Chapter 18
Hangar Bay - Armstrong Station
The Normandy made a relatively smooth landing at Armstrong Station, the Alliance Special Forces training facility located near the flag that was placed on the moon's surface back in 1969 CE. As the frigate landed, the entire ground team crew crammed themselves into the small shuttle before landing in the Alliance hangar.
As soon as the hatch popped, Garrus and Liara both fell out face first due to how tightly they were packed inside. "Wrex, you wanna lay off the gravy?" asked Garrus as he slowly got to his feet.
"How about I give you a hug instead, that way that large chest of yours isn't taking up so much room?" said the krogan as he stepped out of the pod, no worse for wear.
"Spectre," came the words from the Admiral as he stepped up to the vehicle. "I take it these are the crew you mentioned?"
"All accounted for. One krogan, one asari, one turian, and two humans. The quarian you don't need to worry about, her suit stays on under any circumstances," said Shepard as she removed herself from the cockpit of the vehicle and approached the admiral. Reaching up, she removed her helmet and nodded. "Where are the medical stations set up?"
"If you'll all kindly follow me," said the admiral as he nodded to them and began walking towards the far end of the hangar where a bunch of tents were set up. Stepping up to the first one, he held up his hand. "Miss T'Soni, if you wouldn't mind, our medical staff would like to make sure you aren't bringing any contaminants in your system," he said, getting a nod from the asari before she stepped inside. Then came the next tent. "Vakarian," he said, and the turian ducked his tall head as he stepped inside the tent. "Urdnot…" said the admiral with a stern gaze. It was clear that he didn't approve of the krogan being here.
"Why are humans always so afraid of disease? If we were to contaminate the place, then that'd kill your weak," said the krogan as he shook his head.
"Wrex…" growled Shepard as she narrowed her eyes.
"Ugh, fine. But tell them I'm not getting naked for anyone…" he said as he opened the tent flap to find a human woman that was larger around than the ones he had normally seen. "Hmmm... on second thought…" he said as he entered the tent.
"Williams and Shepard, you two can use this tent. The staff should already be inside. Alenko, if you'll come with me," ordered the admiral, getting a nod from the stoic lieutenant.
Shepard and Ash entered the tent together and Ash finally took off her helmet as they sat in front of the doctor. "Please remove your armor and any clothing underneath," said the medic as she typed away at a datapad.
"Does this count as fraternization?" asked Ash smartly as she reached up and began undressing.
"Only if you start fondling me Williams," said Shepard as she followed suit.
"I'll keep my mitts to myself, sir," said Ash as she finished her armor and pulled off her top. When the pair were finally naked in front of the professional, the woman reached down and handed them two small thin strips of metal.
"Place one of these in your mouths under the tongue, and one under one of your armpits," commanded the doctor as she finally looked up from the data pad. The soldiers followed her order. "Good, now hand them here," she said as she took the strips and slid them into a small device. "Now, both of you please raise your arms up and and do a full circle for me," she said, allowing her eyes to thoroughly examine their forms. "Have either of you had any sexual contact with any species outside of humans in the last year?"
"In the last year? No," answered Shepard as she finished her full rotation.
"That's a negative on me, ever," said Ash as she eyed Shepard curiously. Suddenly, her eyes grazed an oddly shaped marking on the commander's body, just over her breast. It was unfamiliar symbolism to her. She found herself wondering if it was some kind of tattoo, or maybe just a burn mark. "Been a while since I had an exam this thorough," said Ash jokingly as she too stood facing forward again, allowing the nurse to see if there were any odd skin afflictions or signs of disease. She noticed Shepard's scar, then looked down at her datapad. Ash caught the tail end of the medical note that simply said [Burn Scar – Torso: CLASSIFIED].
"We have to be unfortunately, especially with turians in your group. Being dextro-amino, most diseases between our species would simply die off, which is all well and good. But it's the ones that don't we have to watch out for," said the woman, and Ash nodded gently.
"There's bacteria that don't die off?" said the gunnery chief.
"That's right. Bacteria that can survive both levo-amino and dextro-amino species are especially dangerous. They can freely spread and breed between the two until it eventually mutates, and then begins to kill," said the nurse as she held up a small medical looking pistol device. "Now hold still please."
"How often does that happen exactly?" asked Ash as the doctor put the pistol-like device against her hip and hit the trigger. She felt a small sting, causing her brows to furrow as the woman took a blood sample.
"The mutating? All the time. Humans and turians work together on the Citadel frequently. Most of the mutations are relatively harmless," said the woman as she looked up from her datapad. "But the thing about bacteria is that there's millions, even billions of them. Most of the billions die, some don't and mutate. But all it takes is one lethal mutation to jump from a turian to a human. We had one guy a while ago trying to come back to Earth to get medical attention. Poor guy looked like he'd been hit with the plague. Black patches of necrotic skin, rashes everywhere, trouble breathing, trouble seeing... we had to contain him. As it turns out, he caught something from a turian woman on Illium that he said he paid to go raw on."
Ash's face warped to disgust. "Ugh... he was eaten alive by a turian STD?" she asked in horror as the woman took a sample of Shepard's blood as well, nodding as she did.
"And he paid for it, literally and figuratively. We had to contain him, and we couldn't figure out how to fight it while he was still alive. Eventually, the thing got to his heart and stopped it," she said as she shook her head and tested the blood. "Luckily, what he had wasn't airborne, or else the party that found him might've been infected too."
"And before you ask, Ash, because I know you're going to, yes. They were all checked before I let them on the Normandy, with the exception of Liara, who was checked by Doctor Chakwas as soon as she boarded," said Shepard as the woman stood up with a small penlight.
"Open your eyes wide for me," she ordered as she shined the focused light across their eyes. "Spectre, have you been getting enough sleep? Your eyes look like you've missed a few days," she said, raising her eyebrow slightly.
"I'm a Spectre now. That means less sleep, unfortunately," she said, getting a nod from the doctor and a curious look from Ash.
You won't be a very effective Spectre if you aren't sleeping properly. Don't let the ads lie to you and convince you that stims are an easy replacement. Because they're not," she said sternly before smiling. "Otherwise, you're both good to go. Feel free to get dressed and meet the Admiral outside. He should be waiting for you.
As the doctor left, Ash bent down and began to pull her clothing back on. "I'll never take not being sick for granted again..." she said morbidly as Shepard began dressing next to her again.
When they were finally redressed and armored again, the pair stepped outside to find everyone but Wrex had already finished. Tali, who didn't have to go through the process waved at her as the pair approached. "Well, you weren't carted off with hazmat tape wrapped around you, so I take it that means you're good to go," said Garrus with a small chuckle in his voice.
"That's right, Vakarian, you didn't get your cooties on us," said Ash with a smirk.
Garrus looked at her in confusion. "I... I'm sorry, my translator must have bugged. What was that?"
"Oh... right, turians probably don't know about cooties," said Ash as she reached up and scratched her head. "It's like... when human boys and girls are young, they have a puberty phase that they go through. But before that, they kind of have this awkward stigma that the opposite sex is gross. I guess the cute name we gave it was cooties," she said, getting an even more confused look from the turian. "It's... complicated…"
"Odd. Even at a young age turians are typically paired off with their future spouses. They pretty much grow up together, then are engaged under Tal Vas. So, it's strange to hear that a species would detest the opposite gender at a young age," said Garrus as his mandible clicked curiously.
"It's more of a societal thing than a natural thing. Often in turian culture, men and women aren't separated for much of anything. Military, sleeping, bathrooms, it's all unisex on Palaven and the colonies. Humans have a bigger societal dimorphism between male and female, which leads to lots of odd intricacies like cooties," said Shepard, before she scratched her head curiously. "Wait, so were you paired with anyone as a kid?" asked the commander.
Garrus looked away suddenly, his mandibles twitching. "I... don't want to talk about it…"
Before anyone could grill the turian about his potential marriage, a loud smacking sound interrupted the conversation. Everyone turned and a red-faced doctor emerged from the tent and stormed off in a huff. Wrex soon came out afterwards with a noticeable handprint on the softer tissue of his face. "All I did was tell her that on Tuchanka, she'd be a decent breeding female given her size," he said as he walked over to them and huffed loudly. "Humans are so sensitive…"
Shepard rolled her eyes and rubbed her head gently as Hackett finally approached them again. "Wrex... I really need to teach you how to interact with the rest of the galaxy…"
"If it doesn't involve the barrel of a gun lighting up, then I'm not interested," said the krogan as the admiral finally approached.
"All social issues aside, it looks like you're all good to go. Please follow me to the current operations room," ordered Hackett as he turned and walked away from them towards a hallway.
Shepard moved first, glaring at Wrex as she passed. Then came Ash, who shook her head with a demeaning look. Liara passed with her arms crossed, not even looking at the krogan. And when Tali passed, she kicked him in the shin right in a sensitive spot. "Son of a whore! What the hell was that for!?" he growled as he shook his leg. Kaidan and Garrus walked by both looking as if they were trying to keep from laughing. "What the hell is wrong with you all!?"
Operations Room - Armstrong Station
It took a few minutes to reach the operations center that the Alliance had set up to try and take back the facility. And as soon as Shepard walked through the door, her eyes widened as she saw a familiar face. "Well, if it isn't the Paine in my ass," she said as she immediately went for the handshake.
The woman, decked out in Alliance officer greys, smirked back and clasped hands, her lighter red hair tied up in a bun. "Well, if it isn't the first 'official' human Spectre!" said the woman as she shook her old friend's hand.
"Official?" asked Jane with a cheeky smile.
"Oh yeah. They picked you because the Alliance would fall apart without me. Everyone knows it," said the woman with a challenging grin as her grip tightened.
Shepard chuckled and returned the challenge before Hackett cleared his throat. Both of them loosened their grips and turned to the man. "I understand you two haven't seen each other in a while, but I'd appreciate it if we could save the pleasantries until after the men are safe."
"As you like, sir," said Paine as she stood at parade rest.
Shepard, however, was less than courteous. "With all due respect, Admiral, they're in this position because of lack of oversight. That's why you called us both in here, is it not?" she asked sharply.
"Yes... it is," he said, a bit hot under the collar.
"Yes, it is. Now, instead of pointlessly reminding us how important this is, how about we get down to what we know about the facilities?" she asked with her eyes narrowed.
Letting a small sigh out of his nose, the admiral activated the holographic table between them. "As you know, the facility is divided into three separate branches. The Hildr for typical combat firearms training, the Skuld for tech skills and survival, and lastly the Göndul for biotics training... minus Odr, of course."
"Minus what?" asked Tali from the sidelines. "What exactly is that? It doesn't translate well to Khelish…"
"We can go over that another time," said Hackett, clearly avoiding the topic. "It's not in the facility, so you won't have to worry about going through it," he said, straightening himself again as he then pointed to the map. All of the facilities have drones in them that are controlled by the simulation program. They were meant to test the skills of anyone going through them, and only those with the skills of a true Special Forces operative would be able to pass."
"Couldn't you cut the power to the facility?" asked Garrus curiously.
"Unfortunately, the facility draws its power from solar energy. The panels we use are on the roof of the facilities, and even if we managed to get past the turrets and somehow destroy the panels, there would still be enough power stored for a week," said the admiral as he looked at Shepard.
"Well, what's the plan then?" asked Wrex as he looked down at the holographic map. Reaching down, he touched one of the buildings, causing it to go translucent enough to see inside. "Huh, fancy…"
"Alliance defenses aren't that simple unfortunately. In order to lock this thing down, we're going to need to destroy all three of the servers in the back of each facility. Because apparently someone didn't take my advice about installing a separate kill switch on them," said Paine as she eyed Hackett.
"Look, ladies, I'm with Fifth Fleet on Arcturus. I had nothing to do with this situation, I'm just here to help clean it up," said the admiral in exasperation.
"We also can't just go from one to the other because each building cleared makes the others more difficult. One adds shields to the drones in the others, then tech immunities, and so on. So, we're going to have to split up," said Shepard as she turned and looked at her group. "Ash, Liara, Garrus, you three are taking the Biotic Course," she said, getting a surprised look from the three.
"The three of us?" asked Williams, stunned at the lineup.
"We'll need at least one tech, and one biotic on each team. Ash, you're the tank for your team, the heavy hitter. Liara is your biotic backup and Garrus can handle the tech," she said, getting a nod from the three. "Kaidan, despite Wrex's protests, you're in charge of him and Tali in the Tech Course. Tali will handle the tech, you can handle the biotics, and Wrex... well, Wrex will do what Wrex does," she said eyeing the krogan.
The mercenary grumbled to himself, looking away from the female commander. "I just wanna remind you that I ain't gettin' paid for this…"
"Noted," said Shepard as she pulled her weapon out and checked it.
"Wait... Shepard," said Garrus, causing her to look up. "That just leaves you for the final wing! You can't seriously expect to go in there alone!"
"Of course she isn't. I'm going in with her," said the Alliance officer next to Shepard as her body lit up with biotic power. "I've got a mean left hook too," she said as she stood up and stretched. "Suppose I should go ahead and get my armor on. Them buildings ain't gonna clear themselves," she said as she marched off.
"You two sure you're gonna be alright without backup?" asked Hackett curiously.
Shepard looked at him with a grin. "Wanna come with?" she asked, getting a deadpan glare in return. "You didn't call me here because I'm an amateur Admiral. I'm here because I know how to get it done. If I didn't, I would have recommended bombarding the facility from orbit and cutting your losses," she said sharply.
"Understood Spectre. I'll go ahead and get your transportation ready and prepare the Wet Blanket," said the man as he too left the operations room.
"Wet Blanket?" asked Garrus curiously, looking to the commander.
"It's a code name for our electromagnetic pulse weapon. A bomb that goes off and short circuits anything with a microchip within its reach. Unfortunately, the training facilities are too far down for it to turn off the VI. However, they're probably going to use it on the turrets so that we can approach," said Shepard as she put her helmet on.
"I see. That should give us a few minutes to get inside," responded Garrus as he followed suit. The others did as well, except for Tali, who was already fully suited. Instead, she checked her weapon to make it look like she was preparing as well, which Shepard found adorable.
"Alright guys. Here's the deal. These branches are pretty basic as far as buildings go. Göndul is a giant room with a bunch of materials for biotics to utilize during combat, but there are also turrets you'll have to deal with. At the far end, you'll find a hallway with high powered weapons on either side that are meant to test biotic barriers and shields. It's past this that you'll find your server," she said, looking to Liara. "Liara, being an asari, your biotics are a lot more powerful and don't have as much of a drain on you as they do for other races. You should be able to use that to your advantage, as most of these setups were for human levels of training. That's why you are in charge of the first team."
"M-Me?" asked the asari nervously.
"Yes, you. You know your capabilities, so you would best know when and how your team should react. Utilize them when you need to rest. Otherwise, they are on overwatch for you. Garrus, Ash, I expect you to keep a close eye on her and make sure nothing surprises or overwhelms her," said the spectre, getting a nod from the other two. Turning to Kaidan's team, she sighed lightly. "Kaidan, I know you're at least decently tech savvy. But your big ace in the hole... uh... advantage here will be biotics. The drones in the Skuld branch were meant to train for cyber warfare and weren't as well built against biotics as the ones in the Göndul branch. That's why you and Wrex are both on this team, and Tali is here to back you up. With her skills on top of yours, you should make it through pretty easily. The facility is comprised of a lobby-like room in front, and a serpentine hallway filled with checkpoints that need hacked, turrets that need deactivated, and traps that need disarmed."
"Understood, Commander. I'm sure we'll get through just fine," said Alenko confidently as he looked at the other two. "Uh... Wrex?"
"Yeah yeah, I got it. Don't charge ahead," grumbled the krogan who knew what was coming.
Shepard chuckled, before a question turned her head towards the asari. "What about you, Shepard? What will your wing be like?" asked the doctor curiously.
"The Hildr branch is pretty simple as far as design goes. It's one giant long stretch of building with columns, desks, and hard-light holographic projectors. It's supposed to simulate you getting into a firefight inside of an office building with civilians, but the worst of all of this is that though the drones are non-lethal, they can still knock you unconscious. Their shots are meant to put you out of commission, so if you're not careful, you will be on the list of collateral damage if we fail. So, whatever you do, do not let your guard down," she ordered as Commander Paine walked back into the room spinning a baton in one hand with her firearms locked onto her back.
"We ready to go?" asked the commander as she looked at the spectre, her helmet already in place.
"As soon as the Admiral gets our vehicles ready," said Shepard as she opened her omni-tool. "Let's head to the hangar and wait for them," she ordered as she stood straight and began stretching out. "While we're waiting, you guys work out your plans of attack or potential strategies you have moving forward. Because once we're on the shuttle, there's no more time for practice," she said as she led the group out of the operations room.
Göndul Compound - Valkyrie Wing - Armstrong Station
The door sealed behind the three rapidly as they entered, and the sound of the shuttle gunning it back to the main station was cut off as the facility itself lit up. Liara stared down the hallway in front of her while Ash and Garrus checked their weapons. The walls of the facility were as dark as granite, but the corners of both the ceiling and floor had soft-glow lighting that showed them their path.
"Alright then Doc, what's the plan?" asked Ash with a bit of a snippy tone to her voice.
Liara wasn't sure if it was because Shepard had put her in charge, or if she had done something to offend the woman. But she ignored it, and instead got her brain to working. "Despite what Shepard told us, we don't know if the VI has changed anything about the insides of these facilities. Right now, our best bet is to move forward with caution and see what changes, if any, have been made before formulating a strategy," she said as she looked at them both.
Williams cocked an eyebrow at her before responding, her tone now gone. "That's... actually a solid point. I'll go ahead and take lead," said the gunnery chief as she knocked on her helmet and raised her assault rifle.
"I'll take middle then and provide cover. Garrus, you watch our back in case these walls have any tricks," said the asari as she raised her hands.
"Provide cover? What do you-" started the chief, but her mouth dropped open when a blue barrier surrounded them. "Right... humans are still learning to do that. Sorry," she replied before slowly moving her way forward. Liara followed, allowing the barrier to move with them while Garrus watched their back with his own assault rifle.
Soon, they came upon what looked like a disaster scene. They currently stood in the entrance, which was separated by a partition from the large room beyond. In said room, a large conex was bent nearly in half and looked like it had made a fairly heavy impact on the wall, while tons of broken and smashed wooden crates lie in shards. In the corners of the room stood several metal crates that looked like they had been fired at relentlessly. Even the windows that viewed into the large room beyond were cracked beyond repair from bullets.
Almost as soon as they stepped up to the window, six auto-turrets on the ceiling, and four mounted into the floor all turned and began to fire directly at them. Liara strengthened her barrier just in case, but despite the turrets' persistence, they could not pierce the glass. "Take cover behind the partition for now!" she ordered as she led them towards one of the windows. Garrus and Ash both ducked down behind the barrier, and Liara released her shield as she too took cover.
"Damn... they weren't kidding about this thing going haywire. We aren't even in the room and they're trying to take us out," growled Ash as she popped her head up to peek through the window, only to be scared back onto her behind when one of the turrets fired again.
"Alright, so how are we going to do this?" asked Garrus as he took his sniper off of his back. "I could try to take them out through the doorway, but they'll be able to see me just as easily as I can them."
"Do they have any kind of reload time?" asked Ashley as she looked to Garrus.
"Let's find out," said the asari, getting both of their attention as she stepped into the doorway with her shield up again. From the angle she was standing, only one of the turrets could fire at her, and it did. For a full thirty seconds it fired non-stop at her shield. It got to the point where her breathing began to pick up slightly as the abuse to her shield wore on her. But finally, the turret stopped, its barrel smoking.
Immediately, Garrus jumped up with his sniper and blasted the turret off of its stand, sending scrap metal flying everywhere before pulling Liara back into the room and into safety. "Damn, they're light-based weapons. Our kinetic barriers aren't going to do anything," he growled as he looked up. "Oh spirits no…"
Ash and Liara looked up just in time to see a swarm of drones zoom out of the far end of the hall, all headed straight for the door that hid them from the turrets. Liara's eyes widened before she took a deep breath, then released it as Ash and Garrus both moved to try and cover the open doorway. "Get down!" she ordered, keeping them from moving.
"But…!" Ash started to protest. But she simply growled and threw herself into cover. Garrus followed, bewildered at the order before Liara raised her hands, now covered in blue energy. Reaching forward, the cracked and weakened plasteel window shattered and blew into the room. Liara then reached out with her other hand as the drones all focused on her standing in the now open window.
Out of nowhere the conex that was against the nearby wall suddenly lifted up, then slammed full force into the wave of drones as all of the turrets began firing. Ash jumped up and hugged the asari just as the turrets began to fire, her back taking most of the barrage as her face contorted in pain. Liara released the conex and lifted her shield again, causing the soldier to collapse at her feet.
"Williams! Are you alright!?" asked the doctor as she knelt down out of firing range again, Garrus' rifle taking out another of the turrets as they were focused on her.
"I'll live. But next time, tell us the plan and we can orchestrate it better!" growled Ash as she fought through the pain. "Now that there's a window open, why don't you take the fire from the turrets while we take them out from the sides?"
"An excellent plan," said the asari as she moved towards the edge of the large window. Garrus and Ash nodded to her from either side of the door, and she once again stood up with her shield covering her in full sight of the turrets.
As soon as Garrus or Ash got in sight of one of the turrets, it turned to focus on them, but it didn't get a chance to fire before their own weapons tore the targets to shreds. "It's a good thing they use cheap turrets in here…" said Garrus as he ejected an overheating sink and replaced it.
"They have to. With how many trainees go through this stuff, could you imagine if they used expensive ones?" said Ash as she finished the last of the turrets with her assault rifle.
It wasn't long before the sounds of more drones buzzing down the far hall could be heard again. "Damn, they've got more!" shouted Garrus as he took cover again. Ash reached down to her belt and tossed three black disks towards a nearby crate that was apparently too strong for the turrets to break.
"T'Soni! Throw this!" shouted the soldier as she pointed at the heavily marred box.
Liara lit up again and hurled the crate into the oncoming drones with her biotics. As soon as it was in their midst, Ash hit her detonator and an explosion tore most of the drones into scrap metal. The resounding explosion caused Ash to slam into the asari, making them both fall to the ground as metal rained imbedded itself in every wall.
If there were any drones left, Garrus managed to take them out as the asari cleared her head. The gunnery chief climbed off of her, her own head shaking at the concussive blast they had just endured. Liara stood up and helped the human to her feet. "Are you alright?"
"Been worse…" she groaned as she finally stood to her feet. "But this is a close second," she said as she looked down and saw a piece of metal sticking through her armor. "Damn…"
"Williams!" shouted Liara as she saw the injury, but the woman held her hand up.
"I've got it!" growled the human. But the asari gripped her wrists tightly and refused to let go.
"No, you do not have it! I may not be as well versed in medical science as I am in Prothean history, but I am sure that I am more well prepared to remove such an object than you are. Now stop being stubborn and let me take it out!" snapped Liara, her eyes set as she glared through her visor at the human.
Both Ash and Garrus looked at one another, the human wide-eyed and the turian with his mandibles probably twitching under his helmet at the situation. Finally, Williams turned back to the asari and nodded. "Alright, all yours, Doc," said the gunnery chief as she laid her leg flat.
The asari reached down and freed one of her hands from their gauntlets before reaching down and gently poking the area, getting a flinch from the human. "You appear to be lucky. Your armor snapped off most of the rough parts, so there shouldn't be much penetration by jagged edges," she said as she reached up and gripped the metal shard.
"Yeah... lucky me…" growled Ash as she closed her eyes.
"I'm going to pull it out on three, and we're going to let the medigel cover the injury until we can get you some proper medical attention," said the asari as she looked up at Ash. Reaching up with her gauntleted hand, she gripped the woman by the back of her helmet. "One…" she said slowly, then immediately yanked the metal out of the puncture site. It came out smooth, but not without the human erupting into a stream of curses as the doctor pulled Ash's head into her neck.
Williams practically hugged her, weakly trying to pound at the woman's armor in her pain. But finally, it died down. "You blue bitch! You said you were going to do it on three!" growled Ash as Liara began to apply the medigel.
"Patients often tense up when they are expecting it. Tensing here could have resulted in further injury. So, I made sure to lessen the chance of you tensing by doing it when you weren't expecting it," said the asari as she finished up, then pulled out the small pack of space-proof sealant that came standard for the Alliance. Putting the nozzle over the armor, she sprayed until it was sufficiently covered. "Now, you are going to stay here until Garrus and I get back. We should be almost through with this place once we get past the hallway."
"Like hell I'm staying here!" growled Ash as she attempted to move. But the asari's bare blue finger pointed directly at her visor. "Shepard said I am in charge, and my orders are to stay here! Do you understand?" snapped the woman.
Ash was about to snap back when she saw the faint glow of the asari woman's biotics covering her form again. Which meant that her fight or flight response had triggered as a reaction to her trying to order Williams to do something. Clearly seeing the nervous state that the asari was in, Ash chuckled to herself before lying flat on the ground. "Fine, you're the boss," she said, silently commending the woman for fighting her fears.
Liara looked surprised for a moment before nodding. "G-Good!" she said, turning to Garrus. "Let's hurry and get to the server. The others should hopefully be close to finishing theirs as well."
"You got it Captain," said Garrus cheekily as he got to his feet and checked the assault rifle he held. Together, the two made it to the end of the room together and stepped into the next hallway. On either side of the wide path were small, square, openings up and down the wall. Unfortunately, they wouldn't be able to just duck under this one and proceed. "Shepard said that this was supposed to test your shields. Are you going to be able to make it all the way to the end?" he asked nervously.
"I... I do not know. I've already used more biotic energy in the last ten minutes than I probably had for my entire life prior to this," she said as she began to shake her hands as if to prepare herself.
"You don't use it in everyday life?" asked the turian curiously.
"I work with very sensitive objects Garrus. Most of them are over fifty thousand years old. My biotics would turn them to dust…" she said as she eyed him.
"Fair enough," he said, moving his hand in a circle. "Either way, I'll try to lighten your load a bit by taking out some of the turrets ahead of time. Hopefully that should get us through to the end," he said as he put his assault rifle away. It wouldn't help them here.
Liara raised her hands in the usual formation to raise her shield. "On three," she said, taking a deep breath.
"Wait," he said, getting a curious look from her. "You actually mean three this time, right?"
"Yes, Garrus. Actually on three this time," she said as she activated her biotic shield, covering them both just enough to fit inside the hallway. "One... two... three!" she shouted, then they both began to sprint down the hallway. As soon as they entered the area, the open crevices on both sides began to fire relentlessly, raining light-based projectiles down on her shields. She immediately flinched at the force of the two sides crushing her in the middle, but some relief was offered when one of the turrets turned and began firing at a wall thanks to Garrus.
Switching sides, Garrus shut down another of the turrets, giving her some much needed relief as her shields began to weaken. She wasn't sure they were supposed to fire this rapidly, or of the VI was responsible. But whatever it was, it was quickly draining her power. Her shield began to slip as she kept running, her eyes drooping slightly as her breathing became more labored.
"Garrus!" she shouted as she almost stumbled past the halfway point.
"Yeah!?" asked Garrus as he went for another turret.
"Run! As fast as you can when I say now!" she said, her lungs now sucking in oxygen rapidly. "Now!" she finally shouted as her shield collapsed under the near-constant firing. Garrus disabled one of the turrets and sprinted and a breakneck speed, growling as he never looked back. His legs worked like machines as the light hit him in the side. He ignored the pain as he increased his speed, the world almost slowing down as he finally burst around the corner.
In his immediate way were four more drones that began firing on him, but he used his momentum to spring off the wall and scored a roundhouse with his bladed spur that sheared one of them in half and speared the other. His omni-tool lit up as he landed, causing one more of the drones to fall as its lights blinked out. But he ended up taking three more painful shots to the chest from the last drone before reaching up and grabbing it, then kicking it directly into the wall hard enough to make it short out.
At the end of the hall, he groaned at the pain in his leg from straight kicking a metal object, then limped towards the control room nearby. The door slammed shut, but he hacked it and pried it back open manually once he had cut the VI off from accessing the controls. Finally, he limped inside and pulled one of his explosives off, then tossed it onto the storage device and walked away. As he left the room, he closed the door, then detonated it without looking back.
Activating his radio, he said tiredly, "Vakarian here, we cleared the Göndul Compound. Spirits be with the rest of you." The lights went off as the server went down, but red emergency lights turned on in their place, allowing him to make his way down the hall where Liara lay prone. No sounds of firing turrets anymore, so he hoped that he had done the job and wasn't just walking back to a corpse. "T'Soni! You still alive?" he asked as he began to limp down the hall.
"Barely," she responded, coughing roughly as she got to her hands and knees, her armor smoking from the burns. "Do the red lights mean we did it?" she asked as her labored breathing began to come through her comm as well.
"I think so. Spirits help us if not," said the turian as he reached down with one of his hands. The asari reached up and grabbed his wrist, allowing him to pull her to her feet.
"What happened to your leg?" she asked as she began to trudge back to the entrance with him.
"Laser burns, then a straight, unhindered kick to a metal drone," he said with a chuckle as they both headed back to recover Ash.
CODEX ENTRIES
Tal Vas | Culture | Turian
Turian marriage contracts are segregated into three different categories. Tal Vas, the lowest tier of the three, is a simple contract signed by the parents of the two individuals acknowledging their courtship, or the individuals themselves if they are adults, notifying others that they are no longer available. This contract is little more than a declaration of engagement and is oftentimes given to turians who are family courted and paired together. The only thing needed to annul the contract is the signature from one of the two parties involved.