you should stand watch on the barricades," he added sullenly.
I decided to ignore him and move in, given that the stress and stims had clearly eroded any people skills he might have had. The quarantine lab consisted of a small central room with three smaller rooms on the right hand side and some kind of medical equipment at the far end. I split the squad and we quickly searched the lab. Very strange that a quarantine lab would have weapons lockers. You'd think that having weapons lying around would be a bad idea. Especially if the civvies working here didn't know how to operate one. I decided to confiscate them all before anyone, like me, got hurt. I know: very noble of me.
Once that was done, I turned my attention to the medical thingamabob. Looked like someone had set up a program to manufacture the anti-toxin formula, complete with a list of reagents, and didn't log out. All I had to do was press "Start," get the process going, and manually input when to switch in the next reagent. Almost seemed too easy. But, after a minute's work, we had a half-litre of anti-toxin in a nice shatterproof container. Just for the hell of it, I downloaded all the notes and instructions to an OSD.
Then the door opened with a hiss. We turned around to see that rude asari doctor, Alestia, walk in. With a pack of geth behind her and a couple asari behind her. I knew it was too easy.
"Your mission ends here, Shepard," she announced.
"What the hell?" Ashley barked.
"Let me guess," I said. "You're a sleeper agent for Benezia."
"That's right," she smirked. "I was ordered to eliminate you, should the opportunity arise. And here you are, trapped in this lab. Weapons free!"
She meant that last bit as an order to her goons, but it also saved me the trouble of giving the same order. Kaidan let loose with a blast of biotics to knock them down while Garrus took out their shields with a tech mine. By the time Alestia got back to her feet, we'd taken out the rest of her would-be ambush squad. She had a moment to take that little fact in before I dropped her with my pistol.
On the way out, we saw the turian guard on the floor in a crumpled heap, a thin stream of bluish blood trickling out from a hole that was definitely not there when we last saw him. Guess that explained how Alestia got in.
Han Olar saw us come out, and waddled towards us. "They came out of there," he said, pointing to one of the doors.
"You mean the ge—the inorganics the asari had with her?" I quickly corrected myself. He still seemed one small step away from flat-out insanity, and I really didn't want to send him over the edge with a poorly chosen word. Way too much of a headache to deal with.
"Benezia brought them with her," he confirmed.
And no one thought that was odd. Typical. (5) "Look, is there any way to get to the hot labs?"
"There's the elevators," Han Olar suggested. "And the access tunnels on the main floor, opposite the entrance to the medical bay. Of course, there are alarms in place that will warn the guards of your attempt. They call it their 'Watchdog Protocol.' Anyone who sets the protocol off will get a very unpleasant reception."
"Right," I said slowly, looking around for inspiration... and finding it. "How 'bout the maintenance area?"
"I suppose that would work," Han Olar said. "But only the guards and the team leads would have access."
As it turned out, I knew just where I could find a team lead. One who was waiting for the cure I was carrying in my hot little hands.
"Is that the cure?" Dr. Cohen cried out when I arrived, jumping to his feet. "You did it!"
"Yeah, I think so. It was hard to concentrate while dodging all the gunfire," I said casually.
A look of shock and disbelief spread over his face. "You were attacked?" Then it occurred to him that I might be wanting payback at anyone who could have given me a heads-up, but didn't. "I—I don't know anything about that. I hate violence. I don't even fire people. I have my receptionist do that."
Any thoughts about how that suggested more than a pacifistic streak were blown out of the water by his next words: "Look. The guards? They've been more alert since you got here. I think they were expecting you."
Swell. No wonder my paranoid streak was going off. "Thanks for the heads-up. At least it didn't look like there were too many of them."
"Actually, there are more of them in the back, where the hot labs are. But they won't let anyone go near them. Even I can't get through. Just people with 'clearance.' Whatever that means."
"How about the maintenance area?" I asked. "Do you have access to that?"
Dr. Cohen looked surprised. "The maintenance area? Yes, take my pass. But there's just snow back there." He handed over my pass while I gave him the cure and notes I took from the quarantine labs. "Let's take a look at this," he muttered, activating the OSD. "An extension of Phelp's work? I thought he was onto something." Satisfied, he looked up at me. "I can't thank you enough. You saved their lives... God! What a cliché!" he broke off in disgust.
For some reason, I found that funny as hell. Here he was, trying to survive a siege while struggling to save patients who got sick from his project, and he chose a lack of imagination to get annoyed over. "That's what I'm here for. Forget about it," I reassured him.
"I'd better administer this right away. Thank you again," he said, before turning back to his patients.
That keycard proved to be a lifesaver. We managed to casually walk through the main level, take the elevator to the quarantine labs and sneak out through the maintenance area into a small snowy tunnel. All without anyone being the wiser. Granted, we did have to deal with a rachni. One of the brown ones. But still, one bug versus a small army of guards? Yeah, I'll take the lone bug any day.
The tunnel led to another complex. We quickly passed through a couple rooms, looting whatever crates we could find there. Eventually we took a left into a larger, square room, with paths running along the walls. In front of us, a stairway led up to a second split-level, which connected to a central platform of some sort. Where an asari in a tight black head-to-toe dress walked towards us.
"Mother."
That came from Liara. In other words...
Aw, crap.
In other words, that asari was Matriarch Benezia.
It suddenly occurred to me that this was going to be one awkward family reunion.
(1): Commonly mislabelled as a medicinal salve that combines local anaesthetics, clotting agents and sealing compounds proof against liquids, gases and contaminants, medi-gel is actually a genetically-engineered bioplasm created by the Sirta Foundation. Technically, such modification violates Council laws, which forbid genetic engineering extensive enough to add new properties to an organism, rather than enhancing properties that are already present. In practise, however, the sheer usefulness of medi-gel has caused even the most vigilant of lawmakers to turn a blind eye to its existence.
(2): That, and the fact that if they were not good at their jobs, they would have been dead by the time Shepard arrived.
(3): In fact, Shepard talked to Dr. Magda Tenenbaum, one of the most respected scientists of the twenty-second century. While she specialized in the use of mass effect fields in the development of new alloys, she was extremely knowledgeable on its applications in numerous other fields, including genetics. She was particularly noteworthy for her criticism for the use of biotic-induced mass effect fields in scientific studies, writing several well-researched editorials and reviews regarding its high degree of inaccuracy and imprecision, coupled with the often-criminal treatment of the "volunteers" used in those studies. In later years, she shifted her work to humanitarianism, becoming a strong proponent for "biotic rights."
(4): Based on the name of this toxin, it's entirely possible that Saren, using his position at Binary Helix, encouraged the development of this "Thoros-B" for deployment against the Thorian found on Feros. If so, the lack of progress may have prompted him to resort to the more conventional methods that Shepard encountered during his mission there.
(5): Actually, this isn't as farfetched as it sounds. Few people had actually seen a geth before, and, at the time, it wasn't uncommon for the Alliance in general, and corporations in particular, to supplement security details, colony garrisons or private facilities with automated robots The Peak 15 staff probably mistook the geth for a new series of security robots, colloquially known as "mechs."