I don't own either Mass Effect or AvP.
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USM Mt Everest
"Admiral Hackett, sir, we have a situation."
"Of course, we do." Hackett looked up from the report he'd been studying. "What is it?"
"USM Signal intelligence has picked up a transmission from the Amazon system in the Voyager cluster, sir."
It took the admiral a moment to check what system his aid was talking about. the Voyager cluster was, technically, part of the United Systems' territory. Still, in practice, it was mostly empty, a buffer system that the military occasionally patrolled but ultimately of little value. "Unstable red giant, no permanent settlements. What's the source of the transmission?"
"According to SigInt, it's from an old probe. One of those long-range recon units based on an ASAT missile frame that we used during the First Contact War."
"After all this time?" Hackett's eyebrows rose. "I remember those probes. They were supposed to facilitate long-range scouting. We sent about half-a-dozen of them through Relay 288 in the early stages of the First Contact War. Most of them were never heard off again, though they did yield some useful intel. Curious that one should show up now. But what is the big problem? Those things are old news."
"Sir," the junior officer hesitated. "The people at SigInt checked the specs on those probes. They were looking for anything that might still be classified and needed to be recovered. It turns out there was, sir." He held out his data-pad.
Hackett looked and froze. "It carried what?"
"A nuclear warhead, sir. Not one of the big ones that we put on the ASAT missiles. Just a tactical nuke to make sure that the probe would not fall into the wrong hands."
"A nuclear warhead for a self-destruct." Hackett shook his head. "And that thing is somewhere on the border with Citadel Space, after travelling around the relay network for God knows how long and we have no idea how it ended up in that position."_E
"Yes, sir."
"Damn it." The admiral stared at the galaxy map that was on permanent display on the wall of his cabin. "It's too close to the border. At any other time, I'd send in a fleet unit to investigate and retrieve that thing. But right now, with tensions this high..." He shook his head. "No, it's too much of a risk. Right now, the best we can do is ignore the problem and hope that nobody gets curious about that signal and tries to investigate." Hackett looked at the map again, and his eyes narrowed. "Unless- what's the latest news on Normandy?"
"Normandy? Sir, what.."
"Yes, Normandy. I know she's on detached duty and I know why. But where is she exactly? Right now!"
-o-o-o-
Exogeni HQ
"Well, well," Shepard said. "Dr Baynham junior has some explaining to do."
"And not just her," Liara commented. "If this is true, your Exogeni Company has been using those people as test subjects. And the company doesn't even know what it is they're testing on them!"
"Hardly mine; I'm not that rich. But I get your point." Lizbeth Baynham's ID card had been very useful. So useful, that Shepard suspected that the scientist had planned for them to find this information. Not that that made things much better.
"So, if I understand this correctly, this Thorian, whatever the hell it is, is living directly underneath the colony and it has some form of mind-control." Shepard snorted. "A plant that uses mind-control. Okay, why not? At least this explains why the colonists were behaving so strangely. And, instead of doing the right thing and immediately pulling those people out, Exogeni decided to leave them in place and see what happens. I can see why they would want to study this. And corporations being corporations, they'd do it like this, rather than try to set up a properly sanctioned experiment. Hell, if they informed the United Systems about a plant that can use mind-control, Exogeni might get booted off the planet, and the military would take over. No way they'd risk that. The question is, have we been affected as well, and, if so, to what extent? We spend several hours in and around that colony."
"But mostly with our helmets on because of the geth," Liara said. "If the data here is correct and this thorian-thing uses spores, then we'd need to breathe those in for it to work and they'd never get through the helmet filters. The colonists have been here for months, and most of that time they must have been just breathing in the air directly."
"I guess we'll have to thank the geth then." Shepard shrugged. "In any case, it's not something we can help. And we cannot warn the others either—all the more reason to get that jamming field down. Let's get that done first. And when we're done, we're going to have a little talk with our Exogeni friends." She hesitated. "Still, I'm beginning to think Baynham was right. This must be what the geth are after. Or Saren, if he ever was here. It is just too much of a coincidence that this creature happens to live on the planet where the geth just happen to land."
-o-o-o-
Zhu's Hope, Feros
"Fall back! Fall back!" A stray round hit his shields just before he ducked, but did not overload them. With a last look at the colony, Lieutenant Alenko turned away and started running up the stairs. As he moved, he checked the moving dots on his HUD again. The tally gave him the correct number
Everyone accounted for. I suppose that's reason to be grateful.
At least, everyone accounted for on his side. Two colonists, who had tried to block their path as they fell back, were either dead or at least incapacitated. That was not good. Meanwhile, the drone he had left behind in the colony was showing him that more of the locals were following, brandishing weapons and yelling something about defending or protecting it. They were not making a whole lot of sense, and Alenko was not going to risk his life, or that of any of his people, trying to get an explanation out of them.
"Estanza, get the quarian to sickbay! Williams, Vakarian take cover near the ship in case they follow us up there." He checked his tactical display. Shepard's locator had disappeared a while ago. Not all that surprising between the urban landscape and the geth jamming, but it meant that he could not inform her of the situation. And with the colonists between him and the skyway, there was no way to send a party after the commander either. All he could do was wait and hope that she'd resurface soon.
-o-o-o-
Exogeni HQ
"Alright, Let's try the next room. If my estimate is correct, we're on the level where that ship is docked. If we can cut the power from the ship to whatever jamming they've set up, at least we'll be able to warn Normandy about the thorian."
The three of them moved forward. Wrex in the lead, Shepard in the centre and Liara bringing up the rear. So far, geth resistance had been more of a nuisance than an actual threat. They were scattered all over the building in small groups that could be overcome rapidly before reinforcements arrived.
The krogan froze at the door.
"We've got a problem." Wrex' voice could be surprisingly soft when he wanted it to be.
"What is it?"
"That isn't just a room. I think it's some kind of airlock for docking ships. It's a big area."
"Let me guess. It also has lots of geth."
"Oh, yes."
"Right. I guess this is where things get interesting. What's the terrain like?"
"We're going to enter on some sort of balcony that overlooks the main area. No sentry here." Wrex scoffed. "Stupid flashlights."
"Hey, be grateful for small mercies."
"Right. Anyways. There is a stair down. But that isn't the worst of it. Just from what little I can see, that area downstairs is littered with crap. Containers, fallen pieces of the building, all kinds of stuff. And their ship is latched on to the side with some sort of mechanical claw. If there is more geth inside, they can pin us down, the moment we engage them. And forget about falling back up the stairs. They'd cut us to pieces."
I see. So, what about this upper walkway. How well-protected is it? "
"Stone side barrier. It should stop bullets from a rifle, but their heavy weapons would just chew through it. And if they bring one of those rocket launchers, they can blast us off."
Shepard nodded. "Okay. We'll stay as low as possible and the split up. You and I, we go down the stairs and spread out. Catch them in a crossfire. T'Soni, stay on the walkway. You'll be able to project biotics over whatever crap they have down there, while we draw their fire."
"Draw their fire, right," Wrex grumbled. "That shouldn't be too hard."
"Exactly. And if we can deal with the ones here quickly enough, then we can trap the rest inside that ship. And see what we can do about blocking access to the building."
Shepard started crawling forward, careful to stay below the stone barrier. For Wrex that would be pretty much impossible, considering his bulk. However, one of the nice things about fighting geth was that their attention didn't wander. They didn't stand somewhere and look around for no other reason than they were bored. While it presumably made them efficient, it reduced the chance of being observed.
As she reached the stairs, Shepard risked a glance into the room. It was indeed quite a mess, with crates, equipment and chunks of concrete, or whatever the protheans used for their buildings scattered around the room. At the far side, a large opening gave access to the outside. About half-a-dozen geth platforms were moving around the room, working on some of the equipment. So far they seemed oblivious to her presence.
Now to get down. Shepard checked behind her to make sure the others were in position. Alright. Here goes nothing!
Somewhat to her surprise, Shepard had almost reached the bottom of the staircase before the geth noticed what was happening. One of the platforms moved, its head turning toward her.
"Now!"
Shepard jumped the last two steps, then dove for the ground. A burst of high-velocity bullets from the geth flew over her head as she hit the ground and kept rolling. Need to get to cover!
Fortunately, that was not much of a problem. The debris lying around the open area provided plenty of shelter from incoming fire. Out of the corner of her eye, Shepard saw Wrex, huddled behind the stairs as he unloaded his shotgun into one of the geth. Nice.
A quick look established the situation for her. There were at least three more platforms with a direct line fo fire on their position and on of them. Fuck! She saw the geth lift a tubelike device.
"Rocket!"
Wrex jumped back, trying to get more cover at the same time that the geth, who had quite correctly judged that at close range a krogan was a greater threat than a human, fired. The rocket hit the back wall behind Wrex and send a rain of debris in all directions.
Shepard fired almost at the same time, unloading a quick burst of automatic fire into the geth platform. Return fire slashed across the room, and she felt the impacts on her kinetic barrier. Shepard dropped down behind her cover. Not enough! Need to get that rocket out of play.
Even as she tried to find an angle from which to shoot the rocket trooper without exposing herself to fire from the other platforms, there was a crash. As she looked, Shepard saw the geth platform topple over under the impact of a blue wave of biotic energy.
Nice!
Not only had the biotic wave taken out the already weakened platform, but it also served as a distraction. Another geth turned and looked up, taking its weapon away from Shepard's position. She rose and fired a burst of automatic fire into the geth's shield. Another geth fired at her and she felt her barriers collapse, but there was no follow-up as the shooting platform fell backwards under the blast of Wrex's shotgun. Her own target turned back toward her, even as she switched to her primary weapon. The heavy, armour-piercing round hit the geth in what passed for its head, which shattered under the impact.
Three down!
Shepard moved forward, noticing that Wrex kept pace with her on the other side.
"How many did you see?"
"I make it two more, and whatever they may still have inside that ship," Wrex answered.
"That's my count too. T'Soni? You agree with that?
"Yes, commander."
"Alright then. Look sharp. It looks like at least these metal freaks know how to use cover." Shepard scanned the room. The two remaining geth were out of sight.
"Commander," The asari spoke again. I think I can see- They're behind a fallen pillar, halfway in the room. I cannot get a good angle unless I stand up and-"
"Don't." Shepard's voice was sharp. Even with the add-on armour plates, the asari was not all that well protected. All it would take was one stray round going between the plates and she'd be in serious trouble."
"But I think I can..." There was a moment's hesitation. "I cannot get them both, but if I lift one out with a singularity-" another pause. "Wrex, if I lift the one furthest from me out, can you detonate it?"
"Hehe" Wrex's chuckle sounded almost human. "I like how you think, Blue. Do it!"
A black-blue-ish spot appeared in the middle of the room and within a second, a get platform, struggling vainly against the force that lifted it up drifted out off cover. Shepard lined up a shot, but before she could even aim, Wrex lashed out and a blue-purplish ripple reached out and intersected with the floating geth. There was a flash, a bang and the broken platform was hurled across the room. A second platform, which had clearly been hiding nearby was tossed out of cover. Shepard adjusted aim and fired, blasting the platform apart with gunfire before it could recover.
She shook her head. "Show-offs." Still, it had been a useful demonstration. Human biotics were still extremely rare. Having more than one available to work together was almost unheard off, so this kind of cooperation was almost never seen.
"Alright people, look sharp and let's make sure they don't send in anyone else."
-o-o-o-
USM Normandy
"Alright." Dr Chakwas stared at her new patient. "Now what?"
The quarian seemed to have passed out, which was probably a good thing, considering that she had been slung over someone's shoulder and then carried about for a considerable amount of time, all with an open wound across her torso. The problem was what to do about it now. With her patient still unconscious, the doctor was unable to get any kind of information, and it was not as though human medical libraries had abundant information on quarian physiology. Neither was Chakwas eager to wake her up. Once she did that, she'd be stuck with a patient that was awake while undergoing surgery and no clear idea what kind of anaesthetic she could safely use. Better to leave her unconscious while they figured out what to do about the injury. Fortunately, the wound was not very deep. In a human patient, it would be easy enough to fix. The main concern was an infection. And, with a quarian patient, that was a big concern.
From what little she'd learned, the quarian's environmental suit would have flooded her systems with their version of antibiotics the moment it detected a breach. That might keep her alive, but not forever. And the surgery would require removing more of the suit, which would almost certainly compromise what functionality it still had. She could use the dextro-aminoacid version of medigel to continue fighting the infection, but that left her with the problem of how to work on the wound. She would need to take special precautions, despite the limitations of a frigate's small sickbay, because doing it by hand on a standard operating table was out of the question with a patient this vulnerable.
The doctor's eye fell on the automated surgery unit that took up one corner of the compartment. It was state of the art, the best that human medical technology could produce, and capable of carrying out a wide variety of procedures with only minimal supervision. But that was on humans. There was a software package for various non-human species. Still, it was a beta-version that came with a long list of disclaimers, and there was no way she would trust experimental software even for something as relatively simple as cleaning and closing a wound. Unless-
It has a manual setting. Basically, it just becomes a surgical robot, manipulated from the outside. And its internal environment is fully sterile. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't bother to use it just to set a few stitches, but-
-o-o-o-
Exogeni HQ
"Alright Ms Prothean expert, what are we looking at?"
There had been no further sign of geth activity. Either they had run out of platforms, or they had decided that retaking the dock was a lost cause. Either way, it had given Shepard, and her companions, ample opportunity to search the area. One side of the room was basically one large garage door that had been opened, so the geth ship could extend a metal claw into the room that kept it fixed to the building. It also allowed for several power cables, running from the ship toward various pieces of geth equipment. To the side was a piece of prothean technology that seemed to be the control panel for the door mechanism.
Liara was studying the mechanism. "It's supposed to open and close the doors, but somebody hacked the system." She gingerly manipulated one of the controls. "They shut down the safety protocols. This is dangerous! Prothean technology is good, but it's fifty millennia old. You shouldn't tamper with it."
Shepard grimaced. "Exactly what are those safety protocols for? I mean: It's a door, it opens and closes. What else is it supposed to do?"
"It's about obstructions. What the mechanism is supposed to do when something is blocking the door. That door is heavy, and exceedingly strong. In its normal settings, the door stops if there is anything in the way, but they shut that down. Right now, the mechanism can just keep going. It's only a matter of applying more pressure."
"Really?" Shepard turned and looked at the metal claw that secured the geth ship to the side of the building. "You're telling me, that that door can come down on that claw with as much power as we can feed into the mechanism, and no safety override?"
"Well, yes, but-"
"Then, what are we waiting for? Let's bring that sucker down as hard as we can on top of the claw. If nothing else, it will probably cut the power cables. If we're lucky, it'll cut the claw, and the ship gets dislodged."
"If we're lucky..." Liara shook her head. "And if we're not lucky it may explode. There is a high-pressure mechanism operating that door. It's fifty millennia-old, at least, and you want me to make it do something for which it was never designed."
"Pretty much, yes." Shepard sighed. "Look, I don't insist on standing next to it when it happens. Just put it in motion, and while the pressure on that door builds up, we run for cover. That fallen pillar those geth used works both ways."
"I- very well, Commander." Liara turned back toward the controls. "But you'd better stand back. There is no way to tell how much this system can stand."
"Check."
The asari manipulated the controls. Adjusted a lever, a second one. "You might want to start running, just about...Now!" She turned around and sprinted away, blueish biotic barrier forming around her, even as she moved. Both Shepard and Wrex followed suit.
Just as they dove behind the fallen pillar, there was a tremendous crash, a shriek of twisting, tearing metal, another crash and a billowing cloud of steam and dust. For several seconds, they stayed behind the stone cover, then Shepard stood up.
"Well now. That's impressive."
-o-o-o-
USM Normandy
"First phase complete. Now for the tough part." Dr Chakwas checked the vital signs of her patient again. Not that she had all that much information as to what they should be, but at least there had been no rapid changes which was usually a good sign. The quarian still wore her environmental suit, even inside the autodoc, but Chakwas had widened the tear in the fabric so she could access the wound. Using the autodoc as a surgical robot had not been as easy as the designers promised, but that was a common complaint. Unlike humans, the automatic system was not limited to having only two hands and took full advantage of that fact. It usually operated half a dozen or more appendices at a time, which meant that Chakwas constantly had to switch between the various robot arms she was operating. The simple solution -to redesign the control so that multiple physicians could work together- had been suggested repeatedly but somehow never made it into the production models. Still, though she had not been able to work as quickly as she would have liked, the wound was now clean and liberally coated with medigel. All that remained for her to do was to close it somehow, and that presented her with a bit of a dilemma.
No biochemical sealant; not on this patient. That stuff is strictly for levo-chiral patients. No self-dissolving thread either. It doesn't contain any amino acids, but there is no way to predict how it will react with her body chemistry, and an allergic reaction could be fatal. The standard thread is safer, but still a risk for allergies. Staples it is. It won't look pretty, and removing them will be awkward, but surgical steel is about as inert as things can be. Besides, who is going to see it anyway underneath that suit? Speaking of which, I'll have to think about what we can do to fix it. Maybe Adams has some ideas. Otherwise, we'll just have to wait till she wakes up.
Chakwas shrugged. That was a worry for later. If necessary, they could simply lock the quarian into the sterile room they had built for her. Not a pleasant way to spend the rest of the voyage, however long it might take, but better than having her immune system collapse completely.
-o-o-o-
Exogeni HQ
"That was the last one. No more jamming!"
"Good." Shepard looked at the wreckage of the geth setup. The prothean predilection for overengineering had once again impressed her. The falling door had effectively cut the docking claw of the geth ship in half, sending it tumbling off the building, in the process also tearing up the power cables. The primary jamming source had gone with it, and the few portable jamming devices had been easy enough to shut down. "Let's see what Alenko has to say."
She activated her long-distance comm. "Shepard to Normandy, I repeat: Shepard to Normandy What is your status?"
There was a moment's pause, then:
"Commander? This is Alenko. We've fallen back to Normandy. The colonists are going insane! They tried to attack us!"
Shepard swore. "If it isn't one thing... have they approached the ship?"
"Not yet, ma'am, but-"
"Good. Hold position where you are for the moment. According to the data from Exogeni, there is a biological agent going around that influences behaviour. Keep your helmets sealed at all times and do not let them near you. And whatever you do, do NOT let them inside the ship. If necessary, use lethal force."
"Ma'am..." There was a moment's silence. "Yes, ma'am."
"Good. We cannot afford to take risks with this. Meanwhile, I have one last stop to make, and then we'll be on our way back. I'll contact you once we're back at the colony. We may need your help to fight through."
"Yes, ma'am. Commander, there is something else. Estanza and Zorah ran into xenomorphs down in the tunnels below the colony. Zorah was injured.
"Xeno-" Shepard swore harshly. "Sure, why the fuck not? We wouldn't want things to get to easy, now would we. Well, that just makes it even more necessary that you keep Normandy sealed off. And make sure Zorah and Estanza get checked for infestation. I don't care what they say; we're not taking any risks."
-o-o-o-
Presidium, the Citadel
It was not often that the turian Councillor personally gave instructions to a junior officer, but sometimes it was necessary. The fewer people involved, the better.
"Lieutenant Victus?"
"Yes, sir."
"I have new orders for you. We have received an update on the situation on Virmire. STG has received a distress signal from their ground team. Proceed immediately to the Hoc system. Upon arrival, you will receive your final instructions."
Sparatus sent the latest information and watched as the officer on the other end of the connection scanned the data.
"You understand the situation, Lieutenant?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Prepare to deploy your unit to Virmire, but do no land yet. We'll wait for a follow-up report from STG. If they manage to regain control of the situation, very well. You will resume your patrol duties and forget that this planet was ever mentioned. If not..."
"Then we take over. I understand, sir."
"Exactly. Now, pay attention, Lieutenant, because I will not say this again. In fact, I am not saying it at all, as far as anyone but you and I are concerned. This is not just a situation of STG getting themselves into trouble. Have you heard of the situation regarding Spectre Arterius, and the attack on the human colony?
Even on the small scale of the haptic display, Sparatus could see the change in the Lieutenant's posture.
"I have heard some rumours, sir."
"Good. Because there are some things that you need to know."
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A/N Please keep in mind that I have no medical knowledge other than watching re-runs of E.R and a few conversations I had a long time ago with a roommate who was doing his residency. Anything I write that involves medical procedures should not be taken too seriously. However, I did think for a while about how you would treat a patient as fragile as a quarian, and this is what I came up with.
In any case, from the moment I saw Prometheus, I knew I had to use that autodoc for something. And no, this one does not have the idiotic restriction that it can only work on male patients. Seriously, who comes up with that? It's purely a plot contrivance to make the scene where Noomi Rapace cuts an alien baby out of her stomach more intense, but in real-world terms, it makes no sense at all to design such an expensive piece of equipment with such restrictions. If you were going to build things like this, you would make them as versatile as possible.