Chapter 9
Captain's Quarters - SSV Normandy SR1
The first thing she did when she entered her cabin, which was a near the mess hall rather than on the lower decks with the rest of the crew, was sit down at her terminal. She'd have a chance to get her personal effects sorted once she knew where she was going first. The terminal was linked directly to the Spectre Headquarters on the Presidium, giving her a fast track to necessary information and classified files.
As she activated the encryption of her terminal, the screen went from a soft green color to a red, indicating that it was now secure. Opening the program labeled Spectre Channel, she immediately began to get mails directly to the terminal that began stacking on two sides. The left side was to her personally, and the right was spectre information in general. Looking over the personal emails, she sighed as she saw the first, which was named You've Been Invited! Opening it up, she read the email with a look of ire on her face.
[Dear Jane Shepard,
You have been formally invited to the everlasting matrimony of the most prestigious couple on Earth. On the date of April 2, 2183, the People's Republic of China Consul and heir of the Hsu family dynasty, Chao Hsu, will be wed to the Dutchess of the United Nations of Europe, Valerie LaBarre. As the first human Spectre, your invitation was immediately signed and sealed with the royal seal of both houses and consecrated by his Holiness, the Pope, Pius the XVIII. Your physical invitation will be hand delivered to you on the Citadel at a time of your convenience. The wedding itself will start on Earth at Cape Canaveral, where the happy couple will then launch into space, to then land on Luna where the real ceremony will begin.
This ceremony will be only seen by the eyes of 1500 special guests, and those due to be wed were excited to have you there with them in their time of joy. Please reply to this email with your RSVP as soon as possible so that we may discuss your seating arrangements.
Cordially,
Leonard Pinkman III, MD, Esquire]
She sighed and smacked her head at several things in the email. First was the audacity to have a wedding invitation blessed by the Pope himself. Then again, that didn't say much for the current Pope, to so carelessly consecrate such a menial object. Then came the end, where the writer assumed that she would accept the invitation without question. Smiling at the thought of disappointing the arrogant man, she immediately deleted the email.
The next email she received was much more mysterious, but much more welcome as well. It didn't have anything in the subject line; and when she opened it, she only found one line of text on the screen. Congratulations Torch. Knew you were made for greatness. Her eyes widened at the use of her codename from her time spent with the Deep Intel team in the Alliance. She couldn't be sure which one of the team sent it, but by the small amount of affection in the words, she knew it had to be Spider. Smiling, she deleted it, knowing that replying was useless. One of these days, she'd have to find him again and get a drink with him.
Finally, she had one that came from an Alliance terminal. The sender was a man by the name of Iakona Kahoku, who she knew to be a rear admiral. Her curiosity piqued; she opened the mail.
[Lieutenant Commander Jane Shepard,
I write this email in desperation. Please contact me on the secure line I've sent with this message. I hope to speak to you soon.
Rear Admiral Iakona Kahoku
Alliance Command ]
Frowning at the mail, she opened up his line and called immediately. It took a few seconds to connect. But when it finally did, his face popped onto the screen. "Rear Admiral Kahoku," he responded as she stared at his rugged face on the screen.
"Admiral, are you certain this line is secure?" she asked seriously.
"I am, and who is this?" he asked curiously.
Shepard shut down the visual blocks and audio scramblers that came with the terminal. They were used to keep her identity to the caller unknown. But, as she shut them down, her face popped onto the screen, staring at him curiously. His eyes widened slightly at finally seeing her. "I got your message, and I was curious what I could do to help," she replied firmly.
"Apologies Shepard, I didn't think you'd respond so soon…" he replied as he visibly stood up and walked away from his current location. Once he was finally away from others, he stared at her again. "I'm glad you got my message."
"Tell me what's going on Admiral," she ordered, her chin resting on her hand.
He nodded before continuing. "Shepard, I'm getting stonewalled by bureaucratic assholes! I recently sent a recon team out into the Traverse to investigate strange activity. Well, yesterday they went dark. Now I've spent the better part of yesterday and today trying to get the Alliance off their asses in order to help me search for them. Unfortunately, that didn't go well, as you can imagine," he said as he looked up curiously before speaking again. "Anyway, their rules don't apply to you Shepard. I was hoping you could do me the favor of finding out what happened to them."
"Seems simple enough," she remarked casually.
"I know I'm not allowed to order you to do anything Shepard. I'm staking my very career by even asking you this, but I have no other choice. This is just a request from one soldier to another. You would have my eternal gratitude if you helped me out," he said as he stared at her seriously through the comm.
"I'm more than happy to check out the scene and find out what's going on. Send me the coordinates of their last known location and I'll see what I can find," she responded as she opened a channel to Pressley to send him their destination.
"Thank you, Shepard. I owe you a debt of gratitude," replied the man as he sent her the info she needed. "I'll be waiting for your call," he finally said, then cut the connection.
She closed down the call and sent the information to the navigation officer. Afterwards, she closed the terminal and left the room.
Cockpit - SSV Normandy SR1
"And arriving in the Sparta system in three...two...one…" said Joker as the Normandy left the relay corridor as smooth as ever.
Shepard stood with her arms crossed, staring at the system before them with Zellin next to her. She could tell by a glance that the system was very volatile, given that it had two asteroid belts, one near the middle and one that ringed the entire outside of the Kuiper belt. "Are there any anomalies or comm traffic coming from any of the planets, she asked, turning to her information officer, a man by the name of Marcus Grieco.
He stayed silent for a moment but spoke up as he turned his head towards her. "It's very weak Commander, but there seems to be an Alliance SOS beacon coming from Edolus."
"Then it looks like that's where we're going," she said as she turned away and headed away from the cockpit. "Joker, take us in quiet. We're going to be taking the mako for this one."
"Should I armor up as well?" asked the salarian spectre casually.
"If you want to come along, then feel free. But I'll be bringing a team of my own regardless," she responded before walking into the CIC.
Surface of Edolus – Edolus
Shepard groaned at the landing. While the M35 Mako had some of the best ground vehicle shocks in the galaxy, planetary entry still left the entire squad of Garrus, Zellin, Wrex, and Shepard in disarray. "That'll take some getting used to," she complained as she shook the webs from her helmeted head.
"Indeed. I find myself wondering why you didn't put in a requisition for a hovercraft rather than this six-wheeled monstrosity," griped the salarian as he too held his head.
"The M35 is one of the heaviest armored vehicles in the Alliance. As such, it's too heavy for hover technology," she responded, staring at the darkened visor of the spectre's helmet. "I'll take protection on the ground over any of those paper-thin crafts any day."
"Understood," he said sourly as Garrus brought up his omni-tool.
"It looks like the signal is projecting from a few kilometers to the north," said the turian dutifully.
"Then let's check it out," said Shepard as she finally took the wheel of the vehicle and turned it towards their destination. The drive was less than pleasant for most of the passengers. Shepard had no previous experience in driving the vehicle, and the terrain was rocky and uneven, making for a less than smooth trip to the location of the signal.
But as they finally crested over the rocky hill that led to a small, flat plain of land, Shepard stopped the vehicle. Garrus eyed her curiously. "Why are we stopping?" he asked as he noted her pulling a weapon off her back.
"Lesson number one about doing recon work Garrus, never drive headfirst into a mission. Always scout it from a distance first," she finished as she popped the hatch on the tank and pulled herself out of the vehicle. The turian followed her through the opening, then the salarian. Wrex seemed less urgent to get out of the craft.
Shepard triggered her sniper, causing it to fold out before lifting the scope to her eye. Almost immediately, her heart plummeted as she saw a small Alliance craft that looked like it had entered the atmosphere at much more than recommended speeds. The hull of the ship had practically buckled in on itself. If anyone was inside, they would have surely been crushed. It took a second before she noticed Garrus next to her, doing the same thing with his own sniper.
"See anything of note Mister C-Sec detective?" she asked playfully.
The turian took a moment to respond. "Yeah, something isn't right here. The ship looks like it suffered a crash from high altitudes, but there's no crater, no impact markings whatsoever," he started, surprising her with the notable information. "Also, there appear to be mounds of soil disturbed in the nearby area. They appear to be too big for mines, but we should be careful on approach anyway," he finally said as he lowered his scope.
She did as well, putting her weapon on her back as she turned to him. "You've got a good eye Vakarian," she said with a smile.
"Well, I did see something in you when we first met…" he said, and she could almost hear the smirk in his voice. She cocked an eyebrow under her helmet, wondering if he just made a pass at her. But she ignored it and headed back to the Mako. Once everyone was seated again, she took the wheel and let out a deep breath.
"Alright everyone, we're going in slowly. When we exit the vehicle, make sure to step lightly," she ordered as Zellin watched her curiously.
The vehicle drove rather smoothly down the hill until finally they were on the flat plain. She took it slow, maneuvering the six-wheeled vehicle around the mounds that Garrus had mentioned. It took another ten minutes to finally reach the center of the plain, but when they finally did, they were met with an odd scene. As Shepard stepped around the demolished vehicle, she immediately noticed a flashing beacon planted into the ground. Zellin had apparently seen it as well, as his voice came over her internal comm. "It appears we've found the source of the signal. But what of the marines?" he asked, scanning the area curiously.
Reaching for her omni-tool, she scanned the beacon curiously. "If this is the marine's beacon, then where are the ones who set it up?" she asked as she turned towards the wrecked vehicle. She cringed slightly as she saw that one of Kahoku's men had been unfortunately crushed beneath the weight of the ship. The upper half of his body was still protruding face-down from underneath the heavy shuttle, with claw marks in the dirt all around him. He did not die quickly. "We've got a body here," she said as she leaned down and scanned his dog tags. The name came up as Gunnery Chief Quentin Fields. "Sorry Chief, I hope you found your peace," she said sadly as she stood up and began examining the ship.
Zellin approached her and scanned the vehicle with her. "Due to heavy corrosion on the hull, attempting to open the ship would likely require equipment we don't currently have aboard our vehicle," he said smartly.
"True…" she responded as she opened her scanner again. After a moment, she closed it. "I don't detect any tags inside, so it's unlikely that anyone was aboard when it was...well, whatever happened to it."
"Uhhh…Shepard!" shouted Garrus. Both spectres turned to look at the turian curiously. "When we started to head down here, I opened my ground scanners to make sure we weren't about to drive over any hidden mines! But now it's showing me that we have heavy seismic activity further from the north, and it's getting closer!"
Shepard's eyes widened as she turned towards the north. Whatever happened to these soldiers was likely about to show itself to them. And did it ever. The earth itself shook beneath their feet as soil shifted in a straight line, heading straight towards them. When the monstrosity finally broke the surface of the ground, it towered over them by at least twenty meters. Its body was long and worm-like but had armored scales up and down its sides that were likely used to help move it through the earth. Its head was a mess of protrusions and antenna looking appendages. Except for one, which came from the direct center of what she would call its mouth. The void-like orifice let out a long, tentacle-like tongue that appeared to be fully prehensile.
Her eyes widened as she took a step back. "To the Mako now!" she shouted as she turned and sprinted for the vehicle.
The massive creature roared loud enough to unsettle the dust on the ground, creating a cloudy mess for her to run through. But she finally made it just as Wrex spoke over the comm. "Heh, now we're talking," he said cheerily as he readied his gun inside the vehicle. She slid into her seat, followed by the other two and immediately she hit the accelerator. And she was glad she did, as she had reports on her monitors of a corrosive agent barely splashing the rear of the vehicle. It wouldn't do enough damage to matter, but the real concern was that the beast in question likely wouldn't just be sitting still and waiting for them to escape.
"Garrus! Main gun now!" she ordered as she floored it, ignoring the mounds this time, as any mine that were present would have been immediately triggered by the creature's earth-shaking travelling. The turian did as he was told and grabbed the controls for the canon on the top of the vehicle, spinning it to aim directly at the beast.
"Shepard, it's underground again!" he growled as his viewer spotted nothing but shifting ground. "And it's heading straight for us!"
"It's a thresher maw! It can read seismic activity!" shouted Wrex excitedly as he leaned in for a closer look. "Ohoh, he's a big one too!"
"Wrex! Stop having fun!" Shepard demanded as she spun the wheel rapidly, causing the vehicle to drift in an attempt to escape the monster's straight-forward path. Unfortunately, her evasion was too little too late, as the beast ripped itself from the ground right underneath the mako and sent it spiraling through the air.
When it finally slammed back to its wheels again, everyone in the cabin of the tank groaned in displeasure, even the formerly giddy Wrex. But, being made of sterner stuff, the krogan shook his head and popped the hatch on the tank and began pulling himself out. "Damn egg eater. Now I've got a headache!" he shouted as he closed the hatch again.
"Wrex! Where the hell are you going!?" asked Shepard as she finally cleared her head.
"I'm gonna kick its ass! That's where I'm going!" he shouted back as he stomped his way towards the oncoming monstrosity. "Try not to let me die out here Shepard!"
"No promises…" she growled as she stopped the vehicle. "Garrus, take the gun again and aim for its mouth as soon as it shows its hideous face!" she ordered as she turned and looked up to see Zellin pop his head outside of the vehicle.
"Your cannon isn't going to do anything to a creature of that size, and I'd actually like to survive this mission," he commented dryly as he took a strange, short-barreled weapon off his back.
Wrex stopped in the path of the massive creature and began stomping and shouting loudly as his large body lit up with biotics. "Come on you dirt-eating pussle! I've taken bigger shits than you!" shouted Wrex as the beast homed in on him. "Hehehe, that's better," he said as he readied himself. His aura exploded at the last second, blasting him out of the way as the monster once more ripped itself from the earth where he formerly stood. Turning around, the krogan took his heavy shotgun and began blasting into the creature's side. Suddenly, the beast lurched sideways as the Mako's 155mm cannon fired and punctured its head.
Unfortunately, the beast's roar indicated that it wasn't even close to dead yet, and it quickly spun back towards the Mako. "Shit!" yelled Shepard as she floored it again as a spray of caustic fluid shot towards them again. As the vehicle jumped forward, Zellin slammed into the side of the opening, dropping his weapon from the jolt.
"Shepard!" snapped the Spectre angrily.
"You can bitch at me later!" she shouted as she spun the vehicle around for an early turn this time. "Garrus!"
As soon as she shouted his name, the cannon fired again, this one going wide. "Harder to hit the damn thing while you're moving!" he shouted from the gunner's seat as he readjusted the aim of the heavy weapon.
As the vehicle fled from the scene again, Wrex stepped up to the fallen weapon and picked it up, examining it thoroughly. "Hmmm...not bad," he said as he put away his shotgun and hefted the new toy with a smirk. "Probably not enough to put it down, but it'll definitely do some damage," he said as he activated his comm again. "Shepard, steer the thing towards me!"
"If I don't get flipped again, sure!" she said as she swerved the vehicles towards the krogan. Once more, the creature was underground and chasing them hungrily.
"Hey turian, I need you to shoot the damn thing while it's still in the ground. That should make it surface," ordered Wrex as he checked the weapon.
"I can't aim the cannon that low!" responded Garrus from the tank.
"Wrex, I have an idea! Climb one of the nearby hills and stay down so that I don't hit you!" Shepard ordered as she spun the vehicle towards one in particular that was right next to the krogan.
"Oh, I like the sound of this!" shouted Wrex as he jogged up the hill that the tank was currently barreling for. He lowered his frame enough to allow for clearance.
Slowly, the thresher maw was gaining on the vehicle as it sped towards him. But the Mako had just enough of a head start that it reached the hill and began moving its way upwards. "Garrus now!" shouted Shepard as the vehicle tilted upwards with the hill, aligning the gun perfectly with the mound of earth behind it. The turian pulled the trigger and the cannon fired, blasting a crater into the ground and causing a loud, screeching roar of pain as the beast rose to the surface again. As Shepard reached the crest of the hill, she activated the jets on the vehicle, sending it soaring over Wrex's head.
As it surfaced, the krogan pulled the trigger on the weapon, causing it to start charging as he let out a loud battle cry, which made the beast turn towards him. "Eat this parasite!" he shouted, sending a superheated round directly into its gaping maw.
The resulting explosion from the attack knocked the krogan mercenary on his ass and tinted the sky orange briefly, leaving everyone in the vehicle in awe as they landed none too softly over the hill. The entire head of the creature was engulfed in a massive cloud of smoke as its elongated body shifted back and forth unsteadily. Finally, it fell, slamming into the ground with enough force behinds its multi-ton body that they felt the shockwave even in the mako.
Shepard stared incredulously at the gruesome scene as blood and acid began pooling arounds its grotesquely mangled head. Popping the hatch on the tank, she lifted herself out to see the sight firsthand. "Did it work?" she asked incredulously as she looked over at the krogan.
The mercenary turned around and raised both of his short arms in the air before letting out another battle cry. "Ahahahaha! Now that's what I call a battle Shepard!" he shouted in glee as he practically began to skip towards the vehicle. But his gait slowed shockwaves penetrated the ground. Slowly, he turned around to see the massive worm-like creature raising itself once more. "Ah hell...you're a stubborn son of a bastard, I'll give you that."
"Wrex! Get out of there!" shouted Shepard as Garrus spun the cannon once more. But before any of them could move another muscle, something streaked into the atmosphere and impacted the creature directly. The resulting explosion cratered the creature, splattering its gore across the landscape before sending Wrex soaring towards the mako. Shepard ducked back into the vehicle just as the krogan slammed into the plasteel windshield, where he then slid slowly down until he was out of sight.
Shepard jumped out of the tank and landed next to the dazed krogan. "Did I just get hit by a gods damned meteor?" he asked groggily as the human slowly helped him back to his feet.
"That was too fast to be a meteor…" she said as she cued up her comm. "Normandy this is ground party. We just had a massive impact here on the surface of Edolus. Any idea what that was?"
"Uhhh...yeeeeeah…" responded Joker.
She glared, even knowing the pilot couldn't see her expression. "Joker?" she asked, her tone of voice showing her annoyance.
"Look Commander, I told him it wasn't a good idea…" responded the pilot nervously.
"Spit it out Lieutenant before I come up there and set your chair to a hundred rotations per minute!" she threatened as she tapped her foot on the dusty surface.
"Well, our scanners picked up a spike in radioactivity from the surface not far off from the beacon. So, the XO ordered us to take a visual scan. And when we saw that giant...worm...thing, he ordered us to fire the main Excalibur Cannon at it," he said, his voice quieting down with each passing word.
"You fired the Normandy's MAC cannon with us that close!?" she asked incredulously, practically stomping her foot in anger. "If you had been off by a fraction of a decimal it would be our corpses decorating the planet instead!"
"I know I know!" he said defensively over the comm. "But the fire team said they had it on lock, and Pressley gave the go ahead!"
Shepard groaned in annoyance, but simply let out a sigh as she waved to Wrex to get back into the vehicle. "It's...fine…" she growled as she hopped back into the vehicle.
The krogan followed, and as he took his seat next to Zellin, he handed over the weapon again. "That's a nice piece you've got here, salarian," he said with a slight grin on his face.
The spectre took his weapon back and examined it thoroughly, noting that it was now covered in planetary dust. "It was a backup plan incase my usual skillset failed," he grumbled as he put the device on his back once more.
"If I were you, I'd start the fight with that. Get everyone's blood pumping, including whatever poor sap you used it on," said Wrex as he slapped the spectre on the back.
Zellin growled in annoyance. "Luckily, you aren't me. Now refrain from touching me before I remove your hand," he snapped.
"Ohoho...that sounds like a challenge," said the krogan as he leaned down and smirked at the salarian.
"If you two are done flirting back there, we're heading back to the drop zone. So, buckle yourselves up before I make you regret it," ordered Shepard from the back seat.
Captain's Quarters - SSV Normandy SR1
"What!?" asked the admiral in shock as he stared at Shepard through his omni-tool.
"I'm sorry Admiral, but from the looks of the scene, they landed on the surface of Edolus and were hit by a thresher maw. The only body we could confirm was that of Gunnery Chief Fields," she responded with an empathetic look on her face as the soreness of Jenkins and Nihlus returned.
"That can't be right! There's no way in hell my team would be so blind as to land directly on a thresher's nest without cause!" he snapped irately, not so much at her as the situation.
Shepard scratched her chin thoughtfully as her mind started to work, trying to wrap her head around the scene. "There was also an Alliance beacon on the scene. But whoever set it up wasn't there when we arrived."
He looked at her in surprise. "I didn't get any notification of their beacon going off…"
"Here, I copied the beacon codes for you," she said as she passed him the info through her omni-tool. When she looked back up at the monitor, she saw him open the file she had just sent.
His frown deepened as he read the numbers. "Shepard, these do not belong to the beacon that my team had with them…" he responded as his eyes returned to her.
She cocked an eyebrow as she stared at him for a moment. "Then the beacon was placed by someone else?" she asked as she tried some of the deducing that Garrus had done earlier.
"That might explain why they even landed there at all, and why they didn't scan the area. Was there any sign of who could have placed the beacon?" asked the man worriedly.
"No, which leads to the possibility that it was used to lure them there," she responded, getting a nod from him. "Admiral, do you know of anyone who would have wanted your men dead?" she asked, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Or you?"
His head tilted back in slight surprise at the question. "Me?"
"When we arrived on the scene, we were attacked by the thresher maw ourselves, which leads me to believe that whoever placed that beacon not only knows who you are, but would have gone to great lengths to find out where your men were. On top of that, had I not just gotten a promotion, eventually you would have gone out there yourself on a search mission and made the same mistake I did."
The admiral stared at the screen for a long moment before looking off to the side thoughtfully. "I'll have to get back to you on that Shepard. For the moment, you have my thanks, and my assistance should you need it in the future," he said, his tone changed entirely.
"Admiral!" she snapped, getting his attention. "You know that if you hang up without giving me any information, then I can't help you. Don't do this yourself sir," she ordered, absentmindedly forgetting her current lack of rank.
"That's the thing Shepard, I have to verify it first. You handing these SOS beacon codes may actually help me unearth something I've been working on for a while now. Once I have more information, you will be the first to know," he said with a solemn nod.
"Alright Admiral, if that's how you want to play this. Just don't wind up dead in a back alley somewhere before you contact me again. I'm going to be very sore with you if I have to find them from a cold trail," she said playfully.
"Understood Spectre. I'll let you know as soon as I have more details. Kahoku out," he finally said as he cut the call again. Shepard groaned, rubbing her head gently, both from him withholding information and the thrashing she had taken earlier. Looking back towards her bunk, she sighed to herself as she reached up and massaged her shoulder gently.
Standing, she closed down the terminal and opened her omni-tool. "Joker, put us in the shade," she ordered as she headed for her bed.
"You got it Commander. Have a good night," he responded.
She shut down her omni-tool and took it off her arm, setting it on her bedside stand before pulling her shirt off and collapsing onto the bed in nothing but her bra and a pair of shorts. Not even bothering to move the blanket, she just laid her head back on the pillow and closed her eyes, hoping to finally get some peaceful sleep.
But, almost as if she had triggered them, the visions came back in a flash, and she found herself once again immersed in the terror and genocide of these supposed Reapers. The images surrounded her, her mind making them come to life, making her live them as if she had experienced them firsthand, showing her new horrors and depravity the likes of which she had yet to see. Speaking of having yet to see, she had never actually seen any of the Reapers ever since she began having these dreams back on the Citadel.
When others began to notice her unusually tense nature, she brushed it off and deflected. She couldn't let her crew know they had been hitting her this hard. She couldn't let the Council know that these visions were sapping her strength, and even gnawing at her will to want to wake up. Because not only did they prevent her from having proper sleep, but they also showed her things that would break someone of weaker will. Things that would likely be with her for the rest of her life.
As the visions flashed through her mind again, plaguing and horrifying her, she snapped awake once more. Her breath inhaled sharply, and she felt a sheen of cold sweat drenching her skin as her wide-eyed gaze stared at the door to her cabin. Quickly, her head snapped over to her clock next to her omni-tool, and she sighed to herself, curling up with her lap to her chest and her arms around her knees after reading the display that said 0021.
Finally, after rubbing her face with her hands, she moved to grab a change of clothes and a towel before heading off to the crew shower. "Another day Jane...another day."
CODEX ENTRIES
Pussle | Derogatory Linguistics | Rayloc
A pussle is a small parasite native to Tuchanka that enters a host through the anus and feeds off the excrement the host provides while giving nothing in return. The insult is commonly given to those the krogan deem to be parasites on their society. Sometimes it's simply given to those who they do not respect.