To all my faithful readers, I just want to thank you for your patience. Updates have become really slow, but that doesn't mean I've lost interest.
In fact, it never faded at all.
So I was sitting everyday for the past month, staring at this screen with little to no idea how to proceed. Writer's block is a cancer, so hard to excise.
But don't worry, I still got it :)
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"So what's going on with you two down in the hold?"
I look up from my datapad at Shepard's question, not at all surprised that she would react so since every waking moment was spent on raising our newest recruit. She, like any normal human being, felt she needed my attention, especially now that we were…together. How long have we not seen each other? A couple of weeks now, I gather.
Relationships. So complex. But the fault lies with me, I knew I should be available enough to give Shepard the time of day. I mean, I owe her that much, right? I made up my mind to make up for it after the mission.
Perhaps a little date in her favorite corner in the Mess Hall? I'll help Mr. Gardner with the menu, see if I can figure out Shepard's favorite meal.
For now, I smiled and tried to pretend not to notice the subtle hint of annoyance in her tone, not much success but it will have to do. "Now that you mentioned it, everything's going better than expected. Caliban's learning process, by far, puts to shame any synth I've met."
I turn to Miranda, who was sitting close by in the shuttle's compartment, "And the adjustments to the Thanix cannons have been done ahead of schedule, thanks to him."
"Best news I've heard all week." She replied non-chalantly. "Keep it up."
I welcomed Shepard's choice of taking me along, eager to leave the cargo hold and getting up to speed with all the action. Plus, this particular mission takes us to a beautiful planet located in the farthest reach of the Terminus system.
Aite was a garden world, filled with vast valleys and lush vegetation. It was a wonder Cerberus staked claim to it first, the view was spectacular.
Unfortunately, the planet was living on borrowed time. According to experts, who have first studied Aite, the moon stood on dangerous proximity to the planet's atmosphere. Timing a few short years to its demise, Aite would soon change from its green state into a barren, empty, frozen wasteland.
Cerberus used this to their advantage, knowing that the Alliance or any prospecting company would give Aite a wide berth, thus securing their position upon this particular cluster.
Of course, that would mean that in the event of any crisis, the nearest response would be tens of thousands of lightyears away. I would like to think the good people working on Aite knew this when they signed up.
But then again, would Cerberus do them the kindness of being honest?
"Approach vector locked, Commander." The pilot announced. "The research facility is in sight."
Shepard went over to the cockpit and leaned over his shoulder, "Set us down at the landing port, I'd rather have the angles covered that way."
"Aye aye ma'am."
The shuttle touched down with a faint shudder, prompting the whole team to assemble at the door. Shepard took point as we disembarked. It was then that I felt an eerie shroud-like presence about the place, as if some kind of ghost was watching us. That kind of thing scares the shit out of me, and it only happened once when Harbinger trapped me in that derelict Reaper!
Then, the voice of the one who sent the distress call came crackling over an emergency channel. "Oh thank god you came! My name is Dr. Gavin Archer, the situation is urgent. We're facing a catastrophic VI breakout!" He didn't even leave spaces for a reply to get through, "I'll explain the details later, but you must retract that transmission dish!"
VI breakout? Ah, now that explains the eerie feeling of being watched. Not that it helps in any way to rid myself of that fear.
Dr. Archer continued, "The controls aren't far from your position, you have to hurry!"
Shepard nods once, "Through the door, on the double!"
We stack up against the entrance, I step forward and plant all ten fingers through the slight crack formed between those doors and wrench them apart with a loud groan. The eerie presence gets stronger as we gained ground through the ruined hallways.
The narrow corridors are laid thick with the dead, Cerberus technicians and guards alike with large scorch marks adorning where they lay. If the rampant VI had weapons access, this would probably be at energy-level weaponry.
What exactly was Cerberus researching here?
The intercom blares with the feminine voice of the facility's security protocols, "Be advised, this is a secure facility. All weapons must be declared upon entry and checked with security personnel on duty."
Something tells me there will be plenty of weapon declarations in this mission, and sooner than one may think.
A staircase appears before us and we followed the string of bodies leading into the admissions lobby. There, on the desk, was a monitor displaying Dr. Archer, the sole survivor of the incident as it would seem.
"There you are!" He exclaimed, and the security cam on the west corner zoned in on our position, "I've locked myself in a computer room at the far side of the base. There are geth on the loose."
Geth? Hmm, that would explain the energy weapons discharge I've seen on the bodies before coming here.
"A rogue VI has seized control and…well..I've lost a lot of friends today, and I'd hate to see you join them. Please, watch yourself…"
"Got it doctor, hang in there." Shepard answered, logging off and reassuming her position at point. "Let's do this."
We head towards a nearby door. Finding it locked with no means of wrenching it open, I turn my attention towards a nearby office, separated by a thin glass pane. Shepard takes my meaning and promptly blasts the glass into little shards with her elbow. Stepping over the waist-high divider, she taps at the controls to set the lock out of place.
Moving at her side, I spy an external interface unit sticking out like a sore thumb from the console. Plugging myself in, I heard a strip from Dr. Archer's personal log flow into my mind. "Archer's log- status report. Please inform the Illusive Man that we've made great strides in our research. His doubts about the lack of progress are unwarranted. A demonstration is forthcoming."
"What've you got there, Kara?" Shepard inquired.
I replayed the message for the whole team to hear. Even Miranda showed a lack of being informed about the said project. I would have to guess that the Illusive Man kept the standard compartmentalization protocol, and neglected to inform anybody from the response team, especially the XO and Commander.
I mean, he is the Illusive Man, right? Secrecy and plans within plans is his thing.
"Makes me wonder about what went on in the Lazarus project." I mutter, much to the annoyance of Ms. Lawson.
"I'll have you know that everything went perfectly smooth under my watch!" She defended.
"Oh I wouldn't know about that." Shepard joined in as the doors opened, "There was that time when one of your guys sabotaged the whole station's security mechs just because you were acting too bitchy as his boss. I mean, I was there, I saw the whole thing going down."
"And yet that was the time I successfully woke you up." She insisted, "Like I said, everything was under control."
Uh-huh.
"A little gratitude on your part, it all worked out fine anyway." I agreed, peeking inside the satellite array control room before giving the all clear. Shepard and I took our places and manned the controls, bringing down the dish from the outside down to earth, making the whole base shudder as the gigantic structure hit home.
I sensed something was wrong, "Um, was that supposed to happen?"
Suddenly a shrill sound equating that of a harsh whistle split the stillness of the room, "Qu7i9et ple9a0se m k9e it sT0p!:" The loud, pained electrified voice shrieked through every channel and audio source near our position!
"Agh!" Shepard cringed, yanking off her earpiece in shock. "What the hell?!"
An notification popped into my head, "Commander, incoming transmission from Dr. Archer!"
"Put him through." She said, placing back the earpiece into her aching lobe.
"Damn it! The VI's overridden the controls!" The doctor's frantic voice added to our agitation, "We have to stop him—he's trying to upload his program off planet!"
"That doesn't bode well." I comment.
"Agreed." Shepard acknowledged, "What do we have to do, doc?"
"You have to destroy the antenna inside the main dish." He instructed, "There's a tram on the lower levels, get to it as fast as you can!"
Miranda found the entrance to the tram station, motioning for us to get inside. "Over here, move!"
Again, as per my usual habit, I swipe across any memos or personal logs in order to get a better sense of what happened here. And as usual, I got onto something quite interesting. "Memo to all personnel- I understand there have been some concerns about handling live geth on this project. But I assure you, the risk is well worth with the potential rewards. Someday, your sons and daughters will thank you."
That last part made me a little sad, knowing that many of those 'sons and daughters' have become both fatherless and motherless this day. And it got me thinking too.
What did Dr. Archer mean when he called the VI 'him'?
As we neared the tram station, the rogue VI kept popping up on every screen and monitor. Two unblinking pixelated eyes that glowed a baleful green as it glared out at us, screaming over and over again in that pained voice, "Qu7i9et ple9a0se m k9e it sT0p!:"
It was near unintelligible, but I could make out some parts of it into a concrete sentence. There was definitely more to this experiment than met the eye. I already had a list of questions to ask Dr. Archer upon completion of this mission, and I was sure that the Commander would agree as well.
"Look out, Geth!" Miranda yelled in warning, prompting the three of us to take cover behind an overturned desk.
Already, the menacing looking battledrones were pouring through the swiveling doors, converging on our position as was their usual tactic.
Shepard activated her stealthsuit and disappeared from view, trusting the XO and me to know our parts in the play. And we performed admirably, if I don't say so myself.
Drones were torn apart by Miranda's biotics, and I made good use of the EMP emitters, which have been inactive for some time now. The greedy blue arcs sliced through thick geth armor, disabling their platforms permanently and meshing together the network of wires to insure that it was so.
The geth focused their fire on me, seeing how much of a threat I was when I put up a biotic barrier around the team. None of their pseudo-plasma
Shepard had settled in nicely with the plasma sniper rifle, familiar with its kickback and knowing when to factor in every single aspect of the energy weapon. In truth, there was no need for instruction, for the Commander had an affinity for any form of arms handed to her.
The fight ended quickly, and we picked up the pace, knowing that more were on the way.
I could still feel that VI presence about the whole time we boarded the tram towards our next objective. It was creepy.
At the transmission dish, the howl of the wind greeted us like an old friend, and the view reaffirmed my fear of heights. Though, of course, I did my best not to show it. The catwalk was wrenched on all sides, making the walk towards the dish largely perilous. Seeking another path brought us against another group of agitated geth troopers.
One thing I noticed, though. The geth lacked the normal blue flashlight in their monocular eyesocket, replaced entirely by that baleful green light which was akin to the eyes of the rogue VI.
No wonder this place was a disaster waiting to happen, the said VI was controlling the geth themselves!
Though I have to admit, I was fascinated by the extent of the VI's control. Perhaps later, I can download some of Cerberus' research and add it to the growing library in my databanks?
Assuming of course, Miranda would be willing to allow such a thing. But then again, does she have to know?
Bending over to inspect the platform extension controls, as well as trying my very best not to look down at the cliff the entire station was suspended over, I broke down the system's firewalls and brought us over to the dish's control center.
Inside were more geth, their primed weapons showing just how happy they were to see us.
I knew we didn't have time for this, already I could feel a strain in the VI's influence in the servers, forcing the tower to lift again.
Gathering myself for a Null Lance, I felt my core pulsate to its maximum capacity, taking hold of my wrist to deliver a mighty beam of pure unadulterated biotic power. And just like that, I ripped a big hole through the huddled synthetic horde and even through the wall behind them!
"Up the stairs, we don't have much time!" Miranda instructed.
Dr. Archer's voice came crackling over the comms, "You need to destroy the support struts now. They have their own capacitors, try blowing them up!"
Emerging from the hatch, we saw the three supports holding up the dish just as he said. One problem though, the whole place was swarming with Geth Primes and rockettroopers.
I covered Shepard as she planted a sticky grenade to the surface of the first capacitor, wincing as the powerful weapons of the Primes formed cracks in my barriers, until finally, they broke.
As if on instinct, I spread my wings and took to the skies, just moments away from getting hit by a barrage of missiles! The Geth chattered wildly at this stunt, torn between focusing on the flight-enabled biotic specialist or the Spectre holding the big rifle.
The Supremus was readied, and the smart rockets screamed through the air as they hit their targets. Each felled opponent sent an enraged scream from the rogue VI, even more so when Shepard detonated her grenades.
Dr. Archer must've been watching the whole thing, because his voice returned in congratulating us on a job well done. "You've done it! You've severed the link to the satellite!"
The supports went down with a loud crash, and I heard a groan coming from the base below. It was then that we knew the whole place was going down with it!
"Yeah and it looks like we've done more than our share- move!" I yelled, sprinting along side the Commander and the XO towards the maintenance catwalks under the dish.
Seeing the antenna basin going down too fast for us to escape on foot, I grabbed the both of my team-mates' collars and took to the skies, traversing the divide and setting us down safely on the other end.
Meanwhile, the horrifying sound of the satellite dish plummeting down the cliffside and finally crashing down upon the earth below reached our ears.
It was too close of a call to label it a good end.
I had no plans to let my team die today, especially Shepard.
Footsteps behind us indicated that Dr. Archer had decided it was time to stop hiding. A good thing too, we needed answers.
"What the hell is going on around here?" Shepard voiced my thoughts.
Dr. Archer hesitated a bit before giving his answer, a typical reaction given the circumstances. "Man's reach exceeding his grasp." He turned to beckon us inside, "Come on, I owe you that explanation."
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Found the drive again :)