The journey back through Exogeni was tense. Though the geth had been eliminated by the destruction of their ship, no one was able to relax. Shepard could feel the tingling through her body as if she had pins and needles in every muscle. Not being able to use her biotics had been bad but this was even worse. It was the sense that she had lost control and in more ways than one. She could sense the eyes of the team burning into her back every few seconds though no one but Liara had had the courage to speak to her yet. They hung back and kept their surly silence to the point that Shepard was about ready to yell just to disrupt the silence. It was making her twitchy and playing havoc with her nerves, not helped by the splitting migraine that had developed. She knew she shouldn't blame them for staying back, attempting to speak to her right now would be akin to touching a wounded tiger, and she was touched by their concern. It did not make up for the fact that Kaidan had tried to relieve her of her position. The nerve! Every time she thought about trying to patch it up with him, she got the mental image of his face, expression serious, lips moving to those infamous words, 'not capable of command...'
She'd show him. She'd show them all.
They made it back to the tunnels much quicker this time, mostly thanks to several security doors that opened to Lizbeth's security pass. Then they were back in the tunnels, as still and eerie as ever. If anything, the disappearance of the geth made things even worse, as now there was utterly nothing to remind them that they were not the only souls on a planet of ghosts, blood and suffering.
"Commander, Normandy." Shepard jumped as Pressly's voice filled her head. Mentally berating herself, she put a hand up to her mic.
"Go ahead, Pressly."
"Admiral Hackett has troops standing by ma'am, but he's agreed to give you all the time you need."
"Good work Pressly. I'll send word when it's all clear." She flicked the channel off. They were approaching Weigh Station now. That meant dealing with Jeong and Exogeni, who had now suddenly decided that their poor employees at Zhu's Hope had become more trouble than they were worth. She knew even before entering what had happened. Exogeni had been informed that the Alliance would soon be swarming all over Feros and wanted their dirty little secret destroyed. Only with the jamming field up, the warning had just come through now. She felt the indignant rage, fuelled by her own fears and memories. Zhu's Hope was blameless in all this, guilty only of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now faceless corporates above their heads were playing god, passing down judgement on who should live and who should die. She made a promise to herself, a promise that was sealed by a single hand coming up to her chest, where her locket sat beneath the shell of armour. If there was anything she could do to save the colonists of Zhu's Hope then she would not hesitate.
The first sign that things had not quite right was when they reached Weigh Station and found that the entrance to the post was unguarded. Slipping up to the end of the corridor with a quick hand signal, Shepard peaked around the corner.
Most of the surviving Exogeni Security Guards were standing in two ranks close to the other exit, the one heading for Zhu's Hope. The surviving scientists were pressed up against the back wall, huddling together for protection while two more guards stood watch over them with rifles.
Jeong was pacing in the centre of the space, his hands on his head while Juliana and her daughter stood, trembling with rage and guarded by yet another Mercenary.
"-for the love of god Jeong, those are people at that colony! You can't just kill them!" Juliana was shouting.
"Just give me a minute, I need to think!" He cried back, wring his hands in exacerbation.
"There are woman and children there Jeong, please don't do this." Lizbeth begged, "there's another solution."
"It's too risky! The Company is clear-"
"-to hell with the Company and to hell with you, Jeong, you spineless coward!" Juliana spat.
That snapped something in the Corporate's mind. Spinning effortlessly, he caught Juliana with a clean backhand, a snap that rung out in the confined space. Juliana fell back, hand going to her swelling cheek and looking up at the man in shock.
"Mom!" Lizbeth knelt by her mother, glaring up at Jeong, "you scumba-"
"Alright! Alright, I think that's a wrap everyone, good show." Shepard emerged from her hiding place, accompanied by her squad. The reactions were almost comic. The Mercenaries turned this way and that while the scientists squealed. Juliana did a double take while Jeong turned with raised fists. When he saw who it was, his hands dropped uselessly to his sides as he had turned to find a panther lumbering towards him.
"S-Shepard!" He squeaked, voice breaking for a moment before hardening again, "damn, I should have known it was too much for the geth to kill you."
"Yeah, they've been trying for a while now. Hasn't stuck." As she spoke, Shepard was engulfed in a blue aura, catching the very air around her as if aflame. The Scientists gasped and Jeong took a terrified step back. Simultaneous with this, Wrex and Garrus moved forward. The Mercenary standing over Juliana decided discretion was the better part of valour and got out of the way, "now what is this about killing colonists?"
"Stay out of this Shepard! I did some digging in the Company database when you were gone. Hero of Elysium, Champion of humanity blah blah! We don't need your heroics here!" Jeong started forward again but a look was enough to throw him back as surely as any punch.
"Juliana?" She turned back to the scientist pulling herself up off the floor.
"An order came through from Exogeni when you took down the field. They want the colony at Zhu's Hope purged. They want Jeong to send in the guards and slaughter them all!"
"It's not as simple as that, Juliana! There's something more important in Zhu's Hope than a few colonists." Jeong was wringing his hands.
"I take it you're referring to the Thorian?" Shepard crossed her arms.
"You...you know about that?" The manager looked as though he was about to faint.
"I do, and soon so will the entire Alliance."
"Oh god. Look Shepard, I-I was only following my orders..."
"Of course, because that excuses everything," she snorted down at the cringing whelp of a man.
"What is going on?" Juliana looked from one to the other blankly.
"I'll explain later, mom. All you need to know is that there's a psychic plant-creature living under Zhu's Hope that has enslaved all the colonists there. That's what Exogeni doesn't want found. They think the only way is to kill the colonists but there is another way!"
"What is it, Lizbeth?" Shepard looked at the younger woman, fidgeting nervously.
"The colonists are only under the Thorian's control when they're conscious. If you could just knock them out then you could neutralise them..."
"Oh sure," Jeong sneered, "just walk up while they're blazing away and give them a light tap on the head. It's suicide, none of my men will do it!"
"We'll go." Shepard glared at Jeong, who's response died in his throat with a mere whimper, "My team and I stand a better chance than your second-rate soldiers and I need to get to the Thorian anyway. Hold down here until I send word." The Guards seemed much keener on this idea.
"What's the point anyway? The Colony's dead, the Thorian was the only thing keeping it going."
"And Exogeni is going to pass up the chance to play the saviours of this colony? The benevolent company righting wrongs and leading the charge of human expansion?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Yes! ...no...wait..."
"Think of all the publicity."
"Yeah...no one ever went broke playing the 'saviour-of-humanity card' before." Jeong stroked his chin, "alright. We'll sit back and let you do your job."
"Glad you saw some sense for once," she pushed past him, taking a sadistic pleasure in seeing that he flinched away from a biotic spark, then nearly fainted at a heavy glare from Garrus. The rest of the squad followed, with Wrex departing with a snarl, following by a gruff laugh as the two Mercenaries closest to him nearly hit the ceiling.
"Commander, are we really going to walk into gunfire and try to knock them out?" Ashley asked as they headed back towards Zhu's Hope, "I mean, much as I hate to admit it, Jeong had a point. It's suicide."
"Jeong has no idea how desperate the colonists are. We do," She replied, voice petulant from both her earlier confrontation with Kaidan and a reluctance to admit that anything Jeong said was right, "we just need to be smart. Alright everyone, listen up. We're on a mission of mercy here so no gunning down the colonists, no matter how much they fire at you. We are only trying to knock them out, not kill them. Understand?"
There were murmurs of affirmation but no one seemed happy. She did not blame them. Walking into gunfire with nothing but her shields and armour to protect her went against every instinct in her body. The Colonists may have been reduced to only pistols and shotguns but both could still kill. She knew they were thinking back to Kaidan's argument, wondering if he had had a point. She tried to ignore it. If anyone on her squad was killed because of her orders...she shook her head to clear it. She had made a promise. She intended to keep it. That was all. It hadn't gotten to her...
"Damn it Wrex, be careful with them! I said knock them out, not break them!" Shepard called as she ducked just in time to avoid a colonist thrown like a rag doll over her head.
"Haha! This is fun!" The battle-master laughed with a genuine and rather disturbing enjoyment. The colonists were swarming him, trying to pin the war machine down with about as much success as could be expected when unarmoured and unarmed humans tried to beat down a multi-hundred kilogram Krogan. Littering the ground at their feet were the pistols and shotguns that made up Zhu's Hope's armoury, stunned into useless by three brilliant pieces of hacking. Tali was still staying out of the fight, hugging the sides and protected by Kaidan as her omni-tool blazed on her arm, destroying any hardware the colonists tried to use. Shepard had hoped that would be it but, given the news about the Thorian, she was entirely unsurprised when they charged with clenched fists and madness in their eyes. Garrus had not been lying when he had said it would be a slaughter. She hadn't even needed to resort to her biotics yet.
Another colonist came running towards her, bellowing at the top of her voice with all the tactics of a wounded gorilla. They had all done that, as soon as their weapons were disabled, all come charging out of the ship like a medieval army. Shepard flowed around the woman like water, easily deflecting her clenched fist and knocking her to the ground with a swift-backhand to the cheek. Liara was staying close by her, using biotics and their own tactics against them. Shepard could not deny how effective it was to simply lift a colonist and let them float away harmlessly to crumble into one of the walls. Garrus meanwhile was being quick but clean, chopping them down with moves only the turian military could have taught. Ashley was likewise quick and brutal, slicing and chopping with moves the Spectre recognised from the Alliance hand-to-hand handbook. All in all, it was proving quite simple. She had not even been forced to resort to the stun grenades on her belt.
"I think that's the last of them." Garrus chinned a rather clueless looking Davin Reynolds who collapsed like a falling tree.
"No, we haven't found Fai-Dan yet," Liara sighed, rubbing her cheek were one of the colonists had gotten a lucky hit.
"Or..." Shepard felt her heart sink as she heard the sound of high pitched voices scream their battle cry. A half-dozen children came running from the ship, fists balled up and faces twisted with a rage not their own.
"Don't touch them!" She bellowed at her squad. Not that she needed to. As one they took a step back, going into defensive stances but clearly unwilling to hit the charging minors.
"Liara, Kaidan, Wrex, what can you do?" the three stepped forward and raised a hand each. Abruptly the children stopped as they were encased in a blue bubble and rose gently from their feet. Furious at the sudden development, they kicked and gnashed, swinging their limbs as they were guided back into the ship. There was a compartment door open and the children were guided inside, still protesting furiously even as Shepard sealed the door. She could hear their little fists pounding from the other side but they would never get through. Not when Tali brought her omni-tool up again and secured the lock.
"Where's Fai-Dan?" Ashley frowned, looking around, "did one of us get him?"
"Shepard..."
She spun on the spot, hand going automatically to the pistol on her belt. There he was, Fai-Dan was staggering towards her, his face even more worn than before, the strain showing in every sinew of his body. He was holding a pistol.
"I..I tried to fight it," he gasped, "but it gets in your head..."
"Fai-Dan, put the gun down." She warned, her own weapon aimed on him, unflinching, "we're fixing this. Fight it."
"You don't understand. This was our home, I was their leader. I was supposed...to protect them," his arm twitched, "I let this...happen," another twitch, "it wants me to kill you." the hand started to rise, "but I won't."
"Fai-Dan-" The redhead started.
"I won't!" The gun whipped up to his own head and in a flash of brilliant light his head disintegrated. Shepard turned away at the last minute, knowing what was coming. Some of the others were not so quick.
Liara screamed. A high pitched sound alien to the battlefield. She was shaking, eyes wide and unblinking, staring at the bloody remains of the human colonist. Shepard did know if an asari's face could pale but it looked damn familiar to her.
"Find where that thing is." She ordered Kaidan. The Lieutenant nodded and ducked inside the ship, taking Wrex and Tali with him, "and cover him." Ashley and Garrus split up.
She went over to Liara, the asari rooted to the spot as if frozen in time, a monument to the horror and utter futility of war. Even when Shepard called her name she remained fixed. Undaunted, the Commander tried again,
"Liara!" That got her attention. Her head snapped around and suddenly those eyes were on her. They were so hollow, so empty and lifeless...she remembered when they had held hands on top of the rock, the look of warmth and concern she had seen then. This could not be the same person...
"Liara," she murmured softly to her, a hand going up to caress her cheek gently. She felt so cold, "look at me. Look at me. You're okay. You're alright." Liara threw her arms around her, clenching tightly around her back. It was all she could do to hold on, twisting slightly so when the Asari looked over her shoulder, she would not see Ashley and Garrus covering up Fai Dan's remains with a large sheet. There was nothing they could do for the growing pool of blood.
"Commander?" Kaidan poked his head out from the hatch, "we've found the access point. It's-oh," he stopped as he saw the pair hugging, "I'll...uh...I'll just open the door then?"
She did not reply, arms wrapped around the shaking Archaeologist, whispering comfortingly into her ear. Only after she had stopped trembling did Shepard part, looking her critically in the eye. The same gaunt look was there but there was more warmth, the faint glow of an ember ignited in her soul again, "you going to be okay?"
"Yeah," She nodded, inhaling deeply as she stepped back, "yeah." She picked her gun up and refused to look in Fai-Dan's direction.
With a whine, the ship began to move. The four of them watched as one of the compartments seemed to lift up on landing legs to reveal a passageway directly underneath.
"Damn, they parked their ship on top of it?" Ashley whistled.
"Makes sense to me. What better protection could they give it?" Garrus frowned as Kaidan, Tali and Wrex jumped from the now exposed corridor and hovered close to the entrance.
"Alright, the thing we want is down those steps." Shepard sighed, looking down into the darkness, "if it can talk, we talk to it. If it has some way of communicating, we find it. Saren wanted this thing dead and I want to know why." Her heart sank as she thought of the rogue Spectre, no doubt fleeing with the rest of the geth fleet. They had been too slow to get here, too slow to close the net.
Well, maybe she could undo some of that damage.
"Commander? Weapons free?" Kaidan asked.
In response her hand went to the holder on her back, fingers clenching around the closed up rifle. It unfolded as she brought it around with precise, mechanical hisses, the light flashing blue to signal it was armed.
"Weapons free."