CHAPTER 28
The first thing Alex was aware of were fingers running gently through her short hair then she felt Ash tracing a line down her nose and around her lips. She smiled as she opened her eyes.
"We need to stop meeting like this," teased Ash, grinning.
Instead of replying immediately she raised her left arm, "How long?" Alex was relieved to see that her arm had been re-attached, she wiggled her fingers much like she had done when she first got it.
"Two days," replied Ash, "You needed some re-constructive surgery, while Karen and Miranda were doing that Tali fixed the arm itself, luckily it wasn't badly damaged." Alex reached up and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her wife's ear.
"How's Abby and Tali?"
"They're helping each other," said Ash, seriously, "And have asked to resume normal shifts. Miranda agreed on the condition that they have regular weekly sessions with Kelly. And if they need some time to take it."
Alex nodded as she linked their fingers together. "How are you?"
"Oh, no." said Ash, "You first. You're the the one who was nearly drawn and quartered."
Alex chuckled at her wife's dramatic description.
"Don't laugh," retorted Ash, "The amount of force that took would have ripped your real arm off."
The Spectre sat up, shifted over and patted the bed next to her. Ash lay down next to her and rested her head on her shoulder. "But it didn't. I'm fine Ash." She knew the question had more than just one meaning. "I miss her."
"Me too," whispered Ash closing her eyes, she'd missed a lot of sleep the past few days. Alex was still tanked up with meds from the surgery and dozed off to.
That was how Karin found them twenty minutes later asleep in each others arms. The doctor shook her head as she sat down at her desk.
MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME
"Jeff, I am receiving a transmission from the Illusive man," said EDI. "It is marked urgent."
"Jeez, does he know she had her arm ripped off?" asked Joker, annoyed.
"Yes, it was included in the data packet sent after we left the Flotilla."
"It was a rhetorical question EDI, you don't have to answer those." explained Joker, chuckling, between the AI and Grunt he was enjoying his new role as Humour Coach as he decided to call it.
"Call Chakwas and tell her. I'll tell TIM she'll be there as soon as she can."
"Yes, Jeff."
He also liked the way she said his name.
MEMEMEMEMEMEMEME
Alex sat up when Karin gently shook her shoulder dislodging her wife. Ash grunted something as she turned over.
"Leave her," said Karin, quietly, "I'll tell her where you've gone if you're not back by the time she wakes."
"Thanks." The spectre pulled on her clothes that the doc held out to her. She grabbed a cup of coffee on the way to the briefing room. EDI established the link as soon as she stepped into the room.
"Shepard good to see you up and about." said the blue tinted image of the Illusive Man.
"Cut to the chase," said Alex sipping her coffee, "You flagged this urgent so I'm guessing we don't have time for pleasantries."
"Very well Shepard. We've been analysing the data from the Collector vessel, it had an IFF that allowed passage through the Omega-4 Relay. Unfortunately that technology cannot be duplicated."
Alex remained silent, there had to be more. TIM would not call her for this.
"We have located a derelict Reaper in the Thorne system of the Hawking ETA cluster. Our scientists have found its IFF. By tapping it into EDI's systems you should be able to safely travel through."
"You have people on a dead Reaper?" Alex was getting a really bad feeling.
"Yes, though we are having trouble contacting them."
"Give Joker the coordinates we'll head straight there."
"Already done." Alex was already leaving as the transmission ended. On her way up to her cabin for a shower she almost ran into Abby.
"Hey," said Abby, pausing on her way to the med bay to start her shift.
"Hi." The spectre hugged her carefully so not to spill her drink. "You sure you want to do this?"
Abby sighed "I need to keep busy."
Alex nodded. "Briefing room in an hour. Can you please wake Ash."
"She in the med bay?"
"Yep, thanks."
Alex showered and dressed at top speed so she had a chance to look over the info TIM had sent along with the co-ordinates. Which was very little, the science team had been there for a couple of months. He had known about the Reaper before she'd even woken up. If they hadn't needed the IFF she doubted she would have been told. She gripped the edge of the table so hard her knuckles were white.
Cerberus had a dead Reaper! The damage they could do with that level of technology!. NO. She had to do something to remove control of that ship away from TIM.
"EDI. Did you know?"
"No, only that a Cerberus cell was active in that system." replied EDI, "Should I attempt to infiltrate Cerberus's network I would be detected without direct access to disable the firewall protocols."
"It's okay EDI, " said Alex with a sigh, "I didn't mean to sound like I was accusing you of anything."
"It would be the logical choice, as I was created by Cerberus."
Alex was stopped from replying by Ash and her sister coming in. It didn't take long for the ground team to assemble.
EDI displayed the data that they had. It was in orbit around a brown dwarf.
"Garrus, take Samara, Jacob, Tali and Kasumi. Your job is to find some way to destabilise that thing so once we're off it'll fall into the brown dwarf...My best suggestion would be sabotage the Mass Effect core."
Samara raised her hand. "Yes Samara?"
"Would it not be beneficial to remove Cerberus but give it to your Alliance?"
"I don't trust anyone with Reaper tech. " admitted Alex, "Sovereign was passed off as a Geth ship, they could do the same thing and without knowing anything solid about the Reapers, who can say if that thing is actually dead."
That possible frighting idea stopped any more talk of not destroying the vessel.
"While you do that me, Ash, Abby, Mordin and Jack will go get the IFF. We'll be linked via omni-tool. EDI will jam everything else. Grunt and Thane you will guard the shuttle, its our way home. You have the most important job of all." Alex looked around the table at each of her team-mates. "There can be no witnesses." A few dozen lives would be worth keeping any more Reaper tech out of Cerberus's hands.
"My team will be radio silent?" asked Garrus.
Alex nodded, "EDI will record my team. Miranda the Normandy's yours. If we get into trouble, come save our asses." Although she was joking, she wasn't the only one silently vowing to get everyone back. She noticed Ash squeeze her sisters hand under the table.
"And risk my ship?" quipped Miranda, smiling.
Grunt laughed heartily at that and slapped Miranda hard on the back almost sending her into the table.
"Six hours people. Be ready." ordered Alex before Miri could warp the young krogan, who in all likely hood would've said it tickled.
Ash had done an amazing job of repairing the Spectre's armour. Her left arm had been patched from a different suit. So the dark green looked odd with the silver and blue.
Joker called Alex up to the cockpit when the huge vessel came into view. He whistled, "That thing's massive."
"There is no jamming," stated EDI, "I can scan it and compare it to the data we received, then extrapolate the fastest routes to your destinations."
"Thanks EDI," said Alex, it sounded like EDI didn't trust TIM either.
The ride got a little choppy as Alex made her way down to the shuttle. She knew Joker would handle it.
Garrus's team was going to stay in the shuttle and out of sight until Alex and co were on their way. To make it more believable Garrus's squad had already been in the shuttle when the Spectre boarded. These recordings would be added to the after action data packet. A simple deception which a shackled AI would never be capable of.
Jacob was flying with Kasumi as his co pilot that gave them a bit more room. EDI's flight logs would say she had been remote piloting it.
Cerberus had been busy, they had constructed a proper docking area for shuttles to land. Alex led her team cautiously forward. The fact that no one had greeted them didn't bode well at all. With the comm difficulties there was no way TIM had told them they were coming, but they didn't even have a guard?
Mordin hacked into the first terminal they found, it was in the corridor leading away from the dock. "Problematic. Last data log. Accessed nine days ago...then stops. Chief scientist reports sending one of his men to sick bay..seeing things... Also notes headaches."
"Are you telling me a billion year old dead reaper can indoctrinate people?" asked Ash, nervously.
"I don't know, but they were on here for months. We will be gone in a few hours." replied Alex deciding speed was of the essence. "No detours, no sight seeing."
"Amen to that," muttered Jack, she'd had her head screwed with enough.
Abby agreed remembering the headache she had gotten from the Thorian on Feros. She shuddered. The one good thing was the Cerberus personnel were probably all dead by now. But if they were dead where the hell were they?
The ship was deathly silent, every footfall echoed. Alex was on edge all the hair on the back of her neck was stood on end.
"Ship feels strange," said Mordin.
"No kidding," snorted Jack. "Holy..." She had just stepped out onto a metal walkway that had a sheer drop on both sides. The bottom was dark so she had no idea how far down it went. The bridge looped around a large organic strut then back onto proper ground.
"That wasn't fun," commented Ash, keeping one eye on her sister. Abby was totally focused on the task at hand.
As they went they downloaded any data they found. The science team had obviously planned on staying for a long time they were still mapping the gigantic ship, the IFF had been one of the first things they had identified. At the time no had known of its importance. So it had been listed. When TIM had got the Collector ship data and put two and two together, then he had found it.
Alex's super sensitive hearing caught a sound. The area was littered with stacked crates and barrels of supplies. She held up her hand.
Everybody froze.
"Movement ahead," said Alex, she had no idea of size or number. At least Garrus had Tali's combat drone to scout ahead of them. She really missed Cass.
The spectre signalled for the rest to hold position while she went to check it out. The path they were following sloped down to a lower level as Alex ducked down behind a crate she could see a pressure door at the end. However to get to it they had to get past eleven husks and two scions milling around the lower platform. They were bunched together just asking to be attacked, even if the others could get to her position without alerting the enemy she would do the same thing. So why wait?
The Spectre stood and threw a stasis at the scion closest to the middle of the horde then biotically charged. The biotic explosion took out a good number, the Nova she followed it with accounted for the rest.
"Freakin' awesome!" laughed Jack. "You gotta teach me how to do that!" Ash was not quite so amused.
"Effective." Mordin scanned the scions. It was the closest he had been to one. "Ah. Used biotic human for base."
"Mordin, please," said Abby "I don't want to know how they became that."
"Apologies. Scientific curiosity. Also thinking out loud. Will refrain."
"Thanks."
"Guess we know what happened to the science team," said Ash, wondering if Cerberus would tell their families that the were dead? Or would they just disappear?
"Let's see what's behind door number two," said Alex opening the pressure door. It resembled an airlock.
"In case of outer breech," said Mordin. "Smart."
The outer door closed behind then and the inner door opened to reveal a stairway leading down to a lab area. Computer terminals and diagnostic equipment lined the walls with a long table in the middle. There was also their first physical evidence of something happening, one of the chairs had been tipped over and a patch a dried blood on the floor.
"Hmmmm...blood not normal," Mordin informed them as he ran his omni tool over it. "Similar readings as a husk."
"Similar?" asked Abby.
"Possibly in early stage of mutation."
"Sorry I asked," muttered the medic, shaking her head.
"Can we...like catch it?" asked Jack.
"No," replied Mordin. "Husk nanites must be introduced into host body...not catch it like common human cold."
"Well...good." Jack nodded. The salarian knew his stuff.
Alex was standing guard while Mordin took his readings. She found herself thinking about the method by which the nanites could be injected. Though the indoctrination or whatever the ship was doing to their heads could have made them do it to themselves. Chances were they'd never know.
The spectre glanced back, Mordin seemed to have finished. "Let's move people, we don't want to overstay our welcome."
According to EDI their destination was some sort of control hub. The IFF had been removed and boxed for shipping to a secondary location for further study. Luckily nothing had been moved yet. EDI had even given them the code on the container.
There were signs of struggle now, broken and upset furniture.
"Do you think they locked the others out?" asked Jack, "You know before they got it to?"
Alex shrugged.
"No distress signal...perhaps compelled."
"Mordin?"
"First line of defence."
"Wouldn't that mean this dead Reaper and I stress the word DEAD! Is thinking." pointed out Ash.
"Maybe instinct...not actual thought." Mordin sounded excited. As he ran the possibilities in his head.
"I vote we get the tech thingy and blow this dump," suggested Jack.
"I second the motion," added Abby.
Alex nodded she wanted off too. She holstered her pistol and took hold of her assault rifle, she was pretty sure they knew they were here now. "Shoot anything that gets in our way."
"Yeeees!" said Jack, pumping her fist in the air.
Cerberus had been big on security they had another set of doors to go through. The area beyond was crawling with husks and more scions.
They all hunkered down behind cover as Alex and Jack worked together to create some spectacular biotic explosions that whittled their number down some. Then they opened fire. Whenever they got too close Alex would send a shock wave, hurling the husks away and staggering the bigger scions until their combined fire power took them down. The spectre stood warily up as the last enemy fell. She needed to reload and have an energy drink. A sudden scratching noise made her whirl around. A husk.
BANG! The shot took the husks entire head off.
Alex spun forward, that was a sniper rifle and it wasn't one of there's.
Ash had her rifle up as Alex grabbed it and pushed the muzzle down. "What the hell are you doing! That's a bloody geth!"
TBC...
A/N. Hi guys. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing. Also thanks to all new followers and anyone who likes this story enough to fav it. Keep happy and keep reading. Have fun T-Rex :)
