Mass Effect: Maelstrom Siblings

by Leaf Ranger

When faced with protecting an entire galactic community, it's always good to have friends and squad-mates at your side. But it's even better when you've got your brother with you as well. Get ready galaxy, because here come Alicia and Naruto Shepard, the Maelstrom Siblings. Rated M for swearing, action, gore, and implied sexual situations.

17. Colony in Danger Part 3

Alicia: You know, with a few more finishing touches, this place won't be half bad. *grinning as she lounges out of armor on a couch in the Mass Effect portion of the Ranger Lair

Leaf Ranger: Making yourself at home, I see. *Raises an eyebrow at her*

Alicia: Eeyup. Now I just need my Liara. *grins at him*

Diehard NaruHina Leaf Ranger: TRAITOR! YOU'VE PAIRED NARUTO WITH SOMEONE OTHER THEN HINATA! *points dramatically at me*

LR: *raises eyebrow* Do I need to extend your probation?

DNHLR: I'll be good. *Backs down*

Diehard ShepTali Leaf Ranger: Wow. Glad I'm not that fanatical about my pairing.

Diehard FemShepLiara Leaf Ranger: That's because we need to sort of share between the two of us.

LR: Well as my Mass Effect related personalities and OC get settled in, let's handle the one announcement I've got. timbarney110 has a Harry Potter fanfic challenge/idea for anyone who is interested in writing it, so please contact them about it.

Raginstar19: That's it?

LR: Eeyup. And hey, nothing bad has happened so far. Guess maybe my luck is-

*nearby wall is suddenly blown open by a large shape charging through it*

Wrex: SHEPARD! WHERE'S THE ACTION?! *Has shotgun primed and ready*

LR: ….Alicia? *eyebrow twitching*

Alicia: *Sheepish grin* I may have called for reinforcements that took a while to get here?

LR: Just…start the chapter. *Rubbing forehead*

Wrex: So…no fight? *Looks disappointed*

Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or Naruto. They are the property of BioWare and Masashi Kishimoto respectively. This is a nonprofit work of fan made fiction. Please support the official releases.

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Chapter 17

Colony in Danger

Part 3

Another geth trooper fell to the ground, a sparking hole in the center of its chest plate as Alicia cocked her Crusader shotgun, searching for a new target. Her team had reached the main entranceway to the Exo-Geni skyscraper but found the gateway to the parking area jammed partially open, forcing them to abandon the Mako and set out on foot. Shortly after entering the facility they had been attacked by a patrol of geth troopers.

Now she watched as Garrus bashed the butt of his Phaeston against the head of another geth unit, finishing it off, while Tali and Kaidan combined their fire to take out the last remaining geth. Around them lay the sparking remains of the geth patrol, consisting of five regular troopers and one rocket trooper.

Alicia, confirming the area was clear, nodded to the others. "Alright team, we've dealt with the welcoming committee, now let's see about getting inside," she said.

Tali, having joined her, pointed at a nearby entranceway. "I don't think it'll be that easy Commander," she said.

Alicia turned towards the entranceway, only to grimace. "Well…that's a problem."

The main entranceway from the parking area was sealed shut, which wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't for the glowing energy field shrouding the doorway as well. Garrus picked up a rock and tossed it at the energy field, watching it bounce off. "Well at least it's not a deadly force field preventing us from getting in?" He quipped, looking to the others.

Tali moved closer, studying the rim of the doorway carefully. "They installed some type of emitters along the doorway here. If I had to guess though, they've connected the power supply to the ship, to prevent potential sabotage. We'll most likely need to remove the ship anchored on the outside to get by this field."

"Which would require calling in the Normandy to blow the damn ship off the side of the building," Alicia said, remembering the sight of the geth frigate attached to the side of the skyscraper. It was like seeing a massive beetle or cockroach, given the smooth insect like appearance of geth ships.

Kaidan, however, had moved over to an area near a collapsed column, having noticed something. "Commander, I think there's another way in over here," he reported.

Alicia quickly moved over to him, finding what appeared to be a doorway in the floor. Kaidan was kneeling, fiddling with some type of control panel when the door retracted, revealing what looked like a loading platform beneath it. "Looks like some type of service entrance for cargo or something," Kaidan said.

Alicia nodded in approval. "Good work lieutenant. On me team," she said, dropping onto the loading platform. The other three quickly followed, with Alicia moving from the platform to a nearby cargo hauler, a platform set on a rail meant to move cargo to and from the platform. Accessing the controls, she grinned as it powered up. "This way I guess."

The cargo hauler, with all four of them onboard, began to move when Alicia heard the faintest crackle in her helmet's radio. Tapping the side of her helmet, she frowned as she heard nothing, only to see the others proceed to do the same in turn as well. Seeing this, she opened up her comm unit to Naruto, only to immediately get static. "Shit…guess we're inside their jamming signal," she said. "Looks like we're on our own now."

The cargo hauler continued onwards, emerging into a large open area that was obviously a storehouse. They could see crates stacked up in several locations, marked with the emblem of Exo-Geni as well as other details. Currently the area was only about a quarter full, an obvious indication of how little the facility had to send off world.

As the cargo hauler stopped at the end point and they proceeded to get off, a sudden female scream ripped through the air, followed by the sounds of a pistol being fired. Alicia quickly raised her shotgun. "On me!" She ordered, quickly moving forward.

The four of them moved from cover to cover, searching for the source of the scream and weapons fire. Alicia frowned as she also heard growling as they drew nearer, and a female voice sobbing and cursing as the pistol fire ceased. Rounding a corner, she soon found the source of the noise.

A young woman with short brown hair and dressed in the garb of an Exo-Geni researcher was smacking a Predator pistol, backing away frantically from a large quadruped creature. The creature was a varren, a large wolf sized creature on four legs, but covered in fish-like scales with large bulbous eyes, oversized fangs on its lower jaws, and spikes sticking up on the back of its fish like head andbody, leading down to a tail. A pack creature that was native to the krogan home world of Tuchanka, they had spread across the galaxy with the krogan expansion, becoming dangerous pests and predators on various worlds.

Now one of them, wounded by the woman's shooting, was preparing to lunge at her defenseless form when weapons fire from Alicia's team ripped through its hide and finished it. The woman looked up, tears staining her face as she saw her rescuers approach. "T-Thank you! Y-You saved me! I-I tried to kill it, but it…I…t-thank you!" She said, dropping the pistol.

"No problem ma'am. Are you injured?" Alicia asked as the others kept an eye out for any more varren.

The woman shook her head. "N-No, t-thankfully I managed to hear that thing before it got the drop on me, b-but…I-I've never fired a gun before. I grabbed that from a dead security officer inside, b-but…I-I was shaking so bad, I-I kept missing," she whispered.

Alicia helped her to sit down against a cargo container. "You're a scientist here?" She asked.

"Y-yes…I'm Lizbeth Baynham. I-I was staying behind to try and purge data files when the geth attacked, but…t-they moved so fast. I-I couldn't get out. I came down here to hide," she said, looking up at Alicia. "D-Do you know if anyone got out? M-My mother, she works here too and I-," she said, only for Alicia to stop her.

"Your mother is safe, along with a number of other survivors. They're at the weigh station down the road, taking cover there," Alicia reassured her, making Lizbeth let out a long shuddering sigh of relief.

"T-Thank you…I needed to hear that," she said quietly, wiping tears from her face before looking back up. "I take it y-you're here to deal with the geth?" She asked.

Alicia nodded at that. "Commander Alicia Shepard, Alliance Navy. We managed to stop the geth attack on Zhu's Hope, and we're here to finish the job. Can you tell us what's going on in there?"

"N-Not much. I-I was purging the computer files when the geth ship connected to the building and knocked the power out. I hid until they restarted the power and then I tried to come down here, to escape. B-But they were patrolling the building, a-and this krogan…he was directing them. W-When I finally got down here, that's when the varren j-jumped me," she said.

"Another krogan? By the Spirits, where is Saren getting all these krogan?" Garrus muttered as he heard that, while Alicia shook her head.

"Something to worry about another time. For now, we need to get in there and clear them out," she said, looking to Lizbeth. "We managed to clear out a patrol outside the main entrance, and the cargo hauler can take you there. Unless the geth come through the main door, you should be safe. But can you tell us what they're looking for? Do you know?" She asked.

Lizbeth hesitated for a moment, before speaking. "The Thorian…they're looking for the Thorian," she said quietly. "It's a massive sentient plant-based creature underneath of Zhu's Hope. It's incredibly ancient, as in from the Prothean period ancient," she explained.

Alicia's eyes widened as she heard that, with the others now all looking at Lizbeth as well. "You know about it?" She asked.

Lizbeth looked at them, shame in her eyes. "…yes, I do," she admitted. "Exo-Geni discovered it purely by accident, when a research team was examining the ruins under Zhu's Hope. It's some type of massive plant with sensory tendrils stretching for miles and miles under the planet's surface. It also…ejects spores that other species inhale, which allow it to start controlling them."

Tali gasped, raising one hand to her face plate, as if to cover her mouth. "Keelah, that's why the filters were registering so many spores," she whispered.

"And why the colonists kept bugging us to take off our helmets. It wanted to infect us too," Kaidan said, gripping his Locust. "It's infected all of Zhu's Hope, hasn't it?"

Lizbeth nodded quietly, looking down. "The researchers here, they…we…picked up on what happened quickly. I was about to initiate quarantine protocols to prevent it from spreading any further when word came down from HQ, that they wanted us to study the effects. They isolated Zhu's Hope to prevent the infection from spreading beyond that point, and began studying what happened."

Garrus cursed under his breath, the translator not properly translating his words before he spoke up. "You used those people as guinea pigs?!" He demanded angrily, his weapon rising slightly, only for Alicia to immediately grab the Phaeston, shoving it back down and giving him a look. Lizbeth cringed, pulling back slightly.

"N-No! I tried to argue against it! I knew that it was wrong what they were doing, to use people like that! These people just came to start a new life!" She said frantically, trying to convince them. "But the corporate heads refused to listen and…and then Jeong threatened to send me down there for 'personal observations'…he was going to expose me to the Thorian as well, to shut me up," she said, her voice falling to a whisper.

Alicia gripped her Crusader tightly, her eyes blazing with anger. "Remind me to shoot that bastard in the kneecap when we get back to him," she said, her voice quiet but with a hard edge to it. She looked down to Lizbeth, who was huddled against the cargo container, cringing a bit away from them. "Is there anything else you can tell us?" She asked.

"I-I tried to send a message to Colonial Affairs. I volunteered to purge the computers so I could contact Colonial Affairs and back up the Thorian Records on a flash drive, so they would have evidence of what happened. But I don't know if the message got through," Lizbeth said, looking up at her. "Please believe me, I tried to stop them."

Alicia took a deep shuddering breath, before responding. "I believe you, though that's little comfort to the people in Zhu's Hope," she said. "If you can, wait for us outside by the Mako. We're going to clear out the facility here, then go back to deal with the Thorian problem," she said.

Lizbeth nodded before she reached up to her chest, pulling off a badge clipped there. "Here. My ID badge will get you access to almost every part of the facility, and to any files in any computers that are still online. I want to try and do anything I can to fix this mess."

Alicia took it from her, clipping it to her belt. "You best get out of here. Hide near the Mako," she said, already raising her shotgun. "Let's move out team," she ordered.

The quartet moved on as Lizbeth moved to the cargo hauler, to use it to evacuate. Garrus looked back, eyes narrowing behind his helmet. "Commander, are you sure it's wise to let her go? She did take part in all this," he said.

"She's either telling the truth, at which point the worst we can say is she didn't fight hard enough to stop it, or she's lying, at which point we make sure she pays for what she's done. Either way, we can't take her along. It'd be too dangerous," Alicia said. "What I'm more worried about right now is we're about to deal with another krogan, and that the rest of our team is in the middle of a colony of mind-controlled people and we have no way of warning them. So, let's deal with those."

"How will we deal with the krogan if we run into them?" Tali asked nervously. In the past, the krogan they had run into were somewhat easily dealt with because of their numbers and the power of Wrex, Alicia, and Naruto's biotics. While they did have Alicia on hand, their firepower was greatly reduced at the moment.

"Depends on where we run into him. But I've got a plan," Alicia murmured as they reached the door exiting the storage room. Checking her motion tracker, she signaled Kaidan up, who again took the lead as they entered the facility.

The internal lighting was flickering, and was only somewhat illuminating the passageway beyond, indicating that only the emergency power for lighting and key systems was active. Kaidan slowly advanced down the hallway, Alicia moving to the other side of it, with Tali behind her and Garrus behind Kaidan. Slowly they moved down both sides of the hallway, sweeping for enemies. The area remained clear, however, and soon they reached a set of stairs going up.

Alicia signaled Garrus, who quickly made his way up the stairs, stopping at the turn in them and aiming up the stairs as Kaidan moved up past him, stopping short of the landing at the top and holding up a fist to signal them to halt. Tali joined Garrus as Alicia moved up next to Kaidan, her eyes widening as she realized what had made the Sentinel halt.

Down the hallway she could see the hulking figure of a krogan, the humped back facing them as they could hear him angrily arguing with something. Alicia quietly signaled the other two up to join them, indicating the krogan. "Well at least we can deal with him now," she said quietly to the others.

"I really hope you've got a good plan," Garrus whispered to her, gripping his Phaeston.

Alicia studied the krogan and their surroundings, before grinning. "As a matter of fact," she murmured, before pointing to Kaidan. "Keep the disruptor mods active on your Locust. Tali, I want you to do the same with your Scimitar. Garrus, switch to your Mantis and activate the AP mod. Tali, do you still have those trip mines I gave you?" She rapidly ordered, all in a quiet tone.

The trio of them quickly began setting their weapons to the appropriate mods, Tali reaching into one of the pouches on her suit's belt and handing Alicia a few triangular objects. The Spectre grinned as she took them, holstering her Crusader. "Alright, here's the plan," she said quietly, relaying her idea to them.

The krogan growled angrily as he looked at the VI in front of him, waving his arms in frustration. "Stupid machine! Give me the damn information I want!" He roared angrily, wishing that it was an organic being he could strangle or bash its head in.

"Access denied. Please contact your supervising manager to learn how to gain necessary clearance. Repeat offences will result in building security being called," the VI spoke in a masculine voice, its appearance shaped like a man in a business suit.

"Give me the damn information before I decide to blast your virtual ass into actual dust!" The krogan roared again, slamming a fist down near the projector.

Un-phased, the VI spoke again. "Access denied. Please contact your supervising manager to learn how to gain necessary clearance. Please move away as a queue is starting to form behind you."

The krogan was about to roar out angrily again, only to stop as he registered what the VI said. Turning, his eyes widened as he saw the armored human standing there, waving cheekily at him. "Hey there. Is this the meeting for the 'I'm with dumbass club'?" Alicia asked with a grin behind her helmet.

The krogan gaped at her before going for his shotgun, only for Alicia to turn and run back down the hallway. With yet another angry roar the large reptile-like alien charged after her, only for weapons fire to start slamming into his barriers, the disruptor rounds rapidly draining their strength. Kaidan and Tali both kept firing as quickly as their weapons allowed as the krogan staggered for a moment, then charged forward again.

Alicia, having reached them, grinned as she raised her now active omni-tool and pressed a button on it. In the hallway the trip mines activated, their infra-red beams coming online to detect trespassers. The krogan, running through one, was thrown against one wall by the sudden explosion. Righting himself, he took a couple steps forward only to be blasted into the opposite wall, his armor now being weakened and damaged by the explosions as his barriers were gone. Another couple steps forward triggered another explosion that actually knocked him off balance, causing him to fall forward right into the beam of the last trip mine. The explosion from that one slammed him into the wall yet again.

For several moments he lay there, trying to get the ringing out of his ears and the blood out of his eyes from the concussive blasts and shrapnel of the mines, as well as the constant slamming into walls and floor. He grunted as he started to push himself up, only to look up as Garrus was aiming directly at his head from the stairs. There was a loud crack of a sniper rifle, and the armor piercing enhanced round from the weapon passed right through his eye, destroying his brain and ending him in an instant.

Alicia slowly moved up to the krogan, Crusader drawn and ready. She stopped short of the fallen behemoth, looking at his apparently dead body, before firing a slug from her shotgun into his head, ensuring he was definitely dead. "Clear!" She shouted back to the others.

Kaidan was chuckling a bit as he joined her. "I can't believe you used a krogan as a pinball," he said, before wincing as he saw the damage to the hallway caused by the trip mines going off. "I don't think that Jeong guy will like this."

"He can kiss my ass for all I care," Alicia said, stepping over the krogan's body. "My job is to protect those colonists, the Alliance, humanity, and the galaxy. Not his company's interests."

Tali blinked in confusion, looking to Garrus and Kaidan. "Why would she have someone kiss her ass?" She asked in confusion, as Garrus and Kaidan both snickered at her naiveté. The lieutenant was the one who tried to explain.

"It's a way of telling someone you don't care, or for them to fuck off," he said, making Tali's eyes widened behind her faceplate.

"O-Oh," Tali said, looking a bit embarrassed, having thought it was something more sexual. "We have a more limited library of vulgar words in the quarian language. Mostly, bosh'tet covers everything we need."

"Stick around and we'll see about expanding that library," Alicia said with a chuckle as she arrived at the VI projector, which immediately started up.

"Alert, discharge of firearms is against company policy. A report has been filed with the on-site manager. Welcome back Lizbeth Baynham," it said.

Alicia frowned slightly, and then remembered the ID badge. "Computer, what was the previous user attempting to access?" She asked.

"Unauthorized user was attempting to access information on Species Zero-Three-Seven, code named Thorian. Access was denied. Warning, your access to said information will be recorded due to your continued probation, by order of Representative Ethan Jeong," the VI stated.

"Remind me of why I'm on probation," Alicia said, wanting to verify Lizbeth's story.

"You were put on probation for arguing against utilization of Zhu Hope's Colonists for control group study of Species Zero-Three-Seven. You were transferred to monitoring the health of the subjects while all work, data requests, and data transfers were carefully analyzed. Your probation will continue for fourteen more days," the VI responded, sending slight relief through the group.

"Well at least we know she wasn't lying," Garrus stated, though he still did not sound entirely happy.

Alicia merely nodded as she kept her focus on the VI. "Do you have any information on the geth inside the facility?" She asked.

"Negative. Internal sensors are offline. Majority of systems are offline. Power drain detected connected to unknown source," the VI reported.

"I need a schematic of the building in download format," she ordered, and the VI disappeared, being replaced by a holographic image of the interior of the building. The four of them synched their omni-tools to it, downloading the schematic. Satisfied with the complete download, Alicia gave a nod to the VI. "That is all."

The VI deactivated, leaving the group to now work out their plan of action. Alicia was studying the schematic, frowning in thought. "We need to try and find some way to remove the geth frigate from the side of the building. The VI mentioned a power drain, so they're likely connected to the building power to maintain their own and not drain their reactor. If we can cut the power, it might cause a power feedback. The trick though is pulling that off."

"They can't have connected directly to the buildings power source, it's too far down. Most likely they've tapped into a power conduit from it," Tali murmured, studying her schematic. "According to the power layout, there are at least three major power conduits they could tap into located here, here, and here." She punctuated her statement by highlighting the power conduits. "This one here is in the main research lab, and thus might be the best place to start looking."

Alicia looked at where Tali was indicating before looking to the other two. "Garrus, Kaidan?" She asked, wanting their input.

Garrus shook his helmet. "I've got nothing to add Commander. Tali knows the geth best, so if that's what she thinks, I'll believe it," he said, causing the young quarian girl to duck her head slightly.

"I agree, though if they had an extension, they could be siphoning power from a conduit a few levels down," Kaidan added, highlighting a couple more major power conduits. "We should keep that in mind, just in case."

"Alright then. Kaidan, stay on point. Garrus, you've got rear. Keep the formation people," Alicia said, using the schematic to set a way-point on her helmet's HUD, something that instantly transmitted to the other three.

The passage through the facility was a quiet one, though it was a morbid, tense silence rather than a peaceful one. They had only traveled thirty meters when they came across their first body, an Exo-Geni security officer whose armor was riddled with bullet holes, blood pooled around him. Tali let out a soft shudder at the sight of the corpse as they stepped past, moving into an office work area filled with small low walled cubicles and inactive monitors. Most were intact but a few of the cubicles had been ripped to shreds by weapon fire, and scorch marks and bullet holes lined some of the walls.

Climbing a staircase, they were confronted with three more bodies, two scientists and another security guard. The destroyed remains of a geth trooper lay nearby, indicating that the security guard did not go quietly, even if he failed to protect his charges. Alicia moved to the geth trooper, dropping down next to it. "Tali, about how much of this thing is intact?" She asked.

Tali moved next to her, holstering her shotgun and using her omni-tool to scan it. "The memory core has been purged and the weapon's computer was fried. They're not usable," she reported. "However, the majority of the frame is intact, save for the power core. Looks like the security guard managed a lucky shot, once the barriers were down. Why do you ask?"

Alicia looked over the frame. "Because we can use this," she said. "Most of the other geth usually are too heavily damaged by the time we're done with them, or their components retrieved by their counterparts. If we can secure this frame, get it back to Alliance R&D, they could study it, help us better understand how to fight them."

Tali hesitated for a moment, before nodding. "We should hide it then, for later pick up. To ensure no one else gets to it before we retrieve it."

"I'm sure the info we can get from this trooper will be useful to both the Alliance and the quarians," Alicia said, making Tali blink at her. "You've helped us out a lot, I wouldn't let you and your people miss out on this information. I'll put in a request to have any information gathered shared with the Migrant Fleet."

Tali looked down a bit at that. "…t-thank you Commander," she said, the gratefulness evident in her voice. "We should hide the frame, so it isn't taken by anyone else," she added.

Alicia nodded as she and Garrus quickly shifted the frame behind some rubble, doing their best to cover it while Kaidan placed a radio transmitter on it, one that emitted an Alliance only signal that the Normandy and her crew would be able to detect and find. With that done the quartet began to move out again, weapons drawn and ready.

They soon found themselves in a minor laboratory, only to stop at the sight before them. The lab was along the exterior of the skyscraper, and a section of the wall had been blown in, revealing the underside of the geth frigate. A large claw was seen hooking the ship in place, with a hatch that was big enough to allow a medium sized person to exit the ship. At least three geth troopers were stationed inside the lab, obviously defending the position.

The quartet quickly crouched to hide from the geth troopers, Alicia slowly peeking up afterwards to survey the area. "Alright people, looks like we found out how the geth ship is staying in place. Those claws must be holding it in place, along with mass field manipulation," she said quietly.

"I don't think we'll be knocking the ship off from here though," Garrus responded, looking back. "I don't think anything we've got will dent that claw, let alone destroy it."

Tali, going over the building schematic again and comparing what she was seeing for the layout of the building to the claw and the section of ship hull, spoke up. "The main lab is a bit above us. If they have another claw there, we might be able to do something at that point," she said quietly.

"The trick will be getting by those three geth without raising an alarm and bringing reinforcements down on our heads," Kaidan said quietly, looking at the three geth. "If even one of them raises an alarm, we could have geth pouring through that hatch on us."

"Which is why we'll need to take them down stealthily," Alicia murmured, looking at Garrus, Kaidan, and Tali. "Tali, have you had any practice with that knife?" She asked, indicating the survival blade strapped to her shin.

"I-I've been trained to use it, but only in extreme circumstances," she said nervously.

Alicia nodded, looking to Garrus and Kaidan. Garrus shook his head, not having a blade on him, but Kaidan drew a combat blade from a sheathe at his side, a standard issue tool for marines for close quarters combat. Alicia nodded as she reached into her dwindling supply of grenades, pulling one out and prepping it. "Tali, are geth affected by flash-bangs?" She asked.

Tali looked at the grenade, then at the geth. "It will be effective for a few seconds, but their audio and optical sensors should adjust quickly. I'd suggest waiting till we're as close as possible," she said.

"Then let's do this," Alicia said, priming the flash-bang and crouch-walking forward, Tali and Kaidan behind her as Tali slowly drew the blade from her sheathe. Garrus, being the odd one out, hung back with his rifle trained on the hatch, ready to open fire on the first geth that came through should the worst happen.

Alicia stopped about twenty feet from the geth, as this was about as close as they could get without being detected visually. She raised a hand to the other two, signaling them to be ready, as she activated the grenade and threw it.

The three troopers all turned as they saw the grenade flying at them, before it suddenly exploded in a flash of blinding light and with a disruptive bang. Almost immediately Alicia was up, the gauntlet blades extended as she used a biotic charge to slam into one of the geth troops, driving one of the blades into the rapidly adjusting optical sensor and another in the neck tubing, effectively ending the trooper. Kaidan used a biotic pull to yank his trooper to him, driving the blade first into its optical sensor, then into the neck tubing, and then into the partially exposed tubing and circuitry of the troopers 'spine'.

Tali was forced to charge forward and she reached the geth right as its optical and audio sensors had finished readjusting. It was barely able to raise its pulse rifle, starting to make that stuttering clicking noise that all geth made, when Tali's blade slashed across the neck tubing. She spun around it, stabbing into the 'spinal' circuitry, before grabbing its 'head' and stabbing the blade into the optical sensor. The geth trooper dropped like the other two.

Alicia and Kaidan both blinked, staring at Tali who was panting slightly, wiping the blade of her knife on the geth drone. She sheathed the blade before looking up to see the two humans and Garrus, who had joined them, all staring at her. "W-what?" she asked shyly.

"I'd say you know how to handle that blade pretty well," Kaidan said, as Tali looked down, shifting a bit sheepishly.

"My…aunt, I suppose you could call her…did manage to pull a few strings and get one of the best marine instructors in the Fleet to teach me how to handle a blade," she said shyly. "B-But I'm not a big fan of it. It's too…personal, fighting someone that way." (1)

Alicia just cleared her throat. "Nice work team. Tali, can you give us a scan of this claw, so we can get a better idea of what we're dealing with?"

Tali nodded, working on scanning it, with Garrus studying it as well. "…you know…if we could rig a couple explosives on the floor here, we could dislodge this claw," he said.

Kaidan tilted his head in thought. "If we could make sure to dislodge more than one claw, and disrupt the power flow to the ship, that would probably make it fall and ensure its destruction."

Alicia frowned a bit in thought. "We don't have many grenades left," she said, checking the magnetic clip where her grenades were, finding two. "Garrus, Kaidan?"

"I've got three left," Garrus stated, checking his own.

"One," Kaidan reported.

Alicia nodded, looking at the claw. "…Garrus, place two grenades here, set them for remote detonation," she ordered, causing Garrus to nod as he set to work.

Tali finished her scan, stepping back. "It's anchored into the ground quite tightly. I think blowing the floor will be the best option," she said.

Alicia nodded as she watched Garrus finish setting the grenades. "Alright team, let's move out," she ordered.

The quartet moved out, exiting the room through a doorway opposite the claw. This led them to another hallway, with doorways to offices on either side, as well as a couple more bodies of Exo-Geni scientists.

Alicia frowned as they kept moving. "I don't like this…I would have thought we'd meet more geth now or something. Besides a couple of destroyed ones, we've only seen those three back there."

"Isn't that one of those clichés in human movies, where someone says it's too quiet and then all hell breaks loose?" Garrus asked from the rear, as they found another staircase and started to climb it.

Kaidan, on point, slowly peeked up at the next floor landing and found nothing. "Yes, and sadly it happens in real life sometimes too," he said, slowly advancing up onto the landing.

"Let's hope this isn't one of those times," Alicia said, following Kaidan onto the landing and down another hallway. She stopped however, frowning as she noticed a blank section of wall that seemed slightly discolored from the rest. "Hold up."

The others stopped as Alicia pointed to the wall. "Doesn't it look like something was here? Look at the wall around this spot; it's slightly dirtier than the wall here."

Kaidan nodded as he looked the space over. "Yeah…I'd say probably some type of machinery or technology. Not standard office tech, but something else."

"Keep an eye out for more spots like that," Alicia ordered them, as they continued forward.

Sure enough though, they found evidence of things being moved and somewhat recently. More spaces of discoloration on the walls, matched occasionally by skid marks or bits of broken polymers or metals from something chipped off during movement. Eventually, they soon discovered what was happening when they heard the electronic beeping and stuttering of geth. Stacking up behind Kaidan at a doorway, Alicia nodded to the lieutenant who slowly peeked out.

The doorway led into a large room where he could see several geth, mostly troopers but also one Prime, currently moving equipment that was not geth in appearance. The geth had most likely stolen the various pieces of tech, all of which looked to be Prothean in origin, and were attempting to haul it back to their ship. Kaidan pulled back, turning to the others.

"We've got at least six troopers and a Prime moving stolen equipment," he said quietly, making Garrus grimace inside his helmet. The idea of engaging a Prime without heavier hitters or weapons was not an ideal one to him. Nor was it an ideal one to Alicia.

"…they're probably taking that tech back to the ship. We'll follow them for now, but try to avoid detection or combat. If they lead us where I hope they're going, we'll be able to wrap things up here," she said.

The trio nodded with Kaidan going back to watching the geth. As soon as they had exited the room, he signaled the others and they moved out, slowly following the geth. The mechs were moving somewhat quickly, using anti-gravity sleds to haul the machines and technology they were stealing in the direction of the main lab, and so within minutes the four of them had reached their destination. Again, they stacked up on the door, Tali launching another Seeker-class recon drone. Connecting to it with her omni-tool she began to display what it saw to the rest of them.

The drone, keeping to the corners and shadows, soon had revealed the contents of the next room. It was obviously a large lab area, filled with a number of consoles and equipment used for analyzing and studying relics, technology and other archeological finds. Work consoles lined the walls, while a few geth consoles had been set up near these as well in order to hack into them and download the information within. A walkway traversed the room as a quasi-second floor, with a few more work consoles as well as controls for a pair of large cranes that were used to offload supplies delivered through a loading door built into the exterior wall of the room. Said door was currently open to allow the frigates main claw to pierce into the walkway and hold the ship in place. Running alongside this docking claw was a large tube that was connected to the power conduit that supplied power from the building's power source to the lab.

Besides the geth they had been tracking previously, there were also four more geth troopers present, two of which were operating the crane controls now as the first batch of geth finished delivering their stolen goods. Raising the total number of enemies to ten geth troopers and a Prime.

Alicia silently cursed as she saw that. They troopers wouldn't be much of a problem, but when combined with the Prime, it made the fight a lot harder. They would have to somehow either wipe out the troopers before the Prime could engage them, or remove the Prime before the troopers could come after them. Looking to her team, she spoke up. "Options?" She asked them.

Garus shook his helm. "I've got nothing. Maybe if I could set up somewhere with the sniper rifle, I could pick off the troopers while the rest of you hit that Prime, but there's nowhere I could set up safely," he said.

"Tali, can you focus in on those canisters right there?" Kaidan asked, as Tali directed the drone to focus on some canisters on one of the sleds. As the image focused and they saw the flammable emblem on the canisters, each one grinned.

"I like your thinking lieutenant," Alicia said, before forming a plan. "We'll take cover here, behind these machines. Garrus, you and I will provide covering fire. Tali, work on the Prime, weaken its defenses. Kaidan, go for the canisters, overload the seals. Try to get as many of them as you can."

As her teammates nodded, understanding their orders, Alicia drew her Lancer, readying herself for combat. Tali recalled the drone, storing it and gripping her Scimitar, as Kaidan held his Locust and Garrus his Phaeston at the ready. The quartet, now prepared, quickly entered the lab.

The geth initially did not seem to notice them, though the rapid movement set off their motion detectors quickly enough. The Prime let out what almost sounded like an electronic roar and all the geth began drawing their weapons, though it was too late for the two geth on the crane controls. Garrus and Alicia, with concentrated fire, brought them down before they had a chance.

Tali was quickly firing rounds at the Prime, the disruptor mod active to do maximum damage to its powerful barriers, as it fired it's cannon towards them, the large rounds ripping holes in the wall and floor as it missed them. Kaidan quickly launched a throw, knocking one of the outlying geth back and closer towards the kill area before he slid behind his cover, the other three following suit. Immediately Tali and Kaidan stowed their weapons away, each frantically working on their omni-tools as they set to work. Alicia and Garrus popped up, both firing on the outlying geth and trying to herd them closer towards the canisters.

Tali grimaced as she kept trying to upload an overload virus to the geth Prime, to try and short out its shields. "C'mon work, work you damn bosh'tet," she cursed, trying to work around its firewalls and security protocols. Kaidan, next to her, was having a much easier time.

"Explosion in fifteen seconds!" He shouted out, now switching to a sabotage program he used on one of the geth troopers, causing its weapon to malfunction. He popped up using another pull to yank a geth trooper closer to the explosion. Garrus, firing a concentrated burst on one of the geth on the upper walkway, was forced to duck down, his barriers dropped significantly by return fire from two of the geth drones.

Tali let out a triumphant cry as blue arcs of energy shot off the Prime, its barriers dissipating, just as the canisters erupted. The geth were hit by flames and shrapnel as the concussive force threw several of the geth near it across the lab. The Prime was staggered forward as Alicia and her team pressed themselves down, debris flying past their cover.

Soon enough the roar of the explosion was gone, replaced instead by alarms as the automated fire suppression system kicked into effect, dousing the flames. Alicia quickly recovered, shooting up with her Lancer and immediately spotted a geth trooper starting to pick itself up. She quickly fired on it, putting it down, as the others rose up as well. The explosion had caught almost all the geth on the lower level in the blast, damaging most of them and destroying some of them. Only the remaining two on the upper walkway escaped with light damage, due to their position giving them some cover. They were the first to be targeted, Garrus gunning one down as Kaidan took the other, before the team mopped up the more damaged and slowly recovering geth troopers on the ground level.

The Prime, however, was still very active, though they could see shrapnel and debris had pierced its back in several locations, and its left arm hung limply, sparks erupting from where circuitry had been damaged beyond functionality. But that didn't stop it from raising its cannon in its right arm towards Alicia as she turned to fire on it, the heavy blast slamming into her barriers and staggering her back. The others immediately started firing on it as it managed a second blast, this one downing her barriers and slamming into her left shoulder. She was thrown back hard into the wall, crying out in pain from the force of the blow as the pauldron on her left shoulder took the brunt of the attack, the ceramic plating warping and the armor piece nearly being ripped off of her from the shot.

That was the last thing it would see though, as Garrus fired directly on its optical ports, shattering them and leaving it blind. Its fire became wilder now, forcing them to scatter to avoid being hit while Alicia managed to regain her feet, panting from the hit that had thrown her. Medi-gel was already being dispersed to her back and shoulder and as the pain became numbed, she felt her anger flare. Her biotics surrounded her before she unleashed a biotic charge, slamming into the geth and staggering it back. Her right hand came up; Mustang in hand as she unloaded the heavy rounds point blank into the Prime's head, rendering it a pile of junk. The Prime staggered, the mess that had been its head sparking before the entire unit fell over, leaving Alicia panting as she stood there, gun barrel smoking.

The others quickly scanned the area, ensuring the remaining geth were down, before Kaidan moved to Alicia, checking her left shoulder. "Commander, are you alright?" He asked.

Alicia nodded, panting still. "About as well as you can expect," she grimaced, moving her left arm and wincing as she rotated the shoulder. "That's definitely not going to feel good when the medi-gel wears off," she murmured, looking at the pauldron. It was hanging loosely off of her under armor suit now, the ceramic armor plating warped. She grimaced as she tried to secure it, but found it to be useless. "Damn Prime," she muttered.

With the area secured, Tali had moved to the docking claw and power transfer pipe, scanning them both. "Commander, we should be able to disconnect the pipe, and it should send a feedback surge to the frigate, temporarily knocking out its main power. However, we won't be able to remove the claw unless we blow it like you plan for the other one," she reported.

Alicia came over, studying the claw, before looking at the lowered door of the loading dock. "…what about that door?" She asked suddenly, drawing everyone's attention to it. "We might be able to handle two birds with one stone, if that door has enough power behind it."

Kaidan scanned it, before shaking his head. "No good ma'am. There are safety regulators that prevent it from closing too forcefully. Though if we overrode them and sent a surge of power through the motors…" he said thoughtfully.

"Kaidan, override the regulators then see about juicing up the motors. Tali, start working on those consoles. I want data both from the geth and on anything Exo-Geni is working on connected to the Thorian. Garrus, overwatch," Alicia ordered quickly, moving to a spot where she could work on the pauldron. After a few moments though, she knew it was a lost cause. Grunting angrily, she looked up towards Kaidan.

The lieutenant Sentinel was working on the safety regulators and soon had them disabled, allowing him to move on to the motors as he worked on increasing the power supplied to them. He waited though, looking to Alicia for orders. Alicia looked to Tali, who was still working on downloading information. She had been working at a geth console, but she pulled away, working on one of the Exo-Geni consoles. Alicia raised an eyebrow as she heard a snort from the quarian engineer, followed by her muttering under her breath. "Something up Tali?" She asked.

Tali jumped a bit, looking over her shoulder at Alicia. "O-Oh, nothing Commander. Just…how laughable the security measures are on these consoles," she said, getting back to work. "I shouldn't be too long."

"I'm ready to go here Commander," Kaidan spoke up from his position, causing Alicia to nod.

After a couple of minutes, Tali stepped back from the console, done with her work. Alicia grinned as she stood up. "Alright team, fall back! Kaidan, juice them up! Garrus, as soon as that jamming field goes down, detonate your grenades," she said.

The trio followed her back towards the entranceway, before Kaidan sent the command to the loading door. The machine roared to life, sparks coming off the motors that connected to the door before it suddenly slammed up, shearing right through the metal claw and the power transfer pipe. Garrus, checking his comms, quickly activated his own grenades as soon as he had a signal.

Outside, the geth frigate was already leaning back slightly from the main docking claw being sheared off, and the mass fields generated to help lower the ships mass going offline. The full mass and weight of the ship now rested on the two remaining docking claws until Garrus's grenades blew one of them free. Unable to take the weight, the last claw ripped free and the ship, powerless due to the feedback surge, plummeted to the ground, taking all onboard with it as it fell.

Alicia grinned victoriously at that while Garrus let out a whoop of victory. Tali grimly nodded, looking towards the loading door. "I hope that ship took plenty of those bastards with it," she muttered softly.

The Vanguard Spectre looked to her before nodding. "I'm sure it did," she said, before activating her suit radio. "Normandy1-1 to Normandy Actual, how copy?"

After a few seconds, Pressly's voice could be heard responding. "Clear copy Commander Shepard. Glad to hear from you."

"Enemy ship has been destroyed and Exo-Geni facility cleared. Contact Alliance HQ and request a cleanup team for any stragglers. We're heading back to Zhu's Hope now," Alicia reported, before switching channels. "1-1 to 2-1, you copy?"

"Copy loud and clear 1-1. It's good to hear from you," Naruto responded quickly. "We're returning to Zhu's Hope, dealing with a few stragglers in the sewers."

"Negative 2-1, I want you to head up to the garage and hold there for our return. Situation has changed. Contact squads 3 and 4 and tell them to break out the Zappers and fall back to the Normandy, ASAP. The colonists are potential hostiles, repeat, colonists are potential hostiles," she reported.

Back in the sewers, Naruto frowned as he stopped his team. "Say again, colonists are potential hostiles?" He asked, trying to clarify. The others all looked at him in surprise, with Wrex immediately dropping the unconscious body he had been carrying.

"Confirmed. Non-lethal force is authorized, lethal force only as absolute last resort. Whatever you do though, do not let them remove your breathers or helmets. That pollen Tali detected? It's not just plant pollen. I'll explain more when we get back. Over and out."

As the communication ended, Naruto quickly pointed to Ashley, then at Ian, causing the Gunnery Sergeant to move over to the unconscious colonist. As she worked on securing Ian's arms behind his back and his legs together, Naruto quickly contacted the marines. "This is Normandy 2-1 to all marines. Fall back to the Normandy. Repeat, fall back to the Normandy. Colonists are potentially hostile. Non-lethal force authorized," he ordered.

"3-1 to 2-1, confirm colonists are potential hostiles?" Lieutenant Allen questioned.

"Confirm. Fall back and-," Naruto started to respond, only to be interrupted by weapons fire over the comm unit.

"Shit! Contact! Colonists have turned hostile, repeat colonists turned hostile! Johansson, on your left! Use the NL's!" Allen was heard yelling, before the radio cut out. At the same time Ian suddenly woke up, yelling and struggling against his bonds as he frantically tried to free himself, his eyes seemingly blankas he stared up at them, struggling to get at them.

Liara let out a cry, stumbling back and hitting the wall in surprise at Ian's actions, while Ashley and Wrex immediately trained their weapons on the frantically struggling man. Naruto however quickly moved forward and punched him across the face, knocking him out again. Standing up, he holstered his Lancer, looking to the others. "Holster weapons. The Commander wants us to use non-lethal force," he ordered.

"Fuck that," Wrex growled, gripping his shotgun. "I ain't going to die just to protect some colonists trying to kill us."

Naruto moved close to Wrex, staring at where the korgan's eyes would be if they weren't covered by his helmet. "You will do as I order Wrex, or I'll show you right here and now how I earned the title Crimson Demon. Do I make myself fucking clear," he snapped, his eyes turning amethyst as his biotics flared a bit around him.

Wrex stared back, allowing his own biotics to flare, until he realized that both Liara and Ashley seemed ready to step in too. He knew he could easily take them both out, but Naruto was another matter. He heard the tales, the rumors, and the wild stories about Naruto's battle with Lotark Kroth. He knew a fair amount was exaggeration, but what was fact was that Naruto had killed the krogan battlemaster in one on one combat. And the vulzan before him had only gotten stronger since then. The krogan mercenary stared for a few moments, before grunting. "Fine, but only cuz I don't want your sister trying to kick my ass after I kill you," he muttered.

Naruto kept his stare on Wrex for a few seconds, before stepping back. "Alright, the commander wants us to meet her at the garage, where she will explain what is going on. If we run into any of the colonists, utilize non-lethal force. That means melee, flash-bangs, and light biotics," he ordered. "We only shoot to kill if we're left with no alternative. Now move out," he ordered, before activating his comm again. "2-1 to 3-1, you copy? Lieutenant Allen, do you copy?"

After a few brief tense seconds, the radio crackled to life again, instantly blasting Naruto's ear with weapons fire. "Yes captain! The squads have been split up! Squad 4 is already en-route back to the Normandy, but we were cut off on the other side of the port. I've got one wounded, but we've managed to hunker down near the entrance to the tower!"

"Fall back to the elevator and hold position there. We'll rendezvous there then go hook up with 1st Squad," Naruto ordered, before cutting the radio off and nodding to the others. "Wrex, grab the civilian. We'll drop him off at the upper level, when we know he's safe from any predators. Now let's go," he ordered.

Wrex grunted as he picked up the again unconscious civilian. "If he tries to attack me, I will throw him into a wall," the krogan warned, following the marine captain as Liara and Ashley brought up the rear.

Naruto just grunted back to Wrex, weapons holstered but hands at the ready to unleash his biotics at a moment's notice, as they heard weapons fire in the distance.

With Alicia and her team, they currently found themselves in a small skirmish. While the frigate was destroyed and the majority of geth with it, a few had still be on patrols through the skyscraper, and now were converging on their position. So Alicia and her team had found a defensible position, and had proceeded to mow the geth down as they approached.

Alicia could only grin as the last geth drone fell to the floor, a sparking mess, joining the five other ones already decorating the floor. "Good work team. Move out," she said, taking point at a half jog. She was a bit impatient to get going back to the survivors and finish up this mission.

They had barely made it a dozen or so steps when the radio crackled to life in her helmet. "Hey Commander, did you invite the colonists to a rave I didn't know about?" Joker asked her, making her stop.

"Joker? What the hell is going on? Why are you contacting me?" She asked.

"Well Pressly is busy communicating with a squad of marines outside who are busy shooting at a bunch of crazed colonists who are either trying to rush them or shoot them. So I thought I'd give you a heads up," the pilot responded. "By the way, if any of the colonists scratch the pain job, can I use the main cannons on them?"

"Just sit tight Joker. Tell Pressly to try and get the squad into the ship, and don't let anyone leave unless they're in a fully sealed suit. And no, you can't blast the colonists. I've spent several hours trying to save them, I'm not going to let you kill them because they dinged up your baby," she retorted, closing the comm line.

Garrus just shook his helmeted head. "You know in the Hierarchy, he'd never get away with that kind of sass," the turian said.

Alicia just chuckled. "Well good thing this isn't the Hierarchy then. But we need to double time it then. Sounds like the Thorian is done letting us walk around," she said, now breaking into a jog with the others right behind.

It took them about ten minutes to reach the main entrance, as the elevators were offline and they had to use the stairs. Quickly exiting the building into the garage area, they found Lizbeth there, sitting next to a wall. She quickly scrambled to her feet, pistol raising up but dropping as soon as she saw it was them. "I-I can't believe you did it! You took out that geth ship?!" She said in amazement.

"Oh yeah, we did. Though you'll probably need to fix up the main lab, since we had to blow a few things up in there," Alicia said, before handing Lizbeth back her badge. "Thanks for that, by the way."

Lizbeth shook her head. "Just leave it here…even if Exo-Geni didn't fire me, I doubt I'd keep working for them," she said quietly.

With a shrug, Alicia dropped the ID badge. "Alright, we need to move fast team. Lizbeth, you'll be in the back until we can drop you off with the other survivors. And then we'll need to go deal with the colonists and the Thorian."

The scientist nodded and followed the others to the Mako, all of them quickly getting in. Lizbeth blinked though as she saw Tali strapping herself in as tightly as she could. "Something wrong?"

"Trust me, you'll want to do the same," Tali said as Alicia began quickly backing up and swerving the vehicle around. Facing the opposite way down the skyway she gunned the engine and shot forward, with Lizbeth letting out a shriek of surprise in the back.

As they roared down the skyway, Alicia received another communication from Naruto. "Normandy 1-1, this is 2-1! Colonists have turned hostile! They have launched attacks on both the Normandy and our position! 3-1 is with us at the garage, 4-1 has retreated to the Normandy and holding there!"

Alicia gritted her teeth before replying. "Understood 2-1. Hold position and try to keep them back as best you can," she ordered, ending the transmission as she swerved around the burning wreck of a cargo truck. Soon after, however, the radio crackled to life again, transmitting on all frequencies.

"…can anyone here this? Ple-…need help!" Julia Baynham's voice could be heard, pleading on the radio, before a more distant voice could be heard yelling. "This is the Exo-Geni colony on Feros! We need help-!" She started to say, only for the radio to cut out quickly.

Lizbeth, in the back, could only stare at the radio as the color drained from her face. "H-He wouldn't…," she whispered.

Alicia didn't respond, just gunning the engine and activating the jump jets. The Mako jumped over the next obstacle, bouncing a bit as it hit the skyway and rolled faster towards the civilian skyscraper. Within moments she was wheeling around the turn, coming down to the weigh station.

Parking the vehicle at the top of the ramp, she turned to the others. "Tali, take Garrus's position and train that gun down the ramp. If I give the word, start blasting," she ordered, climbing out of the Mako. "Kaidan, Garrus, on me. Miss Baynham, please keep behind us," she ordered, drawing her Lancer as she advanced down the ramp.

As they neared the bottom, Alicia held up her fist, crouching close to the wall as the others did the same. Slowly inching forward, she soon spotted two of the security guards holding a struggling Julia while Ethan was nervously pacing, a look of panic on his face as he gripped a pistol. Julia was glaring at him the whole time. "You can't do this Jeong! There are innocent people here, just trying to start a new life!"

"S-Shut up and let me think!" Ethan shouted, pacing again. "I-I've…I've got to do what's best for the company…I can't let anything threaten that," he said, suddenly turning, starting to point his weapon at her. "You don't understand what-," he started to say, only to be interrupted by a sniper round ripping the pistol from his hand, the pieces of the weapon scattering on the ground.

Immediately everyone turned to the ramp where Alicia, Garrus, and Kaidan stood, weapons drawn. Garrus already had his sniper rifle trained on one of the security guards, with Kaidan aimed at the other one and Alicia aimed at Ethan. "I suggest you all put your guns down now, before this get's messy," Alicia stated, her voice sounding calm but with a hard edge underneath it.

The security guards, seeing themselves already covered, quickly backed away from Julia who rushed over as she saw Lizbeth. Mother and daughter hugged as Alicia slowly moved forward, keeping Ethan covered as the executive trembled, hands up.

"Shepard…g-guess it was too much to hope the geth would kill you," he said, trying to sound defiant even as his legs trembled. Alicia just smirked behind her breather mask.

"Yeah well, they tried their best, but we were better," she snarked before growing serious. "Now, care to tell me what the hell is going on here?"

"We received word from Exo-Geni headquarters after t-the geth ship was destroyed. They want us to purge the colony," Ethan said, only to suddenly find Alicia's Lancer practically in his face.

"Because what matters is the Thorian, right? Not the innocent lives of civilians who you and your company put in danger?" Alicia said.

"You mentioned that before, the Thorian. What is it?" Julia asked, while Lizbeth looked down slightly.

"It's a sentient plant life-form living under Zhu's Hope. It infected the colonists there with spores that let it control them. My team was assigned to study it," she said quietly, as Julia looked at her, eyes wide with horror. "I was put on probation because I argued with using the colonists as test subjects. Ethan threatened to make me a test subject if I didn't comply," she finished.

Julia gaped at that, before glaring at Ethan. "I swear I'll see you rot in prison!" She shouted as Ethan cowered, looking to Alicia.

"Y-you can't do this; you're supposed to protect human interests!" He shouted, his eyes focusing on the barrel of her assault rifle.

Alicia nodded her helmet. "You're right. But that means protecting the people that make up humanity and its ideals, not the corporations," she said. "And right now, I'm protecting human interests, by protecting the lives of those colonists."

"I-it won't matter; Exo-Geni will pull its funding from the colony! I-It'll die!" Ethan said, only for Alicia to smile as she lowered her assault rifle.

"Not if they don't want every news outlet to know what they were doing here. I believe my engineer found a lot of interesting information in your databanks when finding information on the Thorian. Right Tali?" She asked the last part over the radio.

"Yes Commander. I found a lot of information. Like a certain facility in the Vostok System?" Tali responded over the comm unit, her voice carrying loud enough for Ethan to hear. Alicia looked back at him as he slumped at that, shaking his head.

"Y-you wouldn't," he said quietly. "It would ruin Exo-Geni!"

"Your company is already going to be in trouble when I speak to both the Alliance and the Council on what happened here. I have no choice on that. However, I can put in some good word on at least trying to keep Exo-Geni in business if you get them to fund the colony," Alicia stated, before shrugging. "Put a positive spin on the whole thing. Advertise how this colony your company started managed to brave the worst adversity and survive, until help could finally arrive. I'm sure you'll make money that way, if that's what matters most. Or I could put a round in you and move on to the next executive leech down the line. Your choice." (2)

Ethan shuddered and shook his head. "N-No, that'll work! I-I'm sure I can spin that for the Executive board! N-No one went poor selling the underdog!" He said rapidly, waving his hands. "B-But what about the Thorian, and the colonists?"

"I'm going to kill the Thorian, and then the Alliance and the Council will deal with its remains. As for the colonists…well did you bother trying to research a method of combating the Thorian's control over them?" She asked, looking to Lizbeth.

"Not that I was aware of. The team was too busy trying to understand how it worked, not how to stop it. But I…I might have an idea," she said, looking around. "Are there any canisters of that pesticide here still?" She asked her mother.

Julia's eyes widened as she caught on to what her daughter was saying. "Weakened nervous systems?" She asked her daughter, who nodded. Julia quickly moved off, talking to a couple of the others present as they headed further into the building.

Lizbeth turned back to Alicia, to explain her plan. "When I was looking over scans of the colonists, I noticed their nervous systems had been weakened, probably compromised as a side effect of the pollen the Thorian uses in seizing control of them. It might be a weakness you can exploit," she explained, as her mother soon returned, the two other scientists each carrying a canister of pesticide. As they were set down, Lizbeth continued explaining. "We've been clearing out an infestation inside the skyscraper using a nerve agent based pesticide. It's not powerful enough to be weapons grade, so it shouldn't be lethal to a human. However, the compromised nervous systems should make them weak enough to be rendered unconscious or temporarily paralyzed by the nerve agent, especially if you deploy it in a gas form, like from a gas grenade or something. You can save the colonists without killing them."

Alicia looked the canisters over, before looking to Lizbeth. "Well if that works, that takes care of the colonists. What about the Thorian?"

"It's under Zhu's Hope. The colonists blocked the entrance way with cargo containers from the ship, so if you remove them, it'll lead you right down to it. However, I don't know how you'll deal with it," the scientist admitted.

"Guess we'll make it up as we go," Alicia said, grabbing one of the canisters and Kaidan doing the same. She turned back to Jeong, her blue eyes narrowed. "Remember our deal. You keep this colony funded, and I'll see about getting any sentencing against Exo-Geni lowered. You renege on the deal, and I'll come looking for you while the galaxy burns Exo-Geni to the ground," she stated.

As Ethan nodded, too scared to say otherwise, Alicia turned and headed off, with Kaidan and Garrus following behind. Once they were a distance up the ramp, Kaidan spoke. "I honestly thought you were going to shoot him there for a second, Commander."

"Yeah, me too. Not that he didn't deserve it," Garrus said quietly, his thoughts drifting elsewhere. He quickly shook those thoughts off though as Alicia spoke up.

"He's a slime ball, and if he had been determined to go through with Exo-Geni's orders, I would have put a bullet in him," she said, securing the first canister into the back of the Mako and stepping aside for Kaidan to do the same. "But if I can find a better solution, I'll always strive for that. Sometimes that means diplomacy, sometimes that means aggressive negotiations, and sometimes that means killing half a dozen guards to get your point across."

Tali, who was listening now, blinked at Alicia. "Aggressive negotiations?"

"Sometimes you need to leave somebody with soiled pants or, at worst, a bloody nose," she said with a grin. "It's usually my go to option when dealing with people like Jeong back there."

"Did you mean what you said, about hunting him down if he backed out on the deal?" Garrus asked curiously as they all began to clamber back into the Mako.

"Yes, but not to kill him," Alicia said, starting to drive down the skyway. "Just works better if you make them think that."

Garrus nodded quietly, starting to lose himself in thought as he manned the turret, while Tali was studying the pesticide. The quarian engineer looked back towards the front. "Commander, I think that if we reprogram your grenades for a low-yield concussive blast, it should adequately disperse the nerve agent without causing serious damage to the colonists," she said.

"We'll worry about that when we get to-," Alicia started to say, only to be interrupted by the radio crackling to life.

"Normandy 1-1, this is 2-1! New contacts in the field! Some type of humanoid plant monsters! Not sure what the hell exactly! Need assistance immediately!" Naruto shouted over the comm line, as weapons fire and some type of half human, half animal cry could be heard in the background.

Alicia grimaced as she slammed the gas pedal down. "2-1, this is 1-1. Confirm assistance request. ETA is five mikes," she responded, eyes locked on the road. "Garrus, as soon as we reach them, try to lay down cover fire if you can. Tali, keep in the back, I don't think your tech programs will work great against whatever they're dealing with now," she ordered as they roared down the skyway, the skyscraper and garage growing closer.

As they approached they were relieved to find the door open, but that relief soon turned to horror at what they were seeing. Strange monstrous plant growths, humanoid in appearance but with long claw like fingers and grotesque faces were shambling towards the defensive position Naruto had set up with his team and the squad of marines with them. Dozens of the strange creatures already littered the floor, their bodies ripped to pieces by weapons fire, and several more of those still standing had gaping wounds in them, but still kept coming. Alicia watched as a powerful red biotic throw slammed into one, smashing it through the ranks and into the wall where it was embedded deeply. Yet the others kept coming.

Garrus quickly rotated the turret to face the swarm, switching to the co-axial gun and firing it due to the swarm being too close to the others for him to risk firing the cannon. The machine gun quickly began tearing through the plant creatures, literally ripping them to pieces as they fell by the dozens, the floor being covered in their corpses and the strange green liquid that bled from them like blood. Alicia quickly hopped out, firing her Lancer as Kaidan followed her, Tali slipping out of the back but keeping her shotgun drawn. As Garrus continued to lay down fire from the cannon, Alicia rushed over to the others.

It seemed that they had managed to move several cargo containers to create a barrier, using that to shield them from weapons fire and to stop the monstrous onslaught. As she approached, she could see that the barrier had been damaged though, and behind it at least two of the marines were down with punctured suits, though thankfully neither was fatal. Liara was doing her best to tend to them while the others had held the line.

Alicia quickly moved up to Naruto, watching as the last of the plant creatures fell. "Captain, sit-rep," she ordered, looking over everyone and seeing exhaustion from their body postures and in their eyes.

She could hear Naruto panting as he slumped against the barrier, resting now that the attack was over. "About as well as could be expected, Commander," he said, gesturing to the marines. "Lieutenant Allen and Corporal Holligan were both injured. Nothing life threatening but we need to get them to the ship for proper medical treatment, and to see if they got infected through their blood. We managed to get up here when we were attacked by the colonists up here in the garage, but we managed to incapacitate them, though that's how Allen was injured. The colonists will also need treatment as well, since we had to use…potentially excessive force," he said, nodding to Wrex, who was grimacing as he wiped green goo-like blood off of his armor. "Afterwards we set up this barricade to try and hold off their attack if they followed us. At least seven colonists tried to do so but the marines used the Zappers to take them out. But then those…things poured up after them. I don't know where the hell they came from, but they…they just kept coming. They almost got over the barricade when we had to switch thermal clips on our weapons," he reported.

Alicia nodded, looking over the troops. Ashley was taking the moment to swap out thermal clips on her weapons, what looked like claw marks marring her armor on the left arm, shoulder and side of her helmet. Liara was panting softly, obviously exhausted from using her own biotics, though she hadn't let that stop her from tending to the wounded. Wrex seemed the least exhausted, checking over his weapons before stomping down on a plant like arm that was still wiggling on the ground, causing green liquid to splatter all over the place. The three marines still at the barricade were all also checking their weapons, though each was panting as the adrenaline from battle left them.

Taking all this in, Alicia started giving out orders. "Garrus, Tali, get those canisters out of the back of the Mako. Captain, take Ashley and Liara to the Mako, use it as a clean room to rehydrate. We're going to need you for the next part of the mission. Kaidan, get up here to tend to these marines. Wrex, you ready to go?"

The krogan just nodded to her, cocking his loaded shotgun. "Heh, definitely ready. But those colonists aren't going to let us just stroll down there you know."

"I've got a plan for that," Alicia said, nodding to the two canisters that Garrus and Tali were bringing up, while Ashley, Naruto, and Liara moved to the Mako, sealing themselves inside and running the decontamination cycle to ensure there wasn't any pollen inside before removing their helmets to rehydrate. She turned to the marines still present. "Alright, listen up. I'm going to need every grenade you've got left. Set them to concussive mode, low yield. We're going to turn them into gas grenades," she ordered, pointing to the two canisters.

The three marines, while confused, quickly followed her orders, pulling out the remainder of their disc-like grenades and setting to work siphoning the pesticide into them, as Garrus did the same while Kaidan collected grenades from the two injured marines and handed them to Tali. Alicia turned to face the elevator, keeping watch for any more enemies while she contacted the Normandy. "Normandy Actual, this is 1-1, status report."

"Status nominal, 1-1. We managed to pull Fourth Squad back onto the ship with minimal danger, and sealed up tight. They tried to claw their way in, especially when these plant humanoids showed up. But they just suddenly left. Hanger is clear," Pressly reported to her.

"Copy that. Keep the ship sealed up, but prepare the medical team. We have injured here and will likely be engaging in combat again soon. Over and out," Alicia ordered, before cutting the communication.

After several minutes, her team reassembled, each now equipped with 'gas' grenades, while Tali, Garrus, Ashley, Alicia and Naruto carried the marines M/NL-7's. Alicia looked to the marines, one of whom was supporting Lieutenant Allen while the other two were carrying the injured corporal on an emergency stretcher from the Mako. "Alright team, here's the plan. We're going to cut a path straight through the port, taking down as many of the colonists as possible. Remember, keep the gas grenades in reserve for groups of colonists. Kaidan, Wrex, and Liara, you all use your biotics on the colonists if you have to, but primarily, you three will be watching out for more of those plant things. Keep them off us. We'll clear a path so Third Squad can retreat back to the Normandy, while we clear up the colony and try to go after this Thorian. Everyone got that?"

They all nodded, and Alicia hefted her Zapper. "Then let's move out!"

The elevator was not large enough to carry all of them, so Wrex and Liara held back with the marines, as Alicia took the rest down first. They had their weapons trained on the door as the elevator reached the floor, ready to fire, but thankfully nothing was on the other side of the door, allowing them to step out and deploy into a defensive position.

As the elevator started to go back up, Alicia silently gestured to the stairs leading down to the port. Kaidan took the lead, hard-light armor and barriers up and ready to absorb enemy fire at a moment's notice. The others followed behind, weapons at the ready, though Tali was shifting the weapon in her arms as she was not used to the size and weight of it.

Kaidan had barely reached the bottom of the stairs when weapons fire ripped into the wall to his left, causing him to instantly drop and slide into cover behind the railing. The others did the same as rounds continued to rip through the air, digging into the wall and the railing they were using for cover.

Alicia grimaced as she heard the rounds chewing into the concrete siding that covered the railing, before pointing down the line. "Shepard, Williams, you're up! Alenko, get ready to give them cover!" She shouted.

The two marines moved up as close as they could as Kaidan began to channel his biotics while taking deep breaths, readying himself. He threw himself up, channeling his biotics and creating a barrier shield that stopped the enemy rounds, though a few had hit his shields and hard-light armor before he got the barrier up.

Naruto and Ashley both quickly slid into the barrier, before dashing out, Zappers firing. The electrified rounds quickly impacted against two of the colonists, knocking them down and out as their muscles seized up. A couple of rounds might paralyze a body part for a few minutes, but several rounds would immobilize the target for quite some time.

Naruto and Ashley quickly took cover on either side of the doorway, firing still on the colonists as Kaidan dropped the barrier and rushed up to them, sliding in behind Asley while pulling out one of the gas grenades. Priming it he quickly tossed it towards the defensive position, watching it slide through the gap between the barrier and the concrete block. After a few seconds it detonated, a cloud of gas shooting out in all directions. The weapons fire ceased immediately as the colonists caught in the blast collapsed, their bodies twitching.

"Move up!" Naruto shouted, coming out with Zapper up. He quickly swept for any other hostiles, moving towards the now empty defensive positions, followed by Ashley, Kaidan, and then the others. Behind them came Wrex and Liara were leading the marines down.

Naruto dropped down next to one of the colonists, recognizing it as Arcelia. Checking her pulse, he nodded as he looked up. "Looks like its effective. They're still alive and breathing!" He reported.

Alicia nodded at that, checking the Zapper casualties. "These ones look down too. Hopefully they'll stay that way," she said as she stood up. "Alright, remember the plan. We clear a path to the dock first; get the marines out of here. Move it!" She ordered.

The team quickly began to move forward, nearing the cargo module that served the colonists as a barracks and fall back point. As they neared it, Alicia pointed to the door on this side of the module. "Someone hack that door, seal it up. Last thing we need is for them to flank us," she ordered.

Tali quickly brought up her omni-tool, setting to work on the door programming. Within moments the green holographic console indicating the door was unlocked turned to red, indicating it was locked, before shorting out, the door now fully sealed. Tali gave a thumbs up to Alicia who nodded as she led them around the module, which was a longer route, but decreased the chances of them being bottlenecked that passing through the cargo module would have resulted in.

Almost as soon as she came around the corner, weapons fire ripped through the air, several rounds hitting her shields and forcing her into cover. She glanced out, seeing close to a dozen colonists firing on them the whole time, while a swarm of the plant humanoids began to shamble towards them.

"Wrex, focus on those plant things! Liara, keep him covered! Kaidan, try to get onto the flank! Ashley, with him! Everyone else suppressing fire! Try to get to cover!" Alicia ordered, before popping out and firing on the colonists, trying to suppress them. Naruto crouched next to her, firing as well, the two of them suppressing a few of the colonists. It seemed though that the Thorian's control over them had lowered their survival instincts, as a few of them didn't take cover at all, and were quickly removed from combat thanks to the two N7's.

Kaidan quickly was moving to the right, to get up on a flank and start a crossfire, with Ashley right behind him, firing blindly on the move. Garrus and Tali moved out next, moving to some crates in between the two positions, both now opening up on the colonists' position as well.

Seeing their four squad-mates now in position and firing on the colonists, Naruto and Alicia moved to their own new position, allowing Wrex and Liara to pop out where the two of them had been previously. The asari and krogan both began quickly mowing down the plant creatures, Wrex letting out a cheerful roar as his Revenant sprayed rounds out rapidly while Liara struggled to remain precise, aiming for head shots with her burst fire machine pistol. Between the two of them, the plant creatures were dropping, some with torn limbs or bodies but still trying to move, others permanently. But their numbers allowed them to get closer, even as more of them dropped.

Tali gritted her teeth, trying to control the weapon in her hands. The Zapper was not an overly powerful weapon, but with Tali's size and stature, even its recoil was giving her trouble, especially as she tried to keep a comfortable grip on it. She was spraying rounds at one of the positions the infected colonists were using for cover, trying to nail them whenever they popped up. So far, she wasn't having much luck hitting anything, while next to her, Garrus was doing better. He too was suffering from an unfamiliar grip meant more for the five-digit hand of a human then his own tri-digit hand. But his years of training in the turian military and his time in C-Sec had allowed him to adjust, so while his accuracy was slightly lower than he'd like, he was still keeping effective fire on the colonists. Evident by one of the colonists dropping after being hit by several rounds fired by him.

On the flank, Kaidan was doing his best to sabotage enemy weapons or using his biotics to pull colonists out of cover for Ashley to pick off. The latter though he had to use sparingly, as until they were either in a secure location or away from Zhu's Hope, he could not remove his breathing mask to eat or drink one of the supplement rations for biotic users. So he did his best to rely on his tech programs.

Ashley, next to him, grimaced as she managed to hit one of the colonists in the arm, numbing it. "Damnit, I hate this," she muttered, seeing the colonist diving back into cover. "We shouldn't be shooting these people but thanks to a damn smart plant and those assholes in Exo-Geni…" she trailed off, not needing to go any further.

Kaidan grimaced as rounds hit around their cover. "I know how you feel Williams, but there's little else we can do at the moment. They are shooting at us," he said, pulling out one of the gas grenades and throwing it at a trio of colonists clustered behind a concrete block. All were caught in the blast, falling to the ground as the nerve agent paralyzed them.

From her position, Alicia finished off another colonist Naruto had pulled form cover with his biotics, the two alternating their roles to prolong their biotic endurance. The Vanguard felt satisfaction as she saw the number of enemy colonists dwindling, while the plant monsters were being eradicated. She had to duck as Wrex biotically detonated a singularity Liara had set up, vaporizing several of the plant creatures in one go and sending the remaining ones flying. At the same time, at least two more colonists fell to Ashley and Garrus's fire. Of the original dozen or so colonists, only three were left now, the rest having been rendered paralyzed or unconscious from the grenades or Zappers. Despite their superior numbers, the Zhu's Hope colonists had little to no military training or strategy, and the Thorian's control had apparently also lowered their self-preservation instincts in enforcing its will on them. As the trio of remaining colonists struggled to hold them back, Wrex simply stormed up to them, leaving the last plant creature to be finished off by Liara.

The krogan eagerly rushed towards the three colonists, their rounds hitting his shields but him ignoring it. With a roar he slammed into the first colonist, sending them flying and smashing into a column. They slumped to the floor, unconscious, as he swung around, his arm sweeping out and smashing into another colonist, knocking them out from the force of the blow. The last one never stood a chance as Wrex punched them in the face, the force of the armored fist rendering them unconscious. Wrex roared out at that, standing over his fallen victims.

With the area cleared, Alicia rose out of cover. "Sweep the area, make sure it's clear! Marines, get ready to move out to the ship! Lieutenant, T'Soni, start checking the colonists!" She ordered, bringing her Zapper up to sweep for any still conscious enemies. The others began moving out as well, to fulfill her orders.

Wrex was panting a bit, looking at the three colonists he had just taken out, before turning to Alicia who was moving up to him. "Don't worry. They'll live. I was gentle," he said, moving away to sweep the area, as Alicia knelt next to the colonists. She winced, seeing the one that had been punched in the face had a broken jaw, and the first one was bleeding from his head, though the wound was not a large one. She administered a bit of medi-gel to them, propping them up as the others found a few of the colonists hit by the Zappers still had consciousness and partial movement, and so quickly secured them or rendered them fully unconscious. The marines quickly moved by, heading towards the other side of the port to escape, with Wrex providing cover for them in case anything else popped up.

Alicia was starting to turn, to order her team to get ready to deal with the Thorian, when she heard movement, causing her to whirl around with her Zapper at the ready. Her eyes widened a bit as she saw Fai Dan approaching, his body spasming as he gripped a pistol. "I-I'm sorry, Commander…it's so hard to fight it…so hard to resist the pain," he groaned out, looking at her with eyes filled with regret and pain. "I tried but…the other colonists…it hurt them as well, to keep me in line. It…it wants me to kill you now…it wants me to stop you, b-but I won't let it!" He shouted, his arm jerking up. It seemed like he was trying to point the pistol at her, yet also point it at himself at the same time, his will and the Thorian's struggling with each other.

Alicia quickly fired, hitting him in the chest with a burst from her Zapper. His whole body started to spasm as he fell back, the pistol falling from his hand as his body lay there, jerking and clenching. She lowered her Zapper, moving to him as she saw he was still conscious. Despite the fact she shot him, she could see the gratitude in his eyes. "I'm sorry," she said, before delivering a fast punch to his head, knocking him out.

Shaking her head she stood, looking to the others. "Sit Rep!" She demanded.

"All clear! Colonists secure!" Naruto reported, as Alicia nodded, the team gathering together. The human Spectre looked over her team, seeing them drained and tired but still standing tall, ready to keep going. Dropping the Zapper she pulled out her Crusader, steeling herself.

"Alright team. I know you're tired, drained, and ready to call it a day, but we're almost through," she said, seeing those armed with Zappers following her example. "We find the Thorian, try to find out what Saren wanted with it, and deal with it once and for all. You ready?"

"Yes ma'am!" Naruto, Kaidan, Ashley, and Garrus roared out, as Tali, Liara, and Wrex all nodded. Alicia gave a grim nod before pointing to the crane control. "Tali, open the way. We've got a weed to whack."

Tali moved to the crane control, while Ashley just grimaced. "Wow that was cringy," she murmured, while Naruto just discreetly nodded. Soon enough though, their quarian teammate had the controls overridden, and the cargo module covering the subterranean entrance moved out of the way. Alicia took point, activating the flashlight on her shotgun to illuminate the stairs, before signaling to the others to follow her.

The stairway led them to a lower level, with dim lightning left by portable light strips that had most likely been put in place by the first colonists or researchers to come down here. At the bottom of the stairs they saw a few more strips of lighting, but also light from the end of a hallway leading to their left. Alicia slowly proceeded that way, gripping her shotgun.

Ashley, near the back with Wrex and Garrus, spoke up. "So any idea how big this damn thing is? Or how we kill it?"

"It has tendrils that stretch for kilometers under the planet, but there was little data on the size of the plant itself. According to the files I found, they were unable to send a team to investigate once the colonists were infected, as anyone who approached was attacked, in an attempt to make them slaves of the Thorian," Tali said, having gone through some of the files on the Thorian after hacking into the Exo-Geni databases. "As for how we kill it…I would assume bullets. Or fire. Lots of fire."

Wrex chuckled at that. "I like the way you think kid," he murmured. "Wish I had bought that flamethrower back on the Citadel."

"Lock it up. We're almost there," Alicia said as they neared the end of the hallway, stepping into an open circular room that seemed illuminated with natural light. Something they confirmed as they found the room was a massive, seemingly bottomless circular tower with the ceiling open to the heavens. What grabbed their attention though was the Thorian itself, as it was very hard to miss.

It was a massive growth of green and brown organic material that seemed more like flesh then plant, suspended in the air by several tendrils that connected to the surrounding walls. The end of it that faced them had several slit like indentations and a gaping maw that was dripping some type of nectar like saliva, while several small tentacle-like tendrils waved around said maw. Several pods could also be seen around the walls, all pulsing as shadows briefly could be seen moving within them.

Garrus, upon seeing the size of the Thorian, just stared at it. "…can we go back and try to get the Mako down here? Please?" He asked, even as the others slowly advanced towards the creature now.

As they approached, the creature seemed to convulse and shiver, spasming and letting out a groaning noise. Immediately everyone's weapons were raised, pointing at the massive monstrosity as it continued to spasm, before something slipped out of its maw in a gush of fluids. That something landed on two feet, its shape humanoid as they took it in.

It appeared to be an asari, yet they could tell quickly it was no normal asari. For starters, its skin was a sickly green color, with light brown markings around its eyes. What was also strange was that its skin from the neck down seemed to be patterned like the light, leather-like armor worn by asari commandoes. They might have mistaken it for real leather armor if it wasn't for the fact there was no clear separation at the neck where the green skin of the asari and the armor would meet. (3) The asari stared at them with sickly green eyes that almost matched its skin shade as it approached them.

"Normally I'd be very happy to see an asari, but I think this won't be one of those times," Alicia said, as the green asari thing stared at them, before speaking.

"Invaders, you shall pay for your transgressions against the Old Growth. A thousand feelers find you as little more than meat, good only to serve and die for the superior race. I speak for the Thorian as I did for Saren. It commands you to be in awe!" It said with an emotionless voice while biotic energy began to form around its hands.

Alicia raised her shotgun, the others behind her doing the same with their weapons. "Tell you what. Tell me what Saren wanted and maybe I'll think about being in awe," she said, even as she cocked her shotgun.

"You ask for information even as you uselessly threaten the Old Growth? You do not understand your place in this world, but I will-" the asari started to say, raising its hands to attack, only for its head to explode in a flash of green pulpy matter as Alicia shot it. She cocked her shotgun again, looking up at the Thorian.

"So…you wanna share that info now?" She asked it. Her only response was for it to let out a roar, and for several of the pods to erupt, with more of the plant creatures they had fought before to spill out, some falling dozens of feet to the concrete below, only to rise up. "Guess not. Suggestions?!"

"We need to remove those tendrils from the wall! Drop this bastard into the chasm down there!" Naruto shouted, his Lancer barking out as he cut down two of the shambling plant creatures.

"We'll lose our chance to find out what Saren wanted!" Garrus shouted, his Phaeston roaring out as well.

"I think we lost that chance already! Liara, Tali, Kaidan, you get whatever grenades we got left, set them to blow, and take down as many of those tendrils as you can! Garrus, Wrex, Williams! Give them cover from those plant monsters! Naruto and I will stay here, in case this damn thing spawns anymore of those damn green asari!" Alicia shouted, tossing her remaining grenade to Kaidan. The others who still had grenades did the same, totaling five grenades.

Alicia turned in time to see a new asari clone appear, this one not bothering to talk but instantly throwing out a powerful biotic throw. Naruto immediately threw up a barrier, blocking it from hitting himself or Alicia. He grimaced though as he felt the power of it hitting his barrier, his own biotics weakened from extensive use so far. He dropped the barrier immediately as Alicia fired her shotgun, the asari throwing up her own barrier to block it with one hand, before dropping it as she launched a biotic shockwave towards them, forcing to dive to either side to avoid it. Naruto rolled on the ground, his Carnifex coming up and barking out three rounds that ripped through the asari's chest, causing more of the green blood like substance to ooze out as it fell dead.

"One down," he panted out, looking to his sister who was slotting a new thermal clip into her shotgun already.

Wrex grunted as he smashed another plant creature into a wall, watching it slump to the ground before he stomped its head, splattering it. He turned as he saw Kaidan place a grenade on the wall where one of the large tendrils was embedded, setting it to be remote detonated. "Grenade one set!" Kaidan called out, drawing his Locust and using it to shoot down one of the creatures shambling up the ramp behind him. He quickly moved up to Wrex as the duo moved upwards, to rejoin the others who had moved ahead.

"Got a bit of a bottleneck here, the bastards are swarming through a doorway!" Ashley sounded, as the duo heard the roar of gunfire ahead of them, moving up to join them. That's when the area shook, and a flash of biotics could be seen below.

Alicia grunted as she hit the wall, falling to her hands and knees as she gasped for air. Another of the asari clones had appeared and slammed them within a powerful biotic throw, one the size of a boulder that had nailed both her and Naruto. Trying to suck air in, she looked up as the green asari imitation approached, biotics swirling around it as it prepared to unleash another blast at them. Naruto, who had been thrown into a column, managed to launch a throw at the asari, which it deflected, but the pause was all Alicia needed. She managed to surge up, grabbing the copy's arm and slamming a fist at the elbow, breaking it, before the asari's other arm came around and threw her away with a point blank throw, sending Alicia flying up into the air so that she landed on the level above, letting out a cry of pain as she hit the ground hard.

Naruto let out a roar as he charged, his own biotics flaring around him as he slammed into the asari, driving her to the ground as his blades came out, driving one into the asari's other arm and pinning the limb to the ground. His free arm and blade came up, driving it into the clone's head, before he retracted both blades, slumping to the ground as the new clone died away. Panting heavily from pain and exhaustion, he looked up at the level Alicia got tossed up to. "Commander…you there?" He called out.

Alicia just let out a groan in response as she rolled over onto her stomach. "Yeah…but kind of wishing I told Wrex to stay and deal with the clone instead," she said, activating her squad comm. "Please tell me you guys are almost done."

"We got two grenades planted, but these damn plant zombies keep slowing us down! We're working on it!" Garrus shouted, as they heard more weapons fire.

Naruto, hearing grunting and bestial gagging, turned in time to see another asari clone being spawned. Groaning, he stood up slowly, readying himself. "Guess we're on round three," he said tiredly, reaching for his Carnifex, since his Lancer had been ripped off him during the throw that had sent him and Alicia flying and his Viper would be less effective at this range.

Tali planted the third grenade, nodding to the others. "Third grenade set!" She shouted, rushing to the others with Ashley covering her. "How many tendrils are left!?"

"Three! We're going to have to just try and blast that last one I guess!" Ashley shouted as they joined the others, making their way up to the fourth tendril. Luckily it seemed that the pods of plant creatures, which the gunnery sergeant had mentally been labeling as creepers, were slowing down, mostly due to new ones needing time to grow.

Alicia, dropping back to the ground level, watched as Naruto was currently locked with the green asari in hand to hand combat, green ooze dripping from a bullet hole in the things arm that didn't seem to be slowing it down that much. Naruto had strength and speed on his side, but the green asari clone seemed to have the experience of the asari it was cloned from, as it matched Naruto's moves. Naruto managed to block a punch to his throat, but his own counter attack was not only blocked but used to throw him, causing him to hit the ground and roll. Naruto managed to get up to one foot and knee, blocking a kick aimed at him, grabbing the leg and twisting it. The clone made no cry of pain, instead simply yanking its leg back while Naruto held onto it, allowing it to slam an elbow into his back before kicking him with its good foot. The move did cause it to overbalance though, and as it staggered, Alicia slammed into it with a biotic Charge, sending it flying over the edge of the abyss. Alicia slumped next to Naruto, panting a bit as the two tried to recover, only to see the asari surge back up over the edge, having landed on a jutting rock below and combined a jump with biotics to lower its mass to leap higher into the air.

"Oh, that is such bullshit!" Alicia shouted as she and Naruto both raised their Mustang and Carnifex respectively, putting two rounds into the asari's head and sending it back over again. Naruto looked at the thermal readout on his pistol, groaning as he saw it was in the red before checking his pouch. "…I'm out," he said, dropping the Carnifex. Alicia handed him her Lancer as she drew her Crusader off her back, as the two used the momentary respite to regain their breath.

Up above, the team had planted the last of the grenades and was moving to the last tendril. Kaidan, eyeing it, quickly formulated a plan. "We'll blow the other grenades and hopefully the strain will be enough to yank this one out. If not, we'll hit it with everything we've got left," he said, using his omni-tool to ready the detonation command on his grenade. Tali and Liara did the same as Ashley connected to Alicia and Naruto.

"Skipper, you and the cap'n better find some cover! We're blowing it!" She warned.

Naruto and Alicia both struggled to their feet as the Thorian began to spawn a new asari clone, only for Alicia to point her Crusader at it and fired. It let out a roar of agony as the round hit it in the slit like indentations, apparently a very sensitive spot given its reaction to the wound. Alicia grinned at that as she and Naruto moved away as quickly as possible, before explosions ripped through the various levels.

The five grenades that had been planted ripped through both concrete and flesh, the tendrils being mangled or in some cases ripped apart by the explosions, as the concrete they were embedded in was blown apart as well. All five tendrils quickly separated from the walls, leaving all the pressure on the one single tendril at the top. Here the sudden weight of the entire Thorian was suddenly applied, and the tendril strained heavily to support that weight. The organic material held, but the wall could not, as the tendril piercing into it had weakened theconcrete, and the sudden additional weight proved too much. With a loud crack the tendril tore loose from the concrete and with a roar of anger, fear, and agony, the Thorian disappeared into the chasm below.

Naruto and Alicia, both having dived into the hallway to avoid any debris from the explosions, now slowly re-entered the area, staring at where the Thorian had been previously. Moving to the edge, they both peered over the side, confirming indeed that the creature was gone. The two of them let out a sigh of relief, grinning as a chuckle escaped their lips, with Alicia looking up towards the upper levels. "About damn time!" She called over the comms to them.

Naruto could only chuckle, only to stop as he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. Raising up his now recovered Lancer, his eyes widened as he saw the movement came from another of those organic pods, this one still having something inside. The pod suddenly burst open, drawing Alicia's attention as a figure spilled out of it in a rush of thick fluid that flooded the area. The figure lay on the ground, raggedly panting and sucking in air, before slowly pushing themselves up, revealing it to be an asari with light grayish-purple skin and hazel eyes. Both Alicia and Naruto stared in surprise as they realized she had the same markings and facial structure as the green clone they had fought. The asari groaned as she tried to get up to her feet, only to stumble and fall back onto the ground.

Alicia quickly moved to the asari's side, as Naruto activated his comm unit. "Lieutenant, Doc, get down here now. We've got an asari here who needs medical attention," he ordered, as Alicia helped the asari lay back more comfortable, clearing some of the liquid from her mouth.

"T-Thank…you…" the asari panted out, looking up blearily at Alicia.

"Don't talk right now, just rest," Alicia said, as she heard the thud of armored boots as the rest of the team quickly moved back down the ramps, towards them. Kaidan pushed past Naruto and moved to the other side of the asari, starting to scan her with his omni-tool. Liara started to move in to help, only to stop and gasp as she saw the asari, her blue eyes going wide.

"S-Shiala?" She asked uncertainly, as the asari rolled her head to look in the direction of Liara, her eyes squinting as she tried to make out what had said her name.

"M-Miss…T'Soni?" She managed to gasp out weakly, before her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell unconscious.

Kaidan kept the scan up, before speaking. "I'm not seeing any injuries or diseases. But she does have some unusual synaptic activity. We should get her either to the colonist's medical facilities or to the Normandy," he advised, looking up to Alicia.

"Get her to the ship, now," she ordered, seeing Ashley and Garrus move to help Kaidan, while she turned to Liara, who had moved her hands to her helmet covered face. "Liara…do you know her?"

Liara slowly nodded, looking to Alicia. "She…she's one of my mother's personal commandoes…she's the one my mother assigned to watch over me, s-since I was a small child," she whispered. "W-what was she doing here?"

Alicia took a deep breath, gently touching Liara's shoulder. "We'll find out, when she recovers. I'm sure she'll be fine," she said softly.

Liara just numbly nodded, as she allowed Alicia to slowly guide her out of the Thorian's lair, leaving it behind as a tomb for the monster that called it home.

---

And scene. Damn I did not expect this chapter to go this long. It seem ironic I kept cutting the other chapters short because I didn't want them to go too long. But I really, really wanted to end Feros this chapter. I hope you all don't mind the longer chapter.

Alicia: Well they got plenty of action, and plenty of me, didn't they?

Wrex: Oh c'mon, they didn't get nearly enough of me though! *grumbles as he rips into half of a roasted varren*

LR: Right…so anyways-

Diehard ShepardTali LeafRanger: Hey, when are you going to get to the Tali and Naruto romance?

Diehard FemShepLiara LeafRanger: Yeah, and the Alicia and Liara romance?!

Alicia: Yeah, I really wanna know that last one. *leaning forward eagerly*

LR: *eyebrow twitching* The Naruto and Tali romance won't happen till Mass Effect 2. While I'll be hinting at them having a strong friendship, actual romance will be difficult because of her working in the Migrant Fleet while he serves the Alliance as a Marine. Not to mention that, by her standards, she's still sort of a kid, and likely isn't looking just yet for actual romance. The Alicia and Liara romance will come soon enough, as I do have plans to help them bond and hopefully make the romance feel realistic. Course if certain people don't shut up about it, maybe I'll postpone all romances until the end of the damn fic!

Alicia, DSTLR, and DSLLR: We'll be good.

Diehard NaruHina Leaf Ranger: Hah, about time someone else suffered from that!

LR: Shut up. *takes a deep breath and turns back to the readers* So, I hope you all enjoyed, and that this fanfic did justice to your expectations and to the Feros mission. Guess we'll see what you all think, won't we? Till next time!

Thanks goes to my beta a7xfanatic11, for his work in catching my mistakes, offering his knowledge and opinions on Mass Effect lore, and just being a great guy!

1. I always thought it'd be kind of funny and cool if Tali turned out to be a bit of a badass with that knife sheathed on her right boot. It's sad that it only ever came into play in ME3, and only under a certain circumstance.

2. To those wondering, I usually play the games mostly with Paragon choices, but with occasional Renegade choices or interrupts scattered here and there. And I'm trying to have Alicia here emulate that. The paragon choice at this point always irked me, because it was such a passive plea meant to manipulate his greed, to spin such a positive light on the situation without the Thorian. So I modified it, to more of a 'chaotic good' option. Hope you all enjoyed it.

3. A strange thing to point out, I know, but realistically, the Thorian wouldn't be able to clone actual armor or clothing on the asari. At best, the clones skin would look like the armor, and not actually be covered in armor. *shrugs* Just thought I'd throw a touch of realism in there.