Noveria – part 2
A more hair-raising journey I could not remember in my entire life. The mountain road to Peak 15 was half buried in places and in others it became rather too tight for comfort. Even the fearless Wrex went quiet after a gust of wind had almost thrown the rear end of the plough off the edge to where a thousand metre drop awaited us. I suspected that Kaidan was having the migraine to end all migraines in the seat next to me. However, through grit, determination and no small amount of luck I managed to get us to the garage of the Peak 15 facility.
The door was already raised when we arrived. After we had dismounted from the hovercraft and began to head inside, I realised that there seemed to be no power supply to the building at all. The others noticed this as well as we progressed through dark, empty corridors,
"This is going to be bad isn't it," Garrus said. Wind whistled along the corridors with us and through ventilation shafts above our heads. The metal structure creaked and groaned, and somewhere, almost unperceivable behind the other noises, I thought I heard a scuttling of little feet whipping past us.
"Stay alert. Work like we did on Feros and we'll be fine," I told the team. Matriarch Benezia, Asari Commandos and probably Geth were waiting for us, but there was something else, something unseen, something secret. Wrex sensed it as well and he stopped to sniff at the air, seeming unsettled,
"This place… it's… wrong. I've never smelt anything like this before."
"Wrex, you're on point," I decided quickly, "Garrus watches the rear. Ashley, back him up."
"Rodger that Sir," Ashley responded. Our torches lit up the path ahead and revealed that we were coming to a junction. I saw the directions towards the power station and directed my team there first.
"There are Krogan here as well, Gardner," Wrex warned as we hurried through the dead station, still not a soul to be seen. Suddenly there was a loud "clunk" above our heads and all seven weapons were raised to the same spot. I guided my torch along the ceiling, following the vents until I came to an opening and focused on that. I went ahead and kept watch on the gap and signalled the squad to keep going. As Garrus passed by me I could have sworn I saw what looked like a small antenna poke over the lip of the opening, but when I looked straight at it retreated out of sight immediately.
"Keep a close watch, guys. We're being tracked by something," I said quietly over my comm.
"What did you see Scott?" Kaidan asked.
"It looked like an antenna… a feeler or something. Can't think what…"
Something burst through the ceiling and landed right on top of Garrus. A confusion of lights from the team made it difficult to see exactly what it was, but it was easily almost as big as Wrex. It was too risky to take a shot so I ordered Liara to contain Garrus and his attacker in a biotic field to make him easier to reach. I jumped on top of the creature and pulled back with all my strength before Kaidan joined me. Together, we dragged the assailant off of our Turian friend. Garrus was on his feet as quickly as he had been knocked off them and he dug his pistol right into the bug-like creature's head and pulled the trigger five times. It wriggled and writhed, but a sixth shot from Garrus finally killed it.
"What the hell is that thing?" Garrus said angrily. We gathered around the four-legged insectoid and had a good long look at it: It was thick bodied and as well as its four legs there were two forearms. Sprouting from its flanks were two long tentacles with feelers on the end of them; that was what I had seen in the vent. We all stood stunned until Wrex eventually broke the silence.
"Rachni," he said slowly and painfully.
"Not possible," Liara said, "your people hunted them to extinction… didn't they?"
"They did. I thought they did. Every story my people have ever told about the glorious Rachni War ended with them being completely wiped out!"
I searched my mind for what little I knew about the legendary Rachni War, when the Krogan were first uplifted by the Salarians to fight a galactic invasion from the invading bugs.
"I thought that war ended almost two thousand years ago? How could there be one now?" I asked aloud.
Wrex, who already had a dislike of scientists for the creation of the Genophage, seemed ready to explode into a fury. I had to keep our team moving,
"This one's dead. Let's keep going; we bring power back to this place maybe we can find some answers. Wrex, up front."
As we ventured further into the station, we all heard more scuttling and a terrible screeching noise like an animal being tortured. There were more Rachni and they were after us. After an eternity, a horrifying eternity, we entered a cylindrical room with powerful generators arrayed around the edge of it.
"This is it," Tali called out.
"Get this place back online Tali," I told her, "everyone else look for possible entry points and keep your weapons ready."
While Tali configured her Omni tool to deal with the power plant, we covered the door that we had locked behind us and the two ventilation shafts that ran through the room. It was a nerve-racking experience, but Tali was an expert and with a cool head she powered up the generators and hit the start switch.
When the lights came on it changed the feeling of the place immediately; what I had previously thought would look like some frozen crypt of the undead turned out to be a well maintained and ergonomically designed facility. People working here were obviously aware that they were working in a dangerous place with extremely hostile weather conditions, not to mention the fact that they were probably hundreds of light years from their homes. Binary Helix must have tried to make the working environment as homely and welcoming as possible. However, we could see the signs of the Rachni; the damage to the walls and the vents, the blood stains from who I could only guess were their victims. We had power, but still no information to go on. Fortunately, I noticed that there was a VI stance and I flicked it on while the rest of the squad kept a lookout.
"Greetings," the VI's voice said politely, "how can I be of assistance?"
"I need to find an Asari Matriarch; Matriarch Benezia. Is she here?" I asked hurriedly.
"I apologise. I am unable to disclose such information to those without higher security clearance," the voice rang out innocently.
"I'm Commander Gardner; Council Spectre."
There was a delay in the VI's reaction and I crossed my fingers in the hope that that would do the trick when the voice sounded out again,
"Matriarch Benezia took the tramway to Rift Station five days ago shortly before power to central station was cut off."
"Power must have been cut on her orders," Kaidan said. Wrex made a sudden move and stomped his foot hard on the ground, when he lifted it we all saw the green and brown flesh and blood that he had turned into a pulp,
"Watch out for the little ones," the big Krogan muttered.
Having the lights on was a big morale boost and together we found our way through the station to the tramway. Smaller Rachni about the size of my head leapt out at us from behind pipes and from vents time and time again, but a quick stomp or slam of the fist got rid of them quickly. There was only a single checkpoint between us and the trams, and when we tried to get through we were denied.
"God dammit," I exclaimed, "there's always something isn't there. VI, what's stopping us getting through?"
The local VI port lit up and explained,
"Contaminants present in checkpoint 4. Checkpoint will not open until contaminants are clear."
Tali went over to the checkpoint viewport while I asked the VI,
"What contaminants?"
"Commander…" Tali said urgently. I walked over beside her and followed her line of sight to see the passage through which we had to pass. There were at least five of the big Rachni trapped inside, thrashing around trying to break free.
"Hmm… those contaminants," I muttered; partly annoyed, partly amused.
"Commander," Garrus said, "there's a… safety protocol installed in the checkpoint."
"What is it?"
"Incineration," he responded bluntly. He hovered a finger over a button and looked at me, waiting for the command to push. I looked down at the Rachni in a moment of wonderment; I knew that we had already killed a good number of them, but that was when they were a direct threat to us. Seeing them now, I asked myself if they were just simple animals; scared and fighting for survival. I felt pity for them, but they were in our way and had to be removed.
"Do it Garrus," I said reluctantly. Wrex sauntered over beside me and watched as Garrus activated the security protocol. Jets of flame shot out from nozzles on the walls and flooded the entire room, the screams of the insects inside piercing right through me. I checked on Wrex, the fire reflecting in his fierce red eyes. He was satisfied but silent whereas the others were not looking. Trying to imagine what it would be like to be trapped in that inferno was impossible. It worked though; when it was over there was nothing left but dust and carbon in the passage.
"Stabilise the atmosphere in the room and get us through Garrus. We need to keep moving!" I ordered. The team ran through the rest of the corridor, ignoring the horrid smell of burnt flesh, and gathered on the tram. The carriage moved smoothly along the rails to Rift Station and we all began to notice the marked increase in the signs of death and fighting. The bulkheads and pretty much everything else were riddled with bullet holes and smeared with blood. Bodies were everywhere; Humans, Salarians, Asari, Volus, Elcor and Turians all scattered about, most of them torn to shreds.
"A mass panic to get out of here when the Rachni got loose, I guess," Kaidan said.
"Turned into a bloodbath when the Rachni caught up with them, "Ashley finished.
When the tram slid to a halt in Rift Station the devastation was even worse and when we stepped onto the platform, I found it slippery with torrents of blood. There were Rachni among the corpses as well and I saw the dead soldiers who had no doubt fought to the last to try and evacuate the civilians. I hoped that there were at least some people still alive down here, but at the same time I wondered where Benezia would be. Would we end up finding her among the dead and have come all this way for nothing?
According to the schematics that we came across there were only two levels to Rift Station; the living quarters on the top and the labs down an elevator. I opened the doors to the living area and immediately heard the sound of a dozen or more rifles being charged and readied to fire. Suspecting the Asari Commandos had found us, I took cover and the rest of the team stacked up around the door and I was just about to give the signal to attack when I heard a man's voice call out,
"Wait, we thought you might be those alien things. Are you here to get us out?"
"Who are you?" I said sternly.
"I'm Captain Ventralis. My men and I are protecting the civilians."
I peeked around the door and saw a group of armed soldiers standing idly with their weapons lowered and a Human man in a set of white armour as their lead. Telling my team to stand down I walked over to the Captain,
"I'm Commander Gardner, Alliance Navy. Is this all that survived?" I asked looking around the room. There must have been about 15 scientists and a dozen soldiers, but half of them were lying on the floor or make-shift beds and another man, a doctor presumably, was rushing around each of them doing what little he could to help.
Ventralis nodded sadly, "This is it. I tried to execute a mass evac, but those things came at us in force and this was all that made it back. We've been locked in here for days, Commander, and with almost no light."
"You tried your best Captain, don't blame yourself," I said, hoping to buck the strained-looking man up. "We'll do what we can for you and your people, but we need your help as well."
"My help?" he looked confused.
"We know an Asari Matriarch came here. D'you know where she went?"
Ventralis suddenly grew angry,
"Yeah, she was here. She and her Commandos went down into the labs, and the power went out shortly afterwards and we've heard nothing since."
"The elevator still operational?" I asked.
"We disconnected the power hoping to stop those things using it, but it would still work…" his eyes narrowed at me, "why?"
"We need to find her," Liara came in.
"We're here to help Captain," I tried to reassure him, "but you have to let us down into the labs if you want to get your men and these people out of here."
"What makes you think you'll do any better than all the Asari? Seems like the aliens did them in."
"Captain, those Asari are working for the enemy that we're fighting against."
He looked stunned and ashamed,
"They… they said that they were here to help us," he eyed me up and down, "so how do I know you're any different?"
I placed a friendly hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eye,
"Ventralis, you're tired, terrified and wired on stims. You need to relax. The Asari Matriarch works for a rogue Spectre, I suspect that they're behind what's happening here."
His head sank a little and he let out a tired breath,
"I just want to see my little boy again."
"Let us try to fix this and that might happen," I said quietly, but firmly.
I turned to my team,
"We need to go down to the labs and secure this Rachni situation; find a way to eliminate them. Matriarch Benezia; if we can deal with her peacefully it would be preferable. If not…" I forced myself not to look at Liara, "she is an ally of Saren and has to be stopped."
They understood clearly, and I admired Liara for her dedication, especially considering who we were about to face.
"What about these people?" Tali said as she gazed around at the exhausted guards and sickly civilians.
"When we've accomplished what we came here to do, we come back and do whatever it takes to get them out of here safely. On that note: Ashley, Wrex and Tali stay here with the defence. If the Rachni come back I would feel a whole lot better knowing you guys are helping up here. Tali, keep doors locked and energy supplies on and get those automated turrets up and running again if you can, understood?"
"I won't let you down Scott," Tali said confidently.
Liara, Kaidan, Garrus and I went to the elevator, where the guards posted there parted to let us past,
"Good luck down there. Those aliens have infested the place," said a weary Turian. The lift slowly crunched its way down to where we needed it to go, and when the doors opened, we formed up with weapons raised and ventured out into yet another long and dreary corridor. Along with the mutilated bodies of the civilians who were slaughtered by the vicious insects, there was an abundance of Rachni corpses also.
"The guards couldn't have killed this many. Surely," Garrus said.
"Must have been the Asari Commandos," Kaidan said, almost as if to himself. Looking around I saw that there were many doors leading off to the left, but only one large, reinforced door to the right. The thick metal slab that acted as the door was covered in bullet holes, scorch marks and I could even make out cuts in the metal where the claws of the Rachni would have slashed away at to get through.
I checked the first door on the left and found myself looking into a small office with science equipment scattered all over the floor and tables alongside the body of the scientist to whom the office must have belonged. After clearing the room Garrus moved ahead and took point until we reached the next door; again, nothing of interest. When we entered the third office, I saw that the computer was on and that there was a stack of datapads next to it. The computer required a log-in and I set Garrus to work, hoping his hacking experience with C-Sec would allow him in. I checked through the datapads, but it was little more than personal notes and reminders.
"Got something Commander," Garrus said while Kaidan and Liara watched the door. I flicked through the files until I found documents on the Rachni: A short history of the Rachni Wars, how they lived on incredibly toxic planets and how the Krogan were the only soldiers able to reach them. There were notes on how they communicated with each other by sending pheromones into the air and how the Queens also commanded their colonies in this same way. What surprised me most was how the xenobiologists explained that the Rachni were peaceful by nature, and the reason for the Rachni here in the facility going berserk was a direct result of being raised separate from the Queen.
"They have a Rachni Queen here!" I exclaimed.
"Apparently the Rachni could breed an entire colony worth of children in a matter of days, no wonder there are so many stuck down here," Garrus said as he read further on in the notes.
"I can understand wanting to research the Rachni if they found one, but to breed a bloody army of the things?" Kaidan said from the door, "it's just insane."
"They once threatened the entire galaxy and the Rachni Wars cost the lives of billions; no one in their right mind would want them back," Garrus sounded amazed more than anything else.
"Unless," I said, "it was a Spectre-turned-traitor who wants an army that could threaten the galaxy once again."
"Definitely sounds like Saren!" Garrus agreed. I kept reading on through the pages and pages of data that were before me, skimming most of it but stopping now and again when something of interest cropped up.
"They found a derelict ship out in space," I quoted from the computer, "on board was a single Rachni egg still in cryogenic stasis. When brought here for research they discovered that it was a Queen and the company ordered more Rachni to be bred. However, their work failed and the Rachni young spawned wild and uncontrollable, well that much we know."
Garrus suddenly grabbed one of the datapads that he had briefly glanced at and showed it to me,
"Whoever worked here told somebody else about the Rachni," he told me. I read the datapad carefully and found the receive address on it, and a single name attached.
"What is it Commander?" Kaidan asked me when he saw my hardened expression. I looked at him and read out that single name,
"Cerberus."
"Shit," Kaidan muttered.
"Who're they?" Garrus asked, sensing that this was bad.
"Cerberus was created after the First Contact War ended," I explained, "an elite special operations division dedicated to defending Humanity from… all alien influence and threats."
Garrus nodded but still did not seem satisfied,
"Ok… I know why Liara and I should be worried about them, but why you two?"
"They went rogue years ago," I continued, "cut all ties with the Alliance and started doing whatever the hell they wanted; murdering alien officials and trying to stir up racial hatred in Humans against all the other species. Performing immoral experiments, assassination, subterfuge, sabotage, blackmail and a whole host more like it. The Alliance and Earth parliament officially declared them enemies, terrorists and they've been… a disturbing enemy to fight ever since. If they have an interest in the Rachni it can't be good!"
There was a bang out in the corridor and we all raised our weapons and waited for something to appear around the doorway; but nothing came, for the moment.
"Keep a hold of the datapad Garrus, we'll deal with that later. We need to get back on task here."
I led my three squad-mates out and we headed straight for the huge double, reinforced door that barred our way forward. If the Rachni Queen was here then I figured that Lady Benezia could not be too far away. Garrus used his Omni tool to hack the door, taking quite a long while to do it, until with a hiss and metallic screech it began to open.
As the gap in between the doors widened I saw the huge room that lay beyond: A walkway went around the perimeter of the chamber and in the very centre, contained in a glass container, was the Rachni Queen. She was three times the size of even the largest Rachni that we had seen so far, but seemed weak and afraid as her large horned head turned to see us enter. Also waiting for us on the platform next to the Queen's container, was Matriarch Benezia.
"Her children were to be raised as our own. They were to flood the galaxy and hunt down Saren's enemies," Benezia declared when we approached her. She turned to us and gracefully walked towards us,
"You would undo our work, and I cannot allow it. I will not show pity," her eyes strayed to Liara," no matter who you bring to this fight."
I held my hands up,
"We don't have to fight. You know what the return of the Reapers means if Saren succeeds; we'll all die. You know that we can't let that happen!"
A grim smirk spread across her face as I spoke to her,
"Benezia," I implored, "help us stop him."
The smirk turned into a full-on grin now and she once again bore down on Liara,
"What did you tell them about me Liara?"
"What could I say mother?" Liara screamed, "that you are twisted? Evil? Should I tell them how to kill you? What could I say?"
Somewhere on the other side of the chamber I heard doors opening and feet pounding along the metal walkways. Matriarch Benezia's face turned cold and hateful once again,
"Have you faced an Asari Commando unit before Commander? Few Humans have."
I was not waiting for them to get the first shot in,
"Open fire! Keep them suppressed and take the high ground. Attack!"
Garrus, Kaidan and I laid down a barrage of bullets to hold the Asari Commandos back while we struck for cover and defended our position. However, the crate that I had ducked behind suddenly began to lift off of the ground and a Commando used her biotics to throw it out of the way. Instead of dodging to more cover I instead lay down and fired my Mattock rifle under the crate and hit the Asari right in the neck, blood spraying into the air. Kaidan grabbed my crate with his own biotics and hurled it at another Asari. The Commando deflected it and fired a biotic blast back at Kaidan. My friend avoided the blast but came under heavy fire from a flanking attack by Geth troopers. They were caught in an open space and Garrus had a free moment to gun most of them down with deadly precision.
Now an Asari grabbed Garrus with her biotics and levitated him into the air, crushing him as she did so. As the Turian tried to turn his gun on her I sprinted across and leapt to grab him, the force of the impact tearing both of us free from the biotic field. I got back up and fired at the Asari, but she had put up a barrier and my shots bounced harmlessly away. Garrus and I had been separated from the other two and were being suppressed by the Asari Commandos and flanked by Geth reinforcements while Kaidan tried to fight back with his own biotics. He was a powerful biotic by Human standards and possessed the kind of mental control that few biotics did, but against the Asari Commandos he was out of his depth. Liara now showed where her loyalties lay. She shot out of cover and sent a powerful biotic blast into an Asari bearing down on Kaidan's position. The impact of the hit knocked the Commando flat and as she yelled out Liara raised her pistol and fired three shots, each striking her target in the chest.
The Commandos shifted their fire over towards Liara and a vicious biotic battle ensued; dark energy flew across the room as Kaidan and Liara worked together to shield themselves from the wrath of the remaining Commandos. A hail of Geth phaser shot was pouring on Garrus and I when I rolled a grenade along the walkway towards the synthetics. The explosion took down the lead Geth unit and the others ducked for cover as the smoke cleared and revealed a missing section in the walkway.
"Keep the Geth suppressed Garrus, and for the love of god don't shoot me in the ass!" I told him and sprinted off towards the Geth troops, picking off one with my rifle as I went. Garrus scored a headshot as a Geth popped out to try and get me. I ran past the corpse and gunned down another two of the machines before Garrus ran up to join me. With the Geth eliminated I went on the comm to all three of my squad-mates and gave them the push they needed,
"We've got them surrounded, push in from both directions. Garrus keep up the suppression from where you are."
"Got it!" Garrus said gladly and using his Viper marksman rifle he kept up a heavy, accurate volley of fire. Liara shielded Kaidan and herself while Kaidan advanced against the Asari and I went running all the way around the back of the room and looped around to attack them from the rear.
The Commandos were still focused on our two biotics and I was able to pick one off while her back was turned, leaving only two left. They had biotic barriers around themselves, but under our relentless assault they were beginning to fail and one of Garrus' shots penetrated the shield and tore through one of our enemy's arms. As soon as a gap opened in the barrier, I dropped the last Asari with a single shot to the spine. When the injured Commando reached for her weapon again Kaidan finished her off with a short burst from his assault rifle. Now Matriarch Benezia stood alone again, her Commandos dead all around her.
"Come quietly Benezia," I said, "no one else needs to die today."
She managed to drag her eyes away from the Rachni Queen and turn around to face me. For a moment I thought I was about to get a heavy biotic kick in the chest; her eyes suddenly appeared bloodshot and her teeth were clenched tight. Then she opened her mouth to speak, sounding as if she was in extreme pain,
"I… will not… betray him. He… must win," then she held placed her hands on her head and screamed, screamed as if someone was trying to tear her head open.
Unable to stand to the side any longer, Liara rushed to her mother's side and tried to help her, tried to shake her out of it. When Benezia fell silent again and looked up at her daughter, a smile slowly appeared at the corners of her mouth,
"Liara… you must listen," her voice was weak and shaky, "Saren will already be on the move."
"Where? Has he found the Conduit?" I asked quickly, fear gripping at my heart.
"Not as of yet, but he is closing in. Let me speak, I will not be able to fight off the indoctrination for long. His voice… still lingers within my mind."
"What did he find here? What did it have to do with the Rachni?"
"The Mu Mass Relay. It was lost long ago, its system's sun exploded and sent it into deep space. Only the Rachni discovered its location, but they were exterminated and all knowledge of the Mu Relay was lost with them. Memories pass down from Rachni parents to their children, the location of the relay was hidden inside this one's mind."
I gazed at the Rachni Queen as she stayed still and looked out at us from within her glass cage,
"You retrieved it," I said angrily. Benezia nodded,
"Yes. I… was not gentle," she said remorsefully, "I have sent Saren the coordinates, but I have them here on this data disk. Have it."
I took the disk that she produced and asked her,
"Why are you helping us now? Why help Saren at all?"
Benezia looked as if I had hurt her and her voice grew angry and hateful,
"It was not the path I intended. When I found out what Saren was doing years ago, I set out to try and stop him, but the more time I spent in his company the more I came to see his view of things. I believed what he said was right, I followed his every command willingly. The ship turned me into a slave of Saren's will."
"The ship?" Garrus said sounding unconvinced.
"The vessel he commands his operations from; Sovereign he calls it. It… changes you. You sit at Saren's feet and listen and smile like a child when he talks. But even then, Saren is only giving voice to the ship's thoughts and commands. Those who go to Saren and Sovereign become indoctrinated; like me."
"But you're helping us now," Liara said anxiously, "you can break free from the indoctrination, break free from Saren!"
"No, Little Wing," Benezia gasped, as if fighting for air, "I sealed a part of my mind away from the indoctrination before I was completely under Sovereign's sway, saving it for a time that I could try to stop Saren. But I can still hear him, his voice fills the air around me…"
She trailed off there and I beckoned Liara to come back over to us just as Benezia stood back up, suddenly seeming tall and strong again.
"You cannot stop the return of the Reapers: The harvest must continue," she said coldly.
"No… mother! Fight him. Don't let him win," Liara pleaded, tears beginning to stream from her eyes.
"Benezia," I said, "we need you. If Saren succeeds billions of lives will be eradicated. Help us."
The Matriarch looked around to her daughter and with one last, valiant effort she told her,
"I've always been proud of you Liara. So proud…"
Her body jerked as the part of Benezia's mind that she had sealed away was finally crushed. In the blink of an eye a wave of biotic energy swept out from her hands and knocked my entire team back, slamming me against the wall hard. While the others were down, she used her biotics to take a hold of me and float me up in the air before here. As she slowly closed her fist, I felt my throat slowly being crushed. My hands instinctively went to my throat to try and stop myself being strangled to death, but there was nothing. My hands could only find my own neck and nothing to remove from it; I was helpless, my body began to burn as it screamed for oxygen and I could feel myself slipping away.
A single shot rang out and I was freed. I landed on my stomach on the platform with a heavy thud, hitting my head hard when I did so. I went for my pistol and aimed it at Benezia but found her already stumbling, her hand covering an open hole in her chest and purple blood pouring out of it. She looked at me one last time and without a word collapsed to the floor and moved no more. Matriarch Benezia, Liara's mother, was dead. Now I had my pistol trained on the one who had fired the shot; one of the Asari Commandos that we had thought dead. She stood awkwardly, her legs bent and her left hand hanging loosely, as was her mouth. Her eyes were dark and vacant and as I stood back up and my squad mates joined me, she released the gun and stood still before us.
"Tell me why you killed her before I rip you apart with my mind," Liara shouted, bleary eyed and in shock.
The Commando's head turned towards us, but her eyes did not meet ours. When she spoke, it was as if ten different people were speaking in unison with each other, the voice was not her own,
"She was tainted by darkness. We see you are not. Her songs brought suffering and misery."
"What?" I said, "what are you talking about? Who is "We"?"
The Asari walked backwards to the glass cage and stopped in front of its prisoner,
"We… are Rachni."
The Queen was staring right at me, her six eyes fixed on mine as she controlled her puppet Asari,
"They took our children, lost them in the darkness. Their minds were destroyed in the silence, they attacked out of fear and anger."
The Asari's speech was slow and mournful and the longer I looked at the Queen the more I could feel her anguish, her suffering.
"What do we do with her, Commander?" Garrus asked.
"There's tanks of acid on the cage Sir," Kaidan suggested, "I say we empty them on her."
I looked at my friend,
"That's not something I ever expected to hear from you Lieutenant. I'm not acting without knowing more."
"Scott is right," Liara added, "for all we know she is the last of her kind. The Council let the Krogan go too far in the Rachni wars, this is our chance to atone."
The Asari was still standing there, swaying idly and staring blankly at us when the Queen spoke again,
"Your companions hear the truth. What is to become of us? Will we be free to compose anew? Or are we to return to the emptiness of memory once more?"
"You know Wrex won't be happy if you let her loose," Garrus said, "millions of his people died fighting the Rachni."
"Exterminating an entire species is not something that was ever on my to-do list Garrus," I retorted. I walked right up to the cage and spoke directly to the imprisoned Queen,
"If you are allowed to go free, what will you do? I'm not letting you go if I'm endangering the entire galaxy!"
"We do not know…" the Rachni started, "Our people were poisoned, twisted by dark tones the colour of oily shadows. We were led astray into a war we did not want. We will hide and teach our children to sing in peaceful harmony."
I was fixated on her, struggling to decide whether to believe her or not. If my judgement was off then I could be responsible for a second Rachni War, and millions of deaths. On the console connected to the container I could see the terminate button; one flick and the problem would be gone. My hand hovered over the button, but the more I thought about it the less inclined I was to do it.
"You swear that the Rachni will never threaten the galaxy again. This is the galaxy giving you and your species a second chance; don't squander it," I said sternly.
I found the console commands for opening the cage and pushed it. As the cage was lifted to connect with an exit port up above us, the Asari placed a hand on my shoulder and said,
"We will remember this kindness. We will speak of you to our children, that they will know there is goodness in the dark expanse of the universe, Gardner."
The Queen relinquished her control over the Asari Commando and the body dropped to the ground, deceased once more. I watched as the Rachni Queen took one last look back at me and then rushed out through the port and disappeared.
"I hope you know what you're doing Scott. I… I don't know if I could have done that," Kaidan said hesitantly.
"If you were the last of our species and were given the chance to start again, you'd want to do it right. Wouldn't you?" I said back.
"Well yeah, but… I can't lay thousands of eggs and breed an army in a matter of weeks!"
"You're just assuming that that's what she'll do. It's like how everyone believes that if the Krogan were cured of the Genophage they would instantly try to take over the galaxy again. It's just not right."
Kaidan and Garrus passed a glance between each other and considered what I had said,
"Sorry Commander," Kaidan said, "it's just hard to imagine anything else coming out of this."
"I know. There's a chance the Rachni will come back again, but you haven't considered the chance that she really will find a new home, hidden away somewhere and live separated from the rest of us."
"If you think it was the right thing to do Scott, I'm right behind you."
I gave my old friend a clap on the shoulder and led my team back out of the chamber and back up the elevator. Unsurprisingly, Liara stayed silent.
When we reached the rest of my team and the staff of Peak 15, I could see that my squad had done a great job of keeping everyone safe. As I had asked, Tali had booted up the few combat ready turrets and even repaired another and had them covering all entry points. There were a few Rachni bodies, but in general it seemed like they had had a far easier time of it than we had. We received a suspicious welcome from the Guards, but when I announced that we could get them out of this damned place they were more than happy to follow us. However, I had one final thing I had to tell them all,
"I need everyone to listen up. When we get you back to port Hanshan people are going to ask what happened here. The aliens that attacked you all are Rachni. You all have a right to know this; but you cannot tell anyone else. If you do there will be wide-spread panic throughout the entire galaxy. You will all be quarantined and questioned for years to come. Your lives will be ruined. I ask that you all go back to your homes and keep this a secret, for the good of everyone."
There were murmurs and shaking heads among the small crowd, but my squad mates stood beside me and Wrex stepped forward,
"Listen to the Commander you idiots. The galaxy is not ready for anything like this. They're all dead; nobody needs to know."
The Krogan's booming voice did the trick and emphasised the importance of keeping this hidden.
Together we escorted the survivors of Peak 15 away from the base and, using the hovercraft, we took them back to the port over a couple of trips, which I ended up making alone after they team lost confidence in my driving when I had a few more slips and slides. Our business on Noveria done; we took off on the Normandy before anyone could find us and start the questioning. Joker and the crew were happy to see us back, but I had to take my team to the briefing room immediately. When they were all seated, I paced around for a moment, looking for the right words to start with,
"Garrus, Kaidan and Liara; you were with me down where we found the Rachni Queen so you know what happened. Wrex, Ash and Tali; I just want to bring you up to speed."
The three who had not seen the Rachni Queen or knew what her fate was could sense the foreboding in my voice. I made sure that I was facing Wrex when I admitted what I had done,
"I released the Rachni Queen."
Wrex stared at me like I had driven a knife through him,
"You what!" He bellowed.
"I was not going to annihilate an entire species, Wrex. This Queen knew why her kind had to be destroyed last time around. She's different; she wants to hide and keep herself and her kind away from the rest of the galaxy. She won't trouble us."
"Just when I was starting to trust you, you prove that Humans are just as soft as all the others! You see an enemy, you kill it. How long before the Rachni are ready to threaten the galaxy again? Because my people aren't as strong as we were before. Who's going to save the galaxy from them this time?"
"That won't happen Wrex! And if it does, I'll step up and take the blame myself."
"I'm sure that's a huge consolation to the billions who will be slaughtered by their kind."
"If I had a cure for the Genophage right here, right now, would you not want me to give it to you? Because most of the galaxy wouldn't want me to. They see a resurgent Krogan as the greatest threat we could possibly face: A second Krogan Rebellion."
"That wouldn't happen," Wrex insisted.
"And yet you're willing to commit genocide to a different species who are also getting a second chance. Don't you see the similarities?"
That gave Wrex a moment of pause and he stood towering over me almost at breaking point. With a snort and a threatening growl, he turned and left the comm room without a word. There was a stunned silence in the room before I turned back to Tali and Ashley,
"And what about you two? Anything to say about this?"
"I trust you to make the right call Commander," Ashley said, "I'm more worried about the enraged Krogan that we have on board, Sir."
"I'm with Ashley," Tali added, "If this Queen promised to stay hidden then I know to trust your instincts. But Wrex… I don't know."
"I'll deal with Wrex, but now we get back to the mission. We obtained the coordinates for the Mu Relay from Matriarch Benezia, but we still don't know where to go from there. That Relay could link to dozens of systems, but Saren obviously knows that he'll need it to reach the Conduit."
"What if he does know where to go?" Tali asked, "we've investigated every lead that the Council gave us and Saren's still out there."
"Don't worry, we'll get him. I'll talk to the Council and see if there's any new developments. Everyone, dismissed."
The Council flickered into view again as I stood alone in the comm room,
"Commander Gardner. Is this report accurate? You found Rachni on Noveria?" The Asari Councillor said warily.
"And then released the Queen," the Turian added viciously, "I hope you know what you're doing Commander; our children's children will feel the effects of this if you're wrong."
"It was the right thing to do, Councillors," I defended my decision, "but as for the mission: I need to know if there's anything else you can tell me. Any more leads that I can follow. I know we're searching for the Conduit and we know that the Mu Relay is the way to get there. The Cipher I obtained is allowing me to understand my visions more clearly, but the information I received from the beacon… it's like it's incomplete. There are gaps that we haven't been able to fill in. We don't know where to find the Conduit."
"There may be something we can do," the Salarian Councillor said. "We have teams of STG in the Traverse who are also looking for any Intel on Saren; one may have found something."
"I'm listening," I replied eagerly.
"We received an emergency message from the team on Virmire; the message was nothing but static but it was sent on a channel reserved only for mission critical reports. We cannot say for sure, but it may have something to do with Saren."
"It's more than I had a minute ago Councillors. Thank you."
"Good luck Commander Gardner," the Asari said kindly.