Acronym:
CBRN – Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear
CHAPTER 20: QUESTIONS ABOUT BIOTICS
"You're caught, Shepard. I don't think you're supposed to be in here," a voice said in front of Commander Shepard as the Spectre exited the engineering office for Synthetic Insights.
No, I'm not. Are you? the commander was tempted to say, but didn't as she cursed her continuous bad luck. Her trained mind appraised the entire situation. Four armed guards stood in front of her. All but that blonde biotic woman from the docking bay had their weapons drawn and leveled at her. Dark energy swirled around the blonde's arms. Two of the guards stood within a couple meters of each other, off to the commander's left, while the third stood to her right. The signal to the Normandy had dropped out on entering the office; apparently the office had a jammer to block incoming and outgoing communications. Because of course this would be my luck.
Shepard couldn't simply comply with the guards' orders. The four goons in front of her were here outside of the law to begin with. Even if she did comply with them, they might just give her a neural shock anyway. She couldn't be confrontational either, as that would more likely lead to a neural shock, or even simply being shot. She would have to distract in order to charge her biotics to have a chance.
The two guards to her left could be dealt with in one biotic attack, but that would leave her vulnerable to fire from the third unless she put her barrier up. If she were also using biotic attacks, she knew she could charge her barrier from nothing at a rate that couldn't quite absorb continuous rifle fire from only one high-quality weapon. Fortunately, the third guard had nothing of the sort; an Elkoss Combine rifle, so that would give allow her to charge her barrier while taking the shots. As for the other biotic…if she waited for the right moment, that would work to her advantage.
Shepard would need the two guards on the left to become distracted, to not aim at her, for just a split second. Her mind raced with possible methods by which she could accomplish this as she closely judged the four humans accosting her. Doing something silly would be the most unexpected, and would fit in perfectly with the rest of this Charlie Foxtrot. And being silly has worked before. No one ever expects the Heroine of the Blitz to be silly.
"Oh, this isn't the bar?" Shepard asked as she quickly glanced around, a surprised, wide-eyed expression on her face as she brought her hands up close to mouth, from which she could use her fastest biotic mnemonics.
Her response to the challenge seemed to have the desired effect. The two guards to her left now wore looks of surprise.
"No," the woman scowled. "Anoleis would throw you offworld for breaking onto company property. I won't."
"Actually, we can settle this misunderstanding easily. Would you mind pointing me towards the ladies' room, please?" Shepard asked, keeping her hands in place.
All three of the woman's goons now wore looks of incredulity. The corona around the tall biotic faltered as her eyes narrowed at the response. The two goons to Shepard's left started to glance at each other in disbelief as their weapon and neural shock dropped slightly and to the side, no longer pointed at her NOW
Shepard's biotics flared to life with a speed that rivaled an asari. The two guards began to re-aim their weapons at her, but by the time they almost got to fire, both had flipped up into the air from the commander's biotic attack, neither managing to get a round or a shock off.
The third guard to her left opened fire with a burst at her, the rounds reflecting off of her still-charging barrier. The enemy biotic reacted quickly, hurling a biotic attack towards the commander –
Which dissipated in the space around Shepard. Dark energy from the attack swirled around the Spectre, entirely unaffected by the hostile biotics. The tall woman only had a brief second of surprise before being placed in a stasis.
The third guard to Shepard's right stopped firing, his rifle's barrel slowly lowering towards the ground, his face an expression of pure horror.
"Sorry," Shepard said, but only with a hint of remorse in her voice as her biotics continued to charge. "But you all shouldn't be shaking down this office, and you definitely shouldn't have shot at me."
"Wha—no! Please! I –" his pleading was cut short by a biotic throw as he crashed into the wall and fell to the ground. A low, pained moan escaped his mouth, and Shepard kicked his gun away as he slowly rolled on the floor. Shepard appraised the other two. Both rolled slowly on the floor, weapons far enough away to not be a problem.
With the three goons dealt with, Shepard now turned her attention to their leader. She walked over to the larger blonde biotic, who was still trapped in a stasis. The Spectre let the stasis around her quarry partially collapse around her head and shoulders, but keeping her arms and legs trapped.
"How…" the tall blonde asked as she craned her neck to the side to look up at Shepard with a mix of fear and awe.
"There's a reason that I'm a Spectre and N7. Hopefully your neck ache doesn't last more than a day or two," Shepard replied.
"What –" Her question was cut short by a biotic blast to the neck and shoulders that knocked her out cold.
Shepard looked around and appraised each of the attackers' condition. All four were incapacitated, either knocked out or too stunned to be of any threat for a while. "Well, that could have gone better," she muttered.
A minute later, evidence in hand, she hurried out of the office and into the port proper. She had only taken ten steps out of the Synthetic Insights office and rounded a corner when she found herself nearly face-to-face with a familiar individual.
"There have been reports of some commotion in the Synthetic Insights office. Did you have something to do with it, Commander?" the voice accused. Shepard saw quite a bit of commotion outside as well; a pair of guards, followed quickly by another trio, ran into the Synthetic Insights office.
And of course they'd have a quick response. Silly has worked so far. Might as well continue it. "Excuse me?" Shepard asked politely. "Oh, hello Miss Parasini." The commander then fully turned to face the taller woman. "Commotion? Oh, I do hope no one's been hurt!" she exclaimed in wide-eyed alarm a moment later, holding her hands up to cover her mouth.
Parasini crossed her arms – she also clearly did not find the Spectre's antics amusing, but instead of confusion she glared daggers at Shepard. "Don't play dumb, Commander!" she practically screamed. "What were you doing in those offices!?"
"What are you investigating here on Noveria? Anoleis's corruption?" Shepard responded with her own question and an amused look.
"W-what?" the woman stammered, rather startled by the comment as her eyes went wide. "I…I don't know what you're talking about."
"Generic defensive reply," Shepard grinned widely at the answer before turning serious. "Okay, I'll tell you what I'm looking for with Synthetic Insights if you tell me what you're investigating here."
"Deal," the woman responded, still in shock at the fact her cover was blown so quickly and nonchalantly. "How did you know that…I'm investigating someone?"
"By talking with Lorik Qui'in and making a few observations," Shepard responded. "And no, I've said nothing."
"Hmph. You Spectres must be smarter than I first thought," Parasini muttered in resignation.
"I have my moments," the petite woman replied. "I'm getting evidence that Qui'in wants to use against Anoleis; in exchange he'll give me a garage pass. And I'm guessing you're wanting more evidence on Anoleis' corruption," Shepard said.
"Yes, the Executive Board knows about Anoleis' extracurricular activities. I've been undercover to remove Anoleis. With Qui'in's evidence, this planet can run profitably again."
"I was under the impression that corruption was the rule rather than the exception here on Noveria," Shepard said with a disbelieving look as she crossed her arms.
Parasini crossed her arms as well. "The rule is 'don't rock the boat.' Self-interest is tolerated if it doesn't interfere with business. And Anoleis' 'self-interest' is driving customers away."
"Oh no! We can't have that, can we!?" Shepard replied in mock horror again as she put her hands over her mouth, which earned another scowling glare from Parasini. Shepard paused for several moments, furrowing her brow as she entered deep thought. "How about this? I'll get Qui'in to testify if you can cover for any misunderstandings that may have occurred over the last few minutes. And will Qui'in testifying make Anoleis lose his job?"
"Just the evidence would make him lose his job, but testimony would put him behind bars," the taller woman nodded emphatically. "And if you help my investigation, I'll provide whatever cover you need. Favor for a favor," Parasini said, a hint of enthusiasm in her response.
"Sounds like a fair deal to me," Shepard nodded. "I'll talk to Qui'in and see what I can do."
"Thank you. You know where I work. Come talk to me once you know Qui'in'll play ball." Parasini quickly brushed past her on the way back to the office. Spectres.
Shepard called into the Normandy after the investigator walked away. She was immediately greeted by Joker's laughter on the other end. "Really, Commander? Playing the dumb blonde?"
"Hey, playing a blonde worked when I encountered those goons," she shot back.
"What happened?" Alenko asked her quickly with concern. "We heard your exchange with Parasini, and saw several guards run towards the SI office after you left."
"I encountered a few of Anoleis' goons when leaving the office. Their bruises will take a bit of time to heal."
"And here you said you wouldn't get caught?" Joker asked.
Shepard sighed. "Fine, they caught me, but I still dealt with them. Have you seen any signs of Benezia or her commandos' presence here at the port?"
"None, Commander," Alenko responded.
"Then I'm going to get Qui'in to testify. Then we can head to Peak 15."
It had taken a bit of persuasion, but Lorik Qui'in had agreed to testify against Anoleis. Qui'in's testimony would cause the salarian asshole to lose his job. Feeling satisfied at the result, Shepard tapped her hands together in the surprisingly slow elevator, absentmindedly waiting for the door to open at the main level. It finally opened and the commander stepped out, but…
She immediately noticed that nobody stood or sat anywhere in the alcove. It had been entirely cleared of everybody. Then she heard a panicked voice, and she saw motion out of the corner of her eye.
The Spectre immediately charged her barrier as an asari came into view, the commando's corona already flaring bright blue. Layla simply didn't have enough time to react as the asari unleashed a stasis. She felt the strong biotic fields begin to attempt to ensnare and trap her…
The asari's confident smirk instantly switched to a look of shock. The commando's jaw would have hit the floor if it wasn't for the bones and the muscles that, for the moment, were keeping the jaw attached to the rest of the head. The lethal commando had been confident that the stasis could be used to subdue her target, and then she could quickly render the human woman unconscious and capture her. Both Saren and Benezia would be incredibly pleased with that development. But instead…nothing happened. The stasis did absolutely nothing to her target. The dark energy that was supposed to trap Shepard instead swirled around her, a powerful corona crackling about her petite frame.
Shepard had ignored the biotic attack, and the energy that was supposed to trap her instead dissipated and merged with her own corona, and she drew in more energy so she could dispatch this presumed commando. She knew from experience that asari commandos were very hard targets, and it had always taken an enormous biotic attack to overcome their natural biotic resistance.
The asari commando's expression changed from shock, to fear, to resignation in less than a second. Her powerful biotics, honed over centuries of constant training and refinement, had done absolutely nothing to her target. Now a maelstrom of dark energy surrounded the human, a pathetic human with only a few years of practice, compared to centuries, and it would all be over in –
Shepard unleashed a massive wave of dark energy towards the asari. The throw ripped up a pair of floor panels en route to the asari, who crashed into the wall with wall-crushing force. The body smashed against the wall and purple blood splattered from nearly a dozen wounds to the corpse. The panels impacted a split second later. One of them slammed into the asari's neck and head, and the metal and head hung in place for a moment before gravity reclaimed both the remnants of the panel and the pieces of the corpse.
The commander's trained eye evaluated the attack. The asari was cleary well and truly dead – she could have drank a whole bottle of wine and immediately come to that conclusion – and the Spectre glanced around for any weapons that she could also use…a pistol. She recharged her biotics and biotically pulled the pistol to her hand, shifting some of the energy to her barrier as she took cover behind a low wall.
It only took a few seconds for several port guards to appear, weapons leveled at the wall that Shepard was hiding behind. "Lower your barrier and come out with your hands up!" a guard shouted.
"Wait what!?" Shepard screamed, not complying with either order. "That asari just attacked me! I defended myself!"
"Ma'am, step out from behind the – what? Say again!" the man suddenly shouted into his radio. "From where? The Normandy?"
This time Shepard did leave cover, but kept her barrier up and held her hands up at her side. "My team is probably on their way as backup. Let them through, and definitely don't shoot at them. I will only defend myself, as will my crew. Let's all just take a deep breath, okay?" she said reasonably, though loudly, as she had to speak over the crackling of her biotics.
"Lieutenant, stand down!" a familiar female voice shouted. Parasini came into view a moment later, running as fast as her current shoes allowed. "Commander Shepard was attacked! Stand down, and allow the team from the Normandy to enter the port! Stand down!"
The officer hesitated a moment before lowering his rifle, though keeping it aimed in Shepard's general direction. The rest of his squad, while still looking suspiciously at her, followed his lead.
Parasini then turned to Shepard, speaking contritely, "Commander, I profusely apologize. Staff reported a pair of gunshots about ten seconds before the elevator arrived," Parasini replied.
That would explain why the area was devoid of anyone else, Shepard thought.
By now, the security lieutenant had his omni-tool open. From the commander's perspective, he looked to be viewing a video. She saw his display flash blue for a moment, then he turned to look at Parasini. "Ma'am, she's telling the truth," he said.
Of course I am. Shepard flashed both of them a brief look of indignation. "You'll understand if I keep my barrier up for the time being. And keep this pistol."
"Certainly, Commander," Parasini replied, then looked at the remains of the asari. She didn't speak for several moments, looking queasy. "I…don't think she's one of the staff here; she must have come with Matriarch Benezia. I had thought that all of the commandos left with Benezia to Peak 15. I don't understand why that asari would just attack you."
Shepard shrugged her shoulders. "If I could tell you, I would," was the Spectre's response. Technically, that's true. I can't tell you that Benezia betrayed the galaxy and is working for a rogue Spectre.
"Let's head back to my office while we get this sorted out," Parasini said.
Shepard nodded and opened her omni-tool to call her squad. "Shepard to Normandy. We had a little issue with an asari, but everything's taken care of. I'm fine, nothing to worry about. And I don't think we'll have to worry about other asari."
"Copy that. The security staff are letting us past. We're checking in our weapons with them now, Commander," Alenko's voice came over her tool.
That turned out to be surprisingly easy to get an armed fireteam into the port. At least they'll let me wear armor now. "Good. Go through the proper security procedures here before entering. Let's not have any issues with any more security. I'm heading back to the management offices. I'll see you in a few minutes."
"Speaking of that, how did your team know and react immediately to the attack?" Parasini asked, her eyes narrowed and her tone suspicious.
Our tech expert breached your networks in less than five seconds. You all seriously need to find better guys to configure your firewalls. "My omni-tool," Shepard said, which was technically correct. They could see and hear everything the commander did through the tool, not to mention seeing everything through the security cameras. "It sent information to them that my biotics were charging, which means they knew something was wrong." Again, technically not a lie.
"And it didn't alert them at Synthetic Insights?" Parasini asked, crossing her arms, this time her expression showing a hint of amusement.
Shepard grinned. "I wasn't at Synthetic Insights, remember? By the way, Qui'in has agreed to testify, and I have a copy of his evidence in hand. However, Noveria will be probably looking for a new administrator in the not too distant future, and it would be prudent to remember who provided the evidence – sorry, information, that improved the administrative efficiency of NDC," Shepard said.
The investigator got the hint. "Understood. He certainly will be in consideration for the role." Parasini let out a long sigh. "Despite all of the stress and paperwork you've created, thank you. I'll take a copy of the evidence. Oh, and here's the pass."
"Seems like a fair trade to me," Shepard replied as she handed over a copy of OSD, receiving a garage pass in return.
"I didn't think you'd help me, being a Spectre and all. I guess some of you can be all right," she replied.
"Before you go deal with Anoleis, I had a couple questions. Do you know why the Matriarch is here?" Shepard asked.
"Something to do with Peak 15, and she arrived with several asari commandos. You probably know more than I do," the agent responded.
"Why do people here do nothing about the breach of containment?" Shepard asked next.
"Each company is required to clean up after their own messes, whatever they may be. And I don't know what breach of containment means, in the case of Binary Helix. Now I have my own questions. You could have gotten Qui'in's pass and left directly, without dealing with Anoleis. Why did you help me?"
"Anoleis is a pig. I want revenge," Layla responded simply.
"He tried to make moves on you too, huh? Fucking slimeball," Parasini scowled. "And you don't know why Benezia's commando attacked you?"
"I would tell you if I could," the Spectre responded with a shrug.
"Uh huh," Parasini replied, crossing her arms, not convinced in the least.
"When and where are you arresting Anoleis?" the commander asked.
"As soon as I find him, wherever I find him. Why?" Parasini replied.
"I want to watch him hauled off. Call it catharsis," Shepard said with a grin.
Parasini couldn't help but snort in amusement. Both women glanced up at the sudden motion in front of them. They saw Anoleis emerge from Parasini's office.
"Oh great," the commander muttered, and Parasini looked the petite woman next to her. Shepard wore a look of horror on her face, but on close inspection, it wasn't a look of fear, rather one of disgust and revulsion.
"Miss Shepard, I'm so glad you're unhurt!" Anoleis exclaimed as he rushed towards them.
"That's close enough," Shepard exclaimed with a frown as her corona flared brighter. "I'm still trying to figure out why that asari attacked me, and who tipped her off that I was in the elevator," Shepard said as she crossed her arms.
"The last thing I want to see is you get harmed, especially on my planet. I promise you, I will not rest until I find out who was behind such a cowardly attack," Anoleis responded as he approached her, holding out his hands towards her.
"I'm fine," Shepard responded curtly as she took another step back. "I believe there are a few things that the three of us need to discuss." To the investigator's surprise, the Spectre kept most of the anger out of her tone.
"Of course." The administrator quickly led the way.
Parasini looked to Shepard. The commander looked like she was about to vomit in disgust, but she also had a look of anger that the administrator seemed to not notice. The investigator figured that Anoleis was one poorly placed hand or ill-timed sentence away from becoming a smear on the nearest wall, just like the asari commando not five minutes before. Shepard watched Anoleis and Parasini enter the office and close the door.
For the next minute Shepard heard an angry salarian yelling, then the yelling changed to pleading, and then the pleading changed to silence. The door opened and the administrator came into view. "You bitch! This is an outrage! I'll see that you never work in this sector again!" Anoleis screamed as he was escorted out of the office in handcuffs.
"Yeah, yeah. Get a move on," Parasini said, giving him another shove.
Anoleis saw the commander and his eyes went wide with surprise. "Shepard? You're the one behind this?" His expression then turned to pure hate and rage. "You whore! You'll pay for this – AAHH!" he screamed as Parasini slammed his head down into a desk to shut him up.
"And here I was going to do that," Shepard said, glaring at the administrator, a bright mass of dark energy swirling around her right hand.
Anoleis looked to the dark energy, then to Parasini, then back to the dark energy. His mouth remained closed and he didn't say another word.
"You have the right to remain silent, Administrator. I just wish you'd exercise it. Thank you for the help, Commander." Parasini and Anoleis disappeared out of sight a moment later.
The commander took a deep breath and turned to leave the office, nearly literally walking into Kaidan, Garrus, and Wrex. "Well, that was a little more…exciting than I expected," she replied.
"Commander, you sure you're unharmed?" Alenko asked worriedly.
"Thank you for your concern, Alenko, but I'm fine," she replied.
"That was a powerful biotic attack from that commando, Shepard," Wrex said with a trace of surprise and skepticism in his voice.
She shrugged dismissively as she looked away for a moment. "I have pretty high biotic resistance. And that was a stasis when I was charging my own biotics," she responded lightly, quickly as they returned to the ship. "A powerful corona can disrupt a stasis attack."
A little too lightly…Alenko couldn't help but notice. And no, it doesn't, especially a powerful stasis from an asari commando…
"But you just shrugged it off," Wrex said, eyes narrowed as the four of them entered the airlock he regarded the commander closely.
She shrugged. "I've seen it happen before. Are we set to deploy? We have a pass to depart the port and head to Peak 15," she said quickly.
"Just about, ma'am," Alenko replied slowly. He saw out of the corner of his eye that Wrex scrutinized her closely before the large krogan turned his gaze to Garrus, then to Alenko.
"Did you get information on how many commandos Benezia brought with her?" Wrex asked.
"Not exact numbers, but I would guess a small squad, so about eight. That's how they usually deploy."
"Those biotics of yours will come in handy, then," Wrex told her, eyes slightly narrowed as he regarded her.
"Trust me, it's going to take all of us to deal with them, and we'll want to split them up if at all possible," Shepard replied.
The inner airlock door opened. Shepard saw Williams already suited up with Liara standing nearby. "Commander, are you sure you're unharmed?" the asari asked quickly. "That commando hit you with her biotics."
"And I hit back, harder," Shepard replied. "But seriously, everyone, I'm fine. Get suited up for combat. We're heading to Peak 15," she said quickly. "You as well, Liara," she continued, her voice softer.
The asari looked at the commander closely for a moment before nodding. Wrex took another long look at the commander before heading back down to the cargo bay. Alenko didn't make eye contact with her either as he focused on what they might need for the trip to Peak 15, though a question remained on his mind. How was Shepard immune to biotic attacks from an asari commando?
Commander Shepard called a briefing for the entire ground crew, bringing them up to speed on the information they had so far. Kaidan had heard most of it, and he found his mind, once again, returning to the commander's biotics.
By all accounts, that stasis attack should have trapped even a powerful biotic for several seconds, yet it did nothing to Shepard. Kaidan reflected on her in action on Eden Prime and Therum. She recharged her biotics faster than anyone he had ever seen. But she did frequently need energy injections…he found himself wondering how she was trained. Alenko had taught himself to keep his abilities under tight control, and as a result, he was an expert at managing his energy. The commander seemed to be the exact opposite; her powers, while not out of control, seemed far more chaotic than his own. On additional reflection, he realized that she was also very small, and needed more energy injections as a result. Something still didn't add up to Alenko. How did she display so much resistance…no, actual immunity, to biotic attacks?
He focused his mind back to Shepard's briefing as she finished up. "Williams, start getting the inside of the Mako fixed up to accommodate all of us. Tali, we're going to need you back here to both monitor the situation at the port and help us hack into any systems up at Peak 15."
"Understood, Commander," the quarian replied, and Alenko could hear the disappointment in her voice.
"Let's get prepped," Shepard finished.
Alenko nodded quickly, climbing into the Mako. He removed the extra weapons that Williams had previously stored under the driver's seat, replacing them with extra medical supplies. He placed rations underneath the gunner's seat, then sliding in equipment to deal with biological hazards before closing the compartment. He loaded a set of cold weather supplies, glancing around the Mako as a frown appeared on his face. The vehicle was going to be a very tight fit for all six of them.
He slid out of the Mako to see Wrex waiting outside. "Alenko," the krogan growled in greeting.
"Wrex."
"How long have you worked with Commander Shepard?"
"Not very long. About three galactic standard weeks."
"Have you ever heard of a human shrugging off biotic attacks from asari?"
Alenko paused. "I know we still don't know as much about biotics and dark energy as we'd like to think," he said cautiously. He noticed the elevator doors open and Commander Shepard exit. "Commander, we're just about set loading up the Mako."
"Good," she nodded as she approached, giving Wrex a quick look before her eyes settled on Alenko.
"I've stowed most of the gear under seats, but…it's going to be a bit of a tight fit," the lieutenant cautioned her.
"We just got an update from our resident hacker. This "breach of containment" isn't CBRN, according to a few logs that Tali has…retrieved. So no loose bioweapons or nerve gases, and Binary Helix – at least to our knowledge – doesn't have any Alliance contracts to develop those. At least any that the Alliance has told me about."
"'To our knowledge?' Are these the same people that didn't know a thing about Benezia being on Noveria?" Wrex asked.
Shepard burst into laughter, soon followed by uncontrollable coughing. "Very true," the commander replied after the coughing stopped. "We'll take all of the gear and detectors anyway, and we can install extra sensors on our armor just in case."
"If it isn't CBRN, then what does the breach of containment mean?" Alenko wondered aloud.
"Antimatter," Wrex responded immediately.
Shepard laughed. "That would have vaporized Peak 15 and much of this mountain, probably. It would have certainly eliminated any breach of containment. Tali's trying to get into other Binary Helix networks to see what could have caused the breach." She walked towards her locker to change into armor, and Wrex's sensitive hearing listened her mutter "Though if it turns out to be xenomorphs and facehuggers, we're bombing Peak 15 from orbit."
Ten minutes later, Shepard and Alenko went to the garage offices to confirm that yes, they did have permission to drive the Mako to the garage where it could be inspected and no, they were not smuggling liquor, drugs, prostitutes, or any other physical manifestations of vice onto the planet. It took some convincing from the commander, but a few minutes later Williams drove the vehicle slowly down the Normandy's ramp.
The two Alliance officers entered the garage, waiting for the six-wheeled vehicle to arrive. Shepard was just about to radio Williams when she saw a carnage blast barrel towards the ERCS sergeant…
"Get down!" the commander screamed, biotically pulling him to the ground just as the shot roared over the spot where the man's chest had been. The explosive screamed overhead and slammed into the wall behind them.
"What the hell!?" Alenko half-asked, half-yelled as the two officers' dark energy barriers instinctively went up. The two biotics scrambled into cover as they saw a pair of geth destroyers and several hoppers open fire.
Shepard and Alenko each threw a destroyer to the ground and were about to open fire on them when a sabotage detonated next to them, blowing out the heat sinks on their weapons. A moment later an overload struck Shepard. Her armor's computer whined in protest; the shields had been completely drained. It didn't matter, because her barrier deflected the incoming rounds. She responded by forming a singularity near two of the hoppers while Alenko placed the third in stasis, following by a pair of grenades into the singularity before Shepard detonated it. The explosions turned everything in the vortex, including a few unfortunately placed storage crates, to scrap metal. The two officers opened fire on the destroyers as the commander hit the large geth with an overload while the lieutenant fired his rifle into one of the destroyers. He dropped his target after several moments while a biotic attack from Shepard crushed the second destroyer. The two marines waited for the stasis to collapse around the hopper. A close range shotgun blast from Alenko finished it off.
"Well, I guess we know for certain what Benezia packed in those shipping crates," Shepard commented dryly, pistol still out and searching for any more geth.
"What did you do here, Commander?" an angry voice screamed from behind them.
"Wait what!? The geth attacked us!" Shepard shouted back as her barrier flared brightly, turning around to face the security chief, who was surveying the carnage with a look of shock and horror, her rifle leveled at the commander.
"Geth? You expect me to—" the chief stopped, looking at the remains of the two dead destroyers.
"She's telling the truth, ma'am," the ERCS sergeant said. "She…well, she saved my ass when the geth opened fire."
"Where did they come from?" the security lead replied.
"If I had to guess, Benezia packed them in the shipping containers she arrived with," Shepard said, keeping most of the irony out of her voice. Crates that you geniuses didn't bother opening for an inspection.
"I do not believe that. We did thorough scans of those. There were no power sources, no element zero masses…" she paused again, wondering where else they could have come from…but they could only have come from the crates. "If Benezia-sama's containers were packed with those things…there are many more out there."
"How many crates did Benezia's team bring?" Shepard asked, knowing she needed the answer but not sure if she wanted to hear it. She wasn't particularly enthused about fighting a company of geth in close quarters, even with an expanded fireteam. They defeated the geth on Therum with relative ease until the armature had appeared, but they had fire support from a tank and a warship.
"Over a dozen, and if all of these geth came from a single crate..."
Shepard suppressed a sigh, shaking her head. "Then they brought a lot of geth. We've fought geth before. We'll take care of any geth we find."
"I appreciate that. My people are good, but few of them have combat experience. I must report to the Executive Board immediately. If word gets out about loose geth, there may be an investor panic." She left as four ERCS guards secured the area.
We can't have that, can we? Shepard thought and was very tempted to say. And what, no panic about a breach of containment? Only about investor panic? Just HOW has this place survived this long!?
The Mako arrived about two minutes later, and after a brief discussion the security team began to inspect the six-wheeled rover. Shepard couldn't help but grin at the scene. Ashley was watching them as a lioness watches her cubs, keeping a glaring eye on all of the guards, and swatting not a few arms away that she deemed were being careless in the inspection. A short while later the vehicle was cleared to go. Wrex, Garrus, and Liara showed up, and the two largest of the team of them got into the Mako first.
The Mako was designed to seat four marines, and while Shepard was certainly smaller than normal, Wrex more than made up for her small size. Williams then got in the driver's seat after Garrus and Wrex, followed by Liara, who sat on a makeshift console that could be repurposed into a seat, but it only had a lap belt. Wrex didn't even bother buckling up—the seat was far too small for him. He sat hunched over to avoid hitting his head on the vehicle's roof. Alenko got in the gunner's seat and strapped himself in, looking behind him. There was no room anywhere for Shepard to sit, except…
"Hmm…we should have thought about this beforehand," Williams said.
"Just ride on top." Wrex said.
Alenko chuckled as he suddenly remembered a really old vid scene where a man rode a falling bomb. He absentmindedly wondered what the name of that old vid was –
"I guess you can sit on that console next to the L-T, and hold onto those railings. I'll make sure to drive like an old lady," the chief said, switching some controls away from the gunner's console and to her station. Though Shepard was short, there weren't any nearby handholds that would allow her to sit or kneel on the floor.
Shepard paused for a couple moments, looking at the console with an expression that Alenko couldn't quite place. The commander slid into the spot, and Alenko made as much room as he could so she could slide in. She ended up mostly sitting on the console, with both hands holding onto a small overhead bar for some stability. As with another time he had been very near to her, there was a faint smell of something feminine. The lieutenant gulped as he tried to focus on something, anything, than the sudden proximity to Shepard, and the fact that one small bump in the wrong direction would deposit his very attractive commanding officer straight into his lap. He felt a lump form in his throat as he checked the weapon systems yet again, giving him something else to focus on rather than Shepard's uncomfortably close presence.
"All set?" Williams asked. "It's only about a fifteen minute drive, even accounting for slow driving."
"Let's go," Shepard said quickly.
Alenko didn't think it was possible, but Williams drove much more cautiously than their last outing on Edolus. "I won't bounce you sardines around too much," she said.
"Sardines?" both Garrus and Liara asked within a split second of each other.
"A small human fish that gets packed very tightly into food containers. Like how all of us are packed into this vehicle," Williams answered.
"Do these sardines you speak of taste good?" Wrex asked, to a snort of laughter from Garrus. Alenko chuckled a bit too, glad to be thinking about anything but Shepard's very close proximity.
"Of course a krogan would ask that," Garrus muttered.
"About what you would expect for being stuffed into containers and packed with preservatives," Williams responded.
"So in other words, delicious," Wrex responded.
"Only for you, big guy," the chief responded.
"Why did the Alliance make this vehicle so small?" Garrus asked.
"It is a light support vehicle for non-mechanized infantry, not a tank or IFV," Alenko responded. "Infantry fighting vehicle," he clarified for those that were unfamiliar with the acronym.
"I see," the turian responded. "All of our vehicles are larger and heavier than this."
Williams glanced at her two fellow Alliance members seated next to her, and did a quick double take. After a few seconds, while Garrus was asking Liara a question, the Mako suddenly lurched to the side. Wrex wasn't affected as much due to his rather high mass, but Shepard was not situated well and slid right into Alenko's lap.
Alenko froze for a moment, as his cute CO now sat in his lap after the sudden bump, and he had instinctively put his hands out to support her, resulting in his hands now resting just above her hips. He quickly and suddenly removed them, and she was able to pull herself back on the console and gripped the overhead handrails tighter. He remembered how angry she got with Anoleis for making passes at her, and she certainly wouldn't appreciate roaming hands from a subordinate…shitshitshitshitshitSHIT…please don't get pissed please don't get pissed please don't
"Oops. Sorry about that. Must've hit a rock buried under the snow," Williams said apologetically. Alenko was more than just relieved when Shepard didn't comment at all on the incident. Neither he nor the commander said anything else for the rest of the uneventful, short trip to Peak 15.