Retake Our Home
Earth, EDZ...
BOOM!
Fire engulfed the cabal interceptor in a blaze with bone shattering force.
Over its smouldering wreckage powered the treads on a City built drake tank. "Traveler I love this machine!" The Titan Carl yelled over the coms.
"I know, it's a useful piece of equipment if used properly." Saint-10 replied, several meters behind in a hijacked interceptor. Spying a pair of Psion snipers peek out of cover, he pressed the firing mechanisms, and observed as two rockets impacted on the wall just behind them, turning the cabal lessers into motes of ash.
Carl sighed. "You just can't have any fun can you."
"I can be plenty fun when we're not driving through dank caves, fighting for our lives against the monsters that took our home." The Warlock retorted.
A hail of small, seeker missiles flew over the pair and tore a cluster of Cabal soldiers to pieces. "Strange behaviour. Not known Guardians to be so jovial in combat." Oseknys observed.
"Yeah, we're a weird lot." Carl admitted.
A Centurion lowered her large explosive projectile weapon towards the Titan's tank, ready to blow a hole in it's flank. Catching in his ear the sound of thrusters firing, she turned just in time to see the front of an interceptor collide with her face and force her into the dirt.
Powering on, the three pushed their way ever closer to the Cabal carrier that held the ship they required to board the Almighty.
Coming to a stop, the three saw a large, circular blast proof door blocking their path.
"There's probably a console over there, I'll go hack it." Carl said, jumping out of the drake.
"You mean you'll get me to hack it?" His Ghost quipped.
"No need. Have this in hand." Oseknys said, pulling out her custom built omni-tool. After a moment, the door began to retract into the cavernous wall.
"How...?" Carl began.
"Specialist hacking." Oseknys answered, anticipating the question.
The titan nodded, remembering what she had said upon their first meeting. Turning on his heel, he made his way back to the drake.
As he entered, a wave of seeker missiles and a hefty tank shell whistled overhead, and the Titan ducked inside his tank instinctively. Following their path with his eyes, he was greeted to the sight of cabal soldiers being torn apart. A moment later, his own volley joined those fired a moment ago.
Saint-10 for his part moved to the side, keeping himself close to the rock walls and whatever cover was available. Every now and again he'd peek out of cover to fire his own barrage.
"So how does your hacking work?" The Titan asked, firing another shot at a fleeing Cabal ship, sheering off a wing and causing it to tumble in a spiral into the depths of some unseen cavern.
Oseknys's throat rumbled. "Scavenged tech, mostly purchased black market from. Eliksni communication tech, Council race base components in form of omni-tool. Cabal are made of many races, lots of different races with different tech, useful compatibility modules. Programming mostly stolen STG spying, modified by me and Ghost."
"Innovative." Saint-10 appreciated with a thoughtful nod.
Soon, the three found themselves exiting the caves. Upon seeing the large Cabal Carrier's engines powering up to full burn, Saint-10 powered the interceptor forwards. "It looks like Thumos is bugging out!"
Cayde-6 cut over the radio, listening in on the team. "Throw a few shots up its tail pipe I bet it'll not wanna dust off."
Saint-10 spotted a shield covering the vulnerable engines at the rear of the Carrier and spied the two shield generators keeping it active. Firing his interceptors rockets he began to work through the soldiers defending the shield batteries.
As this was happening, Oseknys moved her drake tank into position. Letting loose a salvo of seekers, she decimated the psion and legionary forces trying to hold her back. Moving forward, her tank's tracks ground those defenders not incinerated into the mud.
To her surprise, her tank was suddenly rocked by several concussive impacts.
A particularly brave Colossus stood his ground against the armoured vehicle and hefted his heavy weapon. Firing a rapid volley of shots, he tried to destroy the tank's weapon systems, rendering it vulnerable. Swiftly pivoting the main cannon, she fired a shell which impacted against the large Cabal soldier. Tearing his arm off at the shoulder and splintering his armour, he was killed instantly.
Positioning himself carefully, Carl made sure he had a good view of the rear of the Carrier while maintaining some cover for his tank. Looking skyward, he saw two Harvesters coming in to land, both carrying Goliath tanks.
Putting all his shots into one, he watched as the explosions tore apart the underside of the nose. The Harvester then listed away, several explosions wracking it and dropping the Goliath before it was ready. Crashing into a rock, the Cabal tank was practically split in two. Leaking greasy fuel, Carl saw as it ignited and the Goliath exploded, sending both sections thrown in opposing directions with a spit of fire.
The second Goliath managed to make landfall, and immediately fired out explosive chaff in a threatening display.
An explosion in the distance caused Carl to steal a glance upwards and he caught sight of a line of explosions trailing from where the Warlock had gone to, towards the engines of the Cabal Carrier.
Entering into combat with the Goliath, Carl registered a second explosion and he imagined it must be flowing on the same direction.
For several long moments, the two tanks traded blows, sheering sections of armour plates from one another. Carl noted the warning lights and the claxons blaring inside his own, noticing that his main gun was now non-functional. Noting the stress the other tank's systems and hull were under, he thundered forwards. Ramming his now burning drake onto the enemy Goliath, he mounted it. Exiting his doomed vehicle with haste, he threw a grenade which stuck to the exposed hull of his tank.
Boosting away, he watched as his tank detonated with a deep thud and fire. As his steed was lain low, the Goliath underneath was also sundered, the two vehicles chassis now slowly melting together in an infernal blaze.
"Oseknys, need you up here!" Carl said as he saw the Cabal Carrier begin to judder.
Thundering up a steep incline, the Eliksni pivoted her tanks turret. "I see it!"
In the moments that followed, she fired shell after shell into the back of the Carrier.
Listening intently, Carl hard the rumble of the engines power down. "Sounds like we're good. That Carrier's going nowhere. Let's board and find Thumos then nab his ship."
"Better get a move on you three." Came Cayde-6's voice over the coms. "Element of surprise is long gone. Get in there and cut the head off this snake, then take his stuff"
Carl jumped up onto Oseknys's tank and knelt, keeping himself stable as she drove her tank towards the base of the Cabal Cruiser.
Down below, Saint-10 was beginning to work though the Cabal defenders stomping down the ramp. Spearing through, he sowed destruction amongst the Cabal soldiers
A bombardment of seeker missiles tore through the light infantry, and both tank and Interceptor made their way onboard.
The fighting only increased in pace and force once inside. Centurions commanding the elite of the Cabal forces blocked the trio's advance at every turn. Bombardments of explosive blasts eventually took its toll on the Drake and it had to be abandoned.
Soon, the three on foot found themselves crawling through ventilation. "Anyone feel like we're heading into a trap?" Carl asked.
"Most definitely." Saint-10 replied.
Oseknys was surprisingly swift through these small spaces, getting down on four limbs, only keeping the two holding her wire rifle not touching the ground. Clambering up a wall above the two following behind her, she tapped on her onmi-tool. "Can see Cabal movement, mostly. Thumos and guards not far now. Vent can take us most way."
After waiting for her fireteam to catch up, she swung down and stamped her feet into a grate, forcing it off its hinges and as she let go with her upper arms, she slid through the gap to land on her feet. Clicking her two rows of teeth together, she paused and listened. Hearing the footsteps of nearby Cabal soldiers, she jutted her wire rifle in their direction and held the trigger down.
Carl and Saint-10 landed as they watched Oseknys's second shot fly through the helm of a Legionary.
"Remind me not to piss her off." Carl said with a nudge of Saint-10's arm.
"Up here." Oseknys said with a mechanical static lining her voice. She was indicating down a path to their left after they dropped down.
Following her, the Titan and the Warlock had to trust in her directions.
"Got motion." Oseknys said in hushed static, letting the team know her motion tracker had pinged something.
True enough, appearing before the team was a larger Cabal Centurion, complete with ornate plumes like the ones worn back in ancient Rome.
Roaring in his deep aggression, the Blood Guard Exemplar stomped forwards, gun spitting its explosive payload.
Oseknys answered the challenge first and scuttled forwards, taking the impact on her shields.
Carl threw a grenade behind the Blood Guard even as Saint-10 began to pepper its shields, which flickered a shifting blue around the beast.
As Oseknys reached the Cabal Guard, Carl's grenade detonated with a reverberating thud and the Arc shields burst under the pressure. The Eliksni Guardian jumped over the Cabal and pulled out a shock blade with one of her upper limbs.
At the height of her jump, she rammed the knife into the creatures ever so slightly exposed neck joint and tried to have the momentum of her descent drag the knife along and make a rend in its flesh, or better yet pry the helm off completely to expose his head.
As events proceeded, Saint-10 reloaded with practiced movements and saw the knife drag along the neck line and create a small rent in the flexible air tight material.
Landing behind the Cabal with her back to it, Oseknys was not quick enough to dodge the impact. The Blood Guard span round anti-clockwise and slammed the back of his armoured fist into her with bone cracking force. The Eliksni flew through the air a few feet before the impact into the wall made her world spin. For all her optic sensors and scanners that had long since replaced her eyes, they were still not impervious to damage.
Trying to turn to face the Cabal from her kneeling position on the floor, her vision was like looking through shattered glass.
The Blood Guard Hawk raised one of his thickly muscled legs and kicked the Eliksni's face, jarring her neck and breaking it.
Grunting in satisfaction, the Cabal turned to face the two Guardians that it had left unattended. He was greeted with a Titans fist to the face, causing him to see stars and sending his helm flying through the air.
With the Cabal's head exposed, Saint-10 emptied his clip.
Soon, Oseknys was revived in a flash of radiant Light. She stood over the slowly largening puddle of greasy blood. She adjusted her optics to ensure they were working and let out a buzzing sigh of contentment. "Onwards?" she questioned with the static receding momentarily as her internal systems adjusted.
"Onwards." Saint-10 agreed as he snapped a fresh clip into his gun.
Traversing the interior corridors of the Carrier was worryingly simple. No further Cabal soldiers to bar their path, and doors mysteriously open; save one.
"Well, Thumos should be just through here if I have the layout of the Carrier right." Oseknys's Ghost chirped.
"Trap?" Carl asked the two, pausing before the large sealed doorway.
"Trap." Both Guardians replied.
Moving to the console jutting out of the wall next to them, Carl held out his hand and summoned his Ghost. After a brief pause and with a few flashes, the Ghost receded and the door began to slowly slide open.
Remaining close together, the three made their way inside, guns ready.
The room was not too spacious, two pillars rose from the floor and joined the ceiling just over a dozen meters above. A ramp leading upwards in the centre of the room that could easily fit three Cabal Colossi abreast speared upwards ahead of the Guardians, leading to what must have been the command centre.
A huge armour-glass observation window allowed for the Sol's natural light to illuminate the room brightly and the three could see several Cabal Threshers flying in the distant blue sky.
As the three entered the room the door shut behind them, and without looking they heard the locking mechanisms slide into place.
At the top of the ramp, a huge Cabal warrior was lifted upwards by a platform in the hollowed floor. Standing guard to either side were two more guards, crests adorning all three of their armour to display their status.
With a bellowed challenge, the Cabal let loose a volley from their explosive weaponry.
Moving to dodge as best as they could, the Guardians took several hits to their shields.
Oseknys yelled over the coms. "Can shields remove one from them? Maybe focus one?"
"Alright." Carl replied, "Focus the once closest to you."
Spinning out of what cover they could find, the three focused on the Cabal Hawk Guard closest to the Eliksni. Their weapons began to make the brutes shields flicker under consistent impacts but it still wouldn't budge.
Carl threw a Thermal Grenade and watched as the line of fire it created managed to catch both Cabal Guards that had been relentlessly stomping forwards.
At last the one who'd the team had been previously aiming for lost his shielding. Jumping forwards with surprising speed, Oseknys jammed a Shock Grenade on the Cabal's armour adornments. The grenade stuck in place, and as it was designed to do began, to frequently sputter jolts of Arc energy. The angle of the grenade meant that these jolts were directed straight into the brute's helmet.
Sputtering something in Ulurant, the Hawk Guard tried to claw for the device causing his systems to shut down as the lights flickered out in his helm.
With a final burst, the Shock Grenade detonated and set the Cabal twitching, and finally falling to his knees.
Closing the distance once again, Oseknys jutted the barrel of her line rifle under the chin of the Cabal warrior. As she held the trigger down and began to charge, the Hawk Guard had time to grab the rifle and stare intently into her many glowing red eyes.
The shot fired and the wire coursed through the Cabal, slowly breaking him down.
Looking to her side she could see the Warlock and the Titan dealing with the other Hawk Guard.
Backing up from the approaching monster, both Carl and Saint-10 held their Fusion Rifles. The Titan with his Techeun rage and the Warlock with World To Come 001, the two continued to charge and fire while slowly treading backwards.
Flicking its wrist, a sizable read hot blade jutted from the Cabals gauntlet. Thrusting forwards with its jet pack, the Cabal powered towards the Titan.
At a burst from the Guardians, its shields flickered away and the creature's jet pack cut out. Its momentum however was enough to close the gap and with a powerful thrust the Cabal tore a rent in Carl's leg from thigh to foot.
Screaming in pain as the searing blade burned its way through everything it touched, Carl dropped his gun. Opening his palms and throwing his hands down, the Titan held the blade in place, gritting his teeth at the effort as the Cabal tried to wrench it free and take another swing.
Saint-10 stood to the side and was allowed free reign to continually blast the Cabal in Fusion Rifle discharge.
With a below of effort, the Cabal tore its blade free and thrust towards the Warlock, where one final burst atomised the creature mid-air.
Panting, Carl picked up his Fusion Rifle from the floor where he'd dropped it and reloaded.
Eying the monster at the top of the ramp, he saw Thumos.
"Anyone got their supers yet?" Carl asked as the other two Guardians moved besides him.
"My Nova is ready." The Warlock confirmed.
"No have yet super." The Eliksni replied, her optics scanning the beast above, probing for a weakness.
With an eerie silence, Thumos kicked his jetpack and pushed himself several feet into the air. Pulling the trigger on his weapon, a constant sputter of incendiary rounds puttered forth.
The Warlock took several of these to his arm and a nest of flames took root.
Grunting in pain, the Exo glided away and tried to pat down his arm. When that failed, he dropped to the ground and created a healing rift to counter the damage. Unfortunately, it only healed the damage after it was caused, so for several long moments he just had to endure the pain.
As the trail of fire rounds trailed across the remaining two, Carl moved to his left, away from Oseknys. Jumping in the air, he gained altitude as Thumos continued to fire on the Eliksni.
Oseknys for her part had used both of her lower arm's Onmi-Tools to create a reinforced Omni-Shield. The impacts from the rapid fire of the Cabal Generals and the strain on her systems keeping the reinforced shield active slowed her movement to a crawl, yet advance she did. One clawed foot after another.
Taking note of his Eliksni companion, Carl held his Fusion Rifle one handed in his left hand and pulled back his right arm, activating his Omni-Tool. Watching his Omni-Tool load the Multi-Frag Grenades, he jutted his arm forward.
Watching in satisfaction as his five explosives clinked off of the monsters heavy armour then detonate with bone snapping force, he gave a short burst to aim himself towards the now falling monster.
One of Thumos's proud crests was sheered away and slammed into the floor many meters away. The Cabal himself was forced to the ground and slumped on one knee.
As he pulled himself up, he was forced hack down as a Titan's fist slammed into his helm.
Carl, landing in-front of the kneeling juggernaut, activated his Omni-Blade.
Roaring with the effort, Thumos dropped his gun and reached out with his left arm. Clutching the Titan by his retracted arm, Thumos reared up and spun. A pain of the reinforced glass that composed of the front of the ship's observation windows cracked in a spider web of fissures as the Titans body was slammed into it.
Smiling under his helm, all sharpened teeth, Thumos pulled out his own heated wrist blade and drove it through the Titan.
Letting go of Carl's arms, Thumos grunted in satisfaction.
The Titan was pinned up against the glass, the searing blade penetrating both the Guardian and the window. Mumbling in Ulurant, Thumos spoke. "Now we await your Dead Person."
Carl's Ghost however did not appear immediately, which was perhaps what saved him.
Thumos suddenly felt a gnawing pain eating its way through him. For the first time in his long, long life, Thumos screeched in pain.
The Exo Warlock had taken his Hive blade, Marrowfang, and rammed it downwards through the back of Thumos's left thigh and out through his knee.
The Cabal ripped his gauntlet blade free of the Titan and let him drop unceremoniously to the ground with a heavy thud. He spun and took a swipe at the Warlock almost underneath him.
Ripping the toothed blade free in a spray of greasy blood and tissue, Saint-10 watched as Oseknys fired a shot at Thumos's head. The electrified wire cut neatly through the glass eyepiece and burst the Cabal's left eye.
Snapping his left arm up to cover his now ruined eyeball, he continued the motion with the heated blade on his right gauntlet but was met by a full weighted swing from the toothy blade, severing his arm just below the wrist.
Jumping backwards, Saint-10 summoned his Light to him and let loose a Nova Bomb on the bleeding monster.
The impact forced Thumos's broken body through the cracked pane. As life left the slowly atomising body of the powerful Cabal, the last thing he could process was the flash, indicating a Guardians revival.
The three reunited took tentative steps towards the broken pane and looked out, peering down. They could see a trail of glittering purple motes vanish in the high wind and for a moment they just breathed.
"Phew, we've got the key codes, and Thumos is dead. Sounds like we're two for two." Carl's Ghost said as if getting over the stress of battle.
"Hey, great work guys and gals! Now get to the base lickety split and nab his ship." Cayde-6 said excitedly over the radio. "Then it'll be a straight shot to the Almighty."
Normandy, Ilos...
"Are we sure about this Commander?" Joker asked the Titan.
Standing behind the large chair of the pilot, Shepard watched the viewscreen. They'd just exited the mass relay on their hunt for the rogue Spectre. As soon as they did, the viewscreen flared with geth contacts.
A small fleet of ships, varying in size from small picket like ships to larger, more imposing vessels bared their path to the dirty brown planet behind them.
"Keelah, have they detected us yet?" Tali asked, scanning her eyes over the view screen with quickly increasing worry.
Joker flicked though several displays, observing the movements and what com chatter the Normandy could pick up. "No; stealth systems are keeping them off our back for now. Don't know how long it'll last for though. All they need to do is look out a window..."
"Do we have a landing zone?" Shepard interrupted, needing a quick response as time was not on their side.
Behind him, Navigator Pressly shook his head. "Closest landing zone is two clicks away."
"We'll never make in time!" Kaidan said loudly, clearly frustrated.
"Look, I've checked! The closest entry point is twenty meters and before you ask, no there's nothing else!" the Navigator yelled, pre-empting the question to follow.
"Can we drop down in the Mako?" Shepard asked openly.
Wrex grunted. "I'm sure we could, but it would crash and burn. Unfortunately, not all of us have your immunity to death, and even my regeneration has its limits."
"I can do it." Joker said calmly.
Shepard looked at the pilot and placed a hand on the back of his chair. "You sure you got this?"
"I can do it." He repeated in the same calm, focused tone.
The Titan nodded approvingly. "Right you are. Tali, we're dealing with geth so you're my first choice. You up for this?"
She nodded stoically. "Yes, don't worry about me. If my suit breaches, there are things I can do to stop the spread of contagions."
"Right then. Tali, Wrex, with me." Shepard said, moving away from Joker.
The krogan chuckled, he had been itching to tear that forsaken turian's head from his body.
On their way down to the Mako, the Normandy passed a cluster of geth ships. With their emissions cloaked from the geth's sight, Joker slid quietly towards the planet below.
Ilos…
Saren stalked through the open stone doorway before him, flanked by his geth troops. He'd sent many of them ahead to scout the old ruin for any traps that may have been left behind.
Ancient stone carvings of humanoid beings ran down the length of the long, high corridor. Several of them were completely entwined in the curling, bark covered roots of trees.
Water flowed on the floor beneath his armoured feet leading away from him, down the underground corridor.
A ways away, several geth troopers and colossi stalked ever forward, constantly scanning their surroundings and creating a map of the structure.
'Soon, the Conduit will be mine, and there's nothing the Council, or anyone, can do to stop me.' the rouge Spectre thought smugly to himself.
Catching the sound of something distant fast approaching, Saren turned his gaze skyward.
He scowled and let out a low growl as he saw the distant silhouette of the Normandy.
Turning, he quickly made his way through the stone doors which slowly sealed shut behind him and his geth troopers.
Shepard gripped onto the fastenings inside the Mako, trying to brace himself for the landing.
Smashing down into the worlds surface, clouds of dust and splintered rock were thrown into the air. The suspension of the Mako whined and groaned under the strain.
Transmatting himself from the Mako once it had come to a halt, the Titan hefted his spitfire and aimed at the stone door just as it slid closed. "Traveler damn it!"
Wrex slid himself out of the Mako and stomped on the floor leaving deep footprints as he went. "Don't worry, he's not getting away from us that easy. Don't think we can blow through those doors though."
Tali nodded. "Saren managed to get these doors open somehow. Perhaps there's a security terminal somewhere in the complex behind us?"
Wrex grunted. "If he's half as smart as he thinks he is, he'll have trashed it."
"Shouldn't be a problem." Shepard said, turning and walking back past the Mako and towards the tree entwined stone complex behind him. "My Ghost should have it covered."
Shepard's Ghost chirped over the coms. "No pressure."
Rounding the Mako, several blips appeared on the Guardians radar.
"Contacts!" The Titan shouted over the coms.
Moving to large, bone coloured stone blocks, the three crouched behind and instigated a firefight in earnest.
Wrex quickly grew bored and sprinted out from cover towards the nearest geth, shotgun at the ready. Pulling the trigger, he sent a trooper flying through the air, its arm and a decent chunk of its torso missing.
Swiping out with the barrel of the gun in an upward swing, the krogan caught a geth under its eye stalk and sent it a few feet in the air.
Bringing his shotgun close to him again, he aimed upward and pulled the trigger.
Shepard had never heard a krogan belly laugh before but Wrex was in the moment and loving it as he sent a shower of geth parts upwards and watched them rain down over the area.
Tali; to the surprise of no one, was not running into the middle of the combat. Instead, she occasionally rose, took a few measured shots and when her shields began to take a few hits she crouched down once more.
Pointing out the finger which would usually be pulling the trigger on her pistol, Tali tapped away on her omni-tool. Rising quickly from cover, she pointer her arm in the direction of the nearest geth and sent a burst of electricity forward. Once it struck the geth unit, the machine began to twitch and judder, falling to a knee.
Spying the downed foe in the corner of his eye, Wrex stomped over to the unit and brought his knee up into its eye stalk. With a snap of metal, the geth slumped to the floor, broken.
Breathing heavily, Wrex surveyed his surroundings as Shepard closed the gap and stood by the krogan's side. "Can't smell any more."
"Nothing on my radar either." Shepard said, signalling them to follow him further into the complex.
Keeping an eye on her motion tracker, suit systems and many other things, Tali asked, "Wrex, how can you tell if there are more geth by smell? Wouldn't the broken ones around you hide the smell of... whatever the geth smell of?"
Wrex chuckled as they cautiously rounded a corner to find what looked like a small stone room. They entered it and found that it was in-fact an elevator as Wrex talked.
"When you're in combat you gotta learn to rely on all your senses, not just your fancy tech. Honed as mine are, I can tell the difference. My advice to you, find a way to use all of them." The krogan said nodding to his own advice.
Tali was left in silence as she run through several scenarios in her head about how it would go if she tried.
As the doors to the elevator opened, the three were greeted with a room of geth.
Combat instincts going into overdrive, the Titan surveyed his surroundings and saw no cover to hide behind. The krogan would be fine running into combat with his shotgun and regenerative abilities. The quarian behind him however...
'I need to be the wall.'
With fluid motions, Shepard stowed his spitfire and flicked his arms downwards, activating his omni-tools. On his left arm, a towering orange shield was brought up in front of him.
On his right arm, something flickered at the end of the omni-tool, dripping something that seemed to instantly combust.
With a below, Wrex barrelled into the foe, shotgun blasting.
"Behind me!" Shepard yelled looking over his shoulder.
Complying, especially as there was no cover to hide behind, Tali practically jumped behind the Titan.
Throwing geth out of the way as he went, Wrex let a few go past for the Titan to deal with. 'No need to be greedy.'
Troopers began to pepper the omni-shield with rapid shots of their plasma weaponry. Moving forwards with careful steps, Shepard tried to keep Tali behind him. If a single shot managed to get through her suit, it could very easily be life-threatening.
A mechanical whine echoed through the chamber and a quick glance showed Wrex wrestling with a geth prime.
The sound of steps however reminded Shepard of the group of geth troopers trying to get around his shield on both sides.
"Tali, get the prime." Shepard ordered.
Flexing his right hand, the omni-flamer sparked to life and in a torrent of flames arced out to lick against the geth troopers.
Changing his stance, he kept himself between Tali and the geth while continuing to spray them with fire.
Tali took careful aim with her pistol at the Prime and pulled the trigger, the sound of squealing geth and a torrent of fire to her left.
With her in-depth knowledge of the geth, she knew where to shoot. Two shots from her pistol impacted in the right knee joint of the Prime. With the weight of a large krogan forcing its strength against it, the Prime's knee buckled.
A quick succession of audible snaps could be heard as the Prime went to one knee. Wining as it was forced down, it continued to struggle. Looking upwards, it was graced by the sight of Wrex's head plate smashing down.
While still recoiling from the metal cracking impact, the Prime was jostled and pushed slightly away, creating a small gap between the krogan and the geth. That space was quickly filled with one of Wrex's feet as he pushed against the Prime's chest with his foot and pulled its wrists with his arms.
Seeing that Wrex had things covered, Tali moved out from behind Shepard's omni-shield and fired into the flaming troopers until her heat sink could take no more and needed to be ejected.
All the troopers soon dropped and the sound of tearing metal to the quarians right made her turn. Wrex had ripped off one of the Prime's arms and dislocated the other. As the light in the Prime's eyes guttered out, it was dropped to the floor.
With a satisfied grin, Wrex placed his foot on the geth's chassis and stepped over it, forcing it into the dirt.
Checking his omni-tools, Shepard moved to catch up with the krogan.
Tali popped a new heat sink into her pistol and followed.
Soon after, the three saw a flickering light embedded in a wall, and approached.
"Ghost?" Shepard asked as the little device moved to the flicker.
"It's a message. Can't decipher the language; far too fragmented. I can try to recover some audio maybe?" Shepard's Ghost said as he interfaced with the semi-broken alien technology.
"...late... invading...can't stop...lost to Hive...Reapers control..."
"Wait, I understood some of that." Shepard exclaimed.
"Strange, I can't understand the language." Tali replied. "Maybe it has something to do with the cypher?"
Shepard's Ghost bleeped. "I'll run a continual scan on your brain and compare to scans taken before New Eden. Also, I've managed to run a patch over the security section controlling the doors. We can follow Saren now."
Wrex grumbled. "You sure you're alright with that thing poking around in your brain?"
Shepard nodded and started to move on. "He's fine. If that beacon did something to me, I want to know."
Wrex shrugged. "Fine, but if it starts to take control of you, want me to shoot it?"
"You know it's on my person for the most part? So you'd have to shoot me." Shepard replied.
"My offer still stands." Wrex said with a smile.
In quick order, the group made their way back to the mako and clambered inside. Shepard noticed that Tali gripped onto a beam with her three fingers and braced herself ever so slightly.
Turning his head to look ahead, Shepard quickly, but smoothly set them going after the rogue Spectre.
As they travelled down what looked like a canal, the group noticed what looked like pods set back into or ejected from the wall sporadically.
"Incredible..." Shepard's Ghost said. "These look like stasis pods. The Protheans must have been trying to keep their civilisation alive down here. But all these pods look inactive... I wonder what happened."
Suddenly, a wall of glowing energy appeared before the mako.
Shepard slammed on the brakes causing Tali and Wrex who were unprepared to jolt forwards.
"Ugh..." Tali moaned as she cupped her helmet's face plate.
"Remind me where you learnt to drive this thing." Wrex grumbled as he moved to one of the doors.
"New Eden. We had a testing day for the people who developed these. Damn did we put them through their paces. I died twice!" Shepard said remembering the times fondly.
The sound of grinding old stone groaned besides the Mako. Opening one of the doors, Shepard leaned out. "A doorway has opened up over here."
Jumping out, the three of them made their way to the opening that had appeared.
Drawing weapons and moving closer, the fireteam cautiously moved forwards.
An old descending bridge sloped away from them. At its end something flickered.
Shepard silently signalled them to follow.
"You are not of the machines, yet not prothean. This was one of many possibilities anticipated."
Shepard, Wrex and Tali all looked at the flickering, twisting light before them.
"It looks like some sort of damaged VI." Tali said, quickly activating her omni-tool and scanning the podium.
The light flickered erratically. "I cannot detect the taint of indoctrination upon you. The ones who passed through before you bore this taint freely."
Tali put away her omni-tool. "Incredible. An actual prothean VI. And I can understand it!"
"I have been monitoring the communications of the visitors to this facility and have compiled a working vocabulary. I am Vigl, the monitor of this facility." The prothean VI clarified.
Shepard looked at the flickering lights before him. "What are you and what was your purpose here?"
"I am a non-organic interface system responsible for the upkeep of this instillation and to aid you in breaking the cycle." Vigl explained.
"Doesn't look like you've been doing much 'upkeeping'." Wrex said with a smile, looking at the overgrown vegetation.
Before Vigl could retort, Shepard interrupted. "What cycle are we talking about?"
"The Citadel is the heart of current galactic civilisation, as it has been for most previous civilisations that came before. But the Citadel is a trap. It is an enormous mass relay that connects directly to dark space. There, the Reaper fleet awaits within that empty horizon. When the Citadel relay is active, the Reaper fleet floods through, removing the centralized governing body of the galaxy before it knows it's at war." Vigil explained.
"Surely you protheans had enough backbone to fight back." Wrex stated.
"The prothean empire stretched from one end of the galaxy to another. Every civilization became part of the greater whole. However, due to this, everyone used the same technologies, the same tactics. We became predictable. Our greatest strength became our undoing. All our technology was based on designs of Citadel technology; Reaper technology. We evolved through the guidelines set by the Reapers. After they took the Citadel, they began the slow eradication of the empire." Vigil recalled.
Shepard didn't want to believe that a threat on this scale was right around the corner; but as a Guardian, it was his duty to face unkind truths. "How do we stop this from happening?"
Vigil fuzzed. "The Reapers kept their secrets well hidden, cloaked until it no longer matters. The keepers maintain the Citadel's most basic functions. This enables any species that discovered the station to utilize it without fully comprehending the technology behind it. This allowed the Reapers plan to proceed unhindered. This is what you will need to change."
"How did you stay hidden?" Shepard asked, secretly concerned that the Reapers had found this place and had set a trap for any would be prothean survivors.
"When a civilisation reaches what the Reapers deem as ready for annihilation, a single Reaper left behind to monitor the galaxy contacts the keepers who activate the Citadel relay, allowing the Reapers unimpeded access to the galaxy. With all the centralized data of the Empire, the Reapers knew everything about us, every colony, every hidden bunker." Vigil began. "Yet all records were purged during the initial invasion. While the prothean Empire came crashing down, Ilos endured. We cut all communication, and the staff retreated underground."
"Makes sense." Wrex rumbled. "Bunker down till the radiation storm passes."
"Once the Reaper threat had passed, I woke the remaining scientists. They used their last years to concoct a way to hinder the Reapers on the next cycle. A chance for hope. They used the Conduit as a way to secret themselves onto the Citadel. After decades of feverish study, they found the hope they were looking for. The keepers, which are the trigger for the invasion would need to be altered; sabotaged. This time, when Sovereign sent the signal to the keepers, it was ignored. The Reapers are trapped in dark space." Vigil said with a coldness only a VI could manage.
"And how do you plan for us to keep them there?" Shepard pressed.
"There's a data file in my console. Upon reaching the Citadel's master control unit, upload it. It will corrupt the Citadels security system and the backlash should stun Sovereign. Our hope was that it would give you temporary control over the Citadel and an opportunity to destroy a Reaper."
"Ghost." Shepard said, raising an arm and opening a hand. "Is this safe for you to download?"
The little light drifted over to the console and gave it quick scan. Satisfied, he downloaded the contents. "It's designed for Citadel tech, it's no threat to me."
"Right then, Saren's got enough of a head start. Let's make up for lost time." Shepard said and turned.
Tali wanted to groan, knowing what that statement entailed.
Pausing, Shepard quickly turned back. "Ghost, get all the data you can from Vigil. Quick as you can."
Drifting back with more urgency, Shepard's Ghost downloaded vast swathes of information as Vigil made it readily available.
"The one you call Saren has not yet reached the Conduit. There is still hope. Avenge us." Vigil ended.
Authors note:
Hi everyone!
Sorry this chapter took so long to get out. I hope you've all had fun reading it.
The next chapter should round off this story arc and should be a big one so I'm looking forward to finishing it!
Anywho, back into the darkness with me!
