Chapter 20: Finding Liara

Watching the Mako purposely drive out of the open cargo hold in the lower atmosphere was a terrifying sight for Ashley. Did the Commander really just try and commit suicide, while giving her control of the ship? She was about to voice her concerns, despite Garrus' cheering and Wrex's laughing, when the Mako's main cannon started turning and then shooting at the Geth fighters chasing the Normandy down. Ashley had to admit that was a pretty bold and inventive move, one that she wouldn't have thought of. A few tense moments later, both Geth ships had been destroyed with a spectacular crash saving the Normandy. The Mako itself quickly disappeared after that in a cloud of volcanic ash, it was just her and the aliens now.

She turned on her personal comm to contact Joker, "Hey, make sure Shepard made it down there in one piece, then see what he needs us to do."

Joker responded, "Copy that contacting the- Holy Shit brace for evasive action!"

Before he could even finish his sentence the Normandy started making a ninety degree turn and started to flip to another direction. Ashley just thought there were more Geth ships they would have to somehow deal with until she saw, it. The massive Geth dreadnought that Shepard had seen in the Eden Prime distress call and she understood now why it scared him. The purple fingers it had for guns looked like they could rip through an Alliance ship in several seconds, and the blue lights connecting each piece of metal looked like veins on a hand.

Ashley tapped the comm again trying to remain calm, "Joker, reach out to Shepard, he needs to know that thing is heading straight towards him!"

Joker's voice sounded strained as the Normandy flattened it's spin, "I can't reach them that ship is jamming long range communications. But look at the size of that thing, Shepard would have to be blind not to see it."

As she tensed starting to panic, Garrus was strapping on a backpack and putting on his helmet. It looked like he was planning on leaving the ship and soon. Ashley couldn't imagine why anyone would want to leave the safety of the ship in the direction of that thing. He had a similar look to Nihlus when he was jumping down on Eden Prime and it scared her. She wouldn't be much back up for Shepard if members of the team were going Rambo on their own missions. Originally, she thought Wrex was going to be the rogue cannon she would have to reign in but, he seemed calm all things considered.

Ashley approached Garrus, she would much rather deal with him than the ship outside, "What do you think your doing? Shepard ordered us to stay here as back up unless he contacted us."

Garrus' Turian voice somehow sounded more intimidating under the helmet's robotic filter when he replied, "That ship must be Saren's flagship, he'll jam communications until he's done down there. Meaning Jack will be dead and the Prothean expert will be in his hands, so I'm going to go down there and help."

She grabbed his wrist and shook her head, "I'm your Commander right now and I'm ordering you to stand down! Shepard put me in charge so my orders are his orders, got it?"

He broke free of her grip approaching the open cargo hold, "Joker, get me as close to the back door for the dig site as possible." Garrus then turned around to face her, "As a SPECTRE, I'm using my Council authority to out rank you and ignore that order."

Ashley laughed, "Pfft, you expect me to believe that? Get back in here before I drag you back in myself."

Even through the helmet filter, Garrus sounded smug grabbing something from under his neck armor. Ashley was stunned to see a SPECTRE's trainee medallion necklace emerge as Garrus said, "No, but I trained as one so, good enough for me!"

Garrus then folded his arms over his chest and took one step backwards dropping out of the ship. She gave Wrex a warning look and he said, "Hey you gotta hand it to him, that Turians got a quad."

Luckily, they were a lot closer to the ground so there was no fear of him getting hurt unlike the Mako. Ashley looked up to see that the dreadnought had turned around from the front entrance of the dig site and was now chasing them. Her eyes were growing wider as one of it's fingers was lifting up and starting to point at them. It's movement was slow and deliberate, so while the danger wasn't immediate, they wouldn't be safe forever. The Normandy could be seriously out running this thing, but it wasn't. It was almost as if Joker was purposely letting it keep pace with them, what was he thinking?!

Ashley spoke into the comm, "Joker, get us out of here, we can't do anything for Shepard if we're dead."

Joker sounded tense replying, "Would you people make up your minds? First, you want to be closer and now farther away again? That ship wasn't going to let Shepard in the front entrance so I thought we would be a good distraction. Trust me, I can do this."

Ashley sighed as the Normandy barely avoided a red beam from the ships gun, "Alright, but we have to stay close enough for Shepard, I have a feeling he's going to need a quick exit."

_o0o0o0o0o_

Meanwhile, on the ground, Jack and the others were waiting for a solid opening. They were so close to the entrance to the facility that Jack could taste it but, as long as that ship was hovering at the main door they had no chance of getting inside. He could only guess it was sitting there to deploy Geth forces, maybe even Saren. While his ultimate goal was to take down the rogue SPECTRE, now wasn't the time. The Council would inevitably just forget about the Reapers and become complacent. Jack had a feeling Saren wasn't the Reapers only plan so, not learning more about them was irresponsible. Kaidan had found a back door earlier in the blue print plans but, it was too high up on the volcano for them to reach, even in the Mako.

Tali's voice was timid as she asked, "Shepard, do you think that thing is a Reaper?"

Kaidan tried to sound light hearted when he answered, "If it's not I don't even want to picture what is one. What's the plan Commander?"

Jack was about to say he didn't know yet when the Normandy swooped around the back of the volcano, obviously trying to get the ships attention. To Jack's surprise and excitement it worked since the ship started to lift off and chase the Normandy. Ashley was giving them the opening they needed to get to the dig site. He started the Mako again and started speeding over hills to the dig site. It was either now or never and Saren was going to have a head start. His heart was pounding fast, the last time he met Saren on the field someone died, he had to make sure that wouldn't happen again.

Jack took a deep breath looking at the others, "I need you both to be ready for anything when we get in there, even Saren. However, our main objective is getting Tí Soni out of there, Saren can wait understood?"

As the Mako arrived at the front door he heard them both say yes as he stopped the vehicle. He immediately knew that they were in trouble, the front airlock door had been blown wide open and several scientists bodies were haphazardly spread across the entrance. One positive thing to note was the fact that there weren't any Geth waiting for them at the door. It probably meant that Saren didn't think he brought enough Geth with him to take over the base and secure a perimeter. Even if that wasn't the case, it at least made Jack feel better to think it.

He and the others left the Mako by the door and cautiously entered the facility. The door inside led to a circular tunnel heading downwards at a steep angle. More scientists litered the ground as they made their way lower, it could best be described as a blood bath. At first, Jack had thought Saren was here to capture Liara and use her for her knowledge on the Protheans but, judging by the many scientist bodies, he was here to kill a loose end. With that thought racing in his mind, Jack ran as fast as he could to the bottom of the tunnel avoiding tripping over bodies and found another door. While the once white metal was still standing, it was riddled with bullet marks and stained with blood. If Saren was in such a hurry to get this over with, why was this door still closed?

Kaidan stood besides him saying, "I have a bad feeling about this.." Turning to Tali who just caught up with them he said, "Keep your guard up, could be the perfect spot for an ambush."

Jack took a deep breath preparing for a firefight when he opened the door but, when he actually did, he saw no one. The room before them was truly massive, probably stretching the circumference of the whole volcano. Metal grates served to act as separate floors slicing the volcano into several layers. Looking up, Jack could see the layers were connected by a rusty elevator to their right, and a rocky natural looping incline to their left. The rocky path also had caves spread throughout the path giving Saren plenty of places to hide. Looking down made Jack's stomach squirm, this volcano was active and the only thing separating them from the boiling lava below was this single metal grate.

Tali looked around seemingly in awe, "Keelah, look at the size of this place. It could take us days to find Doctor Tí Soni."

Jack nodded keeping a tight grip on his weapon, "We need to stick together, this feels like a trap and I don't want Saren to be able to pick us off."

Even though the task of finding Liara seemed impossible, they seemed to have luck on their side. Past the elevator on their right, Jack saw a strange floating blue bubble. Giving it a closer look, Jack could see that a figure was inside with their arms and legs spread out in a 'T' pose. He immediately thought it was a biotic shield, however, walking closer Jack could see beams of blue energy coming from the wall seemingly creating the bubble. If this was a trap, it was an elaborate one.

When he got close enough to see the person inside was an Asari, he heard a voice say, "Hello, hello is anyone out there? Don't be silly Liara your just hearing things now."

Jack walked around the bubble to her front so she could see him, "Liara Tí Soni? I'm Commander Shepard, I'm here to rescue you."

Liara seemed fearful, "Thank the goddess someone is actually here. My team was under attack by Geth forces so I shielded myself here. Can you believe that? Geth beyond the Veil? I thought I was going mad especially when they all disappeared.."

Jack looked around now extra concerned Saren would jump out at them, "We can fill you in later, how can I get you out of this shield?"

Liara sighed not sounding very hopeful, "I'm afraid I don't think you can, the console that put me in this is Prothean. I don't even understand it and I've been studying them for fifty years."

Jack approached the console and his head suddenly had a throbbing ache, flashes from the vision flooded his mind. He thought he would have to sit down and maybe throw up but, just as suddenly as the moment began it ended. When he opened his eyes, Jack could read the console now and understood what he had to do. He was surprised by how similar these terminals were to their modern day counterparts. It seemed like technology would become more advanced after fifty thousand years. The beacon on Eden Prime must've also given him a fundamental understanding of the Prothean language, that would be helpful.

When Liara hit the ground she turned to him in shock, "How...? How did you do that so easily Commander?"

Tali tilted her head, "Your the Prothean expert, why don't you tell us."

Liara was about to say something when they all started to hear a clapping noise, it was sarcastically slow, "Well done Shepard, you've done half my work for me."

Jack turned away from the console to see Saren and around ten Geth facing them. He had no idea how the Turian had surprised him but, one thing was for sure, this mission just got a lot more complicated.