Author's Note: Hey there guys. Got a new pretty for you. Two in one week, is a shocker, I know. :p
Nearing the end of Feros. Thsi chapter was actually really fun to write.
Enjoy
Chapter thirty nine
The long hallway lets out into a dark and deserted mess hall. Tables shoved aside, plates and trays scattered across the floor. Shepard sees the sad forms of bodies, left haphazardly where they died.
Wrex and Garrus fan out to search the room, inspecting the bodies for signs of how they died. Shepard kneels beside the closest body, a young man, his blonde hair is smeared with a long scorched gash across the back of his head. The blood is clotted and she can see the black marks across his skull. His shoulder has a hole burned clean through it. "The Geth did this." She says standing up, "These are the same injuries Jenkins had. Plasma burns. Any signs of survivors?"
"None yet Commander." Garrus calls, he has reached the far wall, looking behind the counter into their dish room, and under the tables nearby.
Shepard steps over the body and turns toward the buffet line against the lefthand wall. As she moves down the line, her eyes taking in the bodies strewn around, a sound catches her attention along the backside of the line. She draws her pistol in a flash and whips around, aiming it straight into the startled, terrified face of a young woman.
"Please, please don't shoot...I'm sorry!" She cries out, throwing her arms up and backing away.
"Shit." She swears out, lowering her pistol. "Do you realize how close you were to having a hole blown through your head? What were you doing back there? Who are you?"
"My name, it's, is Lizbeth." The girl stutters and stumbles, tears pricking her eyes and her hands shaking violently.
"Put your hands down, take a sit, before you fall over." When the girl does Shepard continues questioning her. "Lizbeth. Baynham by chance?"
"Yes, how, how did you know?"
"I've spoken with your mother. She's alright, and worried about you."
"Oh, Oh good.." She sighs softly, her hands clasped loosely in her lap.
"Look, I'm sure you've been through a right scare. But I need answers. What do you know about the Thorian?"
She looks up startled. "You, you know about it? How?"
"Never mind that. I need to know why the Geth are here, and what you know about the Thorian."
"I don't know anything. I"m just a botanist. I don't study the effects they say it has, I don't even know where it is! I just do my job. I don't ask questions. Please, just let me go. Let me see my mother."
"Alright. Our vehicle is in the garage, keep going past that, they're holed up in bunker just at the edge of the tunnel. I can't protect you, you're going at your own risk, otherwise stay here and we'll try and come back for you."
Lizbeth stands shakily and nods. "I'd rather take my chances out there, than in here."
Garrus steps up and holds out his pistol. "Take this, you may need it. If you see any Geth, hide, if you have to shoot, aim for the optics."
She nods shakily, taking the pistol. "Thank you. For, saving me." She looks to Shepard and nods decisively. "I'll go, I need to see my mother."
Shepard nods and clasps the girl's shoulder lightly. "Stay safe." Lizbeth smiles faintly then turns and leaves. "Goddess bless you." She whispers softly, praying the girls makes it safely.
Tali calls out from across the room, "Shepard, the door out is locked, I'll have to hack the lock to get us out."
Shepard moves out across the room, and stands behind Tali, hard at work her fingers flying across the controls of her omnitool as she works the console lock on the door. "Someone seriously did not want anyone following." Shepard steps forward, doing a quick scan with her own tool. "There's two levels of encryption? What is back there?"
"Whatever it is, they are no match for me." Tali makes a exclamation of success as the door chimes unlocked and slides open.
Going through the doors, Tali falls in behind and beside Shepard, Garrus behind them, Wrex bringing up the rear. There is a short hallway, leading to a narrow stairwell. At the top of the stairs, it opens into a large storage and warehouse room. A set of stairs to the right leads up to a narrow catwalk, another set of stairs on the other side. Under the catwalk is a ten foot high wall of crates blocking the path through.
As they step through the doorway, Shepard hears the small, subtle chirps and chitters the Geth make and quickly signals her squad to freeze. She does a slow, cursory scan around their half of the room. "No contacts" she says softly, taking careful steps to the stairway up the catwalk. She signals them to crouch low as they crest the catwalk.
On the level below there are three geth troopers and a sniper standing in the far corner, his rifle strung across his back. They all are standing at console stations. One Sentinel trooper stands guard over a long bank of consoles, heavy pressure valves and switches line the wall on and above the console.
"Garrus, I need you to take that sniper, Tali, you and I have the Sentinel, we don't want that big guy on the loose. Wrex, do your thing, the troopers are all yours"
Wrex pumps his fist into his hand, giving a slight grunt of approval, his biotics lighting up."they don't stand a chance."
"Alright team, break." Shepard stands to a knee, firing off an overload blast to the sentinel's shields. Tali deviates a bit from the plan, sabotaging one of the troopers to turn and attack the Sentinel.
"Hey!" Wrex growls, "That one was mine." He vaults over the railing, landing with a resounding crunch into the concrete. Standing up he biotically throws one of the troopers into the wall, its head exploding into a shower of sparks. Garrus fires two shots into the head of the sniper. The first takes its shields before it dives and rolls into cover.
Shepard turns back to the Sentinel, firing her gun into it's optics, focusing an overload to its cannon she tries to short it out. The sentinel gets a shot off, Garrus rolls to the side, across the catwalk swearing as he dodges. Tali squeaks briefly and flattens herself to the deck. Shepard, left with nowhere else to go, rolls down the stairwell. The bolt of super heated plasma passes entirely too close over her head, exploding on the ceiling, raining concrete debris and sparks down on them.
Coming to her knee she unloads a full clip into the sentinel, realising only too late how close she'd gotten. It sweeps its main gun arm to the side, catching her across her right shoulder. Her shoulder lights in pain as she goes skidding across the wall to fetch up against the console, jarring her head. She groans, swearing as she gets up. Shaking it off she feels a weaker shot glance off her shoulder and back, turning she sees one of the troopers has fired on her.
"Wrex!" she calls out, dropping to a knee she fires off two shots, hitting the chest to spark the shields. "You missed one." Its chest explodes off, Wrex's shotgun blasting through. Stray pellets ping of her chest plate and shields. "Wai! Hit them, not me." She calls out before turning her attention back to the sentinel. Its focus has been on the sabotaged trooper that is well scarred by plasma bolts. Tali hard at work reboosting it's shields and keeping it hacked and under her control.
Shepard fires another overload, the sentinel's shields spark and finally fail with a crackling pop. She grins and unloads a full clip into the optics, firing incinerates to damage its gun. The sentinel fires a shot, destroying the hacked trooper. Tali shifts her focus to the sentinel, using her sabotage to slow it down. Its programing too strong to be fully hacked.
Garrus finishes his target, its body falling with a round clean through its chest. He adds his fire to the sentinel fight, taking out the optics of the sentinel. Wrex uses his warp and blasts the gun out of commision, leaving Shepard to come in under its head. She fires three shots under the unarmored jaw and up into the head. The platform freezes, sparks cascading out. Shepard jumps back, rolling away just in time as the body of the sentinel explodes, scattering into a multitude of metal chunks and debris.
Shepard turns to survey the room, both of Wrex's troopers lay in crumpled heaps, shotgun blast holes ragged in their chests. Garrus' target is down, scorch marks showing where his shots hit, the small hole to the center mass showing his precision accuracy.
"Shepard, this console controls the safeties to the shuttle bay door." Tali waves Shepard over, "The readout says that's where the ship is docked."
Shepard looks over the console displays. "Pressurizing the hydraulics might overload the safeties. Are the doors heavy enough to sever the ship's hold?"
"If we get the pressure between 31 and 34 psi, it should do the trick."
"Alright. Time to play with the vents." Shepard throws the switch on the farthest left vent and watches the pressure rise to 13psi.
"Going to need more than that Shepard." Wrex chuckles at her.
She shoots him a dark look, "Wrex." she draws out in a warning tone.
He looks to her, his krogan grin menacing and mischievous at the same time. "Shepard." He nods chuckling again.
She rolls her eyes and turns back to the console. Shepard hits the second switch, the pressure rises, and settles at 20 psi. Hitting the third switch it goes up to 36 psi.
"Hwun dan." She grumbles as the valves hiss and reset. Wrex chuckles again, she turns to glare at him. "Bizui." Wrex chuckles once more and goes silent.
Shepard flips the first switch again, 13 psi, then turns the third, 29 psi. She grasps the fourth switch and says a silent curse to the Trickster to not screw with her. The fourth one puts the pressure in that beautiful sweet spot, 32 psi.
Loud siren alarms ring out, the console lights with flashing red warnings. A message alert displays reading, 'Max pressure, over breach, emergency venting.' A screen opens up showing a split view of the interior of the shuttle bay, and an exterior view, showing the Geth ship clinging like a bug to the building's side. Red warning lights and sirens go off on either side of the airlock door ways. The doors snap shut, stopping briefly when they encounter the thick claws, before shearing them cleanly, like a knife through butter. The ship hangs outside for a breath, reluctant to give up its grip, slowly slipping down. It clips a jutting piece of the building then bounces slightly away tumbling into the mists below.
Tali lets out a cry of jubilation. Garrus laughs outright, slapping her on the back, Shepard grins, tapping the console gladly. Wrex just guffaws in his deep krogan rumble.
She turns away from the console to address them, "Alright, that's that. There might still be troops inside, keep your eyes peeled. I don't want any surprises." Nodding they set off, retracing their steps back to the exit and the Mako.