Chapter 3
The last few days Shepard took the time to insure supplies and everything were in order to start his mission. He had decided that it would be a good idea to go after Matriarch Benezia's daughter Liara T'soni. Her last known location was on a planet called Therum. The Normandy was about an hour from the planet so Shepard decided to debrief his ground team on the mission at hand.
After the debrief he ordered his ground team to gear up and be on standby. He wasn't gonna take everyone with him but wanted them to be ready in case he needed them. Shepard had decided to take Wrex for his battle prowess, Tali her tech attacks, and Kaiden for a deadly combination of both of their biotics with him to recover Dr T'soni.
Shepard had just finished talking to Garrus about the mako, making sure that the vehicle was battle ready with all the modifications he had made on it. Turning around, he noticed that Kaiden and the other two were waiting by the shuttle. Shepard smiled, "Lieutenant, we aren't taking the shuttle down."
Kaiden looked at him with a confused look "Commander then what are we taking to get planet side?"
Shepard jerked his hand back directing it towards the mako "What do you think Lieutenant?"
"Oh that's just fantastic Commander, can't wait" He replied, shaking his head and making his way towards the mako.
"We are taking this Shepard? This is gonna be fun." Wrex laughed.
Tali walked up to Shepard and tilted her head to the side "Shepard, why did Kaiden sound so disappointed about taking the mako?"
"Don't worry Tali, you're gonna find out." Shepard laughed.
"Uhm, ok then." Tali replied nervously.
Shepard turned his attention to the rest of his squad "Alright everyone we are doing a mako drop. While in the mako, I want you Tali in the seat next to me. The console there will allow you to control the shields and keep track of the overall integrity of it. Kaiden I want you on the gun. Wrex, well I guess just sit in the back and enjoy the ride." Everyone loaded into the mako and awaited for Joker's signal.
"Alright Commander." Joker said. "You're good to drop in 30."
"Thanks Joker. Wish us luck." Shepard smirked while revving the engine to the mako.
Tali looked over to Shepard "Uhhmm Shepard… the Normandy will be bringing us closer to the ground right?" Shepard looked over at her and smiled. "Shepard?"
"Tali, you'll be fine." Shepard said while putting a hand on her shoulder. "Trust me.".
Upon feeling him touch her shoulder and hearing him try to reassure her, Tali felt a little more at ease. But she was still definitely nervous. "Ok Shepard, I trust you." I don't understand why I feel so comfortable around him. He's always taking time to make sure that I'm taken care of and he always comes down and talks to me while I work in engineering. He always sits with me in the mess so I'm not eating alone. I've only known him for a few days but he always makes me feel welcomed, like an equal.
"Glad to hear it."
"You've got the green light Commander, good to drop." Stated Joker.
"Got it Joker. I'll call you when we are ready for a pick up." Shepard replied. Shepard slammed his foot on the gas and the mako barreled out of the Normandy , falling towards the planet.
"Oh keelaaah!" Tali screamed and she grabbed onto Shepard's arm holding like her life depended on it. Shepard just smiled. Wrex laughed the entire time while they descended towards the planet. Finally the mako was getting close to the ground so Shepard used the mako's thrusters to break the fall. The thrusters activated, breaking the mako's fall leaving a bit of a jerking motion when it's wheels made contact with the ground.
"You Alright Tali?" Shepard asked with a smirk.
Tali's eyes shot open, she hadn't even realized that she had latched onto him during the fall. She felt her face burn up and felt extremely embarrassed. "Oh, I'm uhm sorry Sh-Shepard." She quickly pulled herself away and put her focus on the console in front of her. How embarrassing. She thought to herself.
Shepard chuckled at Tali's sudden change of demeanor. "It's alright Tali. You know you could have just asked" He said in a joking manner. It was moments like this that Tali was really glad to have the visor blocking her face since she was positive that her blushing would be extremely obvious to everyone without it. Wrex just sat back watching everything and found it amusing the way Shepard and Tali interacted.
"Commander I'm getting some strange readings." Joker said. "Like really strange, they're coming from an underground facility a few clicks away from the dropzone."
"Well that's where we are going then, thanks Joker. I'll radio you when we are ready for pick up."
"Aye aye Commander." Replied Joker.
The mako made its way across the rough terrain that is Therum. Pits of lava covered the planet making it difficult in certain cases to get to the facility. Tali, watching the mako's radar, noticed something approaching them. "Geth dropship incoming! It's dropping two armatures Shepard."
"For once I thought just maybe this would be a simple pick up mission." Shepard stated.
"Well it wouldn't be a very fun mission without something to shoot at." Wrex added. Shepard just shook his head and smirked.
"Kaiden take the first armature out! Tali direct more power to the mako's shields. We are gonna need the extra shields for the time being."
"Shepard what are you planning to do?" Tali asked.
"Nothing crazy really. Just gonna ram the other armature into the lava right there." Shepard replied.
Tali shook her head and rolled her eyes, something she's been picking up from the human crew on the ship. "Keelah, of course you are. Don't even know why I asked."
"Come on Tali, you should know I like to make things interesting." Shepard added with a smirk.
Kaiden successfully destroyed the first armature with the mako's cannon while Shepard used the mako as a battering ram to knock the other armature into the lava. After dealing with the armatures they met very little resistance. Mainly just small groups of geth troops and an occasional juggernaut but none of them stood much of a chance compared to the mako's superior armor and weaponry. Finally they came up onto a crevice.
"Shepard, going through that crevice is the only way to the complex and the mako isn't gonna be able to fit through it." Tali said.
Shepard sighed "Alright everyone, out of the mako. We are going on foot from here."
"Haa now this is really gonna be fun." Wrex added. "Wouldn't be any fun if I didn't get to shoot or hit anything." The squad made their way through the small crevice and came to a stop when they spotted a huge gathering of geth before the facility.
"Contacts! Weapons free everyone! Tali see what you can do about some of those Geth." Shepard ordered.
Tali nodded "On it Shepard." Tali pulled up her omi-tool, sabotaging some of the geth's weapons and turning some of them against each other, making a geth rocket trooper turn its attention over to its allies and firing multiple rockets into them.
Shepard turned over to his krogan."Wrex, do what you do best."
Wrex nodded and charged the geth laughing, really enjoying himself. "Ha this is too easy." He said ramming full speed into a couple of troopers. One crushed under his foot and the other sent flying. With his brute strength ripping limbs off and blowing away others with his shotgun. Wrex turned his focus over to the geth juggernaut, charging full speed at it.
"It's a good thing he's on our side." Shepard said as he blasted a geth troop away with his rifle. "Lieutenant I'll throw a singularity and you detonate it." Kaiden nodded in agreement and Shepard threw the singularity into four geth troopers, causing them to all levitate off the ground. In response Kaiden threw a small ball of biotic energy into the singularity causing a massive explosion, making geth bits go everywhere.
The explosion caught Tali's attention and she was quite amazed at what the Commander and Lieutenant had just done by just using biotics. She had no idea that something like that was even possible. Snapping her attention back to the battle at hand she watched Wrex charging the juggernaut. Stupid bosh'tet, always charging in without any plan like a brute. Tali thought to herself. So she whipped her omni-tool out and sabotaged the geth's weapon leaving it almost defenseless against the charging krogan. Wrex tackled the juggernaut to the ground ripping one of its arms off making the white fluid go all over the krogan. Wrex then proceeded to beat the ever living hell out of the geth with its own arm until it finally stopped moving, afterwards for a good measure Wrex pulled out his shotgun and blasted the geth's flashlight head multiple times until there was nothing left of it, just the white fluids from the geth splattered all over the ground and himself.
The group made their way closer to the facility picking off any stragglers. Just as they had finished the last unit off a geth dropship appeared above dropping down an armature.
"Armature! Everyone find cover!" Shepard ordered. "Tali can you do something about those shields?"
"Of course Shepard, just give me a minute. Can't believe I'm saying this but I kinda miss the mako at the moment." Shepard just smirked at Tali's comment. Tali worked at her omni-tool while the team took potshots at the armature, drawing it's attention away from her. Finally the armature's shields came down leaving it completely vulnerable. Everyone opened fire on it, using tech attacks, launching biotics, and throwing grenades to bring the machine down. After taking too much damage the armature toppled over and died.
The team took a moment after their firefight to take a breather. "Shepard, Kaiden what was that thing you two did? Like you know, how did you cause that big explosion by just using your biotics?" Tali asked.
"You're talking about the biotic explosion right? Well it's quite simple really, when I threw out my singularity and Alenko followed up with his own biotic attack into mine it caused them to react with one another making that big ol explosion." Shepard explained.
"I must say Shepard I didn't even know you could do that, it was really impressive." Tali exclaimed.
Shepard shook his head and smiled "Alright everyone let's get back to the task at hand. We need to stay focused." Everyone nodded their head, while Kaiden replied with an 'aye aye sir'. The team began moving towards the facility and entered it. Walking down a long corridor they found themselves entering the dig site.
"Strange, Shepard it looks like the caves here formed around the prothean complex." Tali explained, snapping herself back to the mission. Everyone took a lift down, coming to a stop they stepped off it and walked towards a big doorway that was blocked by a shield barrier. Behind the barrier was an asari suspended in the air.
"Hello, is there someone out there? Can anybody help me… please?" The asari pleaded.
Shepard and team approached the barrier stopping right in front of it. "Well I'm gonna take a wild guess that your Dr. Liara T'soni, right?"
"Thank the Goddess!" Gasped the asari. "I-I didn't think anyone would come looking for me. Oh and you guessed correctly, I am Liara. But who exactly are you?" Liara asked.
Shepard stood up straight putting his hands behind his back. "I'm Commander Shepard, Alliance. First human spectre."
"You're a spectre… wow. Anyways listen I am trapped in this prothean security device. I can't move so I need your help getting out of it." Liara explained.
"Oh ok sure, I'll get right on that." Shepard said sarcastically. "But before I do that, you're gonna answer a question of mine. Your mother Matriarch Benezia, she's working for Saren. Now I need to know if I'm gonna get shot in the back the second my guard is down."
"She's what!" Liara gasped. "Why would she… you have to believe me I may be Benezia's daughter but I'm nothing like her. I haven't spoken with her in years." Liar said while her voice got low and quiet.
"Alright fine, I'll get you out of there but I am gonna make something very clear. I don't like liars. If you are lying to me, it's not gonna end too well for you." Shepard explained. "Now how the hell do we get you out?"
"Well the controls to the security device are behind me inside this room. So you're gonna have to find a way past this barrier but please be careful there is a krogan here that's leading the geth." Liara warned.
Shepard nodded and he made his way to a second lift with his team following behind. Wrex chuckled "A krogan working with geth. This mission just got much more interesting, Shepard when we encounter that krogan he's mine."
"By all means Wrex. I don't want to go toe to toe with a krogan when I've got you to do that for me." Shepard said with a smirk. Wrex gave him a sinister smile and laughed in response.
Tali ran up and was now walking side by side with the Commander. "Shepard, do you think we can trust her?" Tali asked. "We are pretty much asking if she is willing to go against her own mother."
"Honestly Tali." Shepard sighed. "I don't know if we can trust her. Regardless we still need to get her out of that barrier."
Tali nodded "I suppose you're right Shepard." They all entered the lift and it descended further down. When it stopped they all stepped off and noticed that the doorway on this level was also blocked so they had to find another way into the complex.
"Everyone spread out and see if there are any other ways inside." Shepard ordered. Everyone went about looking around.
"Commander!" Kaiden yelled. "Come here and take a look at this."
"What you got Lieutenant?" Shepard asked while he approached him.
"Well sir, we got ourselves a mining laser here. Maybe we could perhaps use this to gain entry into the facility." Kaiden explained. His explanation of using the laser peaked Tali's interest so she joined the two.
"Kaiden, that's not a bad idea, I would have never thought of that!" Tali agreed.
"Indeed" Kaiden replied. "And to top it all off this laser is in working condition."
"Alright Lieutenant, fire up that laser then." Shepard ordered. Kaiden worked at the mining lasers interface and the laser shot into the ground leaving a hole that led right into the facility. The team all dropped down after Shepard ordered everyone down. After the big thud of Wrex's feet impacting the ground everyone had dropped down into the facility. Slowly making their way down a short corridor the team found themselves stepping onto a lift. Taking the lift up it brought them to the same floor as Liara was on.
"Wha… how did you get in?" Laiara asked.
"A mining laser." Tali chirped.
"A mining laser?" Questioned Liara.
"Nevermind how we got in, maybe we figure out how to get you out." Shepard replied, cutting the unnecessary chatter.
"Oh right" Liara gasped. "The console behind me should drop the barrierer and release me."
Shepard looked at the console and scratched the back of his neck, he then looked over to Tali. "Tali?"
"I'm on it. Tali replied while rolling her eyes. Tali interacted with the console and shortly after Liara dropped down and landed on her hands and knees. "Soooo anyone got any ideas on how we are gonna get out of here?" Tali asked.
"There should be an elevator back there… at least I think it's one. I just don't understand why Saren is after me?" Liara aked. Shortly after her question the facility began to rumble.
"Well I guess we have bigger problems now." Kaiden uttered.
"Agreed." Shepard sighed. "Liara I'll explain everything to you after we get back to the ship." Shepard brought his hand up to the side of his helmet. "Joker we need a goddamn pick up on the double, lock onto my signal."
"Aye aye Commander. ETA 8 minutes." Joker replied.
"Shepard, he needs to get here faster! We won't make it." Tali exclaimed.
"I swear if I die down here I'm gonna kill him." Wrex muttered to himself.
Everyone made haste and made their way for the exit, cutting them off now was a krogan leading a group of geth. Shepard glared at the ones in his way. "I'm not in the mood for this bullshit! Get the hell out of my damn way or I'll make you."
The krogan laughed at Shepard's threat. "Well then we'll keep it simple then. Just hand over the doc, she's all we came for. Oh and by the way thanks for getting rid of the barrier for us." The krogan replied with a grin.
Shepard snickered. "Hate to break it to ya, but she's staying with us."
"Good, I was hoping to have a good fight. Hell maybe if i bring your head before Saren he'll pay me double." The krogan smirked. "Kill them, try to spare the asari if possible but if she dies oh well."
"He's all yours Wrex." Shepard smirked.
"Haa, I thought you'd never ask." Wrex replied and he charged the other krogan. The rest of the team scattered around getting into whatever cover they could find. Tali hacked a few geth turning them to their cause. Kaiden used tech attacks and followed up with some biotic throws. Shepard on the other hand started his full on assault on the geth in front of him. Using his biotics he flung some around across the room. Smashed others from the inside making them into a crumpled up mess. Finally Tali had put down the last geth with her shotgun. "Stupid bosh'tets." The group approached Wrex who now stood over the battered body that was the krogan leading the geth.
"We need to get going now!" Shepard shouted, bringing everyone's attention back to the fact that the facility around them was collapsing around them. Everyone broke into a full sprint, Shepard staying in the back to ensure no one fell behind. Running with his team he twisted his ankle and collapsed to the ground. "Fuck!... My goddam ankle!" Shepard shouted.
Tali turned around hearing Shepard's shout. Oh keelah nooo! I need to go back and help him. Completely turning around, Tali ran over to him. "Shepard! Are you alright?" She asked worriedly. She grabbed his arm pulling him up to his feet and allowing him to lean on her for support. She helped the limping Commander towards the exit, barely making it out of the facility before it collapsed on them and made it onto the Normandy.
Tali finally let Shepard go and he sat down against the wall right outside the airlock. Shepard sighed looking over to the quarian that had just saved him. "T-Tali thank you. I would have been crushed if it wasn't for you coming back for me. I would have been a goner."
"Oh d-don't mention it… Shepard. You saved me so… so I couldn't just let you die like that." Tali replied nervously wringing her hands while looking down at the floor.
Shepard looked up at her again. "Again Tali thanks. Now why don't you help me up, if you wouldn't mind giving me a hand… again." Shepard said with a smile while scratching the back of his head. Tali helped the Commander up and she helped him down to the med-bay.