Rescuing Royalty

From deeper inside the cave, I heard a strange noise. Though it was certainly loud, I would not have called it a roar, nor would I call it angry or aggressive. It was a call, and it sounded afraid. The creature from which the noise came had obviously heard the great commotion as our battle raged through the network of caverns and the Reaper slaves growled and sent up shrill cries as they were vanquished. The prisoner was calling for help perhaps? We rounded a wall of boulders and came to one last barrier, and when Ashley pulled the trigger on the release there came a sudden, heavy silence.

The Krogan corpses began to speak as one, a dozen low voices saying every word in perfect unison as we approached the one that controlled them.

"The… maddening sour note has gone," the Krogan chorus stated. My eyes were fixated on the huge, terrifying life form that stood before us. It towered twenty metres above us and its many eyes looked back down upon us, uncertainty still clear to see in its alien gaze. The creature was undoubtedly Rachni, but appeared to have none of the modifications that we had seen on the Ravagers. Stretching from one wall to the opposite were dozens of cables of Reaper creation that bound the Rachni in place and stopped it from moving at all.

"Is that…" James started but could not find the air to keep talking. But the Rachni looked at him and all around us the Krogan corpses spoke to him,

"We are the mother. The last Queen."

"The last Rachni Queen," I repeated to James, "and she's all grown up from the last time I saw her."

I could not believe what I had found. The last Rachni Queen that I had released three years ago on Noveria was now, once again, being imprisoned and used for its offspring.

"What happened to you?" I asked, "I promised to let you go on Noveria on the condition that you disappeared!"

"We remember," the Rachni Queen said, "we found a peaceful place to compose anew, such beautiful children, harmony. We told them of your kindness and how you had not silenced us. But then the machines…"

Her rage exploded and as the Krogan shouted and she bellowed in anguish, the cave shook.

"The machines came. They heard our song and brought us here. They took our children away to where they cannot hear our song. Their minds are shattered, hearing nothing but the machines' sour yellow note."

"So… the Reapers aren't controlling you?" I asked her. The rest of the team were highly on edge and it did not make them feel any better that I was talking to the Queen, walking closer to it. I did not fear her.

"We hear the machines," the Queen admitted, "but they cannot control us."

"Scott!" Grunt's urgent voice called over the radio, "we're getting a lot of movement here. They'll be hitting us soon, hurry up in there."

"Scott," Ashley said, "I know what you're thinking, but we released her last time and this is what happened. There's no way that we can guarantee this won't come back to haunt us again."

I did not want to hear it. The Queen was not here of her own doing and it would be unjust to leave her here to suffering and death.

"Can you fight the Reapers? Will you fight them?" I asked the Queen, standing right before her now, easily within reach of her mandibles if she felt compelled to kill me.

"We hate the machines," the Queen roared, "release this last shackle and we are free. We will fight for our unborn children."

"Scott?" Ashley questioned me as I marched over to the release for the cables that kept her in place.

"She's too valuable a resource to be left behind, Ashley," I told her, making sure the rest of the team heard me too. "We gave the Krogan a second chance, why treat the Rachni any different?"

"She's badly wounded," Tali said, "she'll need time to escape."

"Then we'll give it to her," I ordered. I blasted the release and the cables snapped free, whipping wildly around and carving deep scars in the rock faces around them as the tension was freed. I could hear the fighting coming from Aralakh's position now and I watched helplessly as the Rachni Queen struggled to keep herself up. She looked back at me and I was almost sure that she gave me a nod of deep gratefulness.

"Go!" I yelled to her, "we'll keep them off of you."

"Thank you, Human," the Krogan corpses sang out, "we will never forget you, Scott."

"Grunt," I called over the comm, "the Rachni Queen is on the move and we need to keep her alive until she's out of these caves. Fall back to my position with your men and we'll fight a rearguard action to protect her."

"Damn you, Scott. Why the hell aren't we killing her?" The embattled Krogan growled back.

"Because she'll help against the Reapers and she owes me, twice! We can trust her."

"Fine," Grunt said, "heading your way now."

In groups of three or four the Krogan company arrived with Grunt leading the way. We followed behind the massive bulk of the Rachni Queen as she fought her way through the confining spaces, dealing with the few Reaper troops that attempted to stop her with a vicious tenacity. I watched the strong-bodied Rachni grab a Husk in her jaws and crush it so hard that the enemy was simply squished to mush before she spat it out again.

Our own battle was even more ferocious as the Rachni swarm, backed by Marauders, Husks of both Human and Asari types, and the Cannibals, came spilling through the entrance and began their assault on us. James just unloaded his machinegun into the entrance and within minutes the pile of Reaper bodies could almost have blocked the way. It was a complete massacre for the enemy troops and yet they kept on coming, slowly edging closer to our line and soon it was time to fall back.

With Aralakh Company split into four, including my team, we moved one unit at a time so that there were always three giving the business to the Reapers. I shot a Marauder three times through the gut then turned my Mattock on a Cannibal and took it down. Reloading, I saw that it was our turn to run and with the Krogan sending a tidal wave of bullets over our heads, I led my team to join them at the next defensive position. All the while, Grunt had his tech finding us a route out of the network of caves and back to the shuttles. When he found one, we decided that the Queen had had ample time to escape. Now it was time to get out of this underground hell.

I threw a grenade that shredded a Ravager and took the legs off of a Husk which continued to crawl at us with just its' arms. The fight back to the surface was even more intense than our initial descent into the dark caves. The Reaper troops were not even properly fighting us now and just seemed desperate to reach the Queen ahead of us. On far more than one occasion, Ravagers would burst through our line or come from above and land ahead of us, but instead of engaging us they just hurtled on away from us after their priority target.

There were casualties on our side though as we sprinted for our lives through the dark passageways. One of the Ravagers with cannons attached to it fired a salvo that blasted a part of the wall next to our heads, tearing apart two of the Krogan commandos beside me. As we passed over a section of the river running below us, a Krogan was grabbed from below and fell. The spear-like legs of the Ravager pierced right through the commando's armour, and although the Krogan kept struggling for a while, repeated stabs soon ensured that the warrior perished. Losses on both sides were rising as we left an enormous trail of dead Reaper soldiers in our wake, with a few Krogan bodies joining them when our fortunes fell.

"We've lost sight of the Queen!" I heard one of the leading Krogan report.

"Then so have the Reapers!" I said in hope, "just keep making our way to the surface…"

The force of the projectile that hit me was like a missile had struck me and I was bowled completely over the side of the path into the river below. I landed in the water head first and my helmet was smashed against a rock as I tried to right myself. I was so confused and reached out every which way to grab a hold of whatever I could, anything that could stop me being taken along unwillingly by the current of the river. My face breached the surface and I gasped for air, but before I knew it, I was sucked under again and ended up taking in only more water. My lungs were on fire and I felt myself losing all sensation of touch, my sight going completely black. This would not be like the first time that I died when I smashed into the surface of Alchera like a meteor and everything ended in a split-second. No. This was going to be slow and painful.

My back struck another obstacle and I felt air on my face again and bought myself a little more breathing time. I could still hear the guns of my friends, the Krogan and the Reapers blaring away above me but there were also voices. They were calling for me and I wanted nothing more than to shout back, tell them where I was so they could throw me one of their rappelling ropes or something. Instead, I gurgled the water that filled my mouth and I was dragged down under again, spinning around out of control as the current played with me like a rag doll.

A hand grabbed my shoulder, hard, and I felt myself stop moving, just floating there as the water rushed by. I was lifted to the surface and welcomed the air that filled me as I had the luxury of breathing again, so sweet and invigorating.

"Come on, Gardner," Grunt bellowed, "no time for this crap!"

The Krogan dragged me along behind him as my head only just cleared the water, but when the level dropped a little, I was able to make my own way.

"Can we get back up?" I asked.

"Hope so, or this was a really bad idea for me to jump down," Grunt chuckled. I could hear the battle raging above, but it was moving further away from us.

"We have to get topside and get a move on or we're going to be left behind," I said.

"I ordered them to keep going and we'd meet them."

A Ravager jumped down at us, but Grunt's Claymore lit up the cave as it incinerated the beast and blood and pieces of it rained on us.

"There!" I pointed to a section of the rock-face that looked like we could get a good grip on for climbing. We made it and Grunt told me to go first,

"Get on my hump, Scott, should make it easier," he said.

"Easier than you getting on my shoulders anyway," I joked as I fumbled about for a couple of places to put my hands. I slipped the first few times and Grunt would grumble when my feet would land back on his head, for which I could only apologise for. But finally, my hands and feet were true as I clambered my way fifteen feet back up to the path. I lay myself down with my arms over the edge so that I could assist Grunt when he reached me. I was not going to kid myself that I could help lift a nine-hundred-pound Krogan up over the ledge, but as long as Grunt could get a firm hold of something, then he could do it easily himself.

After nearly crushing my arm, he gave a roar as he pulled himself up and rolled onto the ground at my feet. I armed my rifle and stood ready. I could hear another swarm of Reaper soldiers approaching from behind us, but there was also the horde that were attacking our company up ahead. We were stuck in the middle of the enemy forces. I ushered Grunt along the route taken by our soldiers, but when it was clear that a huge force blocked our path, I quickly took us a little way along a side path and out of sight.

"We need to figure out another way back up," I told the big Krogan.

"We can't," he said scanning his Omni tool, "this is…"

"Ssh!" I hushed him and sat stock still as Reaper troops charged past the entrance to our little hiding hole, snarling and growling as they pursued their prey.

The wave of enemy soldiers took a few minutes to pass by, Grunt and I staying out of sight in the complete blackness and not uttering a sound. When they had gone, I allowed myself a slow breath, but when I looked back at Grunt the Krogan was staring right at me, he looked grim even in the shadows.

"That's our only way, Commander," he said. At first, I was pissed off, letting myself get knocked down off of the path and putting Grunt in this situation with me. But there was nothing else we could do, so I made sure my Mattock had a fresh thermal clip and gave my friend an affirmative smile,

"You ready for a fight then?"

"Oh yeah," he laughed. His shotgun was charged and good to go.

We picked our moment carefully. There were still enemies coming from behind us, but we raced out onto the main route to the surface and sprinted as fast as we could go after the Reapers ahead of us. We caught up with the force that had passed us only minutes ago and as the rear-most Husk heard us coming and turned, it received my Omni blade across its face. The next had its spine torn in two and the third had the pleasure of having Grunt grab a hold of its neck and crush it so hard that its head dislodged from its body and fell to the ground. Grunt let out a triumphant bellow and kicked the head like a football ahead of us. A Marauder turned to face us but ended up with Grunt's Claymore blowing off the top half of its head while I gunned down a Husk to the side.

The adrenaline rush I had during that fight was immense and I felt truly high on life. I kicked and punched, shot and slashed all my enemies as they turned to meet us. After shooting a Ravager to pieces, I put my Mattock away and drew my Paladin. With both of my Omni blades active and my heavy hitting pistol in hand, there was nothing that I could not deal with in close quarters. And Grunt was a Krogan, which automatically meant that he was going to smash anything that got within the reach of his incredibly strong arms, or within range of a good old head-butt.

Grunt and I never stopped for a second, and soon I was able to hear the gunfire from our friends again. But the Reapers were better prepared than we thought and as we rounded a bend at full speed, we came up against a line of Marauders and cannon-armed Ravagers that started pummelling away at our position. Grunt and I were forced to take cover as my shields were almost taken down. We fired back, but my eye was ever checking our rear as I expected the enemy to arrive at any minute and pen us in, mauling us to bits once they got all over us. I took a grenade out and activated its proximity-detonator, placing it behind us as an early warning precaution. Husks threw themselves at us to try and shift us from our cover so the Marauders could pick us off, but we were stubborn enemies.

Then the worst happened. My little land mine that I had set went off and I heard the wails as a couple of Reaper soldiers were killed in the blast. They were right behind us. Without hesitation, Grunt was up and charged forward and threw a Cannibal over the edge into the river before turning to me,

"Scott, I need you to stick right behind me."

"What are you doing?" I shot one of the Marauders that attacked our rear.

"Getting you out of here," the Krogan said. He took a rough grip of my wrist and had me tailing after him as he threw himself headlong into the enemy line that was blocking our escape. His shields had been taken down in seconds and I saw the spurts of blood as bullets punched into his thick skin.

Grunt's Claymore claimed the life of a Ravager and he kicked a Marauder onto the ground before squishing its head under his boot. Then it was my turn as he grabbed my arm and used all of his might to throw me past the enemy line. Grunt went absolutely berserk and tore apart every enemy that he could get his hands on, taking down nearly the entire unit by himself. But then the Reapers behind us caught up and started to overwhelm him. I was about to run back and help him, but his booming voice echoed through the dark halls,

"Go Gardner! Go!"

Turning to run was painful. But I did as Grunt wished and headed straight for where Aralakh Company and my friends were still falling back. Every so often, I passed the dead body of one of Grunt's men, and each time I imagined that would soon be Grunt. I so badly wanted to do an about-turn and go back to save him, but now the enemies were starting to pour in to the caves from hidden crevices in the walls and ceiling which stopped me from backtracking. A concussive shot from my pistol catapulted a Marauder down into the dark abyss below and I shot the following Ravager. It felt like forever, but finally, as if by some divine intervention, I actually saw daylight ahead and the forms of Aralakh Company holding the line. I got on the comm,

"Tali! It's Scott, I'm coming up towards you guys from behind the Reapers. Watch your fire!"

"Copy that," she replied with complete relief and I heard her repeat my message to the others.

Running and firing my Paladin at the same time, cutting down a few Husks with my Omni blade, I broke through the Reaper lines and urged my legs to go faster than they ever had before towards my friends. I felt the impact of several shots hit my shields before they were overloaded, then it was my armour that took the hits from the enemy behind me. The daylight had semi-blinded me and I stumbled and took a fall. Before I hit the ground, a Ravager pinned me down and one of its bladed legs stabbed my left arm, sending bolts of savage pain through my body in waves. Screaming out, I brought my Paladin around right into the bottom of the monster's body and pulled the trigger as many times as I could until the clip was empty. Shoving the dead Reaper off of me, I jumped back to my feet and re-joined my squad.

"Good to have you back Scott," Garrus said as he drilled a Marauder full of holes with his Vindicator, "you ok?"

"Grunt stayed back to hold them off," I said miserably as I nursed the gaping hole in my arm, "I'm the last one out."

The news was a blow to Aralakh Company, and as the shuttles came in from the Turian frigate in orbit, there was an argument between the Krogan about whether or not we should launch a rescue operation.

"And so we would all die in a futile attempt to recover a corpse?" Javik yelled at the Krogan Captain who was now in charge. At the mention of "corpse", I shuddered to think that I had lost yet another of my best friends to the Reapers. Kaidan, Mordin, Legion, Thane and now Grunt. All had paid the ultimate price to protect the galaxy, to help me. The Reaper troops were still attacking as Aralakh Company began to board their shuttles and Cortez arrived to pick us up. Using the shuttle's armament, he put down a punishing salvo right into the entrance and annihilated a whole bunch of our foes, smothering the exit of the caves in their blood.

"Hold up, Commander," my pilot suddenly warned, "I've got a heat signature coming out of another exit to your west… It's a big one!"

"Everyone go!" I shouted to my friends as Cortez's shuttle hit the ground. I looked through the scope of my Widow and blasted the head of a Ravager into oblivion. I stared into the empty mouth of the cave, the bodies of Husks, Marauders and a few Krogan littering the ground around me, and waited. I had seen Grunt getting completely overwhelmed by Reaper forces, and yet I wanted to stay right there and wait, as if he would suddenly appear out of the cave, covered in the blood of his enemies. But no one appeared. Not even the Reapers were coming anymore and I knew that everything that remained in that cave was dead bodies, including my friend and valued ally, Grunt.

"Scott," Tali called to me, her voice always able to bring me back to the real world. My shoulders sank as I finally accepted that the Krogan warrior, that I had released from his birthing tank and taken to the hell that was the galactic core, had fallen. With my feet feeling like lead, I trudged over to the shuttle and boarded.

"Take us to that new heat signature, Steve," I said, "I think I know who it is."

The Kodiak whizzed over the rocky, dusty terrain of Uttuku as we headed for the newcomer on the surface. My body was tight and I stood with clenched fists, raging at the loss of Grunt, my failure to get everyone out alive. Over thirty of Aralakh Company's elite soldiers had been killed on the mission and many were wounded. I wondered if the mission had actually achieved anything. I had rescued the Rachni Queen, again, and stopped her breeding an army for the Reapers to mutate and use for their war against us. But what could the Queen do to help us now?

Tali was tending to the wound on my left arm in silence. She was aware of what had befallen our Krogan comrade. Grunt had been a friend of Tali and Garrus too and I met Garrus' eye.

"It's funny," the Turian said, "he was even crazier than Wrex, and yet back in the Saren days I would never have thought that possible. They just loved to fight so much! Never showed any fear."

Tali and I laughed together and I rested a compassionate hand on my best friend's back.

"Sir," Steve cut in, "I've got a visual on the target. That must be…"

"The Rachni Queen, yeah," I said, "set us down next to it."

"Sir?"

I looked at the screen which showed the Queen, waiting alone and looking up at us.

"She's waiting."

A very dubious Cortez landed the shuttle on the clearing where the Rachni Queen awaited us. My squad and I disembarked and I set EDI and Garrus to keep a watch on our surroundings as I walked over to the huge Queen. It was then that I noticed that she seemed to have something clutched in her talons. When I neared her, she laid down the body of a Krogan before me. It was Grunt! I went straight to his side, horrified by the grievous wounds that he had suffered in his bid to buy me time to escape. There was not one bit of him that was not matted with slicks of blood and there were terrible gashes and tears in his flesh. His armour was battered and rent in many places and there was no way that he could still be alive. Yet his mouth started to move as the Queen communicated with me through him.

"His song is weak, but it has not yet ceased."

"He's still alive!" I shouted excitedly to everyone. I used up my entire stock of medi-gel on my broken Krogan friend as I thanked the skies that he had not been lost to us.

"I thought the Queen could only take control of dead bodies?" Liara mused.

"Dead… or extremely weak," Tali reminded her.

"Help me patch him up!" I called to the others and soon half the squad were bustling around Grunt's body trying everything we could to stop him bleeding and stabilise his condition. I was whole-heartedly relieved that he was still alive, but still scared that that could change very quickly.

While my friends and I were coming to Grunt's aid, the Rachni Queen stood quietly by and gazed upon us with a certain curiosity. I happened to look up at her while I applied a dose of medi-gel to a wound in Grunt's shoulder and bandaged it up. Once I had finished this, I moved away from the group and over to the Queen.

"Thank you for saving him," I said, "I am in your debt."

"It is we who will forever be in debt to you, Scott," Grunt's voice echoed the Queen's thoughts. Everyone stopped and proceeded to let the conversation carry on.

"How can we help you so that you can help us fight the Reapers?" I asked her.

"We will remain here and give life to new children," the Queen said, "with our song to shape their minds, they will know our true enemy… and our allies. The machines know of your super-weapon."

Her words hit me hard and overwhelming concern soon took over as all of us pondered what this could mean for our bid to use our one and only hope.

"You mean the Crucible? What do they know?"

"They know you are building it, but no more. It remains hidden to them, we heard it in their discordance. In time, our children could help to build this weapon."

The Rachni could actually help us build the Crucible? I did not believe it at first, but then I remembered that, in an age past, her kind had waged a successful galactic war until the Krogan were unleashed. Rachni Queens passed their knowledge and memories to their offspring, so it was highly possible that the Queen that stood before me knew a fair amount of building super-weapons. I knew that she was sincere about her promise and I approached her, kindly touching one of her legs in a gesture of trust,

"Help us beat the Reapers, and I will make sure that the Rachni can have a place in the galaxy again."

The Queen gave me what could have been a nod and she chirped with her own mouth instead of Grunt's. Our alliance had a new ally, but trying to explain to Admiral Hackett what would be coming his way in a few days, maybe a week, would be most entertaining.