Oh, yeaaaaaaaaaaaah! I am finally back! First of all, if any of you are engineers, or whoever else might work with blueprints, I simply MUST shake your hand (figuratively, since I'm in another country). Making blueprints is hard. It took me the better part of last week to finish the blue print I need for my diploma work but damn, I've had my expectations but I didn't think it'd be that hard.
But yeah, I'm finally back! It took me eons to finish this chapter, I know, and I must admit that it was rather hard to finish it so soon either. At least one good thing came out of this. This is the longest chapter I've wrote so far!
Oh, before I forget! A new story came out a while ago, An Exile's Effect by Dzugh. Give it a read! I think that so far the story is quite original and more than enjoyable! If you like ME SI's, I think you'll enjoy this story!
Yeah, back to the chapter now! Enjoy!
"I'm telling you, something's up with the colonists," I say as we make our way to the colony. I have to admit that all this silence is annoying me. Freaking awkward if I must say. I know that Wrex is not so talkative but when he does talk, it's usually something worth listening to. I guess I want his input.
Sadly, Wrex doesn't want to play his part in the conversation and simply remains silent.
"You know… feel free to participate in the conversation. It's a two way thing by the way," I add flippantly. This finally gets the reaction I'm looking for. Sort of. Wrex turns one glaring eye at me but still remains silent. Well, at least he's paying attention. "They're acting all weird and suspicious, not to mention the guy we left down there. Utterly batshit insane," I elaborate.
Wrex grunts in annoyance before he speaks. "Does it matter? Insane or not, I'm shooting them if they do anything stupid," he says, his tone telling me he was completely serious.
Oh, shit! They will attack us later on and I think that killing them is the last thing they need. They're not even in control of themselves. Damn, makes me wonder if they're actually aware of it. The guy in the tunnel was aware of the thing but the colonists? Fuck, this is both terrifying and maddening. "Uh, I doubt Shepard will appreciate you killing harmless colonists," I slowly say, fighting down the urge to snort at the 'harmless' part.
"Maybe. But if they're stupid enough to attack us, they're too stupid to live," he says with a shrug, as if it was simple as that.
"That's a bit harsh," I remark.
"Being stupid won't help you live long on Tuchanka."
"Well, this is not Tuchanka." I remind him. Shit, I definitely don't need Wrex killing the colonists now. What will I say to Shepard if he does start shooting? Well, I doubt Shepard will actually blame me or anything. It's not like I can actually stop him, even if I tried. I'm not stupid, or insane enough to try.
"It's not Tuchanka," he agrees and gives me a pointed look. "But the rule still applies."
I think there's another meaning to what he said, probably telling me that I shouldn't be stupid. Doesn't matter, really. I wasn't planning to anyway.
I'm about to say something else when the radio crackles loudly, managing to startle me. My ears are blasted by static noise and I see that even Wrex cringes for a moment, though he quickly regains control of his face. Okay... what do I do now? "Uh... I can't hear you. Who is it?" I ask.
There's no response. Just the annoyingly loud static. Huh, Wrex frowns at that. I guess it's not very common to get static blasted through the comm. Hm, I wonder if a raspy voice is going to hiss 'seven days!' at me now. I'll freak out, but we'll all laugh about it later.
"Shepard?" I try. Who else will try to contact me. "Somebody?" I try again but I still don't get a response. I look at Wrex, who seems... interested. I don't really know krogan facial expressions that well, but he does seems interested in whatever is happening. "Uhm, maybe something is jamming the signal?" I cautiously ask. I honestly have no idea what I'm talking about, but I can only guess.
Wrex hums in thought for a few seconds before responding. "Probably," he shrugs. "Let's get out of the tunnels and try again," he suggests.
Well, this course of action is better as any. We might as well go out and see what is up. I kinda doubt that a few concrete walls will stop a signal... I mean, it's been 170 years or so since my time and signals doubtlessly got better since then. So yeah, we're going outside!
For some reason I have a bad feeling about this.
Yeah, when I get a bad feeling about something, I think it's about time I started actually paying attention to it. After all, usually whenever I feel bad about something, something bad usually occurs. Still, for some reason I ignore it. Maybe I'm an idiot, I dunno.
As soon as the colony came into our sight we both tensed. Well, I did. Wrex just had a very noticeable frown on his face and he looks tense most of the time anyway. The thing that had me worried happened to be the unconscious guard that was lying on the ground right by the entrance.
Okay, I believe that my worries actually paid off... not that it's a good thing or anything. I raise my assault rifle and cautiously approach the downed guard. Wow, this place is rather freaky now, just for the fact that it's utterly silent. There's not a soul in sight. Where are all the colonists? I crouch by the guard and make sure keep the rifle steady with one arm while I put two fingers on the guy's neck. It takes me a couple of seconds but I finally manage to feel the pulse. The guy was obviously knocked out, judging by the slightly bleeding bruise on his forehead.
Huh, I actually feel rather awesome right now. I actually had a reason to check someone's pulse while looking awesome while doing it. Sadly, the situation itself wasn't that comforting. "He's alive," I quietly say, giving Wrex a glance. He doesn't look all that worried. Just a bit annoyed, if that frown is any indication. He's still cautious though, looking around and keeping his weapon raised.
It wasn't really hard to figure out what happened here. It obviously weren't the geth, since I never even heard of geth knocking someone out. The colonists won't do this either so it left only one person. Which begged the question... where is Ashley now? More importantly... where are all the colonists? Did Ashley make it back to the Normandy? Was she captured by the colonists? Did she kill everyone? I have no idea.
Even more importantly, what the hell do we do now? I don't really think it's safe to stay standing here, and neither does Wrex, since he starts walking further into the colony... wait. Oh shit, he's going into the heart of the colony! I quickly run over to him and manage to catch his attention by patting his shoulder. "Slow down a bit..." I say quietly.
"Why?" he asks and catches me completely off guard. Really, why should we slow down? It's not like we can stay here and we really do need to find out what's going on.
"Let's be a bit more... careful. Something's really wrong with this place," I finally say. Being careful was way better than rushing into the line of fire. I know that the colonists will be hostile, while Wrex doesn't, so it's up to me to insure minimal casualties after all.
Wrex huffs in annoyance and turns around to continue on his path... only we're stopped by a single colonist staring at us a few feet ahead of his. He stares at us blankly while both Wrex and I are staring at him in return, more in surprise though. The guy's face is utterly blank but after a second or two he blinks and raises his weapon at us.
Before I can even react an incredibly loud booming noise swallows the silence and I see the colonist flying back, several holes in his torso.
I stare at the dead body for a second or two, completely shocked. There goes my mission to make sure the colonists are all alive. Slowly, my eyes move over to the smoking barrel of Wrex's shotgun. I quickly turn on him and punch his shoulder with all my strength. A lot of good that did, since I think I did more damage to my fist against the thick plates that composed his armor. That didn't even budge him. "What the fuck are you doing?" I yell at him. Fuck, there was no hesitation, no warnings, nothing. He just... shot him like it was nothing!
Wrex actually looks surprised for a second before he narrows his eyes and glares at me. "He was going to shoot us!" he snaps, angrily pointing at the dead body. "You want me to just stand there?"
"No!" I snap back at him. "We came here to help these people, not fucking shoot them down!" Wow, I can't believe I'm actually yelling at Wrex. Wait, I can't believe I'm yelling at him and still didn't get punched in the face. Usually I suck at arguing and yelling at stuff. "Couldn't you shoot him in the leg or something?"
Wrex grunts in annoyance and with a glare, leans closer to my face... as in, right into my face. I lean back and at the moment I'm glad I wear a helmet, because I'm scared shitless and it's probably showing. "Next time... I'll just let them shoot you," he growls angrily and turns away from me.
Okay, I think I'm not going to be dismembered by Wrex for now, so I guess it's safe to assume that I didn't piss him off too much. Well, I still think that I'm in the right here. These guys aren't even in control of themselves. Once again my mind starts wondering whether they are actually aware of what's happening or if the thorian makes them believe in what they do. Fai Dan fought the mind control, but it seemed to be a painful process... painful enough that death seemed a better option. Damn, just thinking about this sends chills down my spine.
"You know I'm freaking right," I say after him. Yeah, I'm probably doing something incredibly stupid right now, but I can't just let it go like this. I understand that Wrex doesn't know the whole story about the thorian, and this means that keeping these poor fellas alive is up to me. "And Shepard will agree with me."
Wrex stops, turns around to face and opens his mouth to say something but before the words could leave his mouth the thundering boom of assault rifles interrupt us. Judging by the amount of noise and the amount of rounds that start flying around, I can safely say that more than a couple of colonists are shooting at us. I'm not even bothering to look and count them because as soon as I hear the shots I start running back to where we came from, which happened to have a lot of cover. I don't bother to see if Wrex is following me because the heavy thuds that indicated his footsteps was enough of an indication.
I move behind the... building-thing and try to think of a way to get out of this situation. The way to the Normandy is blocked. I don't want to kill the colonists and we lack those special grenades against them. We can go back to the tunnels and wait for Shepard there but the glaring thought about Ashley stops me from going with the latter plan. Is she okay? Did she go to the Normandy? If she did so, then did she make it? I know she can handle herself but I can't help but be a bit worried. We left her completely alone with a bunch of mind-controlled thralls, so I think it makes sense that I feel a bit guilty about this.
Wrex's booming shotgun interrupts my line of thought and I turn to see him firing at the colonists from behind the corner of the building. "Don't kill them!" I yell at him.
My shout got me a vicious glare from the krogan. "What do you want me to do, hug them?" he growls and lets out a shot for emphasize.
Well, he got me there. "Well, don't kill them! Just shoot at them so they won't get any closer," I suggest as I look around for something that could help us.
The krogan grunts in annoyance. "That's what I'm doing," he gruffly mutters loudly enough for me to hear.
Okay... think, think! How do I get to the Normandy without killing, or injuring these colonists? Huh, asking is easier than doing it. I have no idea what to do! Wrex flares his biotics and does something that I can't see, though he probably pushed them away. I guess I can help him a bit. I move out of cover and fire blindly with fully automatic fire. I don't hit anything, which for once is actually a good thing, but I manage to get some of them to take cover, thus reducing their chance to advance. As the rest of them start shooting at me I jump back into the cover of the building.
…wait.
The building! If I recall right, we can pass through the building right to the other side of the colony! "Give me a minute!" I yell out to Wrex as I run over to the door.
"A bit hard considering I can't kill them!" he yells back, sounding a bit annoyed by that fact. Not that I can blame him. It's freaking annoying that we can't do anything against them until Shepard get's here. Well, Wrex doesn't know that so it must be even more frustrating for him! Poor guy.
I reach the door and punch the holographic open button only for it to buzz angrily and change it's color to red. I blankly stare at the door for a second and press the button again. It changes it's color again and buzzes once more. "Oh... fuck," I weakly say. Who the fuck locks the door at a time like this? "Uh, give me another minute!" I yell over my shoulder. Wrex doesn't say anything, but I do hear his shotgun blast loudly a couple of times.
Okay, it's pretty simple. Keep calm! I just need to open the omni-tool and unlock the door. Simple as that! I've done it hundreds of times by now! And my asshole of a brain now reminds me that I've never done it under fire and I should hurry the fuck up instead of dawdling.
Sounds simple, I guess. I open up the omni-tool and run the hacking program. I'm fidgeting like a moron as I wait for the program to load up and once it does I'm feeling immense relief when I see that it's only a 'level two' security, as Tali called it. I can break through a level two security in a minute!
It's pretty simple, now that I think of it. I'm actually a bit surprised that I can even hack something when only six months ago I didn't have a single clue about hacking. And here I am, hacking a freaking door while brainwashed colonists are trying to kill us. Wow, this sounds utterly surreal when I think about it. Then again, if I'd knew I was going to be in this situation before I got to this dimension – or time, whatever – I would've decided I had too many drinks and that maybe I accidentally smoked something other than cigarettes.
"The fuck is that?" Wrex growled in... confusion? Weird, there's definitely confusion in his voice. I tear my attention off the omni-tool and look at the krogan. Just in time, apparently. As soon as I look something... green jumps on the krogan. Wrex intercepts the thing with his shoulder and with an easy-looking motion, sends it flying over his shoulder, where it landed with a rather disgusting squelch. I look at the thing more closely and quickly recognize the thing, much to my disgust. I always thought that it was amazing how things looked better than how they looked in the game and it's actually true. In this case, I really regret this because frankly, the thorian creepers look a lot more disgusting than how they looked in the game. I actually need to fight the bile from rising up my throat. It's a vomit-inducing sight. Dead looking skin which hangs loosely on the thing's bones, or whatever it has. Dark, sunken eyes with some black... liquid-thing pouring out of the sockets, not to mention the disgusting looking drool that was pouring out of it's lipless mouth. All in all, it looks like a half-decomposed corpse... with claws.
Wait... oh shit, it's still moving. Wrex didn't kill it! It jerks around on the ground for a couple of seconds before it recollects itself and starts getting back on it's feet. I look at Wrex, who happens to be giving me a pointed look. "Can I kill these things?" he asks me mockingly.
The creeper climbs to it's feet and apparently, it decided that I'm the lesser threat because it turns to face me. "Yes! Kill it, kill it!" I scream as the thing starts running at me. I manage to aim my rifle one handed and I let out a short burst. I cringe at the recoil but by sheer luck a few rounds hit the creeper in the chest, which slowed him down enough for Wrex to shoot it down. I take a few calming breaths and look at Wrex, who by now turned his attention back to the colonists. "Yes, you can kill these thing. With prejudice," I say heatedly.
"Not a problem. A lot more of these things are coming, so hurry up!" he barks back, though I can hear a hint of amusement in his voice. Crazy motherfucker, how can one be so amused at this time? He has a point though, so back to work! Shit, I'm nearly out of time! Okay, I need to finish this quickly before I get locked out. "Hurry up!" Wrex grunts as he moves over to me as his last position is overrun by the creepy creepers. Before they could advance further, Wrex sends them back with a powerful biotic shove but as soon as they go down, several more come to replace them.
Fuck, how many more of them are there? It's a freaking miniature army! Okay, concentrate on the hacking, this is more important. Okay, just a second more and... got it! I look back to Wrex as the door pleasantly chimes and slides open. "Wrex! Get in!" I shout at him.
Or... well, tried to.
As I turn around to called Wrex, all I managed to say was "Wr-" before I felt something grab my neck. The next second involved a lot of the world spinning around, a confusing sense of being upside down, then a sudden pain when I land on my back, already inside the building, and find myself staring into the barrel of a rifle.
"Alex?" a very familiar voice asks. I look past the rifle and I see Ashley looking at me with some confusion written on her face.
"Ash?" I ask slowly. I'm a bit confused here. What the hell happened? My best guess is that she... flipped me or something, since all the sensations I felt were usually involved when someone threw me around.
"Close the door!" Wrex barks as he runs into the building with around a dozen creepers on his tail. This quickly snaps Ash out of her confusion and she punches the button. The door closes just as the first creeper reached us, closing shut right in it's face. There are a few muffled thuds as they keep hitting the metal doors a few times and all the while Ashley is doing something with her omni-tool. "There, all locked and safe," she mutters after several seconds.
"I thought you weren't a tech specialist," I ask curiously. Guess now I know who locked the door.
"Please, only a moron doesn't know how to lock a simple door," she says with a roll of her eyes.
… huh. I don't know how to lock a door like this... not that I'm going to say it out loud. This definitely goes to my 'not to be mentioned' list, else I will never live it down.
"What took you so damn long?" she asks as she rounds at me, sounding somewhat pissed.
Okay, why does she look at me? Why doesn't she ask Wrex? Oh, wait. Yeah. He's a krogan. Man, this sucks. Around Wrex I'm always the lesser threat. Bah, it really makes me feel stupid when I ask question that I already answered. At least I don't do it out loud. "We were clearing the tunnels," I say the obvious answer. "A better question, why didn't you warn us that the whole colony went batshit insane?" I ask back, sending her an angry look... at least until I remembered I wear a helmet. Well, I hope my skull helmet can convey the anger for me.
Sadly, Ash doesn't look even slightly impressed. Or intimidated. "I tried. You didn't respond," she replies, sounding very annoyed.
I send a glance at Wrex, wordlessly asking for assistance, which he thankfully gets. "We just got static. Nothing else," he gruffly states, still eying the door.
"Yeah, I guess there were some jamming devices down there, or something like that," I add my input to the picture.
She scoffs at that, giving me a mild glare. "Just so you know, I blame you for all of this," she states.
What? "Why?" I ask, extremely confused. How the hell is this my fault? I haven't done anything!
"You jinxed it!" she says angrily, pointing an accusing finger at me. I can only gape in response, not that she can see it. "Saying how odd they were behaving, how suspicious everything is and now look what happened!"
"You can't blame blame me for this in any possible way," I counter.
"Huh, she's got a point," Wrex pipes in. No, not you too? By the nine hells, what is wrong with you? "you do seem to have the habit of jinxing things. Remember Therum?"
Okay, this is totally unfair. "Hey, Shepard was the one who jinxed it," I reminded him.
"True, but you're the one who made her jinx it," Wrex countered expertly. Shit, I have nothing to say against it.
"Bah! You superstitious lot!" I finally say. It's clear that I'm not going to win this argument. And why am I still on the floor?
"Not superstitions. Just experience," Ashely says sagely as I stand up and Wrex nods in agreement.
"So what do we do now?" I ask. Hopefully that will change the subject. I look to the other side of the corridor, where I see a locked door. "Can we get to the Normandy from there?"
Ash shakes her head with a frown. "That won't work. Believe me, I tried. We're stuck here until the Commander comes to rescue us."
"Great," Wrex mutters to himself but we both ignore him.
"I take that you warned her already?" I ask.
"Obviously," she rolled her eyes at that and really, that was a stupid question. "I hope she'll get here soon. When I called her she was in ExoGeni's facility," she explains as she leads us into one of the rooms. It has a few chairs there and a couple of water bottles on a small table.
I groan at that. Seems like we're going to be here for a while. I have no idea long it will take Shepard to get here but I really hope it will be soon enough. In the game it took me about... I dunno, twenty minutes to clear that place. But since it's been a while since I played that game, I might be wrong and it actually took me an hour, or something. I pull off my helmet and take a seat on one of the chairs with a heavy sigh.
And now we're all quiet, which I hate, and to make matters worse, I'm getting bored. "So..." I slowly start, looking at Ash. "Do you come here often?" I ask, giving her a cheesy grin.
A blank stare is all the answer I get. I sigh again. This is really going to take a while...
I open my eyes with a start when Ash shakes my shoulder and I see her looking at me with a raised eyebrow. "Rise and shine," she says with a small grin. "The Commander's here."
Uh, what? What just... rise and shine? What is... one moment I was sitting and then...
Apparently Ash saw my confusion and gives me an exasperated look. "You fell asleep."
I what? Huh... that kinda explains it. I just dozed off. Weird. I wasn't really that tired to begin with so I really had no reason to fall asleep like that. Oh, yeah, I was extremely bored. "How long did I sleep?" I ask and get up to my feet to stretch my limbs.
"Not long. Half-an-hour at most," she curtly replies as she checked her rifle. "now hurry up. Shepard should be here in a moment."
Well, no need to repeat that. I quickly pick up my helmet and put it on and pick up my rifle. We move over to the door, where Wrex was already waiting. We silently stop in front of the door and wait. I try to listen to what's going on outside but unfortunately, I can barely hear a thing and whatever I can hear seems to be rather useless.
I don't know how log we stand there, but it felt like an hour or so. This anticipation and baited breaths is tearing my nerves apart. I hate these moments. At least I can distract myself a bit with whatever I can think of. So far I'm in love in my helmet. I wore motorcycle helmets before and I was never fond of them, mostly because it felt stuffed inside and after I removed it, my head was covered in sweat. With this helmet on the other hand, it was minimal. I really have to find out how the hell a helmet can have such ventilation. My old house didn't have such comfortable ventilation abilities. Summer was outright hellish.
My thoughts are interrupted by a muffled gunshot, which causes us to perk up. The first gunshot is quickly followed by another one and then another one. Within several seconds automatic fire thunders all over the place, which is enough of a signal for us.
Ash opens her omni-tool. "Get ready," she says and we eagerly comply. I shoulder my rifle and put my finger on the trigger. Dang, this is unnerving. I can't help but imagine that any moment now, the door will open and a horde of creepers will charge inside to tear us apart. I sometimes hate my imagination.
The door slides open with a hiss and to my surprise, a single creeper is standing there, staring at us. This is enough to make me flinch, since despite my idiotic imagination, it's enough to startle me. I'm about to pull the trigger but Wrex beat me to it. A lout boom later and the creeper's head literally turns to paste, sending bits of... stuff flying through the air.
By the gods, why does this keep happening to me? That's it. I am never standing near Wrex when he uses his shotgun. Heads tend to explode around him and this is really bad for my stomach. I nearly threw up right now!
I try my best to look somewhere else, anything else other than the headless corpse – even Ash was making an effort to look somewhere else from what I see – and my eyes land on Shepard and Garrus, who were aiming their weapons at us.
"Don't shoot!" I yell out as I run down the stairs to join them. They quickly avert their weapons from us and start shooting the hostiles, mainly the creepers who were gradually growing in numbers and advancing.
"Are you alright?" Shepard barks out after she killed a creeper that got too close.
I'm about to answer but I have to quickly duck behind a concrete block when several colonists come around the corner and start shooting at us. "For the most part, yeah. Any idea why the colony went crazy?" I ask, more for Wrex and Ashley's sake than mine.
Shepard throws something and it sails through the air and lands near the brainwashed colonists. A second later it explodes in a large cloud of green gas and a second after that, the colonists collapse as if they're been shot in the head. She then looks back at me. "I thought I explain it already," she says with a frown.
"He's been sleeping at the time," Ashley barks out as she ran past us to join Kaidan behind one of the large crates.
At this Shepard gives me a very confused look. "I was bored," I say with a shrug.
"Uh, okay," she replies at length, standing up and shooting down another creeper. "In a nutshell, an ancient sentient plant is mind-controlling these people and for some reason Saren wanted something from it," she says quickly with an entirely straight face.
"Okay," I say with a nod and stand up to shoot something. My sight lands on a creeper that is running at Garrus. Three quick burst later, the thorian drops to the ground, holes riddling his torso.
I duck down again and notice that Shepard is giving me an odd look. Sadly, I can't raise an eyebrow or anything so I just stare at her in the hopes she will get my confusion. "What, no questions? No shock? No confusion? You're just... accepting that a plant – of all things – is controlling these people?" she asks incredulously.
Huh, that does sound a bit suspicious. No worries though, I have a perfect thing to say. "Weirder shit can happen," I say with another shrug.
"Like what?"
I let out a few more bursts which result in another downed creeper before I look back at Shepard. "One time, I went on a road trip and when I came back, I discovered that the cabbage ate the fried chicken and when I tried to throw it away it tried to eat me," I say with a flat voice. Well, actually the fried chicken were only covered by some moss-like substance, which originated from the cabbage and when I tried to throw out the cabbage it somehow glued itself to my hand. Of course, my version of the event is so much more interesting, so I went with it.
Shepard lets out a short snicker and shakes her head. Cool, my story is amusing her. For me it was traumatizing! Without saying anything else Shepard stands up and runs off to the catwalk thing that goes around the blockade of crates the colonists set up. Makes me wonder though. Instead of trying to break through the door to get us, instead they just moved crates around. Weird.
I quickly follow Shepard and we join with the rest of the team. From that moment, we start to tear into their ranks. Not one of the creepers manages to get anywhere close to us, being either shot down by our combined fire or thrown away by our large amount of biotics. The only ones who posed some measure of a threat to us were the brainwashed colonists and they were quickly taken care of by some incredibly accurate grenade throws from Kaidan and Shepard. With just about two minutes, all the colonists are knocked out and just a flimsy pair of creeper are running at us until they were both shot down.
We stand there, rooted in place, for a few more seconds, waiting to see if more creepers are going to pop out to kill us, and when nothing happens we finally allow ourselves to relax a bit and lower our weapons. I holster my rifle and follow Shepard as she approaches the... crane controls and I suddenly remember that something is going to happen now. Isn't this when Fai Dan should be... Shepard whips out her pistol and whirls around to point at something. I follow her gaze and see Fai Dan stumbling out from around the corner.
He looks to be in a large amount of pain, judging by the horrible grimace that is on his face and his steps are labored, as if he can barely put one leg in front of the other. "I tried to fight it," he groans out with difficulty. "but it gets in your head... you can't imagine the pain."
Shit. I can't describe this up with a better word. I remember this part very well and since the very first time I played through the game. I've always wondered why I couldn't save Fai Dan, since I think that shooting his pistol out of his hands is more than possible but the question is... should I? The Chairman warned me, pretty much ordered me not to change anything, or as he called it, fuck things up.
"I was supposed to be their leader... these people trusted me," his hand travels down and grasps his weapon.
Fai Dan suddenly raises his pistol and aims it at us. I decide to do the same. I pull out my pistol, since I'm much more accurate with it, and take aim. Not at Fai Dan, but at his pistol. "It wants me to... stop you..." he groans out, struggling to get the words out.
I can try to shoot the pistol out of his hands but... what if I miss? Even worse, what if I don't miss? What if I would shoot him in the head by accident, or blow off his hand? I can't really say I'm a good shot. But the question remains. Should I even try to save him? The Chairman's words drift into my brain again and I can't help but grimace. He said that just my presence on the Citadel already changes things. The fact that I joined the crew is already a huge change. Would saving Fai Dan really change anything major? Would it really make things worse if we saved him?
"But I..." he struggled out and I see his hand traveling further up and closer to his head and I realize that I have no more time to think this through. "I won't!" he growls through gritted teeth as the pistol gets closer and closer to his head. It was time to decide.
Three words pass through my mind: Fuck the Chairman.
"Do something!" I yell loudly and sprint to Fai Dan.
"I won't!" Fai Dan screams and the pistol finally reaches his head, aimed at his temple.
A gunshot rings out and I blink. For a split second I think I'm too late but then I see that his pistol is utterly blown apart and the shocked expression on his face. I finally reach him and punch out, burying my fist into his face. There's a loud smack and he does a half-spin before he drops down, completely out of it.
Fuck yeah! I knocked him out! But daaaaamn, that freaking hurt! I rub my aching knuckles and flex my fingers a few times to make sure nothing's broken. I turn around to see who shot the pistol and my eyes land on Garrus, still holding a smoking pistol. "Good shot," I say with a sigh and look down at Fai Dan. "He's alive... he's alive..." I breathe out, more to myself than the others. Shit, I changed the future. Fai Dan is alive and I totally changed something. I have no idea how the Chairman is going to react, but fuck him, I just saved this guy's life!
I look back at Shepard and to my surprise she looks utterly pissed. For a second I think she's pissed at me but after a moment she holsters her pistol and looks at the crane controls before she walks over to Fai Dan to check out the damage, I guess. "Now I'm pissed off," she announced.
"He was going to kill himself..." I hear Liara mutter.
"He said that he was controlled through pain," I say as I walk to the console. "I guess... that death is a more pleasant alternative," I say with some disgust. I really want a flamethrower right now and burn the fuck out of this freaky plant. Sadly, I don't have a flamethrower so we'll just have to kill it the classical way. Okay, let's get this crane working.
"You sure you know what you're doing?" Garrus asks from behind me.
Oh god. You didn't. He's setting this up for me, by purpose or by accident, I don't know but I am definitely not missing the chance. I never thought that I'll ever get the chance to say this, but here it is! Also, considering the stuff I'm learning now and what I plan to know later, I have every right to say this, which makes this only better. And I can make it sound even better, considering my origin.
I clear my throat, turn to look at Garrus, and speak with my best Hollywood Russian accent. "Trust me, I'm an engineer."
Garrus scoffs at that but I can tell he's amused, at least somewhat. Anyway, at least that shut him up, so either way, mission accomplished! I turn back to the console and start working. Well, it's not like anyone needs a degree in engineering to work this thing anyway. Let's see... 'crane controls' and 'up'. Simple as that! The machinery whirrs to life and lifts up the... big thing, revealing the secret passage to the thorian's lair.
"Let's go," Shepard barks out and we all follow her down the dark stairway.
Wow, I had no idea that it was this deep underground. The game just cut to the next cutscene after a short loading, but it took us a little over five minutes to finally reach the end! I'm frustrated by now! So is everyone else.
"Finally," Ash mutters loudly when we finally reach the end and walk into the large chamber. "Let's find this thing and put a couple of rounds... into..." she trails off from there when the thorian, in all it's not-plant-like glory, comes into view. "What the hell is that?" she snaps.
Huh, even Shepard looks confused. "It's a... uh, plant? We may need... bigger guns," she says with some amount of awe and I can't blame her. This thing is huge! I move over to stand by Shepard to get a better look.
"I'm definitely not eating salad after this," I announce, looking pointedly at Kaidan, who look away with a smirk. Yeah, don't even think about this! If he's going to feed us with salad, I'm shooting him.
We slowly approach closer until the thorian starts to stir and make... growling noises. The head... front... thing of the thorian starts to move it's tentacles and a large amount of... liquid starts pouring out. Oh, god, it's going to do that disgusting thing! Must... not... think about... female... anatomy! With a final torrent of the... liquid a fully dressed green asari pops out and lands on the floor, covered from head to toe by the... ugh, I want to gag. Fuck you universe! You just had to make this look more detail too!
Ugh, by Myrkul's balls. This is disgusting! She's completely covered by that liquid thing! She came out of that thing! "Fuck it," I say and move over to the back of the group, just to put some distance between me and that thing. "I'm never going to eat salad. Ever. Again."
The green asari... what's her name, Shiara? No, that's the one from the Citadel, I think... Shiala... yeah, that's her name. She faces Shepard and starts to speak. "Invaders! Your every step is a transgression. A thousand feelers appraise you as meat, good only to dig or decompose."
"Not the most friendly one, is she?" I mutter to Kaidan. He sends me a silencing look and looks back at the asari, most likely interested in what she's saying. Hey, I've heard this all already! Can't I have some fun?
"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 doesn't look impressed in the slightest. "You gave something to Saren... something that I need," she says firmly, crossing her arms in front of her.
"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!" Ooh, now she's angry!
"Give me what I need and I'll strike back at the one who betrayed you. Saren is my enemy," Shepard explains, sounding frustrated more than intimidated.
"No more will the thorian listen to those that scurry. Your lives are short, but have gone on too long!" she states with finality that let us understand that this conversation is over.
Well, not if I can help it! "Just one question!" I say loudly, stepping forward and pointing a finger at her dramatically, at least in my opinion. Pointing accusing fingers at stuff generally tend to be dramatic. The asari's gaze moves over to me but I don't give her a chance to say anything before I ask my very important question. "Is the thorian really a plant? Because it looks very meaty to me..."
The reactions are varied. The asari looks at me blankly while Shepard gives me a very incredulous look, looking almost one step away from palming her face. "..what?" I ask indignantly, looking at Shepard. "My future eating habits depend on this question!"
Sadly, the Shiala clone didn't understand humor... or just didn't understand my humor – which I get a lot – and pulled out a shotgun. Wait, where the hell did she get that? Oh, shit! She's aiming it at me! Luckily for me, a biotic push from Kaiden or Liara sends the clone stumbling back, which gives me more than enough time to pull out my shotgun. Time to field-test this boy!
By now, everyone took out their weapons and started shooting at the asari and I only manage to shoot once. The recoil is a pain but this time I was ready for it and let out a blast without staggering. Not that it mattered, since from this distance I scored a direct hit on the poor clone, which sent it to the floor.
"You just had to piss her off, didn't you?" Kaidan groans as the thorian creepers around us slowly 'wake up' and rise to their feet.
"For the record, that really was a very important question," I defend myself, letting out another shotgun blast at a creeper that just stood up. The blast practically tore apart it's chest and sent it to the ground again. Oh yeah! I love this thing! Too bad that my arms are going to be numb in a few more shots.
"Less talking, more shooting!" Shepard barks out, sending a pair of creepers falling into the bottomless pit that was below the thorian. Having taken care of that, she leads us further further into the chamber.
"Commander, look at this," Kaidan points out, pointing at the large growth that was attached to the wall.
Shepard inspected it for a few seconds before she raised her shotgun. "Shooting usually works," she remarks before fired. She didn't need to say anything else. We all start shooting at the growth until after several seconds something burst inside the... appendage and a few gallons of green fluid poured out of it. A second later, the thorian let out a pain... shriek like noise and the walls rumbled for a second or two.
"That got it's attention," Ash remarks, looking at the thorian. "looks like there's more of these things," she says, pointing at the various growth that came out of the thorian and into the walls.
"Well then, looks like we have a way to kill this thing," Shepard agrees and wordlessly leads the way up the stairs. We all wordlessly follow her and I fall in line right by Garrus.
He lets out a short chuckle. "Just like in that game, huh?" he remarks. What game? Oh! The zombie one! Wait...
This causes me to pause and Garrus did the same, though he was looking at me with slight amusement. "You're not going to shoot me, right?" I ask cautiously.
This get's him to give me a turian smirk. "Only if you steal my loot," he quipped.
From there it falls into a routine of sorts. We move up, kill dozens of creepers, kill the Shiala clone that respawns as soon as we kill her, find the node, destroy it and repeat. It was not very noticable with the team we had now, but as we moved higher and higher, the thorian got more and more desperate. The number of creepers that charged us grew in numbers and Shiala-clone started popping up nearly around every corner!
Soon, after what seemed like countless floors, countless thorian creepers and countless shots fired we finally reach the final and uppermost floor. I'm the last one to make it up the stairs – in case the creepers tried to get us from behind, which they already tried – and I make it up just in time for another Shiala clone to pop out of one of those... wall-bubble things, and a horde of creepers to storm us.
The Shiala-clone ran around the creepers, covered in a biotic barrier and after a second focuses on me. Before I can do anything her biotics flare and I can see something blue sailing through the air at me at breakneck speeds.
Shit, I don't have any time to do anything. Shooting her won't do. Her barrier will take the hit and from this distance I doubt I'll land a decisive hit. Dodging won't really work, since by now it's already halfway to me. At least I can take comfort in the fact that I could actually think this through before the thing hit me.
"Aww, fu-" my words are interrupted when the blue projectile slams into my chest with the force of a sledgehammer and I'm sent flying back down the stairs. Well, I don't really fall down the stairs, more like, fly over them, because the next thing I know my back slams against the wall and I fall down to the floor and land on my back, again.
Ow. Fuck, my head is ringing! Not to mention my poor back. I think I hear someone call my name but I'm not really sure I really heard it. Thank god I'm wearing a helmet, otherwise I think I'd have a concussion right now. With a groan I pick up my shotgun, which by a miracle landed next to me, and freeze when I see a pair of legs standing next to me. A pair of green legs. I follow the legs up and see a creeper standing over me, looking at me blankly. Okay, this is weird. Instead of attacking me, to my horror the creeper opened his mouth. No! No, no, no! Hell no!
I roll to the side just as the torrent of acidic vomit sprays out of the thing's mouth. The acid lands on the floor, where it sizzles loudly and some drops hit my arm but I ignore it in favor of raising my shotgun and pulling the trigger. Shooting from the floor is not very comfortable, but I don't care at the moment. The blast hits the creeper in the chest and sends it flying back down the second set of stairs.
I stand up and move away from the still-sizzling puddle of acid vomit and shake my head to clear the dizziness away. Yeah, I'd definitely have a concussion if I didn't wear a helmet. I'm definitely pissed off though. I'm covered in weird thorian goo from all the creepers we killed, I feel dirty and I was biotically thrown down the stairs. In my opinion, I'm entitled to be pissed.
I quickly run up the stairs and much to my joy, the Shiala-clone is blocking my way. The reason why it brings me much joy was the fact that she had her back turned to me. Oh yeah, I'm gonna get myself some of that revenge. I'm actually very disappointed that I don't have the ability to pump my shotgun, since there's no need for it, but I'm assured that if I did pump my shotgun right now, I'll look like a total badass. I don't say anything as I walk over to her and simply raise the shotgun and plant it on the back of her head. She stiffens at the contact but I don't give her any chance to save herself. I simply pull the trigger and watch the show.
It's utterly disgusting, nauseating but oddly enough, very satisfying, though I doubt I'll want to do it ever again. I see Ash and Kaiden grimace at the sight as I step over her body and put the shotgun on my shoulder and I notice Wrex looking at me with a small grin. Yeah, bask in my awesomeness! I have learned the art of head-combustion from Urdnot Wrex himself! Without saying anything – words are unneeded – I run over to the rest of the team.
It's not long until we finally reach the last node, guarded by a horde of creepers of course, but we easily take care of them. As soon as we destroy the final node the whole place starts to shake. Several nodes are torn off the walls, quickly followed by the others as they could no longer support the weight of the thorian. With the final node tearing itself off the wall the thorian starts plumeting down to the bottomless pit and with a final shriek it disappears in the darkness.
To my disgust, the remaining creepers spontaneously combust, and soon after that the area is engulfed by silence. I allow myself to sigh in relief and holster my shotgun into it's place. Shepard turns to us to say something but before she can one of the nearby wall-bubble things opens up with a splat and an asari drops out to the floor, where lands with a stagger and blinks in confusion a few times.
Raising an eyebrow in interest, Shepard approaches her and Shiala turns her attention to the Commander. "I'm... free!" she says with some wonder, looking over her body. "I... I suppose I should thank you for releasing me," she slowly says as she looks at the Commander.
"How did you end up inside that..." Shepard grimaces for a second. "thing."
"My name is Shiala. I serve... served Matriarch Benezia. When she allied herself with Saren, so did I. Benezia foresaw the influence Benezia would have. She joined him to guide him down a gentler path, but Saren is compelling. Benezia lost her way..." she explains with some bitterness.
"Wait..." Shepard holds up a hand. "You're saying Saren can control minds now?" she asks incredulously.
"Benezia underestimated Saren, as I did. We came to believe in his cause and goals. The strength of his influence is troubling," she replies with a frown.
"No shit," I mutter, not quietly either. Shiala looks at me for a moment.
"Benezia tried to influence Saren but... in the end the plan backfired," she says sadly, looking down for a moment.
Liara walk forward and stands in front of Shiala and I can easily see the pain in confusion in her face. Damn... poor girl. "My mother is a Matriarch. How could she fall under Saren's control?" she asks, nearly pleads Shiala.
Shiala looks at Liara with something akin to pity for a moment before she replies. "Saren has a vessel. An enormous warship unlike anything I've ever seen. He calls it Sovereign and it can dominate the minds of his followers. They become indoctrinated to Saren's will. The process is subtle. It can take days, weeks but in the end, it is absolute," she says with a grimace. "By the time Saren brought me to this world, I was a willing slave. He needed my biotics to communicate with the thorian, to learn it's secrets. Saren offered me in trade. I was sacrificed to secure an alliance between them."
"Then why were the geth trying to destroy the thorian?" Shepard asks, coming back into the conversation.
"After Saren had what he needed, the thorian became a liability," was the simple reply. Just like that. He doesn't need the thorian any longer, that means he can kill it. What a bastard. Shiala then focuses all her attention to Shepard. "Saren knows you're searching for the Conduit, that you're following his footsteps. He attacked the thorian so you could not gain the cipher."
"Cipher? What is that and why did Saren need it?" Shepard asks, sounding confused. Well, obviously you'd be confused! It's a new plot device, silly! Okay, I guess I should stop commenting on events in my head like this. I might laugh or something.
"The beacon on Eden Prime gave you a vision, but they are unclear, confusing. They were meant for a prothean mind," she begins the explanation, "To truly comprehend them, you must think like a prothean. You must understand their culture, their history, their very existence. The thorian was here long before the protheans built built this city. It watched and studied them. When they died, it consumed them and they became part of it."
"And because of it, the thorian can teach someone to think like a prothean," Shepard says in understanding, getting a nod from Shiala. "how?"
"I... can't describe or explain it. It's like... describing color to a creature without eyes. It's an ancestral memory, a viewpoint of thousands of generations. I sensed this ancestral memory – the Cipher – when I melded with the thorian. Our minds merged, interwined. Such knowledge cannot be taught, it simply exists."
Shepard nodded, probably understanding what Shiala meant. After a few seconds of silence she takes a step forward. "I need the Cipher."
"There is a way. I can transfer the knowledge from my mind, to yours. I did the same with Saren. Try to relax, Commander..."
Oh, here we go! I never actually saw an Asari melding with someone before. When the Commander did it with Liara I was in the infirmary at the time, so I missed it. I watch as Shiala instructs Shepard in order to prepare her, using quite poetic words more than a few times. I have to wonder if all asari get so... poetic when they're about to meld with someone. Sounds a bit awkward in my opinion. And then, she does the 'Embrace Eternity' thing and her eyes become black, which is quite a freaky thing in my opinion.
Shepard cringes a few times as the visions play out in her mind until her breathing finally evens out and she slowly opens her eyes. "I have given you the Cipher," Shiala says as she steps back. "The ancestral memories of the protheans are a part of you now."
"Are you alright Shepard?" Kaidan asks worriedly, stepping over to her. "What did she do?"
Shepard frowns in thought before she replies. "I saw... something. It still didn't make much sense."
"You've been given a great gift. The experience of an entire race. It will take some times for your to process the information," Shiala explains. Hey, it kinda makes sense if you think about it. The experience of an entire race doesn't sound like something that my brain can handle in a second.
"You look a little...queasy. We should get you back to the ship," Ash remarks. Huh, I look at Shepard and notice that she does seem to be a bit pale and I some sweat on her forehead as if she's sick or something.
"Yeah, we really should go back. Saren's already has enough of a head start," she says firmly. Heh, thinking about her duty first. Then again, she can rest on the way.
"Then I wish good fortune upon you. Saren must be stopped before he finds the Conduit. As for me... I will stay here with the colonists. I... feel great shame for my part in their suffering. As long as any of the colonists remain on this world, I will do whatever I can to aid and protect them," she promises.
"You do that," I say with a nod. "this place really needs the help."
And with that we begin to head out for the exit, followed by Shiala. Bah, I'm tired. I've been thrown around, shot at, bitten and worse of all, vomited at. I feel dirty. I'm thinking about taking off my helmet but decided against it. I'm very, very thankful that smells don't get past my helmet, because I have a suspicion that all the things that stuck to my armor don't have a pleasant smell.
"As soon as I get back to the Normandy, I'm taking a shower," I hear Ash remark with disgust.
I chuckle at that. "Took the words right out of my mouth," I say back and then sigh when I remember the very long descent to this place.
Over five minutes of climbing stairs doesn't seem very inviting at the moment.
Yay! Feros is finally done! In the next chapter I plan to get some loyalty missions out of the way (not gonna say which) so I guess it's going to be interesting!
I hope that I'll be able to update soon, but I somehow doubt it. You know how it is, finals and all that. I have three MAJOR exams by the end of the month (31st, 4th and 7th) and if I don't pass them, my existance will become much more annoying and disappointing. Instead of going to university, I'll have to find a job and wait until next year so I could take the exams again. Oh, and I'll have to listen to my family reminding me all the time how I failed the exams and how useless I am most of the time. So yeah, passing these exams is one of my top priorities so I really need to get ready for them. This unfortunately means that my writing time is cut down and I doubt I'll get out a new chapter soon. The good news is that after the 7th I will utterly and fully free to write as much as I like. So until then, I doubt I'll have a chapter, though it's still a possibility.
So yeah, I want to thank you all for reading this story, commenting on it and giving me your opinion. It really makes me glad to know that so many people enjoy it! Feel free to leave a comment, tell me what you thought of the story, feel free to point out flaws and just tell me your opinion. I'd love to know what you think.
And so, this chapter is done! I'll see you later and until then, Delvaro out.