Suroc Temple, Tuchanka
Day 1, 0430
With dawn light filtering through the sandstorm, Kyra and her squad didn't get a good look at the temple until they were right on the steps. When she finally saw it, however, she let out an astonished gasp, and stopped dead in her tracks, staring upwards at the structure ahead.
The main body of the temple was made up of a series of great, square shelves, getting progressively smaller until they reached the peak, topped by a stone structure that reminded Kyra of the old vids from Earth – the Greek and Roman ruins she had marvelled at so during her childhood. The mausoleum sat on top of the rest of the temple like a morbid crown.
Between them and it, however, was the enormous stone staircase. There must have been about a hundred steps in all, built for a krogan stride and running all the way up the side of the pyramid. Up ahead, the Suroc warriors were already beginning to climb them, waved on by Jarr.
"Come on!" the chief bellowed, as the N7s finally caught up. "We can't wait all day for you!"
Reluctantly, Kyra trotted towards the first step and hopped up onto it, as her companions did the same. Quickly at first, they began to spring upwards, growing closer to the sky with each stride. The actual distance shouldn't have been tiring for her, but the stairs had been made for krogan – each step was just a little bit higher and further away than she was comfortable with, and her calves were aching from the climb by the time she finally staggered to the top, flanked by Vaner and Vresh.
The Surocs were already waiting at the top, huddled together in twos or threes and checking their weapons – a lethal-looking assortment of rusted krogan shotguns, newer off-world rifles, and heavy weapons, including two battered missile launchers, old ML-77s.
"Are you okay, human?" Vaner murmured anxiously.
"I'm fine," she replied, taking a deep gulp of air. "I'm just... not quite as big as you."
"Alright, move up!" came Jarr's roar from up ahead, and Kyra couldn't help a little groan escaping her lips. "Get into the mausoleum and spread out! Find those scouts!"
"Jarr," Kyra heard the Suroc lieutenant ask, up ahead, "why are they carrying missile launchers?"
"To blow up the enemy! You can be really dumb sometimes, Meer."
"Wait..." Meer frowned. "You're letting them fire those things inside the mausoleum?"
"Why not?"
"It's a tomb! Haven't you heard of respect for the dead?"
"Why should I respect them? If they were strong, they wouldn't be dead," Jarr scowled. He shook his head, and walked off, leaving a rather stunned Meer behind him.
Dax quickly beckoned for his team to gather round, a little way behind the advancing Suroc warriors. As Kyra watched her krogan companions expectantly, her stomach was ill at ease. The lurching winds all around them, the presence of the buried dead beneath their boots, the fierce heat... It all made her rather sick.
"Here's the plan," the Urdnot scout grunted, clutching his Revenant. "We go in with the Surocs, but stay back. Jarr doesn't care if you get caught in the crossfire, so don't get in front of their guns. You three" – he motioned to Kyra, Yui and Vaner – "go up the centre. Vresh and I will take the flanks. We rely on each other, not the Surocs."
With a brief exchange of nods between the five of them, they split up, and hurried towards the mausoleum in the wake of the other warriors. Already, the first few Suroc soldiers were stepping through the dark precipice of the mausoleum's entrance, and as Kyra stayed close to Yui's flank, they were enveloped by the darkness.
"Switch your flashlights on!" Meer called – Kyra was already beginning to see what Dax meant about the lieutenant having more sense than his chief. Ahead, a dozen flashlights on a dozen weapons burst into bloom, puncturing the dim dawn light and illuminating the entrance.
As she finally reached the great high doorway, Kyra felt a cold shiver pass down her spine. There was something chilling about this place. She began to cast about with her rifle, sweeping every corner with the little beam of light from the muzzle.
Were it not for the Reaper troops apparently crawling in the shadows, and the krogan dead lying all around them, Kyra might have been able to appreciate the place. The walls were filled with fading paintings, chipped in places but clearly displaying krogan idols. The daubs were simple, but easily recognisable, rather like human cave paintings.
"How old is this place?" she asked aloud.
"Thousands of years," Dax murmured back. "This place is as ancient as Tuchanka gets."
Setting her eyes back to the floor, Kyra sidestepped around a rather suspicious crack in the stone floor – it might have lasted for thousands of years, trillions of little moments, but she didn't trust it to hold her weight for these moments.
"What's that?" one of the warriors up ahead roared, suddenly. A dull rumbling was filling the air, but the krogan wasn't talking about that – he was staring at the ceiling, and seconds later, as if dislodged by the now-growing tremor, a pale blue form dropped to the ground.
"Husk!" another one cried, and a deafening barrage filled the air, as almost every one of the Suroc warriors fired on the single creeping form – it recoiled, and tumbled to the ground, riddled by bullets.
In a matter of moments, the temple had descended into the hell Kyra thought it really was – more lithe, hissing forms were tumbling from the ceiling and walls, and the tremulous din was rising to fever pitch. Acting on pure instinct, Kyra raised her rifle, and opened fire on the nearest husk she could see – it quivered and fell under her fire, as did a second, and a third...
Yui and Vaner had stopped either side of her, and were pumping round after round into the air, firing wildly and probably blindly at anything that moved. In front of them, one of the Suroc warriors yelled out, as a skeletal husk sprang onto his chest. He toppled backwards, the husk's clawed fingers tearing at his armour, as another joined it, smashing a pale fist against his head.
The whole grisly scene seemed to play out in slow motion, drowned by echoing gunshots and that persistent, deafening rumble. Missiles shot out from the two launchers, presumably fired in panic, and one smashed against the wall, shattering it and hurling husks aside. To Kyra's surprise, Jarr came into view, holding what appeared to be another missile launcher... was that a Hydra?
She got her answer moments later, as a swarm of missiles billowed out of the weapon's maw, darting here and there, arcing through space to find targets. Her eyes slowly drifted back to the grounded krogan, whose helmet was bludgeoned and twisted, four husks now piling on top of him. One of them raised a bony hand, slammed it down, and...
Just as the krogan's head shattered in a bloody spray, the world exploded. The gradual rumbling reached its crescendo and died, only to be replaced by an ear-splitting roar, as the floor was rent apart beneath their feet.
That, frankly, was surprising. As the stone shattered she heard Yui, at her side, bellow something that sounded like "not again".
And then, they were plunging downwards, her weapon was smashed out of her hands, and the darkness rushed up to swallow her...
