Ripples in the Stream
A D&D / Shadowrun / Mass Effect crossover
by Vyrexuviel
Disclaimer: The author of this story does not, in any way, derive any profit from the story. D&D, Shadowrun and Mass Effect are the property of their respective copyright holders. Jorukaia and other unfamiliar characters in this story, however, are mine.
Author's Note: Thank you for your patience. This fic is now up on Sufficient Velocity, where I will be updating with smaller sub-chapters prior to uploading a full chapter. For those who are interested, there's also a thread up on QQ entitled "Ripples in the Sheets" that links to this story. ^.~
'One foot in front of the other, Tali.' She suppressed a shudder and the urge to wrap her arms about herself.
Garrus, hanging back at the tail end of the group, gave her a concerned look, "You alright, Ms Zorah?"
She nodded, and tried to keep her teeth from chattering. "Y-Yeah. Just, you know, not used to the cold. Or walking this far."
Quarians, like turians, weren't the best species adapted for long, steady paces. Their legs were more adapted for short, fast sprints, and a turian on the hunt could cover a lot of ground amazingly quickly, but quickly exhaust their energies.
They had been walking along this laser-straight tramway (she had checked, just to give herself something to do) for more than an hour already. "Well, alright. Let me know if you need anything though."
She gave him a nod and contemplated the turian as he shouldered his rifle and strode off towards the others. She'd met a few of them during her Pilgrimage, most in some form of law enforcement or other. Garrus... Well, he seemed to actually care about her, and not in the sense of keeping an eye on her in case she tried anything.
The cold had numbed her toes enough that she nearly stumbled and caught herself on the monorail. Luckily she was far enough back that no one was looking. She hugged herself and shuddered, leaning down to rub her legs with her right hand a bit, trying to get some warmth back into her lower limbs. Her left hand was just as cold as the pylon, the prosthetic holding onto the monorail pylon as she lifted her left foot and rubbed the toes with her right, organic hand.
She had only been four or five when the accident happened. Her mother had been part of the engineering crew, her father had already been seconded to the Admiralty board. Later forensic reconstruction said it was the old fusion plant that gave way first, but the chain of events that lead to the catastrophic failure of the bulkheads and subsequent deployment of long-disused emergency air-seal doors had only one consequence for young Tali.
Her mother, along with most of the engineering crew, had been blown into space when the reactor containment vessel burst, and Tali, who had been reaching for her mother, scared and screaming, had had her left arm caught in one of the old security doors. It had taken a long time to recover from the trauma, both physical and emotional, and she was still getting used to her most recent prosthetic replacement.
These things were usually very good, and this particular one she had worked on (one handed) to include several useful extras. Her omnitool was built into the forearm, with around half again as much processing power as a high-end omnitool, as she had managed to include the processors from three old ones working in parallel. The forearm also included a small omnigel canister and could effect minor self-repairs, as well as flash-forge tools she might need. The fingers were as dexterous as her original ones, matching her right hand in every way, and while their pressure and proprioceptive sensors were top-notch, their temperature sensors could use a bit of work.
Keelah, but she would be glad when this was over and she could get back somewhere warm.
He had to hand it to the krogan merc, he was damned good in CQC. Garrus hated it, though he was competent enough. Had to be, to get his certs in. Wrex, though, he enjoyed it.
His rifle boomed again, pulping the head of the big bug trying to charge the krogan from the side. They weren't using any sort of coordinated tactics, each one just rushing in and trying to kill as much as it could. Wrex ignored the one he killed and blasted another one.
A deep, thunderous boom came from their other front-line fighter, who was also their quarry.
Jorukaiazhanivahkyss. His mandibles struggled to even form the syllables, let alone pronounce them at speed. Turian lips weren't particularly good at rapid changes of position, which several asari had done papers on.
"End of the line people, hopefully there'll be survivors." Vasir was up front, but not quite up there with the two powerhouses.
Joru was even worse than Wrex, in Garrus's estimation, she wasn't even wearing armor. That gun of hers was too damn loud, the bright violet-white bullets far too easy to track. Admittedly, they did a very fine job of getting rid of what she shot at, but he preferred something with more punch, less bang.
Suiting preference to action, he blew the head off the last one still moving, though several of them were twitching still, and one that was nearly blown in half lashed out to try and hit Joru.
The blow never landed. Her combat knife, almost big enough to be called a short sword, licked out and neatly severed the tentacle.
Combat over, he began checking his rifle, and glanced back to see how Tali was doing. The other dextro on the team was stumbling a bit, and he'd noticed that she lagged behind the rest of them. Not that surprising, quarians weren't known for being particularly robust, and Tali was rather young and inexperienced.
"Need a hand there?"
She shook her head at him, but her voice quavered a little, "N-No, I just... Need to get my feet warm again. Damn ice numbs my toes."
He entirely understood her problem. Palaven was a hot world, much like Rannoch. Turians were therefore adapted more for heat than cold. His boots were fully insulated, and rated for use on any world from Palavan-hot to colder than this iceball, but they were military issue. "I'll see if I can scrounge up some sort of padding, then."
"Thanks." She actually did sound grateful, which made him a bit concerned. Tali wasn't usually that eager to accept help from someone else, so she must really be in discomfort.
He surreptitiously watched her as the rest of the team got out of the sunken tunnel that the tramway ran through, and noticed that she kept her left hand on the rail. At the end of the line she tried to clamber out and nearly fell back in, would have if he hadn't caught her.
Her eyes widened at him through the faceplate, but he simply gave her a nod and boosted her up so she could get out herself. A hand caught her left one, and both he and the quarian saw Joru gazing down at them, a faint smile on her lips.
The darastrix gave a slight nod, and slowly pulled Tali up by the hand, until she got her feet under her. "Come on. We aren't done here yet." For a moment, the darastrix held the quarian's hand, her expression thoughtful, before Tali pulled her hand back.
Garrus vaulted up himself, eyes narrow, "Expecting trouble?"
"They were experimenting on a sapient species here. Someone who can do that wouldn't have many compunctions left." She turned away, long tail swaying behind her. Garrus was caught for a moment by the sight of a patch of bare flesh near the tip. Scales had grown through it again, but the raw-red flesh looked possitively painful. It didn't seem like she gave it much thought though, as the darastrix strode to catch up with the rest of the group.
"I really don't get her." Tali was rubbing the toes of one foot with her right hand.
"What do you mean?" He did a quick check on his rifle, walking beside the quarian. He had to admit she did have a nicely trimmed waist.
"Jorukaia. She's... She's brutal when she has to be, more brutal. B-But she can also be...nice?" The girl shook her head and tried to supress a shudder, "W-We should try to keep up."
He gave her a nod and they both increased their pace.
Rift Station, according to the internal map. Aethyta had been kind enough to give her a copy, the smarmy bitch. She had to know more about what was going on here than she let on.
Seriously? Rachni? That was the shit of old legends and bad holovid series. Mostly it was just rumors and suppositions. The only ones who had first-hand accounts of the Rachni around nowadays were the extremely rare krogan who had lived through the Rachni Wars, and they were limited to less than a handful, if there were indeed any left.
She didn't want to discount the possibility. Krogan had an annoying habit of turning up alive and kicking when you thought them very very dead.
Vasir shifted her stance as her helmet comm beeped, Kiha and Veshar. They were a pair of the vanishingly rare sets of asari twins, and had been inseparable as trainee-recruits back at the lodge where they had begun commando training. Their individual scores weren't quite up to the usual standards needed to join a commando squad, but together, they were top notch, enough to gain Vasir's interest when she had needed to replenish her personal guard.
The twins had been forward, scouting, and had reported finding an elevator. She'd ordered them to scout down it, using their grappling hooks and shimmersilk cables. "Well?"
"Survivors, Spectre. Armed. A fortified position, three men on station, weapons ready. Twitchy. Human"
She blinked. Survivors? "Have you been seen?"
Veshar replied, her voice a subtly different timbre than her sister's, "No."
"Don't be, we'll be there soon." She turned her head, cutting off comms, "We've got survivors, looks like they bunkered up."
The rest of the group had sort of spread out in the main tram hub, but now that tall, black-scaled bitch stepped forward, "Let's go."
Vasir felt her teeth ache as she ground them together, "You're not going anywhere without my order, Joru."
"My name," the darastrix rumbled, "is Jorukaiazahnivahkys. You have not earned the right to call me anything less." Those gold-red eyes gleamed at her with an inner fire, but after a moment she relented. "But, I have given my parole as a prisoner. I will follow your lead. Spectre."
Vasir snarled soundlessly as she turned away. That damn bitch was going to be the death of her.
The barricade was hastily-constructed, but fairly serviceable. Three turians were set up with a SAW in one corner, behind a set of steel crates that would block a hell of a lot of fire, and the rest of that half of the room was littered with cover, to give maximum places where soldiers could pour fire into the large open space near the door.
Vasir nodded to Kiha, over by the other side, and stepped around the bend into the killing zone. 'Time to defuse this.'
The defenders reacted, but not instantly. Weapons snapped up, but only after she had gotten a couple steps into the room, though the turian fire-team in the corner reacted best. She lifted her hands, though she made sure her Barrier was up and strong.
"Hold!" That was a human man, dark-skinned and bald, "Stand down, she's not a bug!"
The soldiers reluctantly did so as the heavily-armored giant of a man stepped forward with a look of relief on his haggard features, "Sorry, we couldn't be sure what was on that elevator."
"Those things can work an elevator?" Vasir was appalled. That would greatly increase the range that those things could roam, and spoke of an intelligence guiding their actions that they hadn't seen yet.
The human shook his head, "No, no, not that I know of. But, better safe than sorry. Even hopped up on stims, my people know the rule: Two legs good, four legs bad."
"Good." Vasir gave a nod, lowering her hands, "What's the situation here?"
"No offense lady, but I don't know you. You're asari, and so is your crew back there," Vasir made a mental note to reprimand Kiha for getting spotted, "and that's good enough that I won't shoot. But I'd like to know who you are."
"Tela Vasir, Council Spectre. Mind if I get my squad? We didn't want to charge into a killing field."
That news brought a look of surprise that bounced around the beleaguered defenders, "A Spectre? I won't look a heavily-armed horse in the mouth. Captain Ventralis, I'm in charge of the security forces here. What's left of them."
He gave a sigh, "Those things overran the hot labs, almost a week ago. Only Han Olar got out, and he ain't all there anymore. First we knew, the bastards were crawling into my command post. We had a lot more staff back then."
Vasir had signaled the rest of them, and the soldiers were relaxing, even grinning at the sight of two more asari, a turian, a quarian, and even a krogan stepping in. Aethyta's party came in as well, three powerful asari, that dark-haired human girl, and...her. Vasir's personal headache.
Joru's voice rumbled softly, "You were taken by surprise and had civilians to protect. The fact that so many of you survive is a testament to your skill and tenacity."
"Yeah? Sure as hell doesn't feel like it." The tall man gave a sigh, leaning against one of the crates, "The board sent this turian troubleshooter to the hot labs the day after the containment breach, we haven't heard from him since."
Joru's eyes blazed, and Aethyta stepped forward, "Is he still here? What was his name?"
A shrug answered her, "I dunno. We've had other problems to deal with." He stood up straight again, "If you're after him, you'll need a security pass to get through to the hot labs, they're burred in the mountain."
Vasir nodded, holding out her hand, "We'll get right on that."
Ventralis shook his head, "Yeah, I figured you weren't here as a rescue team."
"We'll do what we can for your people, but our mission comes first." Vasir struggled to keep her expression from giving away her annoyance. That damn long-tailed bitch just couldn't keep her mouth shut, could she?
"I'd appreciate that." The man just looked tired, though he seamed relieved.
"Anything else you can tell us? What about Rift Station?"
He shrugged one heavily-armored shoulder, "I can't talk about everything, what do you need to know?"
"Your defenses look good, how are they holding up?"
"Secure enough that you shouldn't poke in corners." He actually cracked a slight smile before continuing, "We've got a nice setup down here. The turrets, alarms and cameras are all routed through a central location, out by the quarantine labs. One guy can lock down the whole facility. The security hub's the last logical fallback point, and you'd have cover from the turrets the whole way."
Vasir gave an impressed nod, "What kind of research you people do here?"
A shrug, "Beats me, and even if I knew, I couldn't talk about it. The egg-heads had to sign all sorts of NDAs, even us grunts had to as well, just in case."
"Fair enough. What about those bugs?"
Wrex rumbled something soft, it sounded like "fucking Rachni" to Vasir's ear.
"Ask Dr. Olar. He's the only one who made it out of the hot labs, the only volus left in here."
Vasir nodded, moving on. "Any idea what's the situation in the hot labs?"
"Not a clue. What with the power out, we're having trouble just maintaining our own corner of Rift Station. The only way down to the hot labs is through that single elevator shaft, and with no power, I'm not sending my people down there, they'd get slaughtered." The man was starting to get heated.
"Fair enough, ok." Vasir lifted hand in reconciliation, and Ventralis gave a nod, looking away as he got himself under control. "Do you know where they came from? Up from the hot labs, or from somewhere else?"
"I dunno. The outer perimeter guards got slaughtered, I never figured out where they came from." The man shook his head, probably recalling some screamed last report, "If you want my off-the-record opinion, labs like that exist to do stupid shit that gets people killed."
Vasir gave a silent nod. She'd run into entirely too damn many labs like that in her time as a Spectre, it wasn't something unique to humans. "Are you certain this turian troubleshooter is still in the hot labs?"
"No idea. He hasn't come back here, and you just came from Central Station, so he isn't there."
"How are your people holding up?"
The man gave a disgusted sigh, "Mostly, we've got the entrance locked down, but we're running into supply issues. Our levo-protien ration stock got destroyed minutes into the breach. Some idiot thought that parking the emergency stores next to the tram tunnel and elevator shaft leading to the hot labs was a good idea. We tried to get to it, but the damn bugs had gotten there first. We recovered enough dextro-rations to keep the turians going for another few weeks, but the rest of us have maybe two or three days of rations, and that's stretching it."
"How was that considered a good idea?" That was Aethyta, looking both aghast and furious.
Vasir grunted, "We don't have that kind of rations with us, just a few protien bars and energy drinks." Vasir noted that Joru had caught Aethyta's eye.
The man gave a sigh and a nod, "I figured." The human just looked haggard, "Look, I've seen too damn many people die in the last few days, some of them I've known for years. If I find the guy who designed this shit-heap, I'm going to... Nevermind."
He turned away, then went on, "We weren't expecting the initial wave. They got inside. We lost a lot of good people. Those of us left are shorthanded, We've kept order by long shifts and stims. I don't like it, but I don't see an alternative."
"That's gotta be cutting into your effectiveness. Not enough men to man the barricades in shifts?"
"What you see is what I've got, bar a few more inside keeping watch on restricted areas."
Vasir gave a nod, "Well, we've got work to do."
"Yeah, I hear-" The man cut off, looking around. The rest of the group heard it a moment later, a high screeching sound, "Hell! Man the perimeter!"
Fatigue or not, the guards reacted fast to the alarm, and before the first bug popped out of a recirculation vent, the six-man crew was already taking shots at it. The firefight was short and brutal, with that many guns pounding into the killing ground. The bugs didn't come through the door, they came up through the ventilation grilles in the floor, six, seven of them in tight confines, but with that weight of fire pouring into them, especially from the heavy machine gun in the corner, they were quickly blown to bits.
It wasn't until after the fight was over that Vasir noted that a certain matriarch, and a certain black-scaled headache were missing.
The camp wasn't packed by any means, and that was a saddening thing. Lyris had counted less than a dozen survivors, mostly turians with a few salarians and, surprisingly, an elcor. A small knot of turians had formed over to one side, while the pair of salarians were at the far end of the room, with the large elcor's bulk in the middle.
An angry voice drew her attention to the door where the group had filed in, almost doubling the number of people crammed into this space, that looked like it was once a mess hall. "Damnit, you two, where the hell did you go?"
Vasir, of course, was in fine form, but Lyris was pleased to see Aethyta ignoring the Spectre. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but Aethyta had impressed her. Not only was she a Matriarch, for the Goddess's sake, but she was as down-to-earth as any veteran battle matron. She had been kind, if somewhat gruff, when Lyris had spoken with her. The older asari seemed quite amused about something.
"Must I explain myself again, Tela?" That was the other member of the party, the darastrix. She sounded resigned, and more than a little amused. She still scared Lyris a bit, someone of her stature and strength always did, but Jorukaia had proved herself a wise warrior, and protective of those less experienced. Like a battle matron herself, in fact.
The Spectre gritted her teeth, "I still want to know where you found that shit."
"That is not for you to know, Spectre." And that was the part about her that still scared Lyris. Jorukaia was facing down the Spectre, demanding with everything but words that the smaller woman back down. At some point Tela Vasir wouldn't take it anymore, and there'd be a massive dust-up, and Lyris didn't want to be in the danger zone when that happened.
She'd seen both of them fight.
"Han Olar?" He watched as the short, squat, rotund being turned with the usual ponderous slowness of the volus, "Garrus Vakarian. Do you mind if I ask a few questions?"
"You came to find out about them, didn't you?" Volus vocal processor and translator software was usually the best in the galaxy, since their vocalizations were so very different from most other species, but this volus was either greatly depressed, or had muted his emotive routines.
"If you're referring to the aliens that keep attacking, then yes." He really hated this sort of thing. He much preferred interrogations where he could intimidate the subject, but, orders were orders, and doubly so when they came from a Spectre.
"Yes. I'm the only survivor from the Hot Labs, you know." Even through the translation software, the weariness, fatigue and dulled horror came through the volus's speech just fine. It was enough to make Garrus's spine shiver.
"The Spectre needs to know as much as possible about them."
The volus gave a remarkably turian shrug, "They're Rachni. What else do you need to know."
"We had our suspicions, but getting confirmation is never bad. Where did they come from, do you know?" He shivered internally, 'Damn. And on an iceball like this. Perfect.'
"They found it on a derelict ship, deep in interstellar space. An egg, waiting since the last battles. They brought it here." The hiss-click of the volus's rebreather sounded almost like a sigh.
One of the scientists, a salarian, over by one of the nearby heater units turned, "Shut up! By the first Egg, do you want to get us killed?"
"I don't have any control over who lives and dies here. Do you?" Dr. Olar waddle-turned to gaze at the salarian.
The other salarian snapped back, "If you're going to be crazy, be the quiet kind."
"Crazy?" Olar turned back to Garrus, who blinked down at him, "I'm sane. Gods, am I sane."
After a slight pause, he murmured, "I'm sure it'll all work out for the best in the end."
"We'll see." The volus had the same sound of lost faith he'd heard in countless battered spouses, the kind where hope was almost entirely gone. "A-anyway, you had more questions?"
'Right, don't get sidetracked.' "Yes, I was wondering if you knew more about the Rachni."
"I told you all I can. We brought the Rachni back from the dead. In retrospect, a bad decision." The volus slumped a little, looking like he was half-melting. Considering that they evolved on a planet far colder than Noveria, that might even be true.
"If I may, I'd like to ask how you survived? Did the rachni avoid you when they got loose?" He lifted a hand as the volus shifted, "If you'd prefer not to answer that's alright."
"No, no..." This time Dr. Olar actually did sigh, before it was cut off by his rebreather. "I killed her."
That got Garrus's attention. "Killed her?"
"Doctor Zhonmua. We were going to lunch when the alarms went off. I ran into the tram. And I closed the doors." The volus looked down, "She banged on the window once, then they sliced her to pieces. Her head came apart like a melon. I closed the door, I killed her."
Garrus winced. Survivor guilt, on top of the trauma that this poor being had already experienced. "I'll make sure your survival means something."
"You think I want absolution? There is none."
"Garrus?" He turned, noting that the volus had started to wander away. Veshar was over at the door, "Spectre wants us. We're heading out."
"Alright." He turned back to the rotund alien, "Dr Olar."
"Yes?" The portly figure waddled around to stare at him.
"Good luck. I know it's not much comfort, but you may just have saved more lives."
He turned away, still conscious of the short figure's blank visor-eyes staring at him.
"Veshar, take Elnaris and cover the left flank. Kiha, take Lyris and cover right. Wrex, on point. Aethtya and Jack, back him up. Garrus, you're overwatch. Tali, with me, I want you safe."
The twin asari commandos sworn to Vasir nodded at the orders, moving to stand by the appropriate asari commandos that Aethyta had brought along. The matriarch was looking rather disgruntled at her commandos being ordered around by a matron, but Tela was a Spectre.
Tali checked her shotgun again. Like all of her stuff, it was cobbled together from at least three different sources, but it should work at least reasonably well. Heat management system was, well, working, though she could still tweak it to be better. The ammo shaver readout showed that the third blade was starting to get dull, but that'd have to wait until she got a chance to tear the gun down. Battery was topped up, and the ammo block replaced, so she'll have plenty of shots.
It was good to know that the Spectre had her safety in mind, though really Tali was beginning to wonder if she kept her around just to pick locks and sift data. Asari could have the strangest preconceptions about quarians, since many of them were old enough to remember what her species looked like under the suits.
That thought made her blush, and grateful for her faceplate's translucent qualities.
"Let's get this over with and get out of the cold." Wrex was grumbling as usual. Krogan didn't like the cold, but they could tolerate it better than the slighter quarians. She mentally nudged her suit's internal heater up a notch, rerouting the additional heat to her feet.
"And what of me, Spectre?" Tali shot another glance over at the tallest member of the party. Towering even over the tall turian, Jorukaia's eyes glowed like furnace-lamps in the dimness as the group walked through the icy cavern toward the corridors into the main laboratories.
"You, I want close." The Spectre gave Joru a glare, "I don't trust you not to vanish on me again. And you still haven't explained where you found those crates of food."
Aethyta, Tali noted gave a smirk at that, but kept her mouth shut. "As I told you at the time, Spectre, I will explain after our mission."
Tela gave a frustrated huff, "Fine, whatever. You owe me one hell of an explanation. Right, Tali?" She gestured to the code-locked door.
'At least I'm somewhat useful.' She initiated a handshake protocol with the door-seal controller, and began rapidly running through the usual list of exploits. She found one after her second pass, an unpatched connection-fault exploit, and was in. A few quick checks for previous keycodes, back out and... "Done." She timed that nicely, the door sliding open as she spoke.
Vasir gave her a nod as the group filed in, all four commandos checking the corridors as Wrex stomped up ahead. Jack gave Joru a glance as she and the matriarch swept after the angry krogan.
"Good work, Tali." Joru gave her a faint smile, something which made ice run down her spine, then the darastrix turned away.
"She gives me the creeps." The young quarian almost jumped at Garrus's comment almost at her elbow. He didn't seem to notice, just hefting his sniper rifle, "At least she'll be the Spectre's problem and not ours soon."
"Y-yeah."
Too damn cold. Always too damn cold on Noveria. He grunted and growled softly under his breath, hefting his shotgun and keeping his eyes swiveling. The suit-rat darted ahead to deal with yet another code-locked door, 'Good of her to take care of that.'
This one lead into a much larger room, one that, unlike the others they'd broken open, had people in it that weren't corpses.
He recognized the silver-plated turian as his head snapped to the side, and Wrex felt himself grin.
"Saren. Long time no see."
The Spectre glanced over at them, spoke to the asari beside him and turned away, just as Vasir stepped up, "Saren!"
The turian didn't bother turning around, "Vasir. A pleasure, but I cannot stay to chat."
"Stop right where you are!" She brushed past him, but that wasn't a big deal. This was why she'd come here after all, let the little asari have her fun. He was busy eyeing the rest of the room's occupants. A good half-dozen commandos, and more than three times that many mechanical constructs. Not mechs, at least not any he'd seen before, and their weird musculature put him in mind of quarians. Geth, then. This was going to be fun.
"I think not." The turian was almost at the door when Joru snapped her fingers. The door suddenly burst into flames, rapidly spreading over the entire wall. The heat radiated even across the room and Saren jumped back, whirling.
"I think you are, Saren." The darastrix's voice was low, but full of menace, enough to make the krogan smirk. 'Oh, this is going to be good...'
Saren gestured to the asari, "Kill them."
'Good, things were getting boring.'
The sudden cacophony of guns was more than enough to jump-start his adrenaline, and Wrex charged forward, wreathing himself in Barriers as he went. Bullets bounced and he felt something try to burn into his armor. He twisted, gun roaring as he blasted at the geth nearest him, getting into cover just as something whizzed over his hump and boomed against the wall behind him. An asari shouted, distorting space and another was blasted off a catwalk to slam into the large central box. His barriers were up again, and he rolled out of cover, blasting at anything that moved and was metal.
In his rage, and given that he had asari on his side, he wasn't going to be able to tell friend from foe there, so he concentrated on the Geth. The icy fury in his veins was always a comfort, feeling right. It clarified his vision while making him more aware of his surroundings, dulling his pain and quickening his reflexes.
He'd figured that other krogan didn't experience the rage like he did a long while ago. Others, they got stupid. He got smarter, or at least more perceptive. In battle, the two were usually the same. Other krogan got tunnel-vision when the rage took them, focused on one threat and ignored all others. In a battle like this one, that was a good way to wind up dead. He didn't get that, instead, the rage gave him focus. He blessed whatever deity had given him this gift, as he blasted down the shields of yet another geth, and pumped a Warp into it with his free hand.
Stasis flashed over him for a moment, before he slammed up a barrier and fired at the asari that had tried to halt him. Didn't she know better? He was Urdnot Wrex! He was a Battlemaster! He roared and charged forward, heedless of the shots that slammed into his barrier, shotgun barking as he drove back the geth. They retreated in good order, maintaining coordinated fire-discipline, but a charging krogan, especially a biotic like him had other options.
He blurred forward as he crested the steps, slamming into the tallest Geth with a biotic Charge, and rapidly blew off his Barriers in a Nova blast that blew the remaining Geth off the platform to tumble down to the lower level. The big one only staggered, but it was enough of an opening, and Wrex's shotgun was inside its barrier envelop.
Once, twice, thrice, his gun spoke, and the third time finished the job, severing the machine's head with a spray of sparks and a weird electronic warble that sounded pained.
Good, he wanted to make these things bleed.
More. He twisted, gun thundering as one of the geth who had managed to grab the railing vaulted over. His shot intersected it just as something punched him hard in the side. The headless geth had slammed its weapon into him, and he was too damned close.
Pain flared, then quickly dulled as its gun went off in direct contact with his armor. Whatever it used, it wasn't supposed to be wielded like that and the geth dropped it in favor of a knife-hand strike to his throat.
Not on his watch, he pulled his head down and snarled as the metal blade he hadn't noticed bit into his already-scarred faceplate. He stepped in, turning as he did to put the big one between himself and the smaller one with the gun, firing twice more and ending with a powerful Throw.
The big geth hurtled into the smaller one and they both crashed over the railing. "Good riddance."
The flames roared in his face. The Anomaly, it had to be.
"Nowhere to run, Saren." He whirled, mandibles clenched. He wasn't ready, not even half-ready for this.
"Nowhere to hide." She was there. One hand held a knife, some sort of black material, and in a grip that was loose but strong. She knew how to use it. The other held her weapon. A comically-oversized bore, but it was no doubt an archaic chemically-powered weapon. No way to know what sort of ammo she was using. Those things had had a profusion of ammo types back in the day, far more and varied gradations than today's more standardized munitions.
"So it seems." He hefted his own preferred weapon, an old, and now quite illegal, Arkathrix-patern heavy pistol. At least, it had began as that, he'd spent decades modding it and undergoing periodic upgrades to keep it competitive. The unique ammo shaver had a twist to it, scoring the large bullets so that they would shatter at the point of impact, splintering into several major fragments, all of which would contribute to overall damage.
"Surrender, and I'll take you in without damage. Resist... Well, you don't need your hands to talk. Or your legs." She stepped slowly to one side, her weapon still trained on him.
He eyed her stance, even as he appeared to consider it. Strong, careful, sure. She knew how to handle herself, knew what her weapons were capable of, and was aware of her surroundings. No easy way out of this then. "I think-"
He broke off as he lunged for cover. Without telegraphing the move, he couldn't do more than flop inelegantly into it, but rolled quickly to get his feet under him as a trio of blasts thundered through that end of the observation room. Something tore through his right horn, screaming fast, enough to send a soft 'wheet' sound through his ear.
He was already running, though, pirouetting through three rapid steps, his talons clicking on the metal decking and sending six rapid shots downrange with the cold precision that had earned him recognition even before his boot-camp days.
Three of them outright missed. Missed! Of the three that failed to miss, one only clipped her swaying tail, ricocheting from the horrifically bad angle. The other two, though, punched through her upper chest.
Blood flew from the impact, and a burst of it ripped from her back as she gave a snarl of pain. The splintering rounds would have done a number on her lung, she was a dead woman walking, but still dangerous.
He didn't stop his quick spin, though, shooting forward with rapid strides. He dodged the flying body of an asari commando with unconscious grace. She was already dead, her head misshapen, a loss but not much of one. Two more strides to reach the edge of the firezone and the auxiliary exit.
Or, it would have if the exit and that entire area of the room suddenly went pitch black. He skidded to a stop against the wall, his eyes straining for any sign of light, though he groped in the darkness for the wall he knew was there.
"Silly little turian, running will just make you die tired." Her voice was still cold, almost amused, "I told you, Saren. I sent that message through one of your men. Did it ever reach you, I wonder?"
"What message?" He had to play for time. He'd found the door, but something was wrong with the controls. He couldn't get his omnitool to activate the magseal controls. Was this damned darkness interfering with all electromagnetic radiation?
"The Darastrix hunts you, Saren. And I will have my prey."
A searing pain made him scream as his crest was yanked backward, a blade sheering through it with agonizing fire. He fought through it, fought the instinct to draw back away from the pain that assaulted his very mind. He thrust forward, letting his crest tear away with still more agony, feeling as if his brain were being cloven in two. He threw himself down, feeling the whistling just over his truncated crest, rolling forward out of the second strike he anticipated more than saw. No one could see in this dark void, what had she done?
He fetched up against the wall, and rolled to his feet. He could hear her now. The faint tap of her bare claws on the decking as she paced back and forth. Why didn't she strike? She obviously could see, or at least had sufficient sensory equipment to be able to find him in the dark.
She was toying with him.
That thought, more than any other made his decision inevitable. The door was locked, he couldn't see, and his foe had a sensory advantage over him that he lacked. He was injured, but she was dying, she didn't know it yet. The situation was salvagable, but only if she let him have the time he needed for his killshot to work. Light flooded back in, and he let himself sag a bit, both in relief and in feint, jerking his head around to see...
She was smiling, sharp teeth bared. Black blood welled from where his shots had struck home, but it was thick and viscous, already clotting. Had his shots really done their job? His sudden doubt sent a wash of calmness through his aching and thudding head. That was when he realized what she was holding.
His crest. She held it in one hand, like some sort of barbaric trophy. The knife she held in the other, dripping with blood. Blue blood. His blood.
'Master, I need help, please...' "Extract me."
He saw her eyes, saw the moment when she realized what he meant, saw the red-golden gaze widen with surprise. It was a good thing, that sight. It helped keep his perspective. She wasn't invulnerable, she could make mistakes. She could be beaten, given time. All he needed was time.
She was fast. She lunged, mouth twisting in a snarl even as everything went black.
Aethyta rummaged in her pockets as she sprinted towards where Joru was suddenly visible. The chaotic flow of battle had kept her from finding the tall, strange woman, but now that the darkness had cleared...
Vasir's voice was raised in a scream, to be heard over the raging flames licking at one wall, "Where the hell are the fire suppression systems! Everyone out, before this place collapses!"
Joru's breathing was raspy, a gurgling deep in her chest by the time Aethyta got to her, and no fucking wonder. There was a hole big enough to slip three fingers into in her back, just below her shoulder blade, and the huge woman had slumped against the exit door, claws digging into the metal.
"Fucking shit, Joru, you don't do anything by halves, do you?" She fumbled out the medi-gel and squirted an entire tube of the stuff into the wound.
"I'll be fine, Aethyta." Joru's voice was weary and subdued, but she turned her head to stare at the raging fire.
"Yeah, we've got to get-" Aethyta broke off as the flames suddenly flickered and went out with one last burst of sound. "Fuck, that was you?"
Joru nodded as Vasir gave a shocked cry, then, "JoruuuUUUUU! Where the fuck- SHIT!" She'd found them, just as Aethyta was dragging the larger woman to her feet.
Vasir's gloved hands felt the torn shirt, "Shit, she's been hit, twice, I think. Get her on that table, we've got to operate fast before she looses the lung."
Aethyta wasted no time, biotics assisting strength as she hauled Joru up and over to the table. Vasir was already dragging the rest of the party to the table, Garrus pulling out a surprisingly advanced medical kit as Vasir attempted to plunge another needle-full of painkillers into Joru's chest.
"Would you people stop worrying, I'll be fine." The big dragoness shifted, grumbling and refusing to lay down, propping herself up on her elbows.
"That nasty rasping, gurgling sound means your lung is filling up with blood, asshole. Shut it and let us fix you up. We don't have full medical gear here, but...yeah, that should do it." Vasir nodded to Veshar, her medic and Joru swatted the syringe out of her hand.
"Listen to me, and listen carefully, Vasir. I. Will. Be. Fine. Waste your medical supplies on someone else." Joru shoved, and Vasir bounced off one of the equipment racks as Joru swung herself to her feet. She took a deep breath, and this time, Aethyta saw a little disturbance as her breath came back out, a shimmering ripple in the air, like a heat haze.
"Fuck that shit, no one gets shot at that kinda range by Mark 10 Shredder rounds and gets away with anything less than a mortal wound." Vasir put a hand on Joru's chest, biotics rippling up her arm, "Now, sit down, or get knocked down!"
"Damaging a patient isn't good medical practice, 'doctor'. How do I look back there, Wrex, I can tell you've been watching."
The big krogan shrugged, then looked closer, "Hole's not as ragged. Looks like she's healing. Can we get back to Saren, I really want to kill him."
Joru's glowing eyes met Vasir's, "Like the krogan, my species has a very fast healing rate. I myself am considered something of a freak in that regard. I'll be fine in a few hours."
Vasir shook her head, "Bullshit."
"All this is beside the point." Joru looked upward and gestured to the large, boxy station in the middle of the room overhead where an asari was stumbling slowly towards the control panel, "We still have to deal with her."
"Her?" Vasir craned her neck.
"The Rachni Queen."
Aethyta wasn't sure how the asari was still standing, what with the huge gash in her belly still leaking blood. Even so, she was still stumbling and glassy-eyed as she moved up the ramp, while Aethyta sailed up with the assist of her biotics. Jack rapidly followed her, eyes narrowing as she spotted the huge insectile form in the glass-walled prison.
The asari had stumbled around, standing next to the glass as Joru climbed the ramp, eyes gleaming in the dimness. Vasir followed her, gun at the ready, though clearly of two minds about who to shoot.
The dying asari spoke first, with the rest of the team coming up behind the two leaders. "This one. Serves as our voice. We cannot sing. Not in these, low spaces. Your musics are, colorless."
"What the hell?" Jack's voice was low, and Aethyta gave her a look of agreement.
"How the fuck are you still standing?" Vasir was growled at the asari, but Joru stepped past her, looking not at the wobbling corpse, but at the form within the prison.
Wrex grunted, "Musics? What?"
The asari gave a quiet grunt, but otherwise didn't seem to notice as her wobbling caused a loop of intestine to slide free of her wound, "Your way of communicating is strange. Flat. It does not color the air. When we speak, one moves all."
"This is going to be a fun conversation." The krogan eyed the asari speculatively, and Aethyta wasn't sure if it was because he was impressed, or hungry.
The dying asari spoke again, her almost-emotionless voice tinged with what might be construed as regret, "We are the mother. We sing for those left behind. The children you thought silenced. We are Rachni."
Her final words drew the attention of the entire assemblage, and Wrex snarled as he brought his shotgun to bear. Joru was standing between him and the tank, however, and so he held fire. He wasn't stupid enough to shoot someone who had taken a shot to the lung and not cared.
Joru's voice was soft, almost gentle, "You speak through telepathy, the touching of mind to mind, don't you?"
The asari's voice remained uninflected, but the shape in the glass shifted, "Yes. Our kind sing through touchings of thought. We pluck the strings, and the other understands. This one is weak to urging. She has colors we have no names for."
There were tears on the asari's cheeks, possibly the last vestiges of her true self as the shifting way she stood caused her wound to open still more, "She is ending. Her music is bittersweet. It is beautiful."
She tottered a little as Aethyta stepped forward, gently pushing the wounded and dying asari down. Her cheeks were blanched pale by blood loss and pain, but her voice was not her own as the older asari forced her to sit. "The children we birthed were stolen from us before they could learn to sing. They are lost to silence. End their suffering. They cannot be saved. They will only cause harm as they are."
"I don't understand, why are the...rachni children killing people?" Tali grunted a bit as she shifted her toes on the ice-cold deckplate.
"These needle-men. They stole our eggs from us. They sought to turn our children into beasts of war. Claws with no songs of their own." The asari sighed, but it was a gurgling sound. She had obviously been shot in the chest, as well as had that rip in her belly. "Our elders are comfortable with silence. Children know only fear if no one sings to them. Fear has shattered their minds."
"I understand," Aethyta murmured, and looked up to meet Vasir's disbelieving eyes, "A child left alone in a closet until she is full-grown will not be sane."
"If you are certain they can't be saved, then I will give them rest from their nightmares." Joru's soft words were gentle, and directed to the Rachni, rather than her asari mouthpiece.
"It is lamentable. But necessary. Do what you must."
"They shall find a swift and painless death. Of that you have my word. My song." Joru's vow made Aethyta shiver a little. She was certain Joru meant it.
"Before you deal with our children, we stand before you. What will you sing? Will you release us? Are we to fade away once more, our song forever silenced?"
Wrex spoke before anyone could ponder that question, "There are acid tanks rigged up on that thing. Set them off. Millions of my ancestors died to put these things down, don't let them come back!"
Jack snorted, "Rather gung-ho about that, are you Wrex? Aren't you at least a little excited at the thought of having rachni to fight again?"
"They made a mistake, Wrex. They let the krogan go too far. This is a chance for us to atone, she herself has done nothing to us, and her children were insane by the actions of those they have killed. The queen is blameless in this matter, and wasn't even born when the Rachni Wars ended." Joru's words were a gentle rebuke.
The wounded asari stirred, a grimace of pain flickering across her features before smoothing out once more into the almost eerie expressionless mask of the Queen's presence in her mind. "Your companions hear the truth. You have the power to free us, or return our people to the silence of memory."
"What would you do with freedom? Would you attack others again?" Joru murmured, almost entranced, and Aethyta gave her a worried look.
"No!" The asari arched at the vehemence in that word, "We- I, do not know what happened in the war. We only heard discordance, songs the color of oily shadows. We would seek a hidden place, to teach our children harmony. If they understand, perhaps we would return, to undo the damage we caused."
"Are you a survivor from the war? Perhaps these idiot scientists cloned a queen..." Vasir mused.
"We do not know." The asari's voice was becoming more expressive as the exchange went on, but her face was still that blank, expressionless mask. "We were only an egg, hearing Mother cry in our dreams. A tone from space hushed one voice after another. It forced the singers to resonate with its own sour-yellow note."
She gasped softly, and Aethyta wiped away a thin trickle of blood from her lips. The asari was dying, dying fast. "Then we awoke in this place. The last echo of those who came out from the Singing Planet. The sky is silent."
"I will not be party to genocide.. I shall give you a new sky, a secret place, where no discordant Singers will find you, and you can sing in peace, with no fear of being forced to turn against those for whom you mean no harm." Joru stood, her stance strong and powerful.
"You will give us the chance to compose anew? We will remember. We will sing of your forgiveness to our children." Gratitude and joy threaded through the asari's dying whisper.
Wrex gave a snorting chuckle, "Great. Bugs are writing songs about you, Joru."
"I am Jorukaia to you, Urdnot Wrex." The long tail of the dark-scaled woman twitched to the side as she examined the interior of the tank.
"Whatever you're planning-" Vasir broke off, her eyes widening in shock as Joru seemed to blink from one location to another. One moment she was standing outside the tank, the next she was standing beside the Queen, inside the tank, and the wall was still intact.
Aethyta couldn't help but smirk, but was distracted by the slumping of the asari in her arms. The girl was dead now, utterly limp, the queen's control removed at last.
Vasir's shocked swearing and the rapid fire of her gun against the glass yanked Aethyta's attention up again, as Joru had...
The queen was vanishing through a door in the side of the tank. A door that did not lead out of the tank. Instead, what looked like moonlight streamed through the door, which was set at an angle so those outside couldn't see through it. Joru vanished through the door for a moment, leaving the team outside the tank staring at the now-empty prison.
"Ahh-Thee-TAAHH!" Vasir rounded on her, gun aimed and an expression of rage on her face, "You had better have a damn good explanation for what the FUCK that was!"
"Calm yourself."
Joru's voice spoke from behind the Spectre, and she whirled like a poked varren, jamming her gun into Joru's chest. "By the goddess, if I didn't need you alive to explain this shit, I'd shoot you now just to make you stop giving me headaches!" Joru seemed almost amused as she gazed calmly down at the smaller asari. "Now, where the FUCK is the queen?!"
"Within the Refuge demiplane. In brief, a place where she can live in peace, without endangering anyone else." Joru gave them all a slow look, her eyes meeting Aethyta's.
"Bullshit, I want to know where the fuck you took her!" Vasir snarled in the taller woman's face, a blue glow crackling around her as she triggered her biotics in her anger.
"Peace, Spectre, I believe it is time that you heard what I am, and why I am here." Joru's glowing eyes swept over the entire group, "All of you."
"This should be good." Aethyta smirked faintly at Jack's low comment.
"You had better have a damn good explanation, bitch." Vasir's eyes were narrowed in anger.
Joru merely smirked and turned, her long tail coiling behind her in a way that drew the eye, "I usually do. Come, we will adjourn to the Refuge. We have much to discuss, and we may as well do it in more comfortable surroundings."
"Just what is this 'refuge' you keep talking about, huh?" Vasir strode after the woman, snarling, "And stay put, you aren't going anywhere until I get an answer out of you!"
Joru heaved a sigh, standing at the door that led back to the main complex, "You are rather tiresome. Very well."
Vasir opened her mouth, but it sagged in shock as the door opened, not into another icy corridor, but into a canyon at the edge of a cliff. Moonlight slanted down, at a different angle than before, and two lamp-posts cast a warm, golden glow over the night-time scene. Joru stepped through the impossible doorway and turned to give the assembled group a soft smirk.
"You all have permission to enter my Refuge. Please, do come in. I have beds for all of you, though they may be uncomfortable for some. Food and drink as well, though I must apologize to Garrus and Tali, my food is levo."
"Just...what the shit?" Vasir's jaw slowly cranked back into place, "The fuck is this, some sort of illusion?"
"No illusion, Vasir. As real as you or I." Joru stooped and scooped up a handful of soil from beneath the nearby tree, bent into an aesthetically pleasing shape. As the dirt drifted from between her fingers, she gazed pointedly at the disbelieving asari, "Step through the doorway. I swear on my honor, such as it is, that you shall receive a full account of my nature and purpose."
"As long as you've got food in a place that isn't freezing, I'm in." Wrex shouldered his way past the Spectre, stomping through the door and looking around. "Damn. Looks a little like stories I've read of Tuchanka before the burning."
"Door in the back wall, Wrex. Kitchen's at the end of the main corridor, bedrooms along the cross-corridors, bath at the end of the one on the left going in. Open the pantry, take what you want and close it again. Open it again for more helpings." Joru smirked a little as the krogan vanished out of sight.
Aethyta felt Jack's hand on her shoulder, and met the human biotic's eyes, "Is this shit for real?"
"Yeah. I've been in there before."
That comment drew Vasir's furious gaze, "You knew?! You knew about this shit?!"
"Of course I knew, but she swore me to secrecy!" Aethyta growled back at the Spectre. "And besides, you didn't ask."
Vasir snarled at her smirk and gestured to the two commandos who had moved to flank her, "Scout."
Both commandos stepped through the door, weapons drawn and checking. Joru let them pass with an amused look, "The rest of you, I offer a warm bed, warm meal, and whatever other hospitality you require."
"Getting warm sounds good enough to me." Tali stepped forward, and Aethyta had to catch her as she wobbled. "S-sorry, it's just... I can't feel my toes. D-Damn ice gets them cold, even through the suit."
"Damnit, Vasir, you were so eager to catch Joru you didn't bother to check your teammate's condition?" That drew Joru back through the doorway, and despite Tali's protests, the tall dragoness lifted her with ease, slipping an arm behind her back and another beneath her knees.
"PUT ME DOWN YOU BOSHTET!" Aethyta couldn't help but grinning at Tali's protests as Joru carried her through the doorway.
"I have a scalding-hot bath. Even through the encounter suit, you should be able to warm up quite nicely."
The pair vanished out of the doorway's view, and Aethyta gave Jack a look. "C'mon, we might as well rest up and refuel."
"Yeah, I'm getting hungry." Jack strode forward, with Aethyta on her heels. Elnaris and Lyris followed behind, leaving only the Spectre and the turian.
"If it's all the same to you, Spectre, I would like to warm up a bit."
Vasir heaved a disgusted sigh, "Fine, alright, whatever, let's go."
As the last two stepped through the doorway, Vasir's eyes were drawn upwards to the star-strewn sky, blinking in surprise. The arch behind them still showed the icy-cold chamber that was once the prison of the Rachni Queen, suspended in the free-standing archway.
"Goddess above, this is surreal."
Vasir's murmured comment made Aethyta smile. "Just wait until you see her shower. Endless hot water, no waiting, and big enough for three to wash at once. Four if they don't mind sharing bodyheat."
Vasir heaved a sigh and shook her head, "There had better be a logical explanation for this. I don't have a clue how to word this for the Council."
"Oh, it's logical alright, you just have to expand your definition of what is possible." Aethyta gave the shorter asari a smirk, "C'mon. She's got a chicken dish I've been meaning to try, still steaming hot."
"Yeah, whatever." Vasir gave a look up at the sky again as Aethyta stepped around the archway and headed towards the door in the canyon's back wall. It was standing ajar, and she could hear what sounded like the untidy eating habits of a krogan.
"Hey, Wrex, leave us some!" Jack called down the corridor as she and Aethyta stepped inside.
"Plenty for everyone!" The krogan sounded happy, "Grub's good too!"
Aethyta smiled, at least Wrex was enjoying himself. She and Jack shared a look and laughed at the sound of a quarian squealing in delight at the hot water. They headed towards the smell of food, both biotics rather ravenous from their exertions of the day.
Saren clenched his mandibles against the pain. His right arm had been damaged by a stray bullet, but that wasn't the major injury. His crest. It was a sensory organ, feeling vibrations in the air and transmitting that data back to the brain beneath. It was how his species picked up on the subvocals their dual vocal chords allowed them to produce, and had a deep and direct connection to the brain. Damage to the crest was painful at best, and could sometimes lead to permanent brain injury, depending on how it was damaged. He was lucky, or so he kept telling himself. Having it ripped out and sheered off was far less damaging in the long run than having shards of it slammed into his cranium.
Master's transportation process was not a kind one. It was only due to an emergency beacon implant that it had worked at all. Geth could be transitioned with ease, inanimate matter was far easier to move through the strange science his master used. On the other hand, organic tissue was always damaged by it, if only slightly. Still, a chance of increased cancer risk was a price he was wiling to pay to avoid being slaughtered by that...woman.
He let out a low hiss through clenched mandibles, his head held firm in the surgical table's grips. His arm was off at the shoulder, a far more mechanical prosthetic being worked on by three geth while a trio of Primes stood nearby to act as dedicated processor hubs. Two more primes stood beside a full-scale Geth Processor Unit, while a quartet of specially-built surgeon-units carefully removed the last shreds of his tattered and ruined crest. The agonized fire that threatened to sheer his brain in half eased slightly, left with a gaping coldness as one of the units turned to place the remnants of his crest to one side.
"Is this truly necessary?"
[YOU EXIST TO SERVE.]
[THE ANOMALY IS MORE DANGEROUS THAN PROJECTED.]
[YOUR USEFULNESS REQUIRES ADDITIONAL RESOURCES.]
[YOU WILL BE UPGRADED.]
"Of course, Master. Forgive my doubt." He shuddered at the way Sovereign communicated. The feel of his own thoughts twisting to reveal his master's will was unsettling in the extreme, but it was as yet the only way for him to communicate directly with his favored servant.
He eyed the replacement crest with distaste, much as he had at first shown distaste for his prosthetic arm. He had grown used to the prosthetic, its upgraded strength and resilience had proved itself in battle time and again.
This time, though, he had deeper doubts. His mind was still his own, but his facility on Virmire had proved that proximity to Sovereign led to a progressive neurological deterioration. The vast starship could selectively focus that capability, but so far every subject that had spent extensive time on board the ship had the same markers of damaged brain function, and he had spent more time aboard his Master than any test subject.
This upgrade though, was neurological in nature.
[YOUR THOUGHTS ARE SLOW.]
[YOUR BODY IS INEFFICIENT.]
[YOU WILL BE UPGRADED.]
Master's mental touch was at once uplifting, and sickening. He understood the need, there was no possible way for him to stand against Jorukaiazhanivahkyss without vastly improving his own physical resilience and the speed of his reactions, but his doubts kept interfering.
"Master, I am afraid."
[FEAR IS IRRELEVANT.]
[YOUR MIND WILL BE FORTIFIED.]
[YOUR BODY WILL BE STRENGTHENED.]
[YOUR USEFULNESS WILL BE ENHANCED.]
[YOU WILL BE UPGRADED.]
"Thank you, Master." He shuddered as the Geth units finished their preparations and lifted the cybernetic replacement. He saw the twitching tendrils dangling from the underside, understood what their function was, saw the bifurcations that divided them past the point of resolution. His mind was about to be invaded.
He struggled not to scream as the tendrils were lowered into place, his new crest seated into his scalp-plate, as the visceral sensation of something squirming into his brain nauseated him beyond endurance.
Then the pain flared once more, his entire mind afire, and he stopped fighting the urge.
Saren screamed.
It had been nearly fourteen standard hours since they had left. Benezia had kept up the fiction of attempting to negotiate passage to land with her entourage, to keep attention focused on herself, and not the small team Jorukaia had taken with her.
She had retired to her private rooms several hours ago, attempted to eat a small meal, and wound up just poking the food around on her plate. It was still there on her dining table, while she was on her couch in the sitting room, attempting to clear her mind.
"Matriarch, forgive the intrusion."
"Yes?" She almost sprang to her feet as Shiuura's soft voice came over the suite's address system.
"We have a tightbeam transmission from Peak 15, a very weak one. It's marked with one of your old private access codes."
Aethyta. It had to be. "Send it to my comm-console here. Do not monitor, or record."
"As you wish, Matriarch." The smooth, soft voice held only a very faint note of disapproval. She really should let Shiuura know what was going on soon. The security-minded Matron wouldn't take kindly to being left in the dark too long.
Benezia stepped swiftly over to her private study, and brought up her comm-console's haptic interface with a sweep of her fingers over the glass plate set in the surface. It only took moments for her nimble fingers to flick out the sequence that would unlock the device, and moments later, she had the display open.
A few moments passed, then Aethyta's face appeared over the vidplate, obviously shot from a close-range camera on an omnitool. "Benezia. Thank the goddess, I thought I'd never get this damned thing to work."
"It took a while to get things set up on our end. How are things? Have you..?" She didn't dare ask the question that burned in her heart.
Aethyta's face fell a little, "No. Bastard fled on us. Had some sort of emergency escape thing. You secure?"
"Of course." Benezia made sure just to be safe. No recordings were being made on this console, nor anywhere upstream she could reach.
"Saren teleported, Nezzie." Her heart stopped a moment as Aethyta went on. "He's got support, like Joru. Not sure how deep it goes, but it's at least enough to get him offworld at a moment's notice. Around... goddess, just two hours ago, did you monitor anything leaving the planet or breaking orbit?"
"Why did it take you this long to contact me?" But she was already keying up a side-program to check sensor data.
"Blizzard broke only a few minutes ago, got the antenna up as fast as we could."
She scanned through the recorded list of sensor contacts, "No, nothing broke orbit recently, one shuttle left the planet's surface about three hours ago, but all other traffic is grounded due to the blizzard."
"Fucking shit. Well, there goes that idea." Aethyta sighed, and gave her a long, searching look, "We've got to regroup and plan things out. We've got a Spectre down here."
Benezia's brows raised at that, "A Spectre? Which one?"
"Tela. Bitchy as usual."
She couldn't help but smile faintly. She had known the flamboyant Tela Vasir back when she was a maiden first making it on Illium, part of a merc group that has subsequently folded. Vasir was smart, but Aethyta hadn't liked her, the two of them had never gotten along well, even when Benezia had had to hire Vasir as an extra bodyguard around two centuries ago, back when she and Aethyta were still together.
Vasir's career as a Spectre was still comparatively short, at least for an asari. Only fifty-three standard years or so. The usual bright start and string of successes, though she had slowly faded in prominence, as most older Spectres did. The oldest asari Spectre on public record (and Benezia did not doubt that there were older ones not publicly acknowledged), was a Matriarch and a master of counter-espionage.
"Will she pose a problem?" She was more worried about Vasir finding out Joru's secrets, "I mean, will she pry into things she shouldn't?"
"She's a Spectre, that's her job." Aethyta snorted, "It's moot anyway, we spent the night in the Refuge."
"O-Ohh. And her team?" Vasir never went anywhere without at least two commandos with her.
"Them too. And a certain old krogan friend of mine."
Benezia sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose, "Please tell me you aren't talking about Wrex."
"Yup, him. Turns out he and Joru met back on Illium. She seems to be getting along with him quite nicely." Aethyta smirked a little, "I didn't know someone could drink a krogan under the table, and with wine of all things."
"Good grief." Benezia couldn't help but smile at the mental image, "At least things aren't exploding this time around. How is...everything?"
The holographic face fell slightly, "Vasir's still quietly freaking out, Wrex is still sleeping it off. I haven't seen Vasir's commandos for a while, but I think they're with the other survivors. Same with the C-Sec guy Vasir brought along. She also brought along a quarian, who flat refused to leave the refuge once she found out that Joru could lock it up at one location and open it at another. Poor girl was half-frozen when Joru got her in here."
"Noveria will do that to quarians who aren't prepared for it, yes." Benezia sighed once more, "And...what of you?"
"I'm...dealing. It's not easy, you know?" Aethyta's eyes were soft, "I still miss you."
"...and I you. Would that things were otherwise."
"But they aren't." Aethyta took a deep breath. "Well, that's things as they are now. Once Joru's ready to take us back, she'll jump to your ship. The quarian, the C-Sec officer, Jack, and the commandos will stay in the Refuge, while Joru, Vasir, Wrex, and I come on board. Vasir's liable to arrest everyone and commandeer your ship, by the way."
"A small price to pay for getting my daughter back." Benezia straightened, "When can I expect you?"
"Joru says it'll be another hour or two, and she'd like to hold off explanations until everyone can listen."
"Understandable." Benezia gave a soft smile and a gentle sigh, "Be safe, and hurry home."
"Keep your bed warm for me." Aethyta gave her that roguish wink that made the old matriarch shiver faintly, "See you soon."
Her image flickered and faded as the connection was cut. Benezia gave the empty space a soft look for a moment before busying herself with making certain no recording was made.
She really would enjoy having Aethyta back again. The woman had captured her heart long ago, and her absence had been a constant ache. Were it not for the unfortunate circumstances of their reunion, she would have been overjoyed to have her lover back.
As is, her daughter had priority. Benezia would let nothing stop her from getting Liara back.