Overall chapter X – Shepard story, chapter 3 – Find the Beacon, part 2

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction based on existing IPs. It cannot be distributed with intent of profit. All recognizable characters, lore and in general canon belong to their respective owners. All additions, deviations and reinterpretations of such are the fruits of my own imagination. Any similarities shared by the latter with other IPs or fictions is purely coincidental and unintended.

PRE-CHAPTER NOTES AND WARNING: copy-paste of the last one. While most of this chapter again sticks very close to the game experience, I have changed a few details here and there, as well as introduced the first major deviations from canon. If necessary, I can highlight the relevant parts at the end of the chapter, as pseudo codex entries.

Chapter posted on 24.07.2022

Tags: Action, Sci-Fi, Adventure, Friendship, Drama, Family

Rated M: for violent themes and their depiction

Third person description

"Talking"

Thinking

"Disembodied talking"

They had just begun their jog to the spaceport, when a loud gunshot rang out. The squad didn't even have the time to rush for cover, before being forced stationary, fighting for balance, as the ground began to shake.

"Since when is Eden Prime prone to earthquakes?"

The answer, of course, is that it wasn't. Instead, as the shaking lessened, the three looked in awe and terror. Lifting up behind the spaceport, was the black form from the transmission, completely obscuring the colony's skyscrapers from view. Behind the segmented black armour plates, faint blue-purple lighting could be seen. On its sides, rested four retracted tentacles or bent legs, while another five, bigger, extended from its flat front. Red lighting was still arching from its limbs to its top, as dark crimson smoke followed its ascent and spread on the ground under it. Now seeing it up close, Shepard would have even laughed at the almost cartoonishly evil display. Especially from a cuttlefish-shaped ship. That is, if it hadn't been the size of a dreadnought. That thing must be as tall as the Destiny Ascension! And yet, it's flying on a planet like it's nothing! Apart for the threatening visuals, the Commander was far more worried of its implications. While, even with her above average engineering education, she couldn't exactly crunch the numbers on the spot. She was sure that with no visible exhaust, and an upright position, they must be looking at the most powerful mass effect fields in all of Citadel Space in action. Taking the role not just of keeping structural integrity, but also of propulsion. The enormous, or most likely extremely effective, element zero cores to run such a display would make this ship unmatched in space. The highest acceleration at sublight, the fastest FTL drive, the strongest barriers. And all that energy, if concentrated in the likely kilometre-and-a-half long main gun, would easily rip apart any of their own dreadnoughts in one shot.

The ship had meanwhile been rising as the lumbering behemoth one would expect it to be. That is to say, very slowly, even if with precise manoeuvres, all accompanied by a blowhorn as if signalling to give way. Then, as suddenly as the ground had began shaking previously, it accelerated, ascending ever faster with no signs of stopping, crimson smoke in its wake. Soon enough, it had disappeared behind the also red clouds, without a trace.

Shepard was snapped out of her thoughts, as Ashley began firing over the small bridge, on the spaceport's outskirts. The place was a mess. Crates, some even flipped over, or on fire, or flipped over and on fire, littered the grass. Several prefabs just like those at the camp surrounded the actual entrances, some closed off, some with windows broken, some collapsed. The spaceport itself was an all-metal complex of stairs, platforms and closed off structures. Several landing pads also doubled as drydocks, with moveable panels to cover or shift to accommodate different starships. Of said panels, some had been shot from their hinges, falling in the docks, much like other platforms joined various metal junk in obstructing most landing pads. Resting on top of the nearest stairs was an hexagonal energy shield, but no one behind to man it.

And of course, the place was crawling with hostiles.

Fortunately, Williams had already taken out the geth scout drones, before they could start their annoying zipping about or, worse, call reinforcements. This left only half a dozen rather brainless husks, mingling among the rocks and crates, unable to figure out the tracer's origin. Which Shepard assumed also meant they lacked the intelligence to radio their synthetic masters. Those easy picks dealt with, the squad moved to inspect the prefabs first, searching for any signs of Nihlus or survivors.

Exiting a shed, they did meet three farmers. Having hid the moment the ship began its descent, they didn't really have much information to offer. They confirmed the ship had landed behind the spaceport, emitting some sort of signal, a 'shriek of the damned', 'coming from inside your own head' and that 'almost made it impossible to think'. While it was most likely some sort of jamming, Shepard couldn't exclude some other nefarious use, even if only a neurological weapon. Afterall, the synthetics had shown extensive knowledge in subverting organic bodies with the husks.

It also turned out they ran a smuggling ring, but Shepard managed to convince the leader, Cole, to help them. He willingly gave away all the military material he had. As well as the name of his contact in the spaceport, Powell, a dock worker.

Having finally reached the spaceport entrance, they quickly found out why Nihlus reports had stopped: he was dead.

"Something's moving!" Ashely warning was heeded instantly, all three lifting up their weapons towards a now startled man. Fortunately, no one fired, and stuttering he introduced himself as Powell, one of the smugglers. He was also apparently eyewitness to a murder. According to him, Nihlus had found another turian, who he called Saren, waiting here. Who shot him in the back of the head, exploiting the spectre's trust. It also turned out the spaceport had another platform, linked by a cargo rail, where the beacon had been stored. Apparently, Saren too was interested in it, and had taken the freight train moving there.

Like Cole before, after some convincing, and having to calm down an irate Ashley, Shepard managed to make him part a couple grenades. As well as prototype tech, the Commander saving this headache for later. If the counter-intelligence survived.

Having been rather close to the mothership during the attack, Powell also gave the possibly best estimate of enemy synthetics currently on the planet. And it was grim, numbering probably in the thousands. The fact he survived by taking a nap behind the crates didn't sit well with Ashley, who chastised him the third, or maybe fourth, time. Apparently, it had been that noise again to wake him up, a few minutes before the attack.

Reaching the cargo terminal would have proved tricky, even without being shot at. The platform was a mess, fires, charred corpses and flipped crates or crashed platforms littering the way. But of course, they were being shot at, the place crawling with geth and Mad Machines. It was luck then, that the station was at a lower level than the local spaceport platform. That the train had few carts, none enclosed, with nothing more than solid handrails for cover. And finally, that the synthetics weren't smart enough to figure out they wanted to use it. Else they could have simply turned the engines on, winning the entire, future, war, with one button push.

This didn't mean the synthetics stood there like some kind of shooting range targets.

As the last humanoid geth on the walkway fell, turned into swiss cheese, a wave of drones flew up to the spaceport. Immediately, Kaidan dived for cover, as certain death from a rocket missed him by a hair. The source was much like the drones they had met in the woods, just red, and if anything like the Alliance's, would have straight up bypassed his barriers. Feeling the comparison was apt, Shepard would in the future propose designating them respectively Geth Assault Drones, and Geth Rocket Drones, inspired by their own Advanced Assault (and Rocket) Drone variants. Speaking of which, several purple tripods were now hovering or firmly planted around the squad, saturating the air with noise and deadly hypervelocity grains. But like before, their lacklustre mobility made them easy targets. Soon enough, the red one exploded, before it could kill anyone, curtesy of its own rockets. Yet, the Commander could have disabled it almost immediately, with her omnitool, but a feeling something was missing kept her from using her best card.

As a second geth drone powered down, hit somewhere vital, and missiles began raining down from the sky, she finally figured out what it was. The Mad Machines were missing! Shepard had to admit it was a good ploy, forcing the organics best weapon, her, to focus on the much more alien geth. She even guessed the Rocket Drone had its own Electronic Warfare systems, to occupy or even subvert her omni. Seeing she wasn't taking the bait, the synthetics were now committing their reserves.

With more than a couple of Mad Machines drones showing up, and no way to discern which one(s) were painting them, they were down to only Ashley holding the geth back the good old way. Lieutenant Alenko was forced to focus on his biotics, throwing off, crashing together or just blocking as many missiles as he could. The Commander meanwhile was busy shutting down, overloading, sabotaging and what not as many Mad Machines as fast as possible. To her credit, it took her half a minute flat to neutralise all of them, even the missiles ceasing all semblance of guidance. With that done, and all rifles back to firing on the Assault Drones, the geth lasted half that time.

Unfortunately, the synthetics hadn't wasted this distraction. They had repositioned four hexagonal shields on the carts, basically impossible to overwhelm by sitting safely on the high ground with their assault rifles. So, despite the plenty of streaks coming their way, and with suppressive fire made useless, the squad of course charged right in. By jumping off the ledge, directly onto the carts.

Shepard's and Kaidan's biotics worked overtime to break Ashley's fall, so apart for almost spraying the Chief's ankle, they landed quickly and safely. With the hexagonal shields still facing their old position, and only a few humanoid geth left, taking over the train should have been a cakewalk. And it would have, if one of the geth hadn't proceed to stand up, a full meter and a half above them. With a black but yellow striped armour, three flashlights instead of one, this platform would later be known as a Reaper Destroyer, the smaller ones Troopers. As the latter exchanged fire with the three, the behemoth charged down the carts, each step making the cart vibrate like mortar explosions. Despite the distance, its shotgun was already blasting their way. Instead of pellets or slugs, three orbs of charged superconductors splashed on their cover, the clusters shattering and filling the air with ionized plasma arcs. With no direct hits, the barriers trapped the few glancing plasma arches, the ionized air cooling down long before saturating, or melting, their emitters. Their flimsy handrail cover hadn't been as lucky, and now sported several melting hot gashes.

Not really fancying trying their barriers, Shepard's squad had to get creative, and fast. Locked into a straight corridor, hacking too slow, their biotics strained from the stunt they'd pulled, and no heavy weapons, that left only one other option. After a few rushed handsignals, the three stood from cover, barriers turning white from the heavy Trooper fire. And lobbed Every. Single. Grenade. The smuggler had so graciously gifted them. Including a couple of prototype high explosives. They didn't follow by lighting it up only because their barriers were already dangerously depleted. And had to get back down in cover.

Moments later, the cacophony of explosions almost turned them deaf, followed by a shower of fragments ringing on their cover. The geth electronic chatter increased but was barely audible, Troopers too close being torn asunder, or blown overboard, or crushed. Without pause, Shepard's squad looked over their work the moment it all stopped.

On one hand, it was glorious, most hostiles gone, metal plating contorted or worse. Plasma containment cells had also began leaking their sun-hot contents, melting apart anything nearby. On the other, the Destroyer was still there, barriers barely redder than usual. It wasn't exactly unphased, but it looked like their liberal use of explosives had only stopped its charge.

And apparently pissed it off too, because it then retaliated with a Carnage, a target seeking fireball-like shotgun slug. It struck Ashley's head, curving around her cover, and slammed her on the cart floor. Her barriers had died, but she was just dazed by the concussion and bruises.

Let's see some hotter improvised explosives then Shepard, having anticipated such an anticlimactic reveal, fired not on the Destroyer, but the plasma canister near it. Again, explosions rocked the train, this time engulfing all remaining synthetics with white-green plasma, hopefully hell-fire enough to melt them into goo. But this geth was just built different, because the Destroyer simply charged right out of the superheated cloud of gas. Its armour was now hot red, and its aim much more in line with organic shotguns, but the amount of punishment it was taking was absurd. When something finally gave in, like its shotgun overheating, the geth tossed it at Shepard with all its synthetic muscle strength, knocking her down too. As it ran towards Alenko, attempting to crush or backhand him, the biotic had an epiphany, and with a mighty lift, turned its charge into a leap. Much like a drone previously hacked by the Commander, crashing right into the wall behind Kaidan. It didn't actually destroy the platform, denting the metal train station much more than the geth, but it did finally short its barriers. With both Shepard and Williams having recovered, the three unloaded their assault rifles until they ran hot. Then their shotguns or SMGs. Then their pistols. It probably lost all power somewhere in the first stage, but as usual, there's no kill like overkill. Better to be safe than sorry.

With the carts now cleared, the squad quickly piled on the locomotive platform. Shepard at the rather exposed controls, Alenko and Williams on overwatch. With no time to spare, the Commander detached from the carts, and their lone transport sped over the rails.

They arrived at their destination mere minutes later. This section of the spaceport was far larger than the previous, almost enclosing the rail line with tall walls, swept pylons, overhead walkways and hanging roofs. It was also as much a mess.

"Demolition charges!"

As if the debris, spikes and hostile contacts weren't enough, a menacing looking beeping bundle of cables and cylinders, was right next to their stop. It was obviously a timed bomb, informing them the synthetics planned to blow up the place. Either to slow them down… or to deny them an already used beacon. Their blood ran cold thinking what genocidal machines would do had they cracked the prothean cache.

Ignoring the hypersonic hissings over her head, her squad return fire as cover, Commander Shepard ran towards the nearest one. She began scanning it with her omnitool. While the wires, all red, were clearly visible, she hadn't been trained with clichés. Let's see here. A digital timer, 5 minutes countdown, and since they are machines, they may be standardized and synchronized. Common explosives, highly stable. No danger of blowing up from a stray shot. No signature shielding, should be easy to find the others. And there go the detonators. As inert as armour. Modifying a radiological program on the fly, she also now had rigged a bomb detector. According to it, there were two other charges in the spaceport.

The first was on the other side of their rail stop, on the upper level, fortunately an area devoid of synthetics. With the clock ticking down, she and her squad rushed up the grated ramps and over the walkways, trading only pot-shots at the closing hostiles. This next bomb was hidden behind a pylon base, again protecting Shepard from incoming fire, as she disabled it even faster than before.

The last was trickier. While on this same raised level, it was deeper in the spaceport, behind several apparently suicidal machines. The white Geth Shock Troopers had began setting up hexagonal shields and boosting their brethren's, while the deafening jets of Mad Machines could be heard, even if none were visible yet. Even the wails of husks kept creeping closer. Of course, they had no choice but to cut through them, else they lose the beacon.

Any plan of a brute force charge, like the one on the digsite, was also silenced when Alenko's barriers suddenly flared massively, holding barely only because of his biotics, as the powerful report of a Geth Sniper echoed in the spaceport, forcing the rest of the squad's heads down.

While there was plenty of cover, in the form of crates or jutting panels, which the synthetics were already using admirably, Ashley couldn't run fast enough between them to evade the instant reflexes of a killer robot. So, it was time to try if the ground pounder tactics from their turian instructors were any good. Kaidan threw the first smoke grenade, his biotics allowing for far superior precision and range. A loud pop, followed by a hiss, accompanied a short decrease in volume of fire, as the confused geth attempted, and failed, to compensate with thermal vision. Taking this opportunity, Williams and Shepard sprinted several meters deeper, shotgun in hand to evict the synthetics from cover, even if they were still too far away. Alenko followed them, a biotic charge almost teleporting him in place, before the smoke began clearing from the sheer enemy volume of fire, having resumed with no care of conserving ammo. Since the metal blocks they all used as ammo lasted thousands of shots anyway.

The crate Shepard hid behind jumped in the air, the loud crack of the sniper booming once more, but she fortunately had a much sturdier pylon to her left to switch to.

Everyone in place, another smoke grenades flew. This went on for the next minute or so, using up 5 of the 6 they had. About halfway in, with several Troopers and a Shock geth laying in pieces, the synthetics changed their strategy. When the next cloud of smoke spread, it wasn't geth waiting for them in the nooks. From the grey, husks ran up to them, led by a very battered Mad Machine with a saw of all things. While spider-legged repair Mad Machines, about the size of a cat, climbed down and over the walls, angrily waving plasma cutter arms their way.

Alenko and Shepard immediately took the lead, erecting a biotic barrier to keep the husk claws and electric shocks at bay. William's shotgun and omniblade was also put to good use, tearing apart the scuttling things coming from their flanks and rear. Any of them coming too close being unceremoniously squashed under their boots if necessary. This unexpected counter attack basically halted this advance, but not the ones after it, as they met the ambushers prepared. The last to fall was the saw equipped drone, chewing a deep gash in Shepard armour before Kaidan put in stasis, so they could turn it to scrap at their leisure from cover. Which ended up with it exploding rather violently, identifying it as a Bomber Drone too.

The spaceport clear of hostiles, disarming the last bomb took no time at all, with over 2 minutes to spare. Moving outside the train terminal, they spotted the beacon, held on a small platform and surrounded by now empty spikes. It was tall elliptic pillar, three or four times Shepard height. A wider rectangular base also rose up to Shepard's height, following some sort of curve. It was of metal, with various carved trenches glowing light-blue. A similar coloured beam shot out to the sky, dissipating in a few meters. In the background, the devastated spaceport grounds and colony spires reminded the Commander they were still under hostile threat.

"Normandy, the beacon is secure, request immediate evac."

But curiosity had bested her squad professionalism a bit, tentatively taking a closer look at the working piece of prothean technology.

"It wasn't doing that when they dug it up." Ashley commented, her tone both suggesting caution.

"Something must have activated it." Was Kaidan reply, still walking towards it, if now even more slowly. And as often happened with naïve curiosity, disaster was ready to strike. The beacon suddenly flared a white-hot green, so intense the world around it became monochrome for an instant. It began to suck the air around it, followed shortly after by pulling Lieutenant Alenko, who recognized it as some form of biotics but couldn't counter it or hold on anything.

With Ashley turned towards Shepard, the Commander was the first to act. She ran towards Kaidan and grabbed him by the waist, but even so they weren't able to fight back the pull. Suddenly, with another pulse, he was pushed away, as if the Beacon had chosen Shepard instead, and she was pulled high in the air. Her face contorted in pain, and just as suddenly as it all had began, the beacon exploded, throwing her back down, unconscious.

They came through. Shall not pass, no longer.

The alien voice filled her mind, followed by waves of terror, anger, even optimism. As they rang so, her mind eye saw something else, the Citadel from inside the arms, black shadows on an orange fiery backdrop. The Presidium shooting out from the circle, warped and much bigger.

Onslaught without mercy. Countless eons. Like those before.

Now there were bodies, people. Their details fuzzy as if melted, fossilized in one moment as if statues. Some were fallen, some were fighting, some despairing. None fleeing.

Reaped souls. Into husks of themselves, monstrous servants as if machines.

Despite being unconscious, she almost gagged, seeing the first of many such images. Silicon was merged with liquified torn flesh. Beating muscles - hearts the concept flashed in her mind - with wires. What she would have never thought as eyes, she knew were. Optics. Chips. Replaced them.

The belly which consumes. Ended our hopes here.

She now saw a wall of metal, yet it wasn't truly. There were rivets, welds. Yet, it pulsed, as if alive. Something shot out at the sides, moving like worms. Tenctacles. Legs. Limbs of gods of death.

There will be nothing left of us.

DNA upclose, nanites coming, swapping, rewriting. Morphed being fought those uncorrupted.

Even our minds will fuel them.

Again, bodies being melted, liquefied, yet sucked somewhere into the belly. Consumed by the machine.

No hope, no way out, until your time.

Now she saw a black planet, hallways of pods and statues, a relay down it.

We went back.

A second relay flashed in her mind, now on the Citadel Presidium. Yet, she didn't fully recognize the sight, alien banners and people covering the walls, with doors following a different layout.

Disabled the trap.

Keepers scuttled about, repairing, ignoring something. The signal.

Find the Conduit.

Again she saw the statues.

Find the Plans.

She saw more beacons, and - archives - containing… something. A round shape. Weapon. But where were they? The beacon couldn't tell her.

AVENGE US, AND THOSE BEFORE!

The message was ending, but doubled in intensity as it did so. She could feel the frustration, desperation and fear, of it not having worked, under the now head splitting throbbing.

END THE CYCLE!