Chapter 12: Sleeping Gods
Jack stared at the far wall of her little hidey-hole in the underbelly of the Normandy. At this time yesterday she would have been spending two hours with David playing the old retro game Fallout Four on her omni-tool. He needed the time to settle before the hour and half of his physiotherapy session with Chakwas. After that was cool down time, which he took alone in order to collect himself. Most of the time he spent it doing math problems. The Kid needed the quiet.
After that came sludge-food in the mess hall then an hour more of gaming after or maybe a movie then sleep. Then things changed. Jack never imagined herself being anyone's guardian or carrying that much about anyone to let them get close after all the crap she'd been through. It was just easier to stick a knife in if they did. But the Kid…got close. She broke down like a pussy in Shepard's quarters and after all that she ends up the Kid's guardian….his foster mother. Man the universe sure had a fucking weird sense of humor.
That wasn't the strangest thing. Not by half. That came after the goodbyes had all been said and done. Shepard disappeared up the gangplank of the Normandy leaving a moment of time for Sanders to talk to Jack alone.
"Listen Jack, it's a bit of a crazy idea I have and I know there are far more cons against this than there are pros. But I know Spectre Shepard would never have allowed you to be a member of her crew much less the guardian over a vulnerable life like David's if she didn't have faith in your abilities or your conviction to your mission with her. And I saw how David responded to you, how quick he was to calm with just your hand on his back."
"What are you getting at?" Jack took a defensive stance. "Yeah me and the Kid share a lot in common so what?"
"After your mission is finished…would you consider taking a teaching position here."
Jack stared.
Sanders held up a hand forestalling the protests she knew were coming. "Those students in the atrium today, you had their full and undivided attention. In all their years of being here, they were never that attentive. They respond to you and I think you are the best chance for them not only to understand and control their abilities but survive what is going to come. David said it…the Reapers are coming and if our children are to survive them they need training, they need someone who can help them do that. That's you, Jack. You are their best hope."
"Then they're fucked. I got a whole list of priors as long as my arm." Jack pointed out.
"Funny." Sanders smiled. "There is a Spectre seal on your records. They only thing within your files I can even access is a Spectre issued pardon. Apparently it pays having friends in very high places that can pull a lot of strings. All I'm asking is that you give my offer some consideration. I have friends in very high places too, Jack. If you want this I can make it happen. Just give it some thought. Those kids need someone not like you...they need you. The real deal."
Shepard needed her, this mission needed her, the Kid needed her now….more kids. Jack didn't sign on for this shit. She didn't sign on to be anyone's mommy. But then she had signed up…literally. Well Jacqueline Naught had. It was her name on the Kid's adoption papers.
But then….well damn it felt fucking good to tell those kids how use their powers. And if someone didn't keep their eye on that Rodriguez girl she was going to buy the big one cuz' she sure wouldn't keep her barriers up. Stupid girl. And fuck Shepard, for making Jack think like she was some sort of goddamn leader.
Hell at least she had some good source material. All she had to do was to regurgitate all that team-building, team unity follow god-damn orders.
Fuck it!
Goddamn right Jack would step up and teach these kids. Someone had to. Instructor Yusnaan was too soft, a fucking pussy. Those kids got dumped by their families cuz' they could bend dark energy to their will. And they were never gonna' listen to a softy like Yusnaan cuz' he ain't never lived a life where he was just a tool, a weapon something to be discarded like a used up thermo clip. But Jack knew. She knew what it was like to be David and she knew what it was like to be those Double-Dee kids. And she knew what it was like when someone mighty and terrible—all knowing, all powerful believed in you.
Fucking Queen of the Girl Scouts. Day of fucking-ass-freedom: 151
ME ~ME~ME~ ME~ ME~ ME~ME~ME
Shepard kept staring at the galaxy map. The brown dwarf…and the dead Reaper…then the Omega Four Relay. And after that? Hell Shepard didn't even know if they were coming back from attacking the Collector Base. Of course that was something she could never admit.
Words like 'I don't know' would kill a crew quicker than any photon torpedo. Shepard was the skipper of her boat and a skipper always knows what to do even if they don't. An instructor of a bunch of pissed off biotics kids had to be the same. Mighty, terrible, feared and respected. All knowing. All powerful.
That was exactly how the crew saw her.
Terrible. Powerful. All knowing. All powerful. Masterful. A Paragon.
Commander Shepard the first human Spectre—Hero of Elysium. Veteran of the Skillian Blitz, Saviour of Eden Prime, Hero of the Citadel and so many other titles. She could never admit to anyone not even her Trusted how terrified she was of failing, that she may well lose people going through that blasted gate. No. To her crew she had to look positively and utterly confident-undeniable. Her power—undeniable. The crew's trust in her, the Team's trust in her-undeniable. Shepard knew she could bank on it. All of it.
With a swipe of her hand Shepard activated the point-and-go system to bring up the Thorne system with Hawking ETA. The vessel was in orbit of the brown dwarf Mnemosyne. Doubts of TIMmy's information on the derelict Reaper ship hit Shepard hard, but she couldn't afford to have those doubts make her second guess herself or her mission.
The Normandy needed the Reaper IFF. The only way to gain that very critical bit of tech was to go into the dead ship. Only Shepard knew it wasn't truly dead any more than the Leviathan of Dis had been derelict. Something of it had still been active, still capable of indoctrinating Qian.
TIMmy reported he lost contact Dr. Chandana's team shortly after they boarded. There were no answers from initial reconnaissance and TIM refused to commit any more resources to find the answers. And Shepard had to agree with that decision; she didn't want to risk her own people. She looked down from her position at the galaxy map to Chambers, and then she turned her gaze to the skeleton crew manning various stations around the CIC.
She put steel into her spine, walked down the ramp to her personal terminal and hit the ships intercom system. "Shepard to all flagship team members, report to the war room in five. Shepard out."
Chambers gave a curious look to her Commander. She turned back to her terminals trying to study the read outs but failing. "Is everything alright Commander?" the yeoman asked tentatively.
"Five by five, Kelly. Just assembling a team for the next mission." her voice was filled with confidence and reassurance. A voice Chambers believed in, a voice the trusted. She knew without a doubt if she were ever to fall back Shepard would be there to catch her. Of course Kelly wished Shepard would do more than catch her, but the beautiful commander was married. Devotedly and she was about to become a mother to twins. Chambers had to reconcile herself her fantasies.
"Of course Commander." Kelly smiled, trusting her Commander's word.
Shepard moved towards the door to the Research Lab which would lead to the small hall between the armory and the Lab. The Commander still hated the layout of Normandy, if she had six months spare she'd put the ship into dry dock and have Tali do a major overhaul and fix the crappy design. Back on Nos Austra the only thing Tali was able to do was make a paint swap and a redesign of EDI's avatar. There was no time to do anything else, more the pity.
Maybe after the Collector base. Ideally Shepard would have Tali lead a team of engineers in the ship's reconstruction. The armory would be placed in the correct place -in the shuttle bay. Get off the lift, grab your gear and then hit the shuttle. No messing around with deck-hopping which was a stupid-ass idea for a ship's layout. Also she would separate the war room from the QIC.
It was only moments after Shepard entered the war room that her team arrived. Most of them having military experience did not question their Commander. Jack on the other hand had no such compunctions, nor did Kasumi.
"Waz'up Shepard?" Jack said coming in. "We got a mission?"
"Yes. It's time to hit the derelict Reaper ship to gain the IFF that will allow us to go through the Omega Four relay. But there's an issue. Our recent exchange with Grissom Academy brought to light or rather served as a reminder.
"Reaper tech doesn't sleep. A little over twenty years ago the whole Sidon incident with Dr. Qian is proof of that. When I go on that ship there is a very high possibility of indoctrination. We might be lucky but I can't guarantee it. I won't order this. So I am going to ask for two…."
The whole room stepped forward as one- the same move, at same time.
"Looks like you got a little problem Boss." Zaeed chuffed. "Who are you gonna leave behind."
The others laughed.
Shepard felt lighter than helium.
"I should point out the obvious Commander…" Tali said "But you'll need more than just two of us. You needed a tech expert who can pull the Reaper IFF out swiftly and without compromising it. And of course while the techy is working on the IFF you're going to have to protect them. That means either a sniper or a heavy. You're not going to have it any other way. I know you Shepard."
"We all do Shep." Kasumi said. "I don't like the idea of going in there but…you need a tech and a hacker. I'm your girl."
"All due respect Kasumi it isn't hacking our Commander needs, it's an engineer. Someone who knows ship. That's me." Tali said.
"No true." Mordin said. "I can easily do this as well. I will go."
"Mordin…." Tali started but was interrupted.
"I already said a prayer over one young mother, I won't do it again."
All heads swiveled to Tali. Amazed. None more so than Garrus
"Love?" the single word held all the hopes and dreams of an expectant daddy.
Tali glared at Mordin for outing her.
"This isn't something for public consumption." Shepard cautioned. "Mordin…"
"I'm not pregnant. Yet…" Tali said swiftly "so you don't get to pull me from missions, Commander. If you all want to know Mordin told me this morning that the splicing produced three viable embryos for re-implantation. I said I wanted to be the one tell my husband. Thanks for that, Doc." her voice dripped in cold sarcasm. "Anyone ever tell you about 'spoilers?'" there a frown not of anger but of disappointment lacing her words. Of course the expression was hidden behind the tinted visor but there was no mistaking it in both the tone of her voice and the stance her body took.
It was comforted only by Garrus's hand on her shoulder, one that conveyed both his pleasure at hearing the news he was going to be a father and one of support, privately telling her that it was okay he found out this way.
"Shepard," the young quarian looked to the human. "You're going to be a young mother too. So out of respect, do us both a favour and don't pull those lines on me about motherhood and going into danger. That's not a card worthy of playing for either one of us."
Shepard nodded: agreeing, they were better than that. Of course her role in her immediate family placed her right along side Garrus. She was more or less 'the daddy'. "Indeed." was her only response.
"I want all who are going with me to take along a heavy weapon in-conjunction with their normal arsenal. The M-920 Cain eats up a lot of ammo but it's effective against armor, shields and barriers. In a dead Reaper ship there is no telling what we will find. Jack that one is all yours."
"The Nuke-Launcher. Love it. All that power! Blam!"
"Just like you the psychotic-biotic." Zaeed scoffed light-heartedly. "Big ass gun, storming a Cerberus base. That's gotta be Christmas for you."
Jack only smirked.
"Just make sure to not to use it in a tiny area like a pressurized tin-can or you blast us all into star-dust." Tali chided.
"Yeah? You'll be singing a different tune if one of those monster-crabzilla things come stomping around. Then you'll be glad I have this baby."
"Then I hope we don't encounter one them." the engineer said evenly.
"Tali. You'll take the ML-77 missile launcher; I'll take the particle beam we took off the Collectors back on Horizon. Like you said we needed to use caution, so no one use them unless I give the go-ahead. Miranda take the M-622 Avalanche."
"You think to freeze any husks then to shatter them with shockwaves. Good idea." The former Loyalist agreed.
"I want us in and out as swiftly as possible." Shepard said. "No exploring, no looking for resources, we get in, get the IFF and get out."
Just like that the team had been assembled. An engineer and a heavy hitter. Tali wasn't a surprise to bring along but taking Jack was. Then again her power-house biotics in conjunction with Shepard made for exceptionally effective countermeasures against enemy swarms.
"So that's the team then?" Zaeed was hoping to be chosen. And yet he respected Shepard's choice. A techy, and a power-house, and of course the Cerberus agent still he was just as deadly with an assault rifle—more so than Jack. He saw no reason why he couldn't have joined the assault team.
Grunt looked dejected, like a boy not even chosen last to join in any PE class team-sports but told he wasn't wanted at all. The same expression was on Garrus and Thane's faces. Even Miranda looked as if she swallowed a bee.
But unlike the Collector ship or Horizon Shepard was not going to risk more lives than she had to to possible exposure to indoctrination technology.
"It is." Shepard said in a tone that said: 'this is the end of it' "Mordin I want you and Chakwas to continue to monitor our vitals especially the alpha and beta waves. If you see any abnormalities alert us at once. We may have to pull out and find another way to secure the IFF. But as it stands we're it. No tourist day. We're only there for one reason and one reason only. Dismissed."
Privately Jack hoped there was going to be Day of fucking-ass-freedom: 152
Because she sure as hell didn't want her brains to be mush. Especially now that she had a whole big reason to continue living.
ME ~ME~ME~ ME~ ME~ ME~ME~ME
Orbiting Mnemosyne was a two kilometer long ship with the unmistakable profile of a Reaper. Its 'fingers' splayed out before it like the hand a demon grasping at the stars for lost souls to harvest.
Scans showed power signatures were fluctuating in localized areas, but they were far weaker than a ship of that size would indicate. The reapers seemed to maintain a mass effect field that has kept it from falling into the failed star, but massive holes had been blasted and melted into parts of the hull and remained unrepaired. The only logical conclusion is that the Reaper 'died' or was at least reduced to minimal functioning a long time ago. Whatever weapon did that Shepard was very keenly interested in.
Silently the Normandy flew in closer, utterly dwarfed by the dead ship. And as they drew closer still…the ship started to buck almost as if she were protesting getting this close to a Reaper.
"What's with all the chop, Joker?" Shepard said running up to the helm. She had to grab hold of the back of his chair to keep on her feet.
"Doing my best," he said through gritted teeth from the effort of keeping the ship aloft. "The wind is gusting up to 500 kph." The turbulence bounded the Normandy around like a child's toy. Only Joker's superior skill as a pilot kept her as steady as she was. "There's another ship along side the Reaper. No IFF but LADAR thinks the silhouette is geth."
"Guess we know why the science team stopped reporting in." Shepard said candidly.
Just as suddenly as the Normandy was bouncing it suddenly stopped:
"What just happened?" came a demand for an answer.
"The Reaper's mass effect field is still functioning. We just passed inside their envelope." Joker explained then added a bit more grimly. "Eye of the hurricane huh?"
Shepard simply shook her head and walked back towards the lift. This was one mission she was not looking forward too. She served on the frontlines in several conflicts and never flinched. Never shirked from her duty, even as she faced the impossible or defied the odds countless times and she wouldn't now. But before it was only her life at risk, not her mind, not her soul. And she had never been asked to risk the minds and souls of her people before now. Even knowing the dangers her people stepped up and volunteered. She couldn't have been more proud.
Taking the lift down to the shuttle bay, Shepard was greeted by Tali and Jack, both suited up and ready for deployment.
"Let's make this quick. In and out."
"You know Shepard; if you weren't married I'd say you're talking about bedding a whore or maybe an asari consort." Jack teased trying to ease the growing tension.
For her part Shepard simply let the jibe go. Sometimes you cracked the whip, sometimes you let things slide. This was one of the latter moments. "Very funny, Jack." was all she said.
"I do my best."
The trio dropped from Normandy's shuttle bay directly onto the stations hanger platform. It reminded Shepard of her first drop from her ship's predecessor on Eden Prime. An apt comparison she supposed. That's where it all started with just another routine mission. Of course it had been anything but routine missions since then.
Bypassing the airlocks security grid was a simple matter. She might not have Kasumi's specialized hacking abilities but Tali was no slouch when it came to computers and manipulating code.
The blast doors of the outer airlock swooshed open. What greeted them was unexpected.
"No one here to welcome us. That's not good." Tali commented drawing her weapon. As did the other two women.
"TIMmy did say the place went dark just days after our mission to the Collector's ship. I'm not surprised its vacant now." Shepard pointed out.
What greeted them was death. Blood on the walls and charred unrecognizable bodies littering the floor. It seemed to be a running theme with Cerberus facilities. A quick glance at the first corpse revealed the man hadn't died by plasma fire so it was probably not the phantom geth.
Without saying a word Shepard moved towards a bank of computer terminals, if Cerberus was anything it was good at keeping recordings and records of events at each project. It was a good bet that either the project lead Dr. Chandana or one of his minions had made an entry or several that concerned the events around the base. It was as good as place as any to start looking for answers.
Hitting the playback button on the mission logs the trio was greeted with a middle-aged African-American male garbed in a black-white and yellow Cerberus uniform and labcoat.
'The airlock as been installed in the far end of the holed section. We've begun repressurization for shirtsleeves work. The crew is edgy. I reassure them it is mere nerves, a superstitious reaction to what this hulk represents. The corpse of a vast ancient lifeform.
'Privately I can not deny the atmosphere. The angles of the walls seem to press down on you. I find myself clenching my teeth.'
Angles of the ship, the subtlety of it all, Shiala, Benezia even Saren had all spoke of it. How at first it wasn't even noticeable, but then the 'song' seeped into the mind, clawing at the ear.
"Keep moving." Shepard ordered not giving the bodies a second glance.
To the outside view if one didn't look too closely at the windows that overlooked the Reaper ship one could almost believe themselves in any other space station Cerberus or Alliance. The illusion was made even more complete with the added gear lockers that aligned the hallways leading from the landing bay to deeper into the base. At the next junction there was another line of terminals.
Knowing her commander as she did, Tali swiftly accessed any logs. This was not Chandana but a much younger Caucasian man.
'We finished cataloguing specimens from A2-03 to BO-16. No evidence of active nanotechnology noted. Dr. Chandana believes they would have decayed over the past 37 million years. There is not enough data to support his claim. His search for the truth is patently obvious. I am concerned. Chandana has been staring at the samples for hours. He says he's listening to them…'
Nanotechnology that would explain a great deal: the shifting bulkheads, the spontaneous creation of rooms, amongst other things, spikes that turned people into husks or the horrid the conversion chambers that perverted humans into scions, abominations and much worse-like the praetorians.
The nanotechnology would also explain the ease of the biotech used by the Collectors, things like their stasis pods and their seeker swarms. It must also be how the Reapers converted so many humans so very quickly at Eden Prime and in the Colonies of the dead. Bioengineered nanotechnology
The four moved down the short length of the corridor to the aforementioned Airlock in Chandana's' logs. As soon as the airlock opened the whole ship tilted, almost as if age old cold engines were trying to restart.
*Normandy to shore party.*
"What just happened?"
*The Reaper put up kinetic barriers. I don't think we can get through from our side."
"As curious as I am about Reapers I would rather not be trapped inside one." Tali said.
"Not the only one. This means we'll have to take down the barrier generators from in here." Shepard touched her radio ear-piece "Any idea where they are?"
It wasn't Joker who answered but EDI. *At the moment of activation, I detected a heat spike in what is wreck's mass effect core. Sending the coordinates now. Be advised this core is also maintaining the Reaper's altitude.*
"So when we take down the barriers to escape the ship falls into the planet core."
*And that means everyone dies. Yeah. Got it.* his jibes became worse the more worried he was.
"If any pilot can get off this thing before it reaches crush depth it's you. We'll make a sweep for saviors and recover whatever information we can find. Stand by."
*Aye-aye. Good hunting.*
Just as
"Lots of dead people. " Jack looked at the charred bodies littering the catwalks. "Nothing new there."
"At least they are dead and not converted into some monstrosities." Miranda said softly.
Tali hit another computer kiosk. It showed a recording of two men obviously recorded from one of the CCTV cameras from above in what was the living habitat. What was curious was not the men themselves but the topic of their conversation. They sharing the same memories over a wife named Halley, a brother's wedding and anger management issues. And there were stockings—the sort with the seam up the back, apparently it was the only day the 'husband' had ever seen his wife in them. The exact same memories…
"This thing was screwing with them." Jack groused. "If I start sharing memories of banging Rocket Face or Blue I'm going to be pissed."
"You're not the only one." Tali retorted.
"Yeah well I know Liara only has eyes for me. And I trust my bond with her more than anything. Still, hold on to that anger, Jack. It's real. So trust it." Shepard cautioned.
"Pft. First time anyone told me my anger management issues were a good thing." the ex-con said dryly. But she took Shepard's meaning. Jack's anger was something solid—almost tangible. She couldn't help cut a glance to Miri and wanted to kick herself for it because she saw stormy gray eyes looking right back at her.
The corners of those luscious full lips were pulled back in the tiniest smile. You really had to know Miri…er…the cheerleader to know it was there. Something solid. Tangible. fuck it was only really really good hate sex. Nothing more. It couldn't possibly be more.
"All of you concentrate on what you know to be real. Maths, equations, formulas, engineering things, poker…pool. Hell even the way to bend the power of dark energy to your will. Anything that locks your mind into a sequential pattern. Keep frosty and keep focused."
Keep telling yourself it's just hate sex, dumbass. Jack scolded herself. She saw the tell-tail scratch of collarbone, apparently Miri…no The Cheerleader was having the same issues. Jack couldn't hide her own slip of a fragmented smile if The Queen of The Girl Scouts had ordered her not to.
Heading down the right catwalk Shepard barely descended down the very small flight of stairs when Jack bust out a warning: "Marks!"
There was no mistaking the hissed wheeze of husks drawing in air. Swarming like flies from road kill the husks ran towards new flesh
"There are high pressure cases by the husks. "Tali called out. Her arm with the Omni tool outstretched and already activated.
"Right! Blow them blow the husks!" Miranda echoed.
Both Jack and Shepard sent a wave of dark energy into crates at the same moment Tali and Miranda used their omni tool to send overload pulses. The crates and the husks erupted into a small plume of fire and dead meat.
Shepard seized pointed rounded the corner of more stable shipping crates and fired her N& Eagle directly into the head of a husk that had managed to avoided being eviscerated by the explosion that took out its brethren
Miranda fired the Avalanche into three more husks flanking the Commander, their bodies frozen—solid. Shepard spun on her heel and used a biotic push to shatter the undead cybernetic meatbags.
Two more were distracted by Tali's drone, trying in vain to attack the hovering pink globe. Using an overload pulse the quarian swiftly dispatched them even as Jack sent in a shockwave that caused their bodies to erupt with a tech-enhanced implosion.
"I always wondered if the technology to make husks came from the geth or Sovereign." Jack voice was crisp.
"Geth origin never made sense to me." Tali answered. "This confirms it's from the Reapers."
"A self-replenishing army." Miranda said in disgusted respect. "Why destroy something if you can pervert it and us it against your enemies."
"Makes you think about all those poor fucking colonists. What are the Reapers doing to them?" Jack answered with a question.
"Stay focused." Shepard snapped a sharp command. "We've got more bogies on the move."
Once more Tali hit the high pressured crates with overloads just as the swarm of husks rushed.
"This should soften them up." Came a reply from the eager little quarian.
"I'll destroy you! Fucking space zombies!"
"Eat this!"
This time the trio of biotics focused their abilities in one unified attack: pull-throw-slam.
Husks were crawling up from under the catwalk not unlike scurrying cockroaches, mindless-mechanical-soulless-space zombies, rushed heedless of their imminent demise or the destruction erupting all around them. They had only one purpose - destroy organics.
"More coming on the right!" Shepard warned.
"On it!" came a chorus of voices behind her.
Just as three were put down via shockwaves, flares and shotgun pulses four more clunked up from the left.
"Where in the hell are they all coming from?!" Jack shouted above the din of battle not expecting an answer and she did not receive one.
Shepard tossed a cluster of lift-grenades in to the frenzied mechanized undead. The husks flew up into the air and evaporated in a plume of gray mist as dark-energy engulfed their emaciated cybernetic bodies.
What was left could only be loosely called shrapnel.
The team had a moment, a singular moment to catch their breath.
Another log entry another computer. It was taken from the same place in the habitat ring of the Cerberus lab, from the same two men who had previously argued over their shared memories. Shepard had named them Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.
"Third day with this headache. You think Chandana would let me have a few hours off…." Tweedle Dee complained, his voice slightly slurred. "God Damn!"
"What?!" Tweedle Dum spun around
"That thing!" Dee Pointed to something off camera." That just…that gray thing! It just appeared-but disappeared when I looked straight at it!" Dee was panicking. "It came out of the damn wall! Where we took off that panel. You had to have seen it!"
"I didn't see anything," Dum scoffed. Then in a far more placid tone he pointed to his companion. "You should go lay down."
"I'm telling you this ship isn't dead. It knows we're inside it!"
"Calm down." Dum was monotone, as if the words he spoke were programmed into him and not his own. "Now, I'm getting a headache."
"Hallucinations, pain…shared memories." Shepard murmured ticking off all the signs of indoctrination. Since this whole thing began—back on Eden Prime how many headaches had she had that the Spectre passed off as just being a biotic?. True they weren't as bad not the migraines that once plagued Kaidan but still they were bad enough.
And how many nightmares has she had? Some so deep and horrid she had trouble pulling herself out of them. They had become so bad that the only thing to keep the night terrors away was listening to Liara's heartbeat, whether it was the real thing or a recording. Were those dreams oily? Did the fragmented shadows count as oily? The disjointed voices—did that count as sour yellow notes?
"It's like what the Thorian had done to everyone back at Faros." Tali shuddered drawing the Commander's attention back from the introspective pondering her mind had looped into. "Now their minds are linked, almost like a hive mind." then a much softer tone Tali added. "Or the geth."
The only way forward was through a spider's web of catwalks. And as with any spider the nests was filled with corpses. And then there was a single ping—metal upon flesh. But extraordinarily distinctive.
"That was gun fire." Jack stated. "Whoever it was they're a good shot."
"Could be the geth, or one of the Cerberus crew. Either way it's dangerous. Like you said Jack they're a good shot. If it's the latter they may not see us as friendly or any sort of rescue. Their minds are already gone. It it's the former, it more than likely a sniper, keep kinetic and biotic barriers up. Make sure your armor's shields are fully powered. Tali send your drones to scout out who our shooter is."
"Aye-aye Commander. Combat drone away." Tali quickly tapped into her omni tool causing both globes to appear one pink which was Chikkitika and the blue one she still had yet to name and sent them high to the ship's ceiling.
The three pushed forward. Taking sharp turns as they followed the catwalks deeper into the Reaper. How many hours were the 'short sleeves' (shorthand for the Engineering work crew and general laborers) in here laying down all the walk ways? True prefabs made the task easier, even still the time it took was considerable. And just how long was Chandana's crew here for? How long before Shepard and her team started to see 'gray things' (not counting the damned husks and red-fleshed abominations) coming out of the bulkheads? Or was that what Tweedle Dum saw? A husk? Had to be. What else could it have been?
Stay. Focused. Shepard! Don't die until you die. Don't be dead first then die. You're alive until the very last second.
The Spectre scolded herself. Her mind circled to the lessons of Sun Tzu, stanza by stanza line by line. There may not be fifty thousand mantras as there were in the asari Justicar Code, but there were well over a thousand in the manuscript written by the glorious strategist Sun Tzu and Shepard knew them all.
Reciting them helped her maintain focus. Maintain who she was.
The catwalks lead the team to a much larger area of the ship; its true purpose was unknown. Cerberus had constructed the platforms as much as an observational area as work place and storage area several large shipping containers stacked upon one the other made for make-shift bulkheads and cubicles, but now served as a bottlenecked death trap.
"They're up ahead!" Jack cautioned.
"Go up." Shepard commanded using the Prothean grav-lock they found in the cache back on Ilos to 'jump-jet' up onto the crates stacked two high and out of reach of the husks. The others copied suit taking to the tops of the crates and firing down on the mass of moaning mindless undead.
The chamber echoed with the din of gunfire and the constant asthmatic moaning of the charging husks. And in their numbers were the even more deadly crimson skinned abominations that served as suicide runners, their bodies exploding almost on contact with their enemies.
"There's no end to them!" Tali cried out. Her crate nearly collapsed with the familiar Khablam! Khablam! Khablam! of shockwaves being released.
Tali spun around fast. The appearance of a Scion, his body made of the head of many others was a thing of nightmare. No matter how many times she had battled the horrid creatures at Shepard's side and destroyed, they haunted her dreams.
Its own biotic powers rippled down the catwalk as it threw shockwave after shockwave. The worst part that its body was heavily armored. The husks had updated their strategies.
"Concentrated biotic explosions on the scions! Tali you and your drones take out the husks!" ordered the Spectre. "And see if you can't make them take out their own with the abominations!"
"On it!" came a swift reply.
Tali laid down suppressing fire taking the attention of the husks off her team mates, her drones constantly harassing the undead abominations before their crimson bodies exploded. The quarian had timed it perfectly so that the abominations' explosive deaths targeted the remaining high-pressure crates which took out even more stampeding husks
The biotic trio kept to the high ground. Shepard threw out a singularity at the same time Jack hit the grotesques with a warp followed up by Miranda's slams. Shepard's amps would have cooled swiftly enough for her to unleash a lift / pull combo, combined with Jack's shockwave and Miranda's singularity the scions quickly fell. But it left the biotics a little winded and very little time to recover before the next wave hit.
With the precious few seconds they had Tali commanded her drones to take point at the far end of the room, her combat drone had been upgraded with a turret. If it were to malfunction better it was far from the squad if it did. The EM-pulse of a drone explosion was enough to cut through shields and kinetic barriers and no doubt weaken biotic barriers as well.
"Too bad we don't have some of Archangel's landmines" Quipped Jack ducking down behind a crate as more husks started to climb up from the bowls of the ship.
"No but we have the trip wires." Shepard said. Lay the ground with them, make a net.
Five seconds had been an eternity but enough for each member of the ground team to strike at multiple markers for the omni-bow to shoot out sever of the monofilament tripwires that acted as good of explosives as landmines. Almost better as they could be woven into an invisible net like pattern. Enemy combatants rushing into them would be eviscerated immediately. The husks were particularly vulnerable.
The fourth wave rushed and as predicted the netting caused a chain reaction of explosive power.
And then there was silence.
No one said a word. The biotics took out their canteens and swigged down energy drinks nearly draining them dry. Even Tali used an emergency induction port to sip from her own canteen before the four moved on.
As they were catching their breaths, Shepard spotted yet another work terminal. She scrolled through the many drop-down menus and activated the journal logs.
The work log showed a very haggard Tweedle Dee. Clearly the man had not slept in days. His mind now warped by the insidiousness of indoctrination.:
"Chandana said the ship was dead. We trusted him. He was right. But even a dead god can dream. A god, a real god is firm not some old man with magic powers, it's a force. It warps reality just by being there. It doesn't have to want to; it doesn't have to think about it. It just does.
"That's what Chandana didn't get. Not until it was too late. The god's mind is gone. But it still dreams! He knows now! He's tuned in on our dreams. If I close my eyes I can feel him. I can feel everyone of us."
Shepard turned off the computer and walked away. With one word on her mind. To be accurate it was two.
Well shit.
Without saying anything the four moved to the end of the chamber. Massive metal spikes jutted out from several decks below. They had to have gone down at least a kilometer if not more within the ship's hold. Upon them like some twisted metallic version of Vlad Tepic's forest of the dead were the remains of what was left of the Cerberus crew. Most had already been converted into husks.
"We've seen these before Shepard. Dragon's teeth your people called them. The geth used them on Eden Prime."
"And other places. Shepard nodded. "Remember the colony of the dead…Cerberus was there too. Trying to use husks as shocktroopers. Only they used the colonists to test the dragons' teeth."
"Fucking idiots." Jack shook her head. "What goes around comes around, assholes."
Miranda didn't say a word and she was mindful enough to stop herself from scratching her shoulder. Yes she had been apart of the Akuze project, it was in fact her theories that caused the Illusive Man to want to test it and to do so they needed live test-subjects. Who better than Alliance soldiers sworn to uphold and protect Earth Alliance Systems? And their deaths did just that, the tech that came from their sacrifice allowed for Hahne-Kedar one of Cerberus many shadow companies to become the major supplier to Systems Alliance military. The armor they developed was always above average.
Sacrifices were always necessary.
The Akuze team
The Colonists of Chasca on the Matano System of the Maroon Sea.
How many more? Miranda even looked at Shepard-Project Lazarus. How many more?
How many will Cerberus willingly offer up?
"See how the room is arranged?" Shepard pointed out; drawing Miranda's attention to her "They treated this thing like some kind of altar."
"That doesn't seem right?" Tali couldn't or rather didn't want to believe it. "No one in their right mind would want this."
"You heard the logs. They were seeing things, hearing things. They were being indoctrinated. The science team was nearly 100 strong. There may be a lot more husks in here." Shepard turned her back on the dragon's teeth. "We can't help these people now. But we can make sure the machine won't use their corpses like this. Not even Cerberus lackeys deserve this."
"Then I say we burn'em." Jack said as from her back she took the M-920 Cain. The heavy weapon had been highly modified in Normandy's lab. Its high-explosive rounds applies 25-gram slug when accelerated 5km/s the round was devastating, not unlike its wielder.
She opened fire blasting the corpses, igniting them. Flesh and clothes melted then sheered away into ash. No one said anything about a waste of ammo. No bodies = no husks—end of story.
Walk around the crates, turning corners, to another bulkhead. Hacking the blast door that had been installed by Cerberus engineers with her Omni tool Shepard lead her team into an umbilical corridor. Overhead the station's VI reported that it was equalizing pressure in the exterior section of the ship.
*Remember safety is everyone's concern. We have gone five days without a work-place death.*
"Pft as if five days is something to be proud of." Jack scoffed. "Guess they don't count people being turned into husks as a work place death."
"Or the last of the crew had been turned five days ago." Tali said.
"Keep sharp." Shepard said putting an end to the chatter.
The door opened into a large prefab bay marked heavily with the concentric double-black and gold diamonds as if not allowing anyone to forget who they worked for. On the wall facing the blast door was in large gold letters as the Cerberus axiom:
Obedience breeds discipline. Discipline breeds unity. Unity breeds Power. Power is life. Life is humanity's survival. Survival is Cerberus. Cerberus breeds obedience.
"Fucking bullshit." Jack sneered. If it weren't for the size of the room and doing so would have not only killed her but the others as well Jack would have pulled the trigger on the 620-Cain and seared those damned-fucking words right off the wall.
Shepard ignored the comment and signaled for Jack to take the right flank and Tali the left as she took point as always. Allowing Miranda to cover their rear. She turned, pulled her Carnifax and fired six shots into the sign's moorings causing them to weaken. The weight of the sign and gravity did the rest. The sign fell to the metal grating. The clattering boom caused the others of the team to spin round weapons raised bodies glowing in blue—ready for attack.
Miranda gave a sheepish expression. "Jack was right. It's bullshit." Or at least the last part of it is. She added mentally. After all the Military knew the value of discipline breeding unity, it could not function otherwise. And Shepard had created her own power from that unity she installed in her team. Power is life…and life was indeed humanity's survival. In this case survival was following the Spectre even if she created a suicide squad. Did she not say: 'We fight together or we die.'
Jack smirked. Proud. So did Shepard.
The noise had to have alerted the husks of their presence. The team ventured forward- weapons at the ready. When they didn't see anything, Shepard ordered her team to advance. It was strange the noise of that sign coming down surely should have alerted something….
A shot. Shepard turned. a husk, more silent than his brothers had managed to creep up behind the team—So the phantom sniper strikes again. Discarding the spattered brains and oozing black-blue blood and the fact the head had been utterly demolished from the shot Shepard looked up to where the shot came from.
What she saw she had not expected. This was not a surviving member of the Cerberus crew. It was a geth!
The geth trooper stood up, placing the butt of its sniper rifle on the deck "Shepard Commander."
Everyone stared, Tali most especially. Not even the geth captured and used in Project Overlord spoke….not outside the binary clicks at any rate.
The rifle was shouldered without ceremony and just as nonchalantly the geth turned and walked away.
"A talking geth, huh? That's new. Guess we found the sniper though." Jack shrugged.
"It shouldn't be able to talk." Tali protested. "A single geth has no more intelligence than a varren
"Since when to they work alone?" Shepard asked. "And why was it targeting husks? The geth that followed Sovereign used husks like they were varren. This is more than strange. And what's it doing wearing a piece of N7 armour."
"Trophy?" Jack supplied.
"Maybe. We won't get the answer here. Move out!" Shepard was far more than perturbed.
Almost as soon as the command was given the room swarmed with husks. They were crawling up from under the walkways, the stairs. Climbing like spiders down the walls. The four of them almost overwhelmed. They fell back, to any high ground they could find. Crates, cell containers. Anything to give them an advantage, the hoard still advanced. Hungry. They swarmed, swooping in from all angles. Husks, abominations scions, all coming in—at speed, throwing themselves at the defenders even as they fell by the score. The husks rushed over the corpses of their brethren.
The only hope was to go up. The rafters provided some minor measure of safety. Tali used tech –explosions after tech-explosions. Her combat drones had to be summoned multiple times. Trip wires, overloads and expert marksmanship allowed Tali to keep her hard fought ground.
Unable to unleash the holy hell of dark energy that was the tsunami Shepard so wanted use to in order to utterly decimate the hoard in one fell-swoop the Commander was forced to use other measures. However in connection with the other biotics that holy hell was unleashed in other means.
Reaves, warp-strikes, charges, singularities throw-lifts-pulls, leashes, flares, shadow strikes, warp-ammo, annihilation fields and a hell of a lot of ammo, hell even fists at some points were used.
Stairs more catwalks, more landings. Tali said it, there seemed to be no end to them. Shields wreaked or went down, but that that could not stop the advancement. Weary, to the point of exhaustion, the Normandy crew pressed on. They had to gain the IFF.
Then the husks were dead.
"Destroying the mass effect core should be simple enough." Tali said.
"Then we jump ship fast." came Jack's response
"I'm for that." Miranda followed..
They moved through another blast door separating the large open chamber from the mass effect core.
"The IFF should be right though those doors." Tali said.
"Get them open." came the order.
Shepard waited until the younger woman had cracked open the security and forced the blast doors open. Taking point Shepard advanced followed swiftly by Jack and Miranda taking opposite flanking positions.
What awaited them was not another room filled with husks though there were a few present. . What caught everyone's attention was the geth with the piece of N7 armour. It was at the console—the very one that had command control over the Reaper's IFF. It swiftly shot each husk in the head with a pistol then turned back to the computer kiosk as if nothing at all had happened.
It managed to open full access to the console however it could do nothing more as it was very swiftly overrun by husks. Shepard immediately unleashed a warp-strike. Dark energy became an extension of Shepard's biotic prowess. The slashes ripped though the husks like there were made of marshmallows.
Tali opened fire with her shotgun, Kablamb! Kablamb! Kablam! On either side of her were Miranda and Jack unleashing a torrent of dark energy. There was no high ground here, no cover to take shelter behind. Out in the open the team was utterly exposed.
"Lawson, Jack flank the stairs. Set up singularities, the tripwires anything to slow them down. Tali get that thing shut down!"
Once more her team obeyed without question or hesitation. On either side of the stairwells the ex-con and former loyalist set up singularities to trap the husks from swarming the catwalk. Tali scurried to comply with Shepard's orders. The Spectre rushed using a biotic charge to give her the advantage to set up a tripwire net-blockading the stairwells. The husks creeping out of the shadows, the darkest crevices of the dead Reaper. They came in droves. The biotics pushed back with all they had left. And then they pushed more. And more again.
The husks still rushed ever forward. Tali desperate to obey her Commander fired at the cores' center again and again. When the shutter closed she turned her attention to aid her comrades both with overloads, her drones and had ever trusty shotgun. When the shutters opened like massive lids over a single eye, she fired the missile launcher again and again.
If ever there was a time to use the heavy weapons now was that time. M-920 Cain and M-622 Avalanche-fire and ice wiped across the lower floors with impunity. Husks became frozen and then were burned into cinders. Those that escaped the flames were shattered by the dark energy of biotics.
Where in the fuck are they all coming from!" Jack snarled
"The whole crew must have been converted." Came Shepard's reply
"That was more than a hundred souls." Miranda followed up.
"I fucking hate Cerberus but even these stupid-ass shit-heads didn't deserve this." came Jack as she unleashed another torrent of the fire.
"Tali!"
"Almost got it!
More husks were coming from the rear entrance, threating to overwhelm their position.
"TALI!"
"Almost."
The floodgates had opened. The team was pressed against the railing.
"If I die, I'm haunting you Shepard!" Growled Jack as she pushed out a wave of biotic energy into a extremely powerful singularity.
"GOT IT!" Tali cried out in triumph as she disabled the mass effect core. The entire ship bucked and rocked as it became destabilized. It would plummet into the brown dwarf within moments.
"Hey Shepard, grab the geth too!" Jack said "It's gotta be worth something to someone."
"Leave it!" Tali argued with the ex-con. "Shepard, you know what they are. If it gets into Normandy's computers…"
"You said yourself; no one has found one intact."
"That's true." Tali shook her head. "But I'm not sure it's worth the risk. You were there on the Alarei …"
"There's no time to debate it Tali." The Commander hoisted the defunct geth up and slung its arm over her shoulder and started to drag the platform towards the open hull. To make things move faster Miranda took up the other side of the geth's shell and helped move it.
To prove her point the ship's shuddering became more intense.
*Hang on folks* Joker said over the comm-system, *Almost there.*
"Open the portside airlock" Shepard ordered.
*Aye, aye*
The Normandy swooped in and in seeing the airlock open both Shepard and Miranda tossed the geth out into open space, the momentum was enough to cause it to fly into the Normandy's bay.
The Husks continued to rush the companions, one by one, Miranda Tali, Jack leapt as the others kept firing the last to leave was Shepard. she ran using her biotics to give her a final push to make it to the air lock.
"We're clear! GO!"