June 16th, 2155 – Refuge system – Ilos
Lightning screamed from the open rear bay of the Normandy, blowing apart a missile that had still been following the ship through the atmosphere of the ruined planet of Ilos.
"Is that the last one!?" Nihlus screamed to be heard over the whipping wind and noise from the ship moving with its rear door open. It had no rear firing weapons after all.
"I think so, I don't see any more," Adaaya yelled back from where she was standing without needing to hold onto anything as she raised a hand to her head. "Hey, Joker, is that the last one? Can we hurry up and double back to the landing site already?!"
After a few moments of only the sound of whipping hot air Joker's voice came over the intercoms. "I'm already doubling back to the landing zone. Should be about a few minutes. Just wish Wrex and them had blown that ship faster. Being chased by anti-ship missiles is not exactly enjoyable!"
"I can't imagine why!" Adaaya called back with a chuckle as she very carefully walked over to the wall by the rear door where a console of some kind sat, then turned her gaze to Desolas. "There are no more missiles; you can get away from the door now!"
"No. I'm melted to the floor," Desolas said, sounding both annoyed and slightly embarrassed. "As soon as I melt it to move the wind will grab me."
Nihlus glanced at the floor and noted that it did indeed look like it had been melted a bit. Just the idea that conjured lightning could have done that was a little strange, but he held his tongue about it as he checked over his armour one last time and activated his Magboots before very carefully walking across the area to where Adaaya was and holding up an Alliance laser rifle. "Is there anything else I should know about this thing before we get down there?"
"No, I don't think so. Its heat sink is automated, so as long as you don't keep it on full auto it should not overheat all of them," Adaaya said with a grin. "Decided to give up on your silly accelerator weapon?"
"The ammunition block is nearly depleted. Deepening on how much fighting awaits us down there It could run out. Using one of your weapons, which does not have the same issue, is the safest option," Nihlus said as he looked down at the Type 2. "Though I admit that this one does feel a bit, thin for my taste."
"Thin?" Adaaya asked in clear confusion.
"He means the size of the weapon, not the weight," Desolas spoke up from where he was still standing. "Turian soldiers normally use the Phaeston rifle, which is a bit bulkier compared to other council weapons. The type 2 is probably just too thin width wise. Try a type 3."
"Type three?" Nihlus asked.
"Yes, most Alliance firearms are designated by their official design name, and a more commonly used simpler name," Adaaya said as she walked over to a large case embedded in the wall and touched its console, opening it up to reveal a number of weapons. She then reached in and pulled out a rifle that looked like someone had merged the upper two thirds of two of the one he was holding into one weapon. "This is the type three laser rifles, a firestorm. It has two barrels and a heatsink disc for each barrel, as well as an under slung variable launcher."
"That sounds, a lot more effective that that other rifle. Why doesn't everyone use this thing?" Nihlus asked as he took the rifle from Adaaya and handed her the Type 2, finding its weight to be much nicer.
"The type 3 is more advanced and technical. Rather than just having a firing setting there are also settings for the fire pattern, spread, as well as the customization of the heatsinks and the underslung launcher," Adaaya said with a shrug as she put the type 2 in the case. "It is usually used by elite troops of the Red eyes. Bladebreakers normally only use the type 2's they have no need for anything else aside from the occasional use of the type 4, which is akin to a heavy cannon with its output. That's the gun Tali has on her exosuit."
"I see," Nihlus said as he suddenly felt the ship jostle a bit and slow down. They were approaching their drop point. "Then, these dials are for fire mode and dispersion, what is this smaller trigger for?" Nihlus asked as he quickly looked over the weapon and found the second trigger, half the size of the main triggers and further up the weapon.
"That's the trigger for the launcher. And that one is equipped with the flame gout," Adaaya said as she pointed at the top of the weapon. "There is a little glass bar on the top there, it will light up incrementally to show you how much heat the flame gout has siphoned into its own heatsink. When it's full you can shoot fire out of it. Reaches about seventeen meters, give or take."
"I see. Thank you, this should prove useful in the ruins of a city," Nihlus said as he hefted it and then slung it over his back with the weapon own attached sling, as it did not have the same magnetic points as Council weapons did to just attack it to his armour. "Desolas, how is the ground looking?"
"Bleak," Desolas said simply as he tuned to Adaaya and Nihlus and continued. "The buildings all are weathered and in ruins, the air is hot and dry, and there are thin mangled plants growing over a lot of the buildings. I can see some lights in some places that seem to somehow still be working but I don't-.. "
Desolas was stopped as a couple accelerator rounds pinged off the ceiling above him, making him crouch down as the Normandy slowed to a near stop in the air.
"Alright, we're at the place that Saren set down according to our scans. There are some forces below shooting at the ship too," Joker's voice came over the intercom.
"Good. We're going then, Joker. Once we're off head back into orbit and pick up the others, then wait for any calls from us," Desolas said as he suddenly let off a stream of electricity into the floor before pulling his feet out of it, as if the molten metal caused him no pain or difficulty.
"Understood, Boss man. Good hunting," Joker replied as Adaaya went back over to the wall console and tapped it, causing a metal pole to come out of the ceiling and extend of the ship, dropping a cable down below.
"Alright, are you ready to keep up with us?" Desolas asked as he looked at Nilhus.
"Yes. Saren has a few hours lead ahead of us, but anything on such an old ruin will need to be uncovered, unburied, and likely powered to be of use to him. We should be able to catch him.
"We will catch him," Desolas said grimly as he turned back to the open door and ran at it, jumping down and out of sight alongside the sound of lightning and explosions.
"Don't get left behind now!" Adaaya called as she few out to follow, leaving Nihlus behind until he sighed and ran to the edge, jumping and using the cable to slide down.
The scene below him was one of battle and carnage, with the battle current, and the carnage ancient. He had of course seen some of the building as they had flown around over the runes city, but rappelling down made it even clearer. This was not a city that was simply abandoned. Buildings bore the clear signs of weapons fire from simple small arms up to ship based cannons. Ancient stains were almost hidden under rocks, debris and plant matter, and Nihlus could even see what he thought looked like bones or perhaps something similar. Nigh ancient remnants of life that had refused to be fully broken down by the passage of time.
In and around the ruins the Batarian forces that served Saren had dug in. Ruins and columns repurposed as cover, buildings repurposed as bunkers. Defences to stop soldiers from landing, not forces of nature powered by magic from falling upon them. Stones and Batarian bodies showed the damage of lightning strikes while others had looked like they had been thrown backwards or cut in half. But there still were a number of them left.
As soon as Nihlus's boots hit the ground he rolled forward to a nearby pile of rubble, perhaps once a grand column or monument of stone. Slinging the rifle off his back he checked the settings and swung the gun out of cover, quickly spotting a trio of Batarians in a nearby building, using its remaining wall as a simple form of cover from direct attack. He squeezed the trigger quickly, once twice, three times. The alternate barrels of the rifle fired quickly, multiple shots flying with each trigger pull. The lasers, with their perfect accuracy and lack of kinetic value, flew true to where Nihlus aimed, killing two of the Batarians instantly, while the third had managed to move just in time to not get struck lethally.
"Hmm, these buildings are strong, the laser barely singed it," Nihlus muttered as he took to his feet and repositioned, allowing him to get a better view of the drop zone.
It was some kind of courtyard, or perhaps a large intersection of streets. The rubble made it difficult to tell for sure, but he could see Adaaya flying up and down into buildings, not caring about their structural integrity, as she tore into the Batarian forces. Sometimes simply flying down, grabbing one and then tossing them over a nearby building to a height that surely would be crippling if not fatal.
Like-wise Desolas was running around and throwing bolts of lightning as well as swinging blades of metal that shaped themselves to his will. Sometimes they were thin and sharp to thrust through a torso, other times they were heavy and dull to simply crush what was before them. Unlike the laser rifle, that cauterized the wounds it created, Desolas's blades were not so neat, sending splashed of Batarian blood onto the ancient stones.
"Not that how you kill your enemy's matters, I suppose," Nihlus then muttered as he vaulted over a chunk of rubble to find a Batarian crouching behind it. Before the Batarian could react er kicked up his leg and struck the Batarian in the shoulder sending him sprawling to the ground where his back was wide open. It took only a single burst shot to put him down.
"To your left!" Adaaya called out, making Nihlus turn to his left, only to see that she had been talking to Desolas, who was now in the middle if filleting a Batarian who had tried to strike him with the butt of his rifle.
"This is, odd," Nihlus muttered as he looked around noting that the Batarians here had not really set up any emplacements of solid defences, but also seemed to have no equipment on them anywhere aside from what was on their person. Nihlus shook his head and aimed his gun at a window as he saw motion, quickly taking out a Batarian who came out and with their gun raised.
"Nice shot, I think that was the last one," Desolas spoke up as he came over and glanced around. "does something about these Batarians seem, odd to you? Other than all of them being the cloned ones I mean."
Nihlus nodded. "I don't see any supplies of any kind around. It could be in the buildings though, but most of them do not look sufficient for a holdout."
"They aren't, all the buildings are too broken and I haven't seen anything like supplies either," Adaaya said as she flew down and landed on a pile of rubble nearby, sitting down casually. "I also haven't seen anything that looks like an archaeological dig near here."
"What worries me the most is that if there are no supplies that means this was not an operating base for whatever Saren is looking for. Meaning he either left these troops here to keep us here, and already knows where his target is, or has an idea,"
"I'll check again then, see if I can find him from above," Adaaya then commented before blasting off into the air above the ruined cityscape.
"I'll see if I can get anything off some of these Batarian clone soldiers that were not blown into a pulp or electrocuted," Nihlus said as he walked over to the closest dead body and began looking it over.
"You don't approve of how we fight," Desolas said a few seconds later.
"No, I don't. It is needlessly brutal and pointlessly destructive," Nihlus replied honestly. "There have been a number of times already that I have seen where your actions have led to the destruction of property or machinery that could have had data on it that could have been of use to us. You are not the only one though. Almost every console or omnitool on Virmire was destroyed because Alliance troops do not seem to care about holding back properly."
"If you've had problems then you should have mentioned them," Desolas said dismissively as he looked around, trying to find anything of note and quickly forming some kind of magic in his open hand that glowed faintly greenish yellow.
Nihlus simply shook his head as he lifted up the dead Batarians arm and activated the omnitool, connecting it to his own to access the data on it more easily. Not that there was a whole lot of data it appeared. As a clone they would not have much of a life, and it seemed the only data of note was tactical deployment data. Orders telling what to do and how to do it. They were simple. On landing they would guard the landing zone. It didn't mention anything about when to defend it until, or anything else, as if the clones would simply not be retrieved. That was not a good thing, as it meant that this planet could be just a relay to Saren's real objective.
Nihlus dropped the connected and let the Batarians arm drop to the ground before going over to the next one and checking it as well. He did have to admit that the Alliances laser weapons were very efficient and accurate. It made it easy to not damage the Batarians equipment, as targeting an arm was pointless, and therefore left the omnitools intact.
The next Batarians omnitool was much the same as the first and seconds, but he noticed something odd about it and delved deeper, momentarily finding a locked partition on the tools data storage. His own managed to crack it with a simple hacking program, and a moment later he had access to the whole thing.
This Batarian had been a mercenary, one who had been part of Kar'shan's defence force, it seemed. He clearly had reason to fight against the Alliance and had joined Saren for that chance and was put into command of this group. There were audio files of him grumbling to himself about Saren and the clone Batarians, and among those grumblings he found one logged from not even a full day ago.
"This mission is officially not worth what I am being paid anymore. Running from the Alliance when they somehow managed to get an army is one thing, but splitting our forces that escaped and coming to this ruined shithole is absurd. There is nothing here but ruins and our grand mission is to simply stay here and defend this location. A drop zone, only nothing is being dropped down to us and Saren took two thirds of our forces with him to go look into something to the north according to his words. Leaves me with all the clones and goes off with all of us who were able to use those strange combat suits, I swear if he isn't back in another day I'm calling that ship to pick us up, and screw his order!"
"Well, that is useful," Nihlus muttered as he used his omnitool and checked which was way north on the planet.
"what is?"
Nihlus turned to see Adaaya standing on a chunk of rubble nearby, looking annoyed.
"I believe I have a lead. Saren went to a location north of here yesterday. He should not be that far I would think as the log I found did not say anything about vehicles."
"I'll check again then. I didn't see anything just now, but it's hard to tell from above with the way some of these buildings are," Adaaya commented before she beat her wings and rocketed up into the sky once more.
Only for the sound of an explosion to rip through the streets from the north a second later, sending up a plume of smoke. "Spirits what was that?" Nihlus swore as he noticed a second later that he could not find Desolas anywhere. With a growl he sprinted down the ruined streets until he came to one building with its entire side blown out, an smoked still wafting out of it alongside arcs of electricity from what appeared to be cables lying on the ground.
A second later Desolas came out of the smoke, looking both upset and pleased all at once. "I believe I have found where they went."
"And you blew it up?" Nihlus asked carefully.
"No, I was tracking an electrical charge and found this building. Inside is some kind of garage but, it had been rigged with explosives. I tripped them."
"Intentionally or accidentally?" Adaaya said as she swooped down and beat her wings, pushing the smoke away and revealing a pile of rubble inside the remains of what was a small building.
"Saren must have set them to be magnetically sensitive. They blew as soon as I stepped inside," Desolas admitted with a growl.
"Well we know where we are going now at least, so let's unbury this," Adaaya said gleefully as he walked over to the rubble and grabbed a piece of stone the size of her whole body before simply tossing it behind her into another nearby wall. Then another, and another.
"That is, disturbing," Nihlus said as he took a step away on reflex. "I don't think even a Krogan could move chunks of stone that easily."
"Well, she is a Roc," Desolas stated as tiled his head to not get hit by a piece of stone that may have actually been a skull of some kind.
"I thought she was a Youkai?"
"A Roc is a Youkai. It's a bird Youkai known for their strength, as opposed to their speed like most avian Youkai are."
"I, think I understand," Nihlus said with a shake of his head. "Alliance races are so strange. I thought Youkai was more, specific, really."
"It's a catchall term, as technically Desolas is a Youkai as well remember!" Adaaya declared as she broke a piece of stone in half and pushed it to the sides, revealing a metal door that looked like it had been recently used. "Alright, it's clear, are we opening this easy way, or the really easy way?"
"Um, which one is which?" Nihlus asked right as Desolas took a step forward.
"I'll do it," He spoke as he lifted his hands, causing the blocks of metal in the holsters on his legs to lift out and liquefy. They then extended into thin and long blades that without warning all pierced straight into the center of the door where there was a barely visible seam. Then they began pulling to the sides the ancient doorway parting with resistance, before it was instantly thrown open with enough force that the doors frames were probably broken if the sparks and steam were any indication.
"That's the easier way," Adaaya said with a grin as she crossed her arms. "My way would be just pummelling the door down."
"That would take a while, would it not?"
"A few minutes at most," Adaaya said with a shrug as they watches Desolas's blades re-liquefy and return to their holsters. "Desolas's way is safer as mine usually sets off alarms and defence systems if they are around."
"There, it's staying open," Desolas said as he looked down the slanted hallway and instantly realized something. "This is a bunker of some kind. And judging by the location it was probably an emergency bunker of some kind for the city, I think."
"That seems likely, it does match that sort of design," Nihlus agreed as he stepped up and looked down it. "There are lights on, albeit I think they are emergency lights."
"Well let's make use of them and get moving," Adaaya said as she jumped ahead of the two of them and began running down the slopped hall.
Without a word Desolas followed, forcing Nihlus to run after them into the halls.
The sloped hallways were a good size, but got even larger both in width and height as they continued to descend. There were flattened areas every couple dozen meters, large enough to park full sized military vehicles, and there was a thick layer of dust and debris everywhere one looked. Vines and plant matter was growing out of walls, and in many places the emergency lights did not work.
Then they arrived at the bottom of the long ramp way to find themselves likely hundreds of meters underground. The lowest area expanded in all directions with the ceiling vaulted hundreds of meters up and filled with strange cylinders. Wires hung from every direction, and a good half meter of water flooded the floor.
"Ha, ha, that, give me a moment," Nihlus heaved as he almost fell down, but managed to instead lean against a nearby wall. He had managed to keep up with Adaaya and Desolas, but just barely, and while he felt like his lungs would explode neither of them looked even winded.
"That's fine, good job keeping up," Adaaya said with a smile before looking up and smiling even wider. "I'm going to take a look at what all those cylinders are."
"Alright, be careful," Desolas said as he looked straight down the tunnel and then scowled. "I, think I see people further down there."
"Really? I don't see anything, just dim darkness," Nihlus said as he looked up and tried to see down the tunnel.
"Its hard to tell. We'll have to be careful going forward," Desolas said as Adaaya came down and began beating her wings to hover above the water. "What are these things?"
"Uh, well, they were cryostasis tubes I think. A lot of them have bones and half decomposed matter in them," Adaaya said as she looked nervously at the water.
Desolas looked up at the hundred, if not thousands upon thousands of tubes that came out of the walls down the whole length of the hallway, and then down at the water. "So, this is the leaked cryofluid, and liquid contents of a bunch of Protheans maybe. Great. I'll need to sterilise everything after this,"
"It could be worse, it doesn't smell, and seems clean. It's likely mostly just the cryofluid runoff and condensation," Nihlus reasoned right before the water around them was struck by a handful of accelerator rounds. Though they were very much off target. "Spirits, enemy fire," he said with a grumble as he dashed over to the wall in the hopes of it helping hide his position.
"Hold on, I'll just-.."
"Don't do it, Desolas," Adaaya interrupted Desolas, grabbing him and flying over to the wall as well. "Just because you are electric proof, doesn't mean Nihlus will be."
Desolas looked at Adaaya then at Nihlus, then down at his feet in the water before he began swearing under his breath in a language that Nihlus could not quite understand.
A handful of accelerator rounds fell into the water around them, a couple even striking the walls with light clicks.
"Spirits, I don't see anything for cover down this hall," Nihlus commented as he raised his rifle and looked down it, not being able to see anything down the tunnel aside from some small flashes. He aimed again to be sure and pulled the trigger a few times, sending bursts of laser fire down the tunnel to each flash of light.
"Let's go, I'll block the shots since it'll be hard to head down at higher speeds without flying in such a tunnel," Desolas said as he began mumbling something and doing odd motions with his hands. As he did his blocks of silver came out and liquefied into a trio of metal ovals witch floated in front of each of them.
"Will this really block accelerator rounds?" Nihlus asked on reflex as he looked at the metal now floating in front of him, finding that it would move to always be in front of him, yet still allowed him to peer around it.
"They will, so let's go already," Adaaya said as she began lazily flying down the tunnel, the metal in front of her ringing as small flecks of metal struck against it.
"Right," Nihlus muttered as he and Desolas followed after Adaaya, running down the tunnel with some difficulty both due to the metal in front of them, and the water they were moving through. Taking a few shots down the tunnel as he ran Nihlus noted that the tunnel was never changing. It was nothing but cryostasis tubes, stone and water. It was dull, barely lit, and utterly unpleasant. And somehow the scene made his head feel heavy, the Prothean visions in his head swimming and screaming at it all at the back of his thoughts.
"Hey, your slowing down," Desolas spoke up suddenly, making Nihlus shake his head and look to him.
"The Prothean visions, are acting up. Probably because, we're on a Prothean world," Nihlus admitted as he found that his lungs were beginning to hurt more than they should, and that his head was pounding with a headache that was slowly, but very surely, gaining in strength.
"Well, maybe it'll calm down in a bit," Desolas said passively before growling as a rocket, of all things, struck the metal in front of him and almost knocked him out of his movement. "Damn Batarians! Oh, they have those suits, of course they do!"
Nihlus looked forward to see about ten Batarians, half of which were wearing the exosuits he had seen before, and all of them alternating fire at them.
"Good, now that we're close we can-," Adaaya began to say, right before an orange colored barrier of energy suddenly appeared right in front of the Batarians, causing all of their fire to bounce back, some of it incapacitating a few of them.
"What, is it a spell?"
"That's no spell," Adaaya said grimly as another barrier appeared behind the Batarians, trapping them.
Then the barriers began to slowly drag closer to each other. The Batarians did not notice immediately, but once the barriers were a meter apart they did. And the horror of realization quickly dawned on them. Then the screaming started.
"What in the spirits, how is this not your magic?" Nihlus asked Desolas as the three of them just stood there watching as the barriers started to crush the Batarians, even as the suited ones tried to hold the barriers apart to no avail.
"No, there is no magic in that. It's all science. Eezo based too, I think. It feels like it, at least," Adaaya said as she looked around and then pointed at the walls. "There, I can see emitters, and they look to be on a small track of some kind."
"Wait, is there-," Desolas turned around and began scanning the walls, only sighing in relief when he saw another track, but that they were not standing in an area it could effect.
Only for the one behind them to activate a second later as a light on the wall lit up, and the wall sunk in, revealing a doorway.
"This, is concerning," Nihlus stated as he pointed his gun toward the doorway, ignoring the screams of Batarians alongside the sound of crushing and shearing metal as the barriers holding them continued to move closer to each other.
"Yeah. . . . I don't hear anything from in that doorway, though," Adaaya muttered as she hovered above the water and looked at the barriers barring their way back or forward. "So, do we take a look, or wait until the Batarians stop screaming?"
"Let's take a look, I think, something here wants us to go that way," Nihlus said uncertainly, just as a Batarians screamed as something broke. Probably an arm. "And those screams are not, comforting."
"Well, they're not supposed to be," Adaaya deadpanned with a chuckle before flying over to the doorway and landing on the edge, avoiding the water as she looked inside. "It looks like a short hallway to another door," she said before simply going straight in and across the short hall to the door, opening it. "Looks like an elevator. Maybe."
"Then let's use it," Nihlus said as he walked up to the door and into the hallway. "Perhaps we can find a way around those rather, lethal, barriers," he said as there was a final scream from behind before a crushing and squelching noise.
"Yeah, but if this makes us lose him again," Desolas stated, leaving what he would do to the imagination as the three of them all stepped into the elevator, the door closing and the whole thing beginning to go down automatically. As it went down the temperature noticeably dropped to the point that they could each see their breath.
When the door opened it revealed a room that was easily as tall as the elevator, the walls before them all covered in more cryostasis tubes. A simple metal walkway, rusted, and worn, but still functional, went from the elevator to a console of some kind that was partly covered in old plant boughs. And in front of the console danced a devastated holographic image that looked like it had long lost its ability to maintain any sort of cohesive form. As they approached the hologram shifted outwards a bit, and a voice echoed out from the console it connected to. "You are not Prothean. You are not machine either. This is why we sent out message through the beacons. This eventuality was one of many that were anticipated and hoped for."
"A Prothean VI?" Nihlus asked in surprise.
"No, this is not quite a VI, though I don't think it is an AI either," Adaaya commented.
"That is correct," The hologram answered instantly. "I am an advanced personality analysis program with imprints from the chief overseer of the Ilos research facility, Ksad Ishan. I am neither an AI, nor what you refer to as a VI."
"Okay, but how can you understand us if you're of Prothean design?" Nihlus asked.
"I have been monitoring the speech of you, and those who arrived before you, and have calibrated my external information release systems to an audible frequency you would understand," it answered before pausing. "I am Vigil, and for the moment you are safe here, you do not need to be worried to danger."
"Yeah, that's nice. Why are we here?" Desolas asked, seeming a bit annoyed by how causal Vigil seemed.
"None of you have the feel of indoctrination upon you, unlike those that came before, so I must urge you to break a cycle that has gone on since beyond the amount of time you can imagine."
"Let me guess, those giant squid ships and the one called Sovereign?" Adaaya asked smugly.
"Yes. The Reapers as the Protheans called them have been committing genocide to sentient races for millions of years, each time using the Citadel, the heart of each cycle's government, against them. It is an enormous mass relay, that will bring the rest of the Reapers, hundreds if not thousands of them, here to the galaxy from their home in dark space."
"What? A mass relay? That is ridiculous," Nihlus stated nervously. "People have been living on the Citadel for thousands of years. If it was a mass relay, someone would have noticed."
"The Reapers are careful to keep their secrets hidden so that their trap is not sprung to early. They created a seemingly benign race, unworthy of attention, as caretakers of the Citadel. As it is cared for by others, few ever think to look deep enough to discover the Citadels true purpose."
"That is, worrisome. But I have trouble believing anything could survive in the space outside of the galaxy," Nihlus said.
"We have only theories as to how they survive in dark space, the most prominent being that they hibernate to conserve energy until the Citadel relay is activated, allowing them to come through to the galaxy and begin their genocide," Vigil proclaimed as if it was obvious.
"Can we skip ahead to where my brother is so he doesn't get away?" Desolas said impatiently.
"You do not need to worry as of yet. It is still a few minutes until the ones who passed before you gain access to the conduit," Vigil declared.
"Wait, what is the conduit?" Nihlus asked.
"The conduit is what the Protheans researched here on Ilos, built to stop the genocide of the Reapers from ever happening again. They discovered that normally a signal was broadcast to the Citadel, wherein the keepers would then activate its relay, allowing them to return from dark space and begin their work. Those here on Ilos, who survived being in stasis during the Reaper invasion discovered this, and built the conduit, a small one-way relay, to transport them to the Citadel where they then proceeded to alter the keepers at a genetic level to stop them from receiving the signal."
"Wait a minute, hold on," Desolas spoke up. "If the keepers normally would call the Reapers from the Citadel, why does Saren need to go to all this length finding this planet, just to go back to the Citadel? He's a spectre and had access to everything in the first place."
"I am unsure, but it is likely that the one who passed before required knowledge left in the console by the conduit itself, perhaps to either reverse the actions done to the keepers, or to bypass it, or activate the Citadel relay directly."
"That doesn't make sense," Adaaya suddenly spoke up "if he just appeared on the Citadel with a bunch of Batarians he would never get anywhere as he's a wanted man. There is something missing to all of this."
"It doesn't matter, if we stop him then it matters even less," Desolas said grimly. "And if it does matter, I'll pry the truth out of his mouth with my own claws if I have to!"
"As long as the cycle is stopped," Vigil said before its hologram flickered. "My power source is nearing its limit. The one who came before and was indoctrinated is at the conduit and it has reached eighty percent of its charging phase. The conduit can be reached by returning to the hall you were in, crossing its length and descending down the ancient sluiceways."
"Sluiceways?" Desolas asked as a horrible thought crossed his mind. "Is there any water in the reservoir?"
"There is liquid,"
"In five minutes drop the gates and flood the sluiceways," Desolas ordered as he turned and walked back toward the elevator.
Adaaya followed, while Nihlus paused and looked at Vigil. "Before you run out of power, can you deactivate to conserve your power so I could come back to speak to you more?"
"I am unsure, but will attempt to do so once you leave."
"Thank you," Nihlus said before turning away.
"Entity the same as the one who passed before. Be aware that those you travel with, while not indoctrinated, hold energy similar to those who once faced my creators."
"What!? What does that mean!?" Nihlus asked as he spun to face Vigil, only to find the hologram no longer there
"Hey, what are you yelling about?" Desolas called out.
Nihlus turned to see Desolas waiting at the elevators doorway, looking slightly confused. Had he not heard what Vigil had said? "Nothing, just the memories again, I suppose," Nihlus replied as he shook his head and walked over and into the elevator.
The ride up was silent, and when they entered back onto the tunnel they found that both of the barriers had disappeared, and the only thing to probe they had been there was a pulpy pool of metal, flesh and blood where the Batarians had been.
"Heh, I wonder how that barrier works. Nitori would probably love to scavenge this place for tech," Adaaya commented with a chuckle as she immediately took to the air, refusing to be in the water.
"Only if this place survives," Desolas said grimly as a low, but very noticeable deep blaring began to echo down the hall from the directing they needed to go. "We need to get moving. I am not letting Saren escape again." Nihlus simply nodded as all three of them began heading down the halls. They continued for what seemed like kilometers, the blaring noise becoming slightly more defined as they went until they finally reached the end of the tunnel.
It came out to what was definitely an artificial sluiceway, large enough to park a small ship in if the side of it were not so heavily curved. Behind them was a large stone and metal building that looked only slightly less degraded than all the others around them and was covered in much more plant matter. The centre of it, which looked to possibly be a solid gate was also leaking water in a trickle down the sluiceway with enough water to just be noticed. What was making the noise was a machine high above them with a small flashing blue light, a clear warning of what was to occur shortly.
"Wait that, isn't good. Why would you tell Vigil to unleash that?" Nihlus said as he noticed that the leak in the gate above them was not at the bottom, but right near the very top, telling him of the disturbing amount of liquid that was likely behind it.
"Because it will get rid of any of Sarens forces that try to stop us if they get behind us, and if we can stop him from activating the conduit, it might even break it. Meaning he will have no choice but to face us!" Desolas said with a snarl as he stated running down the sheer angle of the sluiceway for a few meters before he simply started flying just above the ground.
Before Nihlus could even say anything he found himself picked up by his armour by Adaaya, who gave him a smile. "Don't struggle, just stabilize yourself. You're never keeping up with us unless carried at this point,"
"Fine, I understand," Nihlus said. Just before an impossibly loud crash echoed out from behind them. He glanced over his shoulder with just enough of an angle to see the massive gate behind them, getting further and further back, start to open before it seemed to be caught on roots and other plant matter, before then shearing and breaking, the entire wall blowing apart in a wave of liquid and stone debris. "Oh, spirits!"