Part of the buildings nearest to them were still mostly intact, and it seemed to be there that Athena had gone. As Melara and Liara reached an entrance, ducking inside, both of their omni-tools suddenly burst into life.
{This is Irie. Mama, Mel, are you there? Are you receiving me?}
Melara made sure they were in a semi-safe spot and then quickly answered her. "Irie, this is Mel. We are receiving."
{Thank the Goddess. We have opened up the micro-Fold to allow communications. Ashley and Daenys are organizing an armed force to come through the anchor after you. What is your situation?}
"Neither of us are hurt. Air's breathable, but it's hot and there's slightly more gravity. We just reached some kind of complex but it is under heavy attack- there is a pitched battle going on."
{You are at what we believe is the Solver base, where they are staging their attacks on our inner galaxy,} Irie said. {If they are under attack it is likely the ones that the Fleets encountered in dark space have located their base and are attempting to put a halt to their activities.}
"Yeah, that meshes with what we've seen so far. Irie, the anchor is sitting out in the open and the way they are hitting this place, it's just a matter of time before they take it out. I don't want you to send anyone else through- if that anchor goes down we'll be stranded out here with no way home. In fact, I'm sending Mama back-"
"You are doing no such thing," Liara said firmly.
"Mama, you getting stranded here-"
"I am not leaving you to be stranded either, Mel- and you know that Vina and Daenys will not even entertain that notion."
"Ashley needs you-"
"Yes, and Aleu needs you. Let us not waste time arguing about this. Irie, what is your plan?"
{We have got the rakir that arrived with Sihra- about a dozen of them. As well as the geth and Alliance troops. It…hang on. Ok. Looks like we have the crew of the Normandy that was dirtside and is able-bodied also lining up outside in full gear. And, it seems, Bethayla has been granted permission to join them as well. In all, you've got about a hundred troops outside this prefab just about ready to come in- and more are on their way.}
Melara looked at her mother, and saw no quarter there. Gritting her teeth, she nodded.
"I want four biotics to be the first through," she said. "Their duty is going to be to immediately secure the anchor. If we can get portable anti-craft guns through first thing, we can set them up around the platform, warn away any fighters that target that area. Keeping that anchor secure must be our first priority. We've got a track on Athena's omni-tool and we've followed her in to part of the complex in the valley below the anchor site. Have the rakir, Vina, Dae, Ashley, and any other heavy hitters head down the hill and into the complex. They are not to fire on anyone unless hostilities are prompted directly toward them from the other side- we don't want to go shooting anyone that may be just trying to stop the Solvers."
{Do you have any idea of what Athena is after?}
"Directly? No…but we do have a theory. It's not important. We need to get to her and find out and if necessary, stop her before this becomes any more of a mess than it already is. Mama and I are heading further into the complex. Stay in communication and keep that Fold open as long as possible."
{Understood, but we have enough charged power only for a few minutes at most. Red is helping to reroute power to the pylons now in an attempt to extend that. I will keep you appraised.}
"As soon as the troops are through close the Fold back to micro," Melara said. "That should help conserve power too, and keep up communications. You can open it again when we confirm we're on our way home."
{Understood.}
Looking at her mother she said, "Wait here for the reinforcements to show up, keep this entrance secure."
Liara measured her. "It would be best if we both waited."
"There may not be time. I've got to find out what Athena's up to before she puts something in motion we can't stop, and we can't risk hostiles coming through there and behind us."
"Melara-"
"I'll be careful, Mama, and I won't take her on by myself if I have any other choice. Please…stay put."
Reaching out, she gave her mother's arm a quick and affectionate squeeze, then rose and moved deeper into the gloom.
As she worked through dingy halls lit with what seemed to be some kind of emergency lighting, it became evident that the complex itself was pretty old, and had been repurposed and in some patches, rebuilt for the Solvers' needs. Occasionally, the floor trembled, and the sounds of battle could be heard filtering in from outside.
It wasn't long before she found her first bodies, scattered at a choke point in one narrow corridor. A quick look confirmed that these were much the same species that had attacked them on Oasis, but the dead brasa looked like themselves, not the dark asari form they had taken during their raids. Melara still wondered at that. Was it an adaptation to insure they could function properly in their enemy's environment, or was it some kind of display of honor- give yourself and your enemy the same physical form to more evenly match skills and weaknesses; or mock them by killing them whilst wearing their own face.
Unless she got the chance to ask one, she would never know, and there wasn't time to concern herself with it now. The tracker on her omni-tool showed Athena had been lingering in the same area for a few minutes now, and she wasn't that much further on.
While the first dead bodies Mel stumbled upon had clearly killed each other in combat, as she got deeper she started finding bodies that seemed to be Athena's doing. At least, the biotic scorches on the wall were deeply out of place here, in the part of the universe outside of the biotic quarantines.
Then, she was outside the very room where her omni-tool said Athena was. Irie had just reported in that she had opened the full Fold and reinforcements were starting to pour through. Carefully muting her tool so as not to tip Athena off that she was close, Melara crept carefully to the door, and then looked inside.
The room was large, and from the layout appeared to be some kind of command center or communications control room. Among the dead bodies scattered about were huge chunks of debris and broken equipment. Most of the ceiling of the room and the far wall were gone- destroyed in the fight. Through the gaping hole Mel could see the orange sky smudged with nearby plumes of black. The sounds of battle were louder, and she could see the flash of ordinance arc by and into the sky, and the occasional fighter whispering past.
The equipment that hadn't been toppled over or turned into slag was alien and yet chillingly familiar. To the far right of the room, Mel saw what looked like a pedestal, balancing a metal egg threaded with dim red light. Within the pedestal, concurrent rings similar to the ones in the relays spun and came together, then spun apart again.
She had never seen one in person, but she had heard the description from her parents a thousand times, in a thousand retellings of the Red Queen, and the Jabberwocks they'd found on Rakhana. A similar idol had been in the cavern room where the Red Queen had been trapped- and destroying it had resulted in freeing her.
Athena's omni-tool seemed to be on the far end of the room. Mel couldn't see the other asari, but she was probably behind a mound of debris or one of the other equipment banks, just out of sight. Moving carefully, Melara edged her way into the room, hand tightening on the object wound carefully around her hand and arm.
She stepped over bodies silently, each step as careful and quiet as a breath of air. Shifting toward the left, she headed around a mound of debris and a half-melted twist of metal and tech, peering cautiously past it.
According to her readout, Athena should be standing only a few feet away.
No one was there, but on a small ledge a lit omni-tool was resting where it had been placed.
Fuck.
An arm swung around into her view, in motion to wind around her neck. Mel drove her elbow back sharply, catching Athena right in the gut with a more than satisfying and surprised bark. Turning as her cousin stumbled, Mel sent a punch sailing for Athena's face.
The other asari dodged to the side and it missed. Darting out around the debris for more open space, Athena sent a wave of biotics crashing behind her as she went. The broken stones and a few bodies lifted up as it struck them, pelting toward Melara, but she lifted her arm again.
The biotics roaring toward her suddenly narrowed, sucked in to the Cinch wound around her hand, and vanished.
"A fucking Cinch?" Athena glared as she skidded to a halt in the middle of the room, Melara stalking toward her, her arm now glowing faintly blue. "Is that the one you confiscated from Red?"
Melara lifted a brow in response. Athena shook her head.
"You know the control cube is missing. You won't be able to fasten it on to me. And as long as you are hanging on to it you can't use your own biotics either."
"I'm aware."
"So it's hand to hand then, is it?" Athena grinned without warmth.
"I don't want to fight you, Athena," Melara said.
"Oh, that'd be a new one," Athena replied.
"Tell me why you're here. What are you hoping to accomplish?"
"I'm going to do what you seem to be too fucking incompetent to do," Athena shot back. "I'm going to save our goddamn galaxy, Melara. With or without your help!"
"And being here, right here, accomplishes that how,exactly?" Melara demanded. "The exo-galactic species are bringing in a superweapon to detonate in the galactic core. Stopping the Solvers does nothing to help us, Athena! We have to find a solution to the infection or start getting as many people out of the Milky Way as we can-"
"The solution to the infection is right goddamned here!" Athena said furiously. "It's been right in front of your face the entire time but you've all been too stupid to see it!"
Melara blinked. The solution was right here?
Is it possible that Athena has actually figured out how to deal with the problem of dark energy? But, how? And if it's here, in this complex somewhere, then why hasn't the problem already been solved? Why have the exo-galactic species not already implemented it? Are the Solvers keeping it from them? If so, to what end? If our galaxy goes critical the Solvers are killed along with everyone else. They gain nothing from hiding the cure.
Melara may have distrusted and disliked her cousin with every fiber of her being, but she also knew how smart and cunning Athena was. She could possibly have figured it out herself, especially if she was hiding clues and information she had learned from the rest of them-the same as she had hidden the Pio she'd stolen and the transfer shard.
"If that's the case, then let me help you get it," Melara said. "You didn't have to go running in here by yourself! Let's get it and get it back home before that anchor is destroyed or Irie runs out of power to fuel it."
"Oh, no, dear cousin," Athena said. "You had your chance and you blew it. I'm not handing the answer to you so that it can be dissected and hemmed over and second guessed and 'passed by the Council' until it's too late to save us. I am going to save this galaxy, Melara. I am going to fix this, and then I am going to make sure nothing like this or the Reaper War ever happens again."
She could not use her biotics against Mel- not so long as she was holding the Cinch- but that didn't stop her from using anything else. She pulled out her pistol and fired. Melara darted to the side, feeling the hot skipping breath of the bullet as it narrowly missed her face. Tracking her as she ran, Athena sent bullet after bullet toward her. One ricocheted with a whine off some of the stone and metal debris.
Melara, weaponless save for the Cinch, lunged and then skidded across the floor. A length of metal, similar to rebar, was caught up in her hand.
She heard the pistol click as the thermal clip reached its heat capacity. It would take even Athena a moment or two to pop it and slide in a new one. Taking a chance, Melara changed her trajectory. Rebar in hand, she ran with all her speed toward her cousin.
To her surprise, Athena didn't even bother ejecting her clip. She simply lowered the pistol, smiled, and then pressed something in her other hand.
As if caught by a spider, Mel felt herself halted and then hefted up in a web of energy. Whatever it was, it was definitely not biotics, as the Cinch had no effect. The energy also didn't hurt, but Mel felt the static playing over every inch of her skin as she was lifted a foot or two into the air.
There was a rushing, gurgling sound. Water seemed to flow out of the floor, walls, and ceiling, defying gravity as it poured in toward her, surrounding her body, creeping up her face. She took a gasping breath as it crawled over her mouth and nose, continuing up over her eyes.
Then, in an instant, it turned as hard as glass.
Through the odd clear resin, Mel could see Athena lower her hand and start slowly in her direction. Her image and movements- and the rest of Melara's view- were all slightly distorted but clear enough to make out. Despite the fact that the resin pressed against every inch of her body and prevented her from breathing, Mel found she wasn't suffocating or starving for air. She was unable to move beyond shifting her eyes slightly, but beyond that she was perfectly conscious, perfectly aware…and perfectly trapped.
It was the same trap that the Red Queen had fallen into back on Rakhana. How Athena had learned to control the trap and activate it on command was just one more irritating mystery that displayed how much of what she had learned over her years as the Broker she had kept from the rest of them. In the guise of helping their investigations, she had really been keeping back far more than even Mel had imagined.
Athena, surprisingly, didn't gloat. She merely moved up and looked in the clear resin as if viewing a particular curiosity, before she turned and headed back toward the distant equipment.
Mel was trapped, unable to move, unable to speak. She knew the others would be coming soon, and one of them would doubtlessly figure out a way to release her, but by then Athena could be long gone with…whatever it was that she'd come to collect.
There was also a chance this room could be bombed again, and everything destroyed before Mel could be freed.
Barely had Athena returned to the distant equipment bank, however, then motion caught Mel's eye. Unable to turn her head, she tried to fix on it from the corner of her gaze, and after a moment, she realized it was Liara.
Her mother had followed her, possibly because the resin had halted her omni-tool signal, or simply out of a frustrated maternal sense of protection when her daughter hadn't returned or reported in. Like Melara, she only cautiously peeked into the room, trying to assess the situation. Spotting the resin, she looked over. Mel imagined her face paled as she recognized it and who was trapped within it. Then, she disappeared from view again.
Calling for reinforcements, directing them here, Mel thought. Please, don't let her engage Athena on her own.
Liara had the rifle, and was no lightweight when it came to combat, but she also didn't have the Cinch- that was still wound around Mel's hand and was just as useless and trapped as she was. Athena's biotics would be in full affect against the older asari, and Mel feared the consequences.
Time passed. It seemed like hours, but likely was only a few minutes. Mel caught a slight hint of motion again as Liara appeared once more in the doorway. Behind her, Mel could just barely see what looked like two geth soldiers.
Reinforcements.
As Liara edged into the room and headed toward the odd altar and its spinning egg, more motion caught Mel's attention. This motion, thanks to her angle, was more or less directly in front of her. A figure, wreathed in blue fire that spread out like angel wings to either side, lifted into view through the gaping ruin of the room's ceiling.
It was Bethayla.
With a flash, the Ardat-Yakshi changed from a hovering being of light into a streak of it, as she used her substantial gifts to dart down from her position. There was a blast as she vanished behind the equipment bank, a swelling blue sphere of energy tearing through the bank and the debris, sending debris careening madly. Athena, taken completely off-guard by the attack, sailed across the room in the wake of the debris, tumbling madly over stone and torn metal. Something seemed to fly from her hand and go clattering away, but Mel couldn't make it out properly.
As Athena slid to a halt and started to recover, the geth rushed in, opening fire on her. Beth, still blooming with biotics, appeared over the ruined equipment, closing in on Athena.
Athena took care of the geth with a furious sweep of her hand and a scythe of dark energy that both sliced them in half and sent them flying. Her true focus was on Beth.
She lit up, arms outstretched as half the debris in the room seemed to lift at her beckoning, rising into the air. Before she could send it flying toward her opponent, Beth coolly darted to the side, changing briefly once more into a streak of light. A chunk of stone about the size of a chair, thrown by the motion, barreled into Athena's gut with the force of a cannon ball. The debris she'd been lifting fell with a floor-shaking roar as she was sent, once more, careening over the ground.
There was no doubt that Athena had more power at her command than Beth did, but Bethayla was using her own advantages- years and decades and devoted centuries of study, self-discipline, and biotic practice.
Hurry, Mama…hurry… Mel thought frantically as Athena coughed and moved weakly, trying to recover herself. Beth reached out with a biotic field, snagging Athena in a bubble and lifting her off the ground. As Athena got her breath back, she suddenly seemed to erupt with dark energy, the backlash tearing free Beth's biotic grip and roaring through the room as if a bomb had gone off. The door to the hall suddenly bowed out and then collapsed, part of the remaining roof raining down and erasing the exit. On the other end, the heaps of rock and stone and tortured tech blasted outward toward the gaping hole, removing more of the room before vanishing from sight into the battlefield. To Mel's right, there was now nothing but about twenty feet of sagging floor that ended in a crumbling ledge.
The biotics shook the resin, sending a strangely painful vibration through it and Melara. An odd ringing, like a deep bell, filled Mel's ears…but the resin held up and seemed to shield her from any lasting damage.
Beth was not so shielded. As if hit by a cannonball herself, the young Ardat-Yakshi was sent sailing fifteen feet backward, halting only when she slammed into the wall with bone-breaking force.
Athena dropped to her feet, panting as she backhanded some blood away from her lip. Melara was struggling as best she could, unable to move…screaming without a voice as Athena walked toward the limp and crumpled Bethayla lying motionless in the distance.
Then rushing water. The resin holding her seemed to soften, then loosen, then liquefy as it began to pour away from her. Hearing it, Athena whirled, wide eyed.
Liara had done it. She'd managed to turn off the trap, free her daughter. Mel's boots hit the ground and she was immediately in motion, an all but feral snarl rushing out of her chest as she tore away from the last of the resin and ran for Athena.
