Chapter 11
Kopanis Colony - Kopanis
"So, what's your name?" asked Kaidan as he knelt next to her in the cramped tank.
"R-Robyn," she said as she sniffled and wiped away her tears.
"Alright Robyn, why don't you tell me and the Commander here what's going on so we can help?" he asked politely. Shepard was in the front of the vehicle, driving the tank towards the colony hospital, which was little more than a small clinic if she were to be believed.
"Y-Yesterday, something fell from the sky! We tried to see what it was...the Grand Father sent out a party to collect it in case it was useful. But when the party came back, they brought a shiny metal thing with them. We didn't know what it was…" said the girl as she sniffled again.
"I don't like where this is going…" claimed Zellin quietly towards Shepard as he sat in the passenger seat.
"Me either," she responded before turning the corner again.
"They tried to open it to see what was inside, but when they did, it opened and let out a bunch of smoke! Ever since people started getting sick," she said as she looked up at the handsome lieutenant with her watery eyes.
"Sick? How were they getting sick?" he asked curiously. "Please, anything you can tell me may help," he said as he gently reached forward and rubbed her back.
She seemed to gain some composure at the reassurance and continued. "They started coughing a lot, sometimes blood would come up. Then after a few hours, they would start growing lumps on their necks and bodies. They were taken to the hospital, but anyone who was in the smoke also started getting sick. Our doctors couldn't keep up, and now everyone in town is inside the hospital!" she said, almost breaking down again.
Suddenly the mako stopped as Shepard's eyes widened. Zellin looked over at her curiously. "What is it?" he asked, staring out of the blast shield at the only thing that could have made her react. In the center of the courtyard in front of the hospital was a small stone statue. A sword plunged into a type of pedestal with two extra blades protruding from beneath the crossguard that made it look like a cross.
"Sons of Adam…" she said quietly through gritted teeth as she glared at the statue. "Come on, we've got to get in there and find out what the hell happened."
Pulling up to the doorway, she immediately felt her skin crawl at the sight. There were about a dozen bodies out in front of the hospital, all of them grotesquely warped similar to Robyn's explanation. Most of them were bleeding from the eyes, noses, and mouths, while others had their faces warped with horrifying swellings and tumors.
"Commander…" said Alenko as he exited the vehicle and stared at them. She looked over to her lieutenant to see his eyes wide in horror. "These look like the effects of eezo exposure."
"Hardly a coincidence…" said Shepard as she approached the door.
Kaidan carried the young girl into the hospital while Zellin and Tali followed. "Papa! I brought help!" shouted Robyn as she jumped down from his arms. The hospital, as they had called it, was more of a church than an actual clinic. The pews were scattered with people groaning and laying across them, and cots were stuffed in between each one with even more people occupying them. Everyone seemed to be showing the same signs of sickness, including those that were working exhaustively to try and help the healing.
Sitting on the edge of one of the pews was a man with a dusty brown mullet that matched his daughter's wiry hair. He was breathing heavily when he heard her voice and looked up at the small crowd with a grimace. Robyn started to sniffle again as she ran for the man, but she was stopped stone cold when he reached up and backhanded her, sending her crashing to the floor with a scowl on his face. "How dare you bring that filth to this sacred place!" he shouted as he stood to his feet weakly.
Zellin growled and stepped forward but was stopped as Kaidan grabbed his shoulder. "Don't, we don't need some cross-species incident because of this," he said as he pushed the spectre aside. Reaching forward, the father was gripped in a blue aura that locked him in place.
"Let go of me...you devil worshipper! Your magic has no power here!" shouted the man with a maniacal look on his face. Without a single word, Kaidan pulled the man towards him. The father floated towards the lieutenant quickly before the soldier's fist impacted the man's jaw, sending him crashing through the pew that he had just risen from.
"Religion or no religion, if I ever see you lay a hand on her like that again then the devil will be the least of your worries," said Kaidan in an icy tone.
"Please, you have to get her out of here!" said one of the younger men in the crowd. Shepard looked up at him curiously, noticing that of all the people with symptoms, he seemed to be the least affected. He had a small lump near his larynx, and he showed hemorrhaging of the blood vessels in his eyes.
"Who are you?" asked Shepard as she held up a hand to stop him from moving closer.
"My name is John. I'm Robyn's brother, now please…" he begged as he fell to his knees. "Take her away from this place! These people are maniacs, they've been grooming her to marry her off! You can't let them do to her what they did to the others!" Everyone in the group went wide eyed at the claim, and Shepard growled as she glared towards the groaning crowd.
"You shut your sinful mouth, boy!" shouted the father as he tried to get to his feet again, but this only resulted in him coughing up blood onto the floor on his hands and knees.
She could tell that most of the people on the pews and in the cots were already beyond saving. They were all but waiting for death. Stepping forward, she cleared her throat and yelled across the small church. "Alenko. Take Robyn and John and bring them to the Mako. We're leaving here shortly," she growled as she looked at the others. "You lot go with. I'm going to take care of things here before I go," she said in a tone that made Zellin's eyes widen.
"Understood Shepard," said the salarian as he turned to Tali and nodded towards the door.
After everyone had cleared out, taking a worn-out John and crying Robin with them, the commander closed the door and drew her silenced weapon from her side. When she turned back to the rest of them, she marched forward with a look of pure fury in her eyes.
"Anyone and everyone who wants out of this cult of death, get up and walk towards the door," she said as she eyed them all with a death glare. "I know some of you didn't choose this life, and now is your chance to escape." Three women and two men rose to move towards the front of the church. One of the women looked older than Shepard by a wide margin, but she couldn't tell as stress was known to have horrific affects on the process of aging. One of the younger women who looked to be no more than a teenager moved as well, but Robyn's father reached up and grabbed her shoulder.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" he asked as he stood to his full height. "You're my wife. My property. You go nowhere without my-" he growled, but suddenly he yanked his arm back as a bullet tore two fingers from his hand and sent him stumbling backwards.
"Lay another hand on them and hell will be a welcome reprieve to what I do to you," Shepard threatened as she held her weapon aimed at the man. The scared young woman looked from the man back to the spectre. The armored woman nodded towards the entrance, and the shrouded woman quickly rushed away and exited the building after the others. Finally, Shepard turned to the man who now lay on the ground clenching his bleeding stumps. "How many girls?" she asked in a tone that chilled the less stubborn to the core.
"Fuck off you sinful harlot!" cried the father as he tried to raise a pistol of his own. But her armored foot crashed down onto his good hand, shattering the bones and crushing his fingers against the handle. He screamed and tried to pull his arm away, but his sickness left him weak and gasping, unable to retaliate.
Looking up, the redhead glared at them all. "All of you had a hand in this. I hope whatever god you worship gives each of you what you rightly deserve," she growled as she finally kicked the gun away from the man and turned her back on them. "Most of you will be dead by the time the Alliance arrives. Use that time to reflect on what kind of monsters you've become," she ordered before finally turning her back on them and leaving them to die to the cancerous growths that had overtaken them.
Kopanis Colony - Kopanis
When the church door finally opened again, Shepard walked out with a distant look in her eyes. Zellin watched her walk the short trip to the mako before jumping in herself. "Everything taken care of?" he asked firmly.
"Everything," she responded as Kaidan began to pull the tank away from the hospital and towards the gates of the colony.
"W-Where are we going?" asked Robyn through her sobbing as she huddled with the others who had left the church.
"Don't worry, we're gonna get you out of here. Get you somewhere safe," said the lieutenant as he soothed her.
"Thank you...thank you all," said John as he buried his face in his hands to hide his own tears. "I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't showed up."
"The rest of the colony would have died due to their lack of medical care, and those who weren't affected by this cancerous cloud would have probably starved to death," said the salarian as he looked at the girl. "You said they were exposed yesterday?" he asked, getting a scared nod from the girl.
"That means he didn't complete his work. He's apparently found some way of reversing the effects," said Tali as she attempted to put the pieces together in her head.
"Given the pirate code that was on Harris' omni-tool, I'd venture to guess that he saw black market potential," said Shepard as she stared at the road ahead of them.
"Hey Commander?" came Joker's call from the Normandy.
"What is it Joker?" she asked as she activated her omni-tool to respond.
"There was a ship hiding in the dark up here, I guess they were powered down. They went live a minute ago and are headed towards the mass relay," said the pilot curiously.
Clenching her teeth, she slammed her fist against the driver's seat. "Can you intercept?" she asked curiously.
"Unfortunately, they're too far out. We did manage to get their ID before they made a break for it though," he responded in a tone that told her that he was trying to get on her good side. She just sighed and rubbed her head.
"Good enough. We'll find out where they're going and track them that way. In the meantime, come get us, we're done here," she ordered as she leaned back with a sigh.
"Understood Commander. Pickup at these coordinates," he said as he sent her the nav point.
Medical Bay - SSV Normandy SR1
Kaidan and Tali both stood in the medbay as John was put under anesthesia, his sister sitting in a chair right next to him and holding his hand as his eyes closed heavily.
"Will he be alright?" Tali asked worriedly as she looked up at Doctor Chakwas with her hazel eyes.
"The damage looks minimal, and his exposure seems to be extremely recent, even second hand. It should be a relatively easy process," said the doctor as she watched him go under. "The others, however, are another story. I'll do my best to save them." Turning to the others, she nodded towards the door. "I'm going to need you to remove yourself from the room while I prepare for surgery."
Nodding at the order, Kaidan patted the girl on the back. "Come on little one, let's get you something to eat," he said as he steered her towards the door.
She sniffled heavily as they walked her to the mess hall. "What about my Papa? What happened to him?" she asked as she looked up at them.
Tali and Kaidan both looked at each other with hard stares before finally responding. "He...he didn't make it before the sickness got to him, unfortunately," replied Kaidan carefully. He didn't know what happened inside the church after they left, but with Shepard's record, there was little chance any of them would be alive when the Alliance aid ship arrived. But telling her that their commander had basically executed what was left of the colony didn't seem like the prudent thing to do. In fact, it would have been rather heartless of him.
She sighed and shook her head as she sat at the table. "I don't know why he didn't love me. I tried so hard to make him proud. Was there something wrong with me?"
Tali clenched her fingers on her folded arms almost hard enough to puncture her suit when she heard the question. "No!" she snapped, getting a surprised look from both the girl and Kaidan. "You were a good girl Robyn! He was a bad father!"
"B-But…" said the girl in surprise as she stared at the alien.
"She's right. You didn't do anything wrong, Robyn. Now, I'm gonna get you something to eat, alright?" said Kaidan gently. The girl simply nodded and stared down at the table while Alenko waved for Tali to follow him. Once they were out of earshot, the human eyed her curiously. "You alright?"
"It infuriates me that such a monster has such a devoted daughter!" she growled, practically stomping her foot in anger.
"I know. I've known plenty of men like him in my time with the Alliance, and before," he said, then looked away briefly as he ordered the girl something small to eat from the mess sergeant.
"Before?" asked Tali curiously as she noticed him stop talking after mentioning it.
"It was back when I was younger. In BAaTT...err...Biotic Acclimation and Temperance Training. Basically, a school for biotic kids," he said as he tapped his finger on the counter.
"Humans are relatively new to biotics, aren't they?" asked Tali curiously.
"As new as we can get. We're pretty up to date now, but when I was younger, we were just scratching the surface. When the humans found out that eezo exposure had a chance to cause biotics when in utero, they began rounding up every medical record of every exposure victim on Earth and all the colonies. Children that weren't horribly deformed or ridden with cancer were "volunteered" for testing," he said using air quotes.
Tali stared at him for a long moment before putting her two main fingers up and mimicking him. "Volunteered?" she asked curiously, getting an amused smirk from the lieutenant.
"Yeah. They made a training ground out on Jump Zero where they brought in all kinds of kids from all over the place. At first, they didn't know what the hell they were doing. They had a hard enough time just keeping them from breaking their own limbs. I don't know if there was investor pressure or what, but they stopped trying to take things slow, and instead brought in experts from the outside," he said as he stared at the counter with his thick brows furrowed.
"The only experts at that time had to have been another species…" said Tali as she leaned on the counter and listened curiously.
"Yeah, turians. The Alliance didn't want to go through the Citadel because they would not have approved Brain Camp at all, especially considering all the participants were minors. So instead, they resorted to hiring turian mercenaries. The man I was talking about before, like Robyn's father, he was the turian instructor, Commander Vernus," he said as he nodded to the mess sergeant and took the meal that they set on the counter. "He didn't care about us, all he cared about was using us to further his own goals. We were a stepping stone to him. Hell, he introduced himself by telling us that he had killed our parents during the war..."
Tali followed him with her arms behind her back eagerly, "So, what happened?" she asked as he set the food on the table for Robyn. The girl immediately began eating, almost ravenously as the food entered her gaze, making the lieutenant smile.
"He went too far…" he said, then looked up into the quarian's face shield. "The camp itself was brutal, you either came out superhuman or a mangled mess of limbs. Some kids even died, and those who managed to make it through, they didn't impress Vernus. He held no love for human kids. Hell, I'd be surprised if he loved his own kids," he said with a sigh as he sat at the table. Tali followed shortly and stared at him. "Anyway, there was a girl named Rhana who was basically a social planet. People gravitated to her because she had a magnetic personality, it made you want to talk to her, be her friend…"
Tali tilted her head, a sign of quarian curiosity. "Sounds like you had a thing for this girl."
He smirked at her and shook his head. "Who didn't really? She had a lot of guys our age waiting on her hand and foot. She was smart, beautiful, and charming as hell. But she wasn't arrogant like you'd expect from most girls of her pedigree. Kinda like Sh…" he said, then stopped in his tracks, looking up at Tali to see if she had caught on. Unfortunately for him, he could see the arching color of her eyes under the helmet, making him well aware of her smile.
"Goooooo oooooon!" she pushed, holding back a slight giggle.
He stared at her sternly and sighed as he looked over at Robyn, who was now eyeing the two of them. "Look, maybe we can continue this conversation later. We should really be getting her somewhere to rest and clean up."
"Oh...alright," said Tali, slightly disappointed that their talk was ending. She stood up and bowed her head slightly towards the lieutenant. "I'm glad we had a chance to talk Lieutenant."
He smiled up at her charmingly and nodded back. "You can call me Kaidan if you like. And I am too. I do hope we can continue later," he said as he stood up himself and turned to the girl.
Combat Information Center - SSV Normandy SR1
She stood at the apex of the CIC, staring at the officers who had information to offer. She called them forward personally, wanting to hear it directly from them rather than through the comm. Her hardened gaze looked over them as they all stood nervously at attention.
"Despite what we've discovered thus far, we still have a mission to accomplish. I heard from Lieutenant Moreau that we have the escaping ship's ID. Is that correct?" she asked, eyeing her information officers.
First Lieutenant Tanaka was the first to speak. "That's correct, sir! We scanned the ID in our databases and didn't come up with much on the Alliance side. But…" he said, staring at Officer Grieco, his partner, "...with permission, we also ran it through the Spectre Database and it turns out that it's a ship that has traded hands multiple times throughout its life, mostly in the Terminus Systems."
"Has anyone run a scan to see where it's gone?" she asked as she eyed them all.
This time, Grieco spoke up. "Not as of yet, sir. We wanted to wait for you to get back, as our own tampering with the Spectre resources could very well land us in a prison colony," said the man as he saluted.
She smirked at him and nodded. "Fine, I'll do it myself," she said as she hit a button on the console of the CIC. The galaxy map vanished and was shortly replaced by multiple scrolling screens of data. "Connecting Normandy's command console to Spectre Database," she said as she authorized the action herself. Soon, the scrolling data sped up.
The officers watched her with awe as if watching a master artist painting. Within thirty seconds, a picture popped up and her eyes narrowed. "Everything alright Commander?" asked Tanaka, the man unable to read her look.
"The last sighting of the ship was taken from a comm buoy relay in the Hoplos System of the Hades Nexus Cluster," she said, reaching up and scratching her chin.
Zellin stared at her from behind the whole setup, the salarian being one of the only people on the ship to be allowed behind her when she was standing at the display. He cleared his throat, causing her to look back at him. "I suppose you know what that means?" he asked in a stern tone.
She simply nodded with a heavy sigh. "Trident."
"Trident indeed. You might as well be flying directly into a tsunami," said the spectre as he shook his head. "Spectre or no Spectre, you are not going to have an easy time there."
"Easy time or no easy time, we're going," she said as she put the displays away and reactivated the galaxy map. "This man has created some kind of chemical that mimics the effects of harmful element zero exposure. You saw it down there, just by breathing it in someone can get cancer, and will likely be dead within a week of first contact with the substance."
"I'm aware of its qualities…" he started, but was interrupted.
"Then you're also aware of what happens if he sells his work, and it gets weaponized. Imagine entire Council Space colonies being bombarded with torpedos filled with this gas. The GARDIANs will take them out in the air, then it will be in the atmosphere. This concoction is a perfect counter to colonial defense," she said as she eyed him coldly. "Not to mention it takes a fairly low license to bring eezo onto the Citadel. Imagine if someone created a bomb and detonated it in the wards."
"I take your meaning Commander," snapped Zellin, who looked surprised when she snapped back.
"Do you Spectre? Because if the burden of this mission is too great, then feel free to stay on the ship. But I intend to go down there, find that bioweapon, and destroy it," she said before setting the course on the galaxy map and stepping down from the large console to eye the taller salarian.
Every officer in the bridge held their breath as they saw the two agitated spectres staring each other down for a long moment. But finally, the tension was released as Zellin snorted out of his nostrils. "As much as I'd love to clean New Cousteau up, I will have to stay on whatever ship we take down there. Trident is a human dominated world, and I would stick out…" he said, looking away for a moment. "Like a sore thumb, is it?"
Shepard almost snorted as she tried not to laugh, but simply nodded with a smile. "You should be fine as long as you're accompanied. While it is human dominated, it's not out of the blue for humans to have companions on human worlds," she said as she looked him up and down. "How good is your acting?"
He growled lightly. "Commander, I seriously hope you are joking…"
New Cousteau Port - New Cousteau - Trident
"Excuse me ma'am, we're gonna have to ask you to come with us," said a slimy looking human in a three-piece suit as soon as she exited the shuttle. His hair was blonde and slicked back like so many of the gangsters that she had seen in the vids. She wanted to immediately roll her eyes but decided to shrug it off instead.
"Is there a problem gentlemen?" she asked threateningly as they approached. She had decided that her armor was likely going to be needed, so now she stood staring across at them in her abyssal black set.
"We're the Port Security, and we'd like to have a word with you in our office if you wouldn't mind," said one of the men as he shrugged. As he did, his coat opened, and her blue eyes spied a handgun tucked away at his side. She wanted to groan at how cheesy these guys were playing the role of hardass gangsters.
"Just take me where you need to take me…" she said as she rubbed her head. Currently, her helmet was secured at her side rather than on her head. She wanted to look threatening, but not enough that they'd fire at her on sight. Turning to the three who had come down with her, she nodded to Zellin. "You come with me. You two, stay with the shuttle," she ordered to Ash and Kaidan, both of which nodded and stood straight, looking as menacing as possible.
The port authority shook his head, however. "You don't understand, we're gonna need all of you to come with me, to the offices, right now. If you don't comply, well…" he said shrugging again to nonchalantly show off his weapon. But Shepard reached forward and grabbed him by the collar, then grabbed his firearm from its holster and ripped it clean.
"No, you don't understand…" she said in a very hostile tone as she aimed the weapon at his partner. The man immediately raised his hands high to prevent himself from being shot. "I'm not a good person to piss off, and right now, you're pissing me off. They are going to stay right here and guard my ship to make sure that your men don't get too curious and start rummaging around inside it. Meanwhile, you and your little cockroach buddy here are going to take me to your security office so we can "talk." Is there anything you missed there?" she asked threateningly as she stared dead into his eyes.
The man shook his head, his greasy hair sliding back and forth on his scalp. "N-No! I-I got it! Must have just been a misunderstanding!" he said frantically before she finally shoved him backwards. When he managed to straighten his jacket again, he held his hand out for the firearm, but Shepard tossed it into the water and crossed her arms, as if telling him to go get it. Sighing to himself he turned and waved for her to follow.
It took literal minutes to get to the small enclosure that he called the security office. "So, this is the security office for the entire port?" asked Shepard as she eyed the small building questioningly.
"That it is, though most of it's underground, the main block of the office is up here," he said as he opened the door for her. But she shook her head with a glare. Growling, he entered and punched a code into a small pad on the wall that disabled the security system. "You appear to know this place a little too well," said the greasy man in annoyance.
"No, I just know your kind. I know there's no way in hell you'd be nice enough to hold a door for me unless you intentionally wanted me to walk in first," she said as she stepped inside the building and activated her omni-tool.
"So, you knew the reason why I wanted to bring you here was so that we could strip your ship to pieces. Why the hell are we here now?" asked the man with a mix of ire and worry in his voice. It was pretty easy to tell that he was worried that this shabby building would be his coffin.
"I'd like you to meet my associate, Wizzle," said Shepard as Zellin stepped forward. At hearing the fake name, the salarian glared over at the woman, who winked back at him in amusement. Turning back to the human, he lifted a briefcase and opened it.
"Hello human, we are here to make a small transaction with you," said the undercover spectre as he shifted through the datapads inside the case.
The man cocked an eyebrow as his partner perked up in the corner. "What kind of transaction?" he asked curiously.
This time, Shepard spoke up. "We know you work for a "family," and we're not here to piss anyone off. But I'm looking for a man who arrived here, likely yesterday in a ship that looks like this," she said as she pulled up a model of the shuttle.
"Ah, yeah. I remember that really well," he said as his greasy smirk returned.
Her gaze hardened again. "We're going to pay you a small fee to not notice that we're here. Meaning you don't tell whatever family it is you work for that we're in this city, in this system, etcetera."
"Understood. Under the table, didn't see nothin'," said the man as he sat down and smacked his knees joyfully.
"I'm glad to hear you're onboard," she said as Zellin pulled out a credit chit and set it on top of the briefcase.
"This here is an encrypted chit that is secured firmly to a small pulse device. If you try to remove it, the pulse device will go off and destroy it. If you enter the wrong code, the pulse device will go off and destroy it. And if you wait for a full standard 20-hour day, the pulse device will go off and destroy it. I hope you understand the point I'm trying to get across," said the salarian as he eyed the gangster human.
"Yeah yeah, I know how this works. You give me this, I let you do your thing, and when your job is done and you leave, you transfer me the code to unlock it," he said as he took the small device. "What's to stop you from leavin' me high and dry when you go to leave though?" he asked as he eyed the pair.
"What would be the point of putting credits on a chit to just let it get destroyed when I leave?" she asked as she sat in one of the grimy chairs against the wall. "If you keep your word, then you'll get the code. But if you break your word to me for any reason, not only will you not get the money. But I won't leave this planet until I've painted this office with your blood," she said in a threatening tone that could have frozen his swaying hair flat to his head.
He stared at her for a long moment before looking back at his buddy. "You know...I feel like I've seen your face somewhere before…"
"Probably on GNN about a week ago when I was inducted as a Spectre," she said as she rested her chin on her hand. Her words took immediate effect as his eyes widened and he looked over at his partner, who also seemed awestruck.
"That's right! You're that dame that the Council made to take down that turian prick!" he said, almost excitedly.
"That's me. And you and your family ought to know that the kind of people that are made Spectres aren't to be trifled with," she said solidly.
"Look, lady, I saw a Spectre work once, and I ain't tryin' to make myself a part of that. So, you leave this baby here, I keep my lip zipped, and you pass me the code on your way out the door. Otherwise, I'm keepin' my mouth shut until I'm asked to speak," he said as he began visibly sweating.
Smiling lightly, Shepard nodded. "I'm glad to hear that. Now, you take your gift, and I and my assistant will be on our way," she said as she stood up and headed for the door. Stopping in the entrance, she looked back at him with a grim stare. "Oh, and don't worry about any evidence," she said as she held up her omni-tool. "Nobody but you two will ever know I was here."
The man went wide-eyed for a moment before spinning in his chair and activated the terminal on his desk. To his ire, her entry into the computer had been wiped, and all of the camera feed for the entire time she was here as well. "Damn crafty bitch, I'll give her that…"