Chapter 35: The Needs of the Many
Miranda Lawson swam through the inky blackness, her body struggling to stay alive. She dimly noticed pressure under her back, heavy impacts shaking through her upper half. She couldn't feel anything below her navel. What was going on?
Legion was selected to carry Lawson's motionless form as the team sprinted back to the evac zone. Jack and Kasumi led the charge with Mordin bringing up the rear. Blood slicked the walkways, causing them to stumble.
The whole scene felt eerily similar to Shepard's description of carrying Tali to the Normandy back at the galactic core. Kasumi thought.
The injury to Miranda's lung had already healed, but the damage to her spinal column was far more severe. Kasumi held no special fondness or ill will towards Miranda, but the way the woman's frame hung limp in the Geth's arms set a feeling of uneasiness in the thief's stomach. Kasumi shook the thought from her mind and kept running.
"Kasumi here! Miranda's been wounded, we're making our way to the evac zone."
Staff Commander John Shepard was getting sick and tired of running into new batches of enemies every time he turned a corner. They had just cleared another team of Cerberus operatives. They'd annihilated the Collector forces on the way in. Why was there still so much resistance? Cerberus had certainly killed a fair portion of collectors, but the aliens didn't seem affected in terms of numbers.
The most recent batch of hostiles was a mix of collectors and husks. As the bullets began to fly yet again, Shepard decided he'd had enough of the constant vibration of the assault rifle in his hands. He stowed the weapon and sighted down the barrel of his heavy pistol. As if in reply, the booming voice of Harbinger thundered through the facility.
"We are assuming control!"
Garrus was the first to see the gold light shine from the mass of foes. "Shepard! Looks like they found a way around using the collector general!"
John only took a moment to see that the turian was right. Judging by the brilliance of the light emanating from the crowd, this possession must have been a direct connection with Harbinger, rather than a link through the alien's overseer.
What happened next caught the entire squad off guard. The knot of enemies exploded outward, cascading into the air in pieces. Amber clouds of raw power surged outward and the haze cleared to reveal a Praetorian, gleaming black and gold with brilliant cracks shining light through its armor.
Shepard's face turned white. Harbinger could possess Praetorians! ?
The fire-team watched as the alien's form seemed to stretch, tapering to a point in the back. An extra pair of razor-tipped limbs burst from its side, scattering bits of cold black flesh from its flanks before hardening into the obsidian armor that entombed the rest of the monster.
Even Grunt seemed intimidated. The Juggernaut roared, it's 'voice' flanging. Twin particle beams seared through the air, chasing the Commander as he sprinted for cover. Tali, Garrus, Grunt and Jacob opened fire on the beast, loosing a full-auto fullisade of deadly fire at the creature.
Shepard tucked into a roll and stopped behind a thick metal pillar just as the beams reached him. The beast launched itself up into the air and dove for the support strut, completely un-phased by the torrent of weapons fire directed at its body. Shepard was thrown from his cover as the creature impacted the hardened surface, bending the beam.
Jacob launched a warp at the monster, but the massive beast paid him no heed. Shepard tried focusing his shots on the praetorian's joints, but the hand cannon's rounds glanced off harmlessly. The abomination's movements were eerily silent as it glided down to the floor and slowly advanced towards the Commander.
Shepard felt his back connect with a wall as he launched a hurried biotic warp. Infinitesimal scrapes appeared in the Collector's armor as the human's attack crawled across it thick hide. Tali watched in horror as her husband gave a shout and dove at the assault platform, knife in hand. The blade produced a series of sparks as it was drawn across the juggernaut's underbelly, yielding no discernable effect other than to dull the weapon.
About halfway through his desperate leap, the Commander felt a titanic impact and stars filled his vision. The praetorian howled as biotic energy coursed from its body, battering the human beneath.
"I! AM! KROGAAAAAN!" Grunt loosed a cry of rage and charged the alien, casting his rifle to the ground.
The monster lurched up violently as the krogan found purchase on its smooth hide, allowing Shepard a few precious seconds to roll out from beneath it. Grunt maintained his grip on the assault platform's hard carapace, swinging almost comically as the beast jerked from side to side in an effort to wrench him off. Grunt roared again and drove his fist into the beast's forehead, striking it again and again until a crack echoed through the chamber.
Grunt cried out as one of the beast's legs effortlessly pierced his armor and impaled him through the stomach. Harbinger's thunderous voice rattled from somewhere deep inside the Praetorian.
"You are fragile."
"GRUNT!" Shepard shouted as blood jetted from the wound.
The krogan roared and brought his fists down on the arm, widening the cracke produced by his repeated assault. With a howl, the monster swung its limb, slinging Grunt against a nearby wall. Tali's shotgun roared, spraying the alien's armor with a deluge of tungsten darts.
John's heart stopped as Harbinger released a raw wave of biotic force, casting both Tali and Jacob to the ground. The Quarian rocketed across the floor, stopping with a series of wet snaps as her shoulder and ribs hit the wall. "NO!"
Garrus switched to his sniper rifle, targeting the weakened armor on the abomination's sloped forehead. Harbinger leapt into the air and slammed back down, its needle-like limbs piercing the metal and stone floor like it wasn't even there. Garrus was violently cast from his feet as the praetorian's biotic assault slammed into his body, each wave lifting him higher.
Shepard heard his assault rifle clip run dry and reloaded. The creature was picking them apart effortlessly. His comm buzzed to life.
"Kasumi here! Miranda's been wounded, we're making our way to the evac zone."
Everything was going to hell in a hand-basket. The juggernaut spun to face him, nothing between them but dead air. Grunt stirred in the corner. Lord, I need you now!
As if in answer to his prayer, a sniper round knifed through the air and impacted the crack in the praetorian's skull. The monster lurched and shifted its gaze upwards, towards the origin of the shot.
xXx
Thane saw the monster charging its particle weapons and knew he'd been made. Blue columns of energy lanced through the air where he'd been seconds before. The drell realized too late that his evasion of the weapon perched him precariously over the ledge. The assassin lost his footing and slid down the smooth wall, ending the drop with a roll.
xXx
Shepard's disbelief quickly gave way to a sense of renewed resolve. Thane could have easily killed him or let the Collector do the task for him, but had instead chosen to help. There was no time to ponder any further as the monstrosity leapt towards them, razor edged limbs extended.
On instinct, both the drell and the Commander dove aside. The Praetorian's limb scraped across the Commander's armor, cutting through the durable material with startling ease. John felt white fire surge through his back as the beast's arm knifed into the flesh beneath.
The wound was only an inch or two deep, but the heat from the monster's body wracked his body with agony. A warbling sound rippled through the air as Thane released a warp field across the Praetorian's smooth carapace. Chips of black armor flaked off, a testament to the drell's focus.
"Your attacks are useless!"
The monster turned towards him, projecting an amber aurora from its gaping maw. Thane's jacket whipped and frayed in the biotic wind. Blood streaked from his body as small lacerations appeared in his flesh.
"Harbinger! Your fight is with me!" Shepard thundered.
The praetorian quaked as if in laughter.
"We exist to consume. All will fall before us" The chamber reverberated with the Reaper's words. Thane struggled to his feet. Blue beams surged from the abomination's 'eyes', burning into the human's shields. Shepard staggered under the force of the blast, barely managing to free the shotgun from his belt.
xXx
Thane's body felt like liquid. The biotic attack had seeped into his torso, ravaging his internal organs. Shepard was as good as dead, and yet again it was his fault. NO. Thane felt something burn deep in his chest and a new, almost supernatural strength filled his body. The Commander would not die like this.
xXx
Shepard fired the shotgun in a final gesture of defiance and collapsed to the ground. The Collector had stopped shooting, but he could feel the flesh on his torso burning like so many branding irons. The praetorian crawled up to him slowly, raising a leg to finish him.
xXx
"GO TO THE SEA!" Thane's fist roiled with a blue warp field as it connected with the monster's skull. A brilliant gold enveloped the drell as his fist formed a miniature crater in the beast's head. Heat seeped from the wound and fire licked up though its armor. Thane felt his hand break through and rupture something vital. Harbinger screamed, a deafening sound that chilled his blood.
Shepard saw the praetorian explode, splinters of its body spinning out in all directions. Thane impacted the ceiling and came back down, blood covering his frame. The Commander wrenched himself from the ground, gritting his teeth against the pain, and made his way over to the drell.
"Thane?"
The drell weakly turned his head, "I'm, sorry, Shepard. I couldn't-… save them. Not… fast enough..."
The Commander took a moment to realize what he meant. He looked around, noting his teammates. Tali struggled to her feet, clutching her side. Grunt was on his hands and knees, still weak from blood loss. Garrus had suffered only a minor concussion, as had Jacob.
"They'll live, Thane, you made it in time."
Krios offered a frail laugh. "Don't, lie, to me." Blood dribbled from his mouth and Shepard saw a shard of the Praetorian's armor protruding from the assassin's black vest.
"I do not, ask your forgiveness, Shepard; I do not deserve it. I ask only, that you forgive, yourself, for her sake, for theirs." The drell's eyes dimmed, a signal of his waning strength.
Shepard grabbed the assassin's arm. "Thane, don't give up on me."
"Ver- Veraidian… not the master… mind… V… Ve…" Thane's breath left his body.
"THAAANE!"
The mission had been a success; the Collector shipyard had been destroyed, terabytes of Intel had been gathered, and battle-group Alpha hadn't lost a single ship. The turian and human groups had suffered casualties, but returned with more than half their number alive. Kal'Reegar's team had lost only two of their number and found the Mithrean's last surviving crewmember. Despite all of this, John felt that it had been a Pyrrhic victory.
Miranda was paralyzed from the waist down. The condition might be reversible, but even with cybernetics, it would take months. Grunt's injuries were severe as well. The doctor had put him in cryogenic stasis while replacement organs were grown in a cloning vat. It was miraculous that he'd been able to make it out of the shipyard, but then, he was a krogan...
Even through the painkillers, Tali's right side still ached. The regen virus had caused her body to re-knit her bones in their broken position. Chakwas had been forced to re-break and shave half of her ribs and arm in order to get the injuries to heal properly.
None of this was on her mind however. She was focused on her husband as he sat on the bed, weeping quietly. Tali rubbed his back with her left arm, trying to console him.
"I, I just, I don't know. He-… Veraidian destroyed him. I failed him Tali, I failed them all."
"You can't keep beating yourself up over this. Thane died to save you; there was nothing you could have done."
"I just- why? Why him and not me?"
"John, you were the one who taught me that He's in control. You told me that you rely on Him to get you through, to give you the strength to face death every day. If He saved you, He has a reason."
The quarian's eyes drifted over him, the galaxy's strongest warrior, right now just as broken and vulnerable as she had been after his death. Shepard made no response and Tali felt a shiver travel along her spine.
The Commander heard a quiet hiss as his wife detached the faceplate from her helmet. "John, look at me."
Shepard remained motionless for a few seconds then wordlessly shifted his gaze to her. She nodded to his abdomen, still sore from the burn treatment he'd received.
"Chakwas and Mordin said that particle beam barely singed your skin. From where I was, it looked like the Collector shot you for several seconds after it burned through your armor."
Shepard's eyes narrowed slightly in confusion. She was right, the praetorian's beams had maintained contact with his skin long enough to cut a thresher maw in half twice over. He should have been dead, seared to a crisp. Instead, he'd escaped with only moderate burns on his torso.
"I don't know about you, but to me, that sounds like He got directly involved."
Tali's words echoed through him like they'd been blasted over the Normandy's PA system.
The Commander remained silent, the tears on his cheeks drying as he closed his eyes and nodded slowly. Thank you.
Revision Note:
I'm still thoroughly unsatisfied with the key event in the chapter, I want it to be as much of an emotional sledgehammer to read as it was to write the first iteration. If you can think of any was to do this, PM me PLEASE!
Author's Note:
This episode has been an emotional sledgehammer to write, specifically because of this chapter. The big death was something that was necessary for a number of reasons, unfortunately the only ones I can disclose at the moment are the 'after the battle' conversation and Shepard's character development.
Tali's 'monologue' was incredibly tough for me to write, I haven't "manteared" so much since reading DA's Reflection.