From Ashes
Chapter Four: For His People
While passing through the Widow relay, Shepard's thoughts were centered on Virmire and Saren. The planet was out of the way, so if Saren was working on anything, it would be a good place to keep it hidden. The question was: what would they find on the fringes of the Traverse? What was he working on, and why were the salarians unable to establish contact? These questions circled in her mind, but they weren't the only thing that bothered her. Saren was working with what appeared to be a sentient machine, and from Benezia's observations, he didn't fully understand its power. That last left her with another question.
"Liara," Shepard worked out what she was going to say just as she said it. "Have you had time to look through Benezia's files?"
"I feel as if I have barely scratched the surface." The asari was looking over something on the display of her omni tool at that moment. "There are so many things here that I didn't know… Her political involvement, negotiations she had a part in, and even personal notes on how she had followed my research and theories… It's as if she never really changed… Always following my progress and wondering what I might find." Closing the display and deactivating the omni tool, Liara shook her head slightly. "Unfortunately, there has been no mention of Saren or his dealings. I have a VI looking through the files now with those specific search filters. I just added Virmire to that list, actually."
"You think she might have known something about Virmire." Garrus voiced this simply. "Possible, but from what I gathered from the report, he had her for a specific purpose. He would need an asari to retrieve the knowledge from the rachni queen's mind. He couldn't do it himself. Grabbing any random asari wouldn't work either. They might keep something from him."
"That and any random asari might not have a strong enough mind to comprehend the rachni queen's mind." Liara added. "You saw how difficult it was for her to communicate with us in a manner that we would understand."
"Yeah." Ashley managed with a slight upturn of her lips. "When she said our "musics" were colorless I didn't know what to make of it."
"Musics?" Kaidan asked with a curious and slightly stumped expression.
"That's what I said…" Shepard grinned. "She meant that our way of communication was very different from hers. They apparently communicated through pheromones and song. We just speak and use our voice to dictate our emotions."
"I suppose I can see where she would say that. "Words are just words, but with a mental connection or one such as theirs, so much more can be felt." Liara mused. "So I've heard, anyway…"
"Haven't experienced it for yourself yet?" Wrex smirked as he asked this.
"Not yet, no." Liara managed. "I've been too distracted by research and now this to even consider it." At that, Shepard and Ashley shared a look. It hadn't been long back when the chief had made a joke abou asking about Liara's sex life.
"On approach to Virmire now, Commander." Joker's voice interrupted them, and Shepard had to forego the lightened mood of the conversation. "Initial scans are picking up structures on the surface. Forwarding them now."
"Thanks, Joker." The display flickered ahead, and images of initial planetary scans adorned it. The planet was mostly ocean with decent land masses scattered in abundance throughout. It took a moment to find the structures that the helmsman had mentioned, but when they were spotted, all eyes were on them Something big was happening here. A few buildings were scattered through the waterways, but there was a large structure a distance away. It didn't have the signatures of any prefabs that Shepard had ever seen.
"Check out those defense towers…" Kaidan muttered as he used his omni tool to mark the ones he saw. "Planetside structures are centered around this one area here, so I'm assuming that if Saren's here, he'll be within these perimeters."
"Sounds about right." Garrus was looking over the marked region as well. "Seems too large to get through on foot, though."
"We'll have to drop the Mako." Shepard stood slowly and looked over the area Kaidan had specified. "Somewhere where we can get in under their radar…"
"There." Tali indicated one area that seemed as if it was just out of sensor range. "That should keep the mako from setting off any alarms, and from that insertion point, someone can disable the AA guns by driving short distances."
"Good call." Shepard nodded. Wrex, Tali, I want you two on the ground with me. We can take out any ground forces and bring down those AA turrets."
"Commander, there is another structure between the towers and what appears to be a base." Liara indicated a cluster of what looked to be tents. "Possibly the salarians' base came."
"Makes sense. They wouldn't have enough resources to take out Saren's base of operations on their own." Garrus commented. "Looks like there's a good bit of space there as well."
"If the AA guns are brought down, the Normandy could land there and we could regroup and plan an assault on the base itself." Ashley supplied.
"Picking up a signal from the planet's surface, Commander." Joker's voice came over the comm again. "Must be our salarian infiltration team."
"Wrex, Tali, to the Mako. The rest of you," Shepard addressed Garrus, Ashley, Kaidan, and Liara. "Be ready for anything when the Normandy touches down at that salarian camp. Also, if you find anything on Saren in those files, let me know, Liara."
"Of course."
The crew went to their posts and prepared for the upcoming drop on Virmire. Shepard headed back to her cabin to retrieve and pull on her armor. Having managed to find a decent set from the Spectre requisitions office, she was still surprised at how much of a punch it could take while still being classified as "light" armor. Black heavy cloth with navy blue armored plates and guards, the armor bore white and gold accent colors. Pulling on the different pieces and securing them was easy enough. She left the helmet where it was and proceeded to the weapons locker in the far left of her cabin. In here were the weapons she had gathered throughout this mission. The pulse rifle that had been manufactured by the Geth armory had come in handy with its precision and rapid fire. Unfortunately, the rest would be left there aside from the M300 Claymore shotgun. With both assault rifle and shotgun secured to her weapons pack, Shepard took one last look at her terminal and saw that Aaron Bowman had shown signs of improvement at one of the medical centers in Terra Nova's capital city. Locking the terminal again, Shepard made for the lift and met Tali and Wrex near the Mako where Garrus was making some final adjustments.
"You two ready?"
"Ready when you are, Shepard." Tali said as she checked the thermal clip in her pistol.
"I hope Saren is still down there." Wrex growled; revealing sharp teeth.
"If he is, our arrival will make him do one of two things…" Garrus commented casually. "He'll either confront and try to stop us or he'll just… How do you humans say it… Turtle up and run."
"I'm hoping for the former." Shepard admitted as she took a more in-depth look at the newly arrived weapons. The Acolyte was not a prototype but it was a well-balanced light-weight pistol that could do good area damage if fired right. Choosing it and holstering it, she finished her thought. "I want answers. Saren's gone through a lot of trouble to get whet he and Sovereign want, and I want to know why he's doing it."
"He won't talk." Wrex managed with Garrus nodding slowly. "He'll just try and stop us from stopping him."
"He has some explaining to do, but I wouldn't give him much time to do it." Tali added. "He will sacrifice anything and anyone to get what he wants. We saw that on Noveria."
"And he'll pay for it." Shepard said simply as she released the hatch on the mako and waited while the others clambered inside. Once she was also seated and had secured the safety harness, she activated her comm. "We're secure down here, Joker. Ready when you are. We'll go in hot and take those towers offline."
"Got it, Commander. Descending now."
"Copy." Turning to Wrex, who was in the front passenger's side, Shepard spoke again; comm muted. "You said you dealt with Saren before. What was he after?"
"Never found out. He was looking for something on that Volus freighter. Never knew what it was, but I heard that every person aside from myself on that ship wound up dead within a week or two."
"Leaves you to wonder if he was paranoid or afraid someone might find out something and try to stop him." Tali thought aloud. "It seems strange that they would look aboard a volus freighter. What could they have possibly been carrying?"
"May not have been what they were carrying but what they had already dropped somewhere. Didn't see if he found the manifest or not." Wrex finished. "All I know is I'm glad I got the hell out of there before he put a price on my head."
"Going in for the drop." Joker's voice came over Shepard's earpiece, and at that point, they could hear the ship's starboard cargo ramp open. Shepard readied the mako and kept an eye on the ramp as it descended. When she saw the shoreline getting closer, she rged the tank forward and headed down the ramp; the mako hitting the waterway precisely where she had marked the insertion point on the map interface displayed onscreen. From above, they could all hear the Normandy going back up into the planet's atmosphere. There was a subtle pulse of wind as the ship launched itself skyward leaving the tank behind. Only when the noise started to subside again did Joker speak again. "Got a clean drop, Commander."
"Stay out of range and continue evasive maneuvers until those guns are offline. We're on the move."
"I know the drill. Good luck down there. We'll rendezvous at the salarian camp when it's clear."
With hardly anything else to say, Shepard proceeded forward while keeping an eye out for traps and the wildlife. All they seemed to encounter were silvery-grey podcrabs. They would move throughout the waterways as the tank mved past. Choosing her path so that she could avoid hitting them, Shepard noticed that Wrex was keeping an eye out for any sign of trouble. His eyes were on the proverbial road ahead while Tali kept an eye on the scans that she was performing. They ran into a few geth bombers and even one or two colossus before they reached a small outpost that blocked access to the route forward. Here, there were prime units and rocket troopers. Tali worked to hack the prime's systems and keep it firing at its own kind while Shepard and Wrex used the distraction to take out the others. Once done, they focused on the prime unit. With its shields finally down, they focused on its head, for lack of a better term, and managed to bring it down with several well-timed shotgun blasts.
Ascending the stairs, Shepard noticed that there were still troopers and rocket troopers as well as a wall-clinger in the upper level. She and Wrex distracted them while Tali hacked the gateway and opened it so that they could proceed. With the geth taken care of, the three headed back down and returned to the mako. Their path ahead was clear, and from what the limited navigation data, there was another outpost somewhere ahead. This one, Shepard hoped, housed the anti-matter AA guns that were preventing the Normandy from landing. As she drove forward, she saw the path becoming more and more winding. Shorelines were getting more frequent, and the current was getting a bit stronger.
"Saren didn't just place these outposts for the hell of it." Wrex commented as he looked out again. "These were strategically placed so that anyone driving around would have to really know what they were doing."
"It's as if he knew we were coming." Tali agreed. "It makes no sense, though. As far as we know, he didn't give any indication that he would be anywhere near this planet. I wonder what gave the Council the thought to send a salarian team here…"
"Could have been a random spike in geth activity." Shepard reasoned. "We've seen a fair few here already.. Some heavy artillery." Seeing what looked like a few colossus ahead, she readied the turret and fired on them specifically. "Those AA guns look to be geth technology."
"They are." Tali confirmed. "My people have stories about when the Geth drove us from Rannoch about them turning our own defenses against us and then modifying them for their own uses."
"Figures they'd offer up the new and improved versions for Saren to use here…" Wrex muttered as he fired a rocket from the tank's cannon at the two colossus to speed up the process. The two colossus crumbled, and Shepard pressed forward. The next outpost wasn't far now. In fact, it was just around the bend.
"That's it, the AA tower controls should be in there." Tali motioned to the far right of the structure. "We'll need to take out their defenses and bring them down."
"Not a problem." Wrex waited until the tank had stopped near a small area of beach before releasing the hatch and getting out. Shotgun in hand and barriers raised, he charged the rocket troopers and prime that awaited them.
"He has a unique way of doing things, doesn't he?" Tali's tone suggested that she was amused, but Shepard couldn't be sure due to the helmet.
"Yeah, unique…" Shepard smirked as she too withdrew her shotgun and exited. "Wait 'til it's clear before heading up. I assume there are more up there." Laying down a singularity so that the cluster around Wrex was lifted and forced to sustain biotic damage, she and the others took turns gunning the geth down. Wrex used the occasional warp field while Shepard used small bursts of biotic energy to detonate the prime unit once the others had been taken care of. Only when the machine had fallen and was smoking slightly did they proceed up to the top level where there were more troopers and two wall-clingers waiting. Tali headed on ahead and began working to take the turrets offline while Shepard and Wrex cleared the level of geth. There were only two rocket troopers and the clingers.
"You'd think he'd have something like this better defended…" Wrex mused as they heard the guns going offline and the doors opening below. "Not good for someone to just walk in and take this stuff offline."
"I don't think he anticipated anyone to get this far. The salarians wee lucky… Either that, or they landed right in the middle of this mess and were just stuck. If their ship tried taking off again, it would be targeted." Shepard said as they headed back down again. Joker confirmed the guns were offline within seconds.
"Looks like the grid is down, Commander. Meet you at the salarian base camp."
"Copy that, Joker."
They proceeded through the gateway and around a few waterways that curved around rock formations. So far, t seemed their path ahead was actually void of geth. Seeing the salarian base camp ahead on short-range scanners, Shepard disengaged the turret and drove on. Looking out the virtual windows of the tank, she had to admit, this place wasn't bad to look at aside from the storms raging in the distant open seas. Would have been a good place for shore leave, given it not being used as a secret place for development or whatever Saren was doing here.
"There it is. The salarian camp is dead ahead."
Tali had just said it when the cluster of prefab tents had come into view. The Normandy had already landed and the remainder of her crew were on the beach. Garrus was near one of the temts while Ashley and Kaidan were speaking to a salarian in front of another. Upon first glance, no one saw Liara, but she emerged from another tent to join them and Garrus as Wrex and Tali approached with Shepard.
"So what's our next more?"
"Stay put until we can come up with a plan." The salarian said simply to Ashley.
"Lieutenant. Chief." Shepard addressed the two humans as she approached. "No issues I hope."
"Smooth sailing, Skipper." Ashley managed while Kaidan nodded. "Just landed and met the captain of the STG Infiltration team."
"Captain." Shepard addressed the salarian curtly.
"Captain Kirrahe. Third infiltration unit, STG. Your ship has just landed in a hot zone." The salarian spoke shortly and to the point. "I am surprised that none of the AA guns have been triggered."
"They were firing at our ship while the commander was on the ground." Kaidan supplied. She, Wrex, and Tali went down and disabled the towers so that we could land."
"Fair enough." Kirrahe nodded approvingly. "Unfortunately, we have no real choice but to wait here until the council sends those reinforcements we requested."
"We are the reinforcements, Captain." Garrus said as he stepped closer.
"What?" Kirrahe blinked. "You're all they sent? I told them to send a fleet."
"The message was unclear, Captain." Liara clarified. "The council only received static over the channel. "With her own investigation into Saren, they decided to alert Shepard to your presence here."
"So you are the human spectre…" Kirrahe looked thoughtful as he spoke. "Then it seems we have no choice but to push forward. I lost half of my men investigating this place."
"What have you found?" Shepard asked.
"Saren's base of operations." Pulling up a layout of the land on his omni tool, Kirrahe went on. "It is crawling with geth and very well fortified."
"Is Saren here? Have you seen him in person?" Garrus' mandibles flared in curiosity.
"No, but we have intercepted communications referring to him and there is a large amount of geth activity in the area. This is his base of operations; we are sure of that."
"What is he researching here?" Liara was next to pose a question.
"He is breeding an army of Krogan-"
"How is that possible?" Wrex stepped up at this point. From what he had mentioned previously on the ship, Shepard could understand his concerns.
"Apparently, he has found a cure for the genophage."
"Give me a little history on the genophage." Shepard managed.
"It was the solution to the Krogan "Problem"." Wrex emphasized the last word.
"The turians deployed the genophage during the Krogan Rebellions in an attempt to quell their numbers. Without it, the krogan would have taken over many systems and overrun the galaxy. This cure is a problem, however, because these krogan follow Saren."
"The geth are bad enough, but an army of krogan… Saren would be unstoppable."
"Exactly my thoughts." The captain nodded at Ashley's comment. "We must ensure that this facility and any secrets born from it are destroyed."
"Destroyed? I don't think so." Wrex interjected. "My people are dying. This cure could save them."
"If this cure gets out, the krogan will overrun the galaxy in a sea of blood in their thirst for revenge." Kirrahe said evenly. "We cannot afford for that to happen-"
"My people are not some rabid varren you can release when you need them." Wrex growled. Glaring at the captain, he turned away and headed for the shore.
"Is he going to be a problem?" Kirrahe questioned with eyes rolling toward Wrex' retreating back. "We already have enough angry krogan to deal with."
"He'll be fine. I'll talk to him." Shepard assured him. "His concerns for his people as a whole are genuine and he means well, but I tend to agree. These krogan will be no use to their species if they take orders from Saren. If Benezia was right, Saren's more or less a puppet on a string."
"I'd appreciate that, Commander. Meanwhile, I need to speak to my men and rethink our plan of action here. Can you give us some time?"
"Take as long as you need, Captain." Shepard nodded. "I'll talk to him and the rest of my squad and we can go from there."
"Thank you, Commander. We won't be long."
"Looks like things are a bit of a mess…" Kaidan mused as Kirrahe gathered his men in the tent behind them.
"Yeah, I wouldn't be so worried if it wasn't for Wrex." Ashley's eyes landed on the krogan inspecting his shotgun on the shore a good distance away. "I mean I get that he wants the best for his people, but…"
"I'm about to speak to him on that." Shepard said as she eyed Wrex again as well.
"Wouldn't hurt… Well, it might actually…" Garrus said this with a slightly concerned frown. "If the matter can't be resolved, that is."
"Just be careful, Shepard." Tali offered.
"Speaking the truth and keeping him focused on the mission ahead may be more effective than attempting to sympathize." Liara added.
"Here goes." Shepard nodded to them all before preparing to leave. "Just be ready if something goes wrong."
"I'm always ready." Ash managed while removing a rifle from her weapons pack to inspect it. Shepard took that time to cross the sand and head for the stretch of beach to the right of the main tent where Wrex was now firing his gun at a small rock face on the other side of the bay. With each blast, the blackened hole in the rock grew deeper. Keeping her weapons holstered, the spectre took a calming breath and approached the krogan.
"This isn't right, Shepard. If there is a cure for the genophage, we can't let them bury it here." Wrex growled as he turned away from the rock he was using for target practice. The sun broke through the storm clouds and seemed to set his orange eyes ablaze as they landed on her.
"Wrex, I understand your position. I haven't been in your position, but if humanity was in the same place as the Krogan, I wouldn't want to pass this up either. The only problem is that Saren is the real enemy here."
"Really?" Wrex had fully turned around now and his gun was aimed down at the sand between them. "Saren created a cure for my people. You want to destroy it. Help me out here, Shepard; the lines between friend and foe are getting pretty blurry from where I stand."
"This isn't a cure, it's a weapon!" Shepard stated bluntly with a hint of anger in her tone. "If he's allowed to use it, your people won't be around to know the difference; none of us will-"
"That's a chance we should be willing to take." Wrex cut in. "I've been loyal to you so far… Hell, you've done more for me than my waste of a family ever did." He was referring to the armor that they had recovered from the turian's stockpile of krogan "artifacts". "I need to know that if I continue to follow you, I'm doing it for the right reasons." At this point, he pulled the shotgun up and aimed it at her; Shepard didn't flinch.
"Wrex," She began, while still not drawing her gun. "These krogan are nothing but pawns; tools. Is that what you want for your people?"
"No." It took a moment for him to admit it, but Wrex finally shook his head. "We came to the council's aid once, for our saving them from the rachni, the turians and salarians neutered us all… I doubt that Saren will be as generous." Finally lowering his gun, Wrex nodded reluctantly. "Alright Shepard, you've made your point. I don't like this, but I trust you enough to know what you're doing." Extending his hand, Shepard took it firmly. "Just one thing. When we find Saren, I want his head."
"You and me both."
A/N: Haven't been working on stories for a bit due to taking a break. I feel like I'm way behind on this fic given the messages and reviews I've gotten so far. Thanks to all who have followed and reviewed this story and any others.
As an explanation, after finishing "When All Was Lost" I felt I should take a break. Long chapters and hours analyzing the game so that I could finish it basically made me turn away from future projects. Somehow, when I thought I would just drop this story for a good while, something drew me back to it. Perhaps it was watching the last cutscenes from ME1 in my most recent playthrough or maybe just seeing the council for the first time again. Regardless, I'm back on this and will have shorter chapters than my previous venture. (that way it isn't like you're reading a mini novel in a chapter.*facepalm*)
Enough of my personal ramble. Hope you enjoyed it and I'm on chapter five. Cheers!
