Chapter 41
Aleutsk Valley - Skadi Mountains - Noveria
"How the hell did she pack those into crates!?" shouted Shepard angrily as she once again found herself swerving the even smaller armored vehicle around on the icy path leading to the Peak 15 facility.
"There's no way they would allow boxes as big as armatures through without opening them! These must have been dropped to the surface elsewhere and travelled over the mountains to get here!" yelled Liara as she held onto the safety bar above for dear life.
"Geth have their own mobile heat sources to protect them from the elements. Even without them, they are highly resistant and almost immune to the cold!" replied Tali as she held onto Wrex for support.
"Even better, this damn vehicle doesn't have a gunner-controlled weapon! So now I have to drive and shoot!" shouted the spectre as another two blasts impacted the area behind them, causing another flurry of snow and ice to shoot into the air from the explosion. "It was bad enough to leave ground troops behind. This is just overkill!"
"Quit complaining, Shepard!" said Wrex as he growled at having to squish himself down into the vehicle.
The armatures showed up as soon as they left a tunnel and entered the actual valley. They were across a wide chasm, which made it only harder to hit them accurately with the blizzard going on. But somehow the mechanical monsters were able to target them with near pinpoint accuracy. "How are they so accurate!?"
"Our heat signature! The geth can track thermal signatures! We probably stick out like a sun in this blizzard!" said Tali, flinching as the vehicle turned again, causing her to get slightly impacted by Wrex's massive form.
"Well, great. They can find us, but we can't fire at them. We can't get close because this damn thing doesn't have shields, and we can't stay far away because then we can't hit them!" growled the woman as she continued to make her way down the icy path, her concentration on dodging and trying to keep the vehicle from sliding over the edge of the frozen path.
"Shepard, we may not have to hit them," said Liara as she spoke over the sound of another explosion behind them.
The spectre eyed her curiously. "How do we kill them if we don't hit them?"
"We don't have to kill them! At least not with the gun!" she said, but from the look on Shepard's face, she still wasn't understanding. Shaking her head, she spoke again. "Shepard! Aim the gun at the mountaintop!"
The spectre's eyes widened as the idea entered her mind and played itself out in front of her very eyes. Switching one of the screens up, she examined where the geth armatures were on the path across from them. And sure enough, they were standing near the edge, craning their heads as they continuously fired their high-speed weapons. Continuing to drive forward to keep them from getting hit, she divided her focus slightly and pointed the vehicle weapon upwards, above their heads to an area that was still clearly a part of the mountain.
Once she was sure the weapon was locked, she hit the fire button and it began unleashing chain gun hell upon the cliffsides. It was a few long seconds of anticipation before a loud cracking sounded across the valley. Everyone in the vehicle looked over to see as a sheet of ice had broken off and began sliding down the mountain. It gathered snow with it as they turned around the bend, the gun turning to take out a few more ground troops as Shepard finally stopped the vehicle.
The avalanche of ice and snow slammed into the pathway and exploded off the edge. The armatures that were refocusing their aim were hit from behind and kept a second's worth of ground before they too were swept up in the slide. Picked up from the ground, the machines were hurled over the edge of the canyon and sent soaring into the depths below. As the sheet continued to crash down the mountain, Shepard turned and looked at Liara curiously.
The asari looked aside shyly. "In my twenties, I went on a trip with my mother to the Laynara Mountains on Thessia. I was caught in an avalanche while I was on my own but was fortunate enough to have been found early."
Shepard stared at her for a few moments longer before reaching forward with both hands and gripping either side of the asari's face. Liara squeaked in surprise before the spectre pulled her close and kissed her fully on the lips.
"Ugh... gross," said Wrex as he looked away.
Tali sat back in her seat, rigid as she watched the public display of affection. She too looked like she wanted to tear her eyes away, but instead she sat riveted on the spot.
After a few seconds, Shepard pulled away and sighed. "That's for getting us out of an impossible situation. Thank you," she said, her own pale cheeks flushing intensely as she grabbed the wheel again. Liara's eyes were locked open as she nodded, her face seemingly frozen as if she had stuck her head outside the vehicle.
"Is that how humans thank each other?" asked Wrex curiously.
"Only if we share a romantic bond with someone," said Shepard with a cheeky grin as she looked back at the krogan. "Don't worry, Wrex. I won't be diving on you any time soon," she said as she finally began to move the vehicle forward. By now, the snow had settled again, coating the icy path and even making a bit more traction for the vehicle to travel on.
"Good. Krogan don't do affection. It's sex or nothing," he said matter-of-factly.
She cocked an eyebrow at him as she drove forward. "Little surprise krogan are the most war-like species in the galaxy."
Peak 15 Checkpoint Entry - Skadi Mountains - Noveria
It was entirely too eerie as they entered the small vehicle garage of Peak 15. The red warning lights were flashing constantly, but there was no sound, no movement. Shepard felt chills down her spine as she moved the grizzly forward into the area.
"There should be people here to check us in. Something is wrong," said Liara, who had finally recovered from her almost stone-like reaction to the kiss.
Wrex looked from the flashing warning lights back to the asari. "Really? What gives you that idea?" he asked sarcastically as he reached up to open the hatch on the vehicle.
Suddenly, Shepard's alerts went off as four heat signatures appeared all around them. "Brace for impact!" she shouted as four rockets streaked across the garage and hit the vehicle. All of them felt weightless for a brief moment as the entire thing was lifted from its wheels and hurled across the bay to roll to a fiery stop. "Fuck!" shouted Shepard as she panted heavily, a large bruise on her head as it slammed against the wheel. "Status report! Everyone alive?"
"Barely," said Liara as she shook her head with a pained look on her face, her lip bleeding from where it had been split open.
"Gonna take more than that to kill me. But I sure got a headache now," growled Wrex as he stood up and thrust himself against the hatch. The door, having suffered serious damage in the last attack, detached and flew off into the bay. "Those rockets will need a minute to recharge. Let's get the hell out there and take them out before they get a second shot!" he shouted as he jumped out of the vehicle angrily.
Liara took his advice and exited as well, but Shepard's eyes were wide as she stared back at Tali, whose face shield had a large crack down the center. She was breathing heavily, erratically even as atmosphere hissed from the break. Shepard immediately jumped from the driver's seat into the back and grabbed the woman by the shoulders. "Tali!"
The quarian slowed her breathing slightly and reached down into one of her pockets, her hands now shaking as she pulled out a small tube of sealant. Shepard immediately grabbed it and began to apply it to the cracks in her face shield, but the escaping air did little to help, as it blew away the adhesive as soon as it was laid. Tali reached up with her omni-tool and pressed a few buttons. Suddenly, her suit filters shut off. Shepard's eyes widened hysterically as she used the opportunity to finally apply the adhesive to her helmet.
Once she was finished, the quarian grabbed her hand and lowered it until it rested on her leg, where a small shard of metal now stuck out. "Fuck!" shouted Shepard as she felt herself begin to panic. Images of Jenkins and Nihlus flashed before her. Images of Sevene, laying half dead in the mako back on Elysium with one of her legs torn clean off from the gunship. She found herself beginning to panic as she tried to remember protocol.
But Tali, who had reactivated her filters pulled another tube from another mysterious pocket. Reaching down, she placed it into Shepard's hand. Shepard fumbled with it briefly before taking the safeties off, then she watched in horror as Tali grabbed the metal spike and ripped it out of her leg. "Aaaaah! Keelah!" she shouted, near tears as she did. The spectre immediately placed the nozzle near the wound site, then looked up at the girl.
"Are you sure you don't want medigel first?" she asked curiously.
"No… time. Infection chance… increasing," said Tali woozily as her head fell back against the seat.
Nodding, Shepard filled the wound with biogel, effectively sealing the suit puncture off. "Stay here," she ordered as she slammed her helmet onto her head and leapt out of the barely functioning vehicle. Whipping her pistol out, she saw that both Wrex and Liara were now behind cover, being cornered by yet another juggernaut. She furrowed her brows, pulling up her omni-tool to potentially get close enough for a grenade. Liara could use another full power attack, but after the one she used in Hanshan, she was already worn down.
Suddenly, she heard a loud growl behind her. Spinning around, she went wide-eyed as she saw Tali through the shattered windshield now sitting behind the wheel. "Payback time, bosh'tet!" she yelled as she slammed on the accelerator. Shepard stepped out of the way as the vehicle, while barely holding together, sped straight for the machine.
The geth spun around with its shotgun ready, but it locked up as Shepard sabotaged it before it could get a shot off. The nose of the grizzly slammed into the monster, nearly breaking it in half and destroying its weapon as she aimed for the concrete wall of the garage. As it impacted, the geth's legs fell clean off while Tali recovered from the impact. The machine reached forward and gripped the crumpled hood of the vehicle, trying to pull itself towards her.
The quarian breathed heavily, sweat covering her face as she reached down and unbuckled the safety harness. "I don't think so," she said as she stood up and pulled her shotgun free. Overloading the sink again, she placed it directly against the juggernaut's head and fired before it could make a grab for it. The blast obliterated the machine and sent her flying backwards off of the vehicle and tumbling across the ground. When she finally stopped, she looked up at three faces who now smiled down at her. "Fuck…"
Shepard snorted as she knelt down and looked into the quarian's eyes. "I see I'm a bad influence."
"Don't know what it means… but it sounded like the time to use it," said Tali as she panted heavily inside her helmet.
Reaching down, Shepard offered the engineer her hand. "And Joker said I should have a movie." Tali grabbed the woman's hand, then took Liara's as it was offered, and helped herself to her feet.
"You've got a lot of fire in your veins, Tali. Keep that up and I might consider making you my krantt," said the krogan with a large grin on his face. All three of them looked at Wrex incredulously. He looked from face to face to helmet. "What?"
"That's… that's the first time you've called me by my name," said the quarian with a grin showing behind her cracked faceplate.
"Oh…" he said as he looked down at her. "What do I usually call you?"
"Kid, or quarian, or some other simplistic identifier," said Shepard as she gave the krogan a stern look.
"Hmmm, guess you've earned your stripes with me," he said as he looked at Shepard. "Took you punching me in the face. Then again, that was almost right after we met, so I guess you grew on me quick."
"Yeah yeah, come on. Let's see if we can't find a medical bay to put her in so we can treat her. She's been injured," ordered Shepard as she and Liara both carried the quarian by her shoulder.
"Ugh, fine. I'm sorry," said the krogan as he stepped forward and swept the quarian woman off her injured leg. She stared up at him in surprise. "You don't heal like I do. You need to stay off that if you don't want it to get worse. Plus, biogel works with minimal movement. So, I'll carry you until we get you to a clinic. If they even have one here…"
Tali giggled and reached up, patting the krogan on his plate. "Thank you, Wrex."
Shepard tried not to smile as hard as Liara was at the scene but couldn't help it. Instead, she pointed them towards the checkpoint door. "Looks like the geth took out the welcoming party. Hopefully there's someone still alive in this place to answer questions," she said as she made her way up towards the doorway.
But any good cheer that Wrex's act of chivalry may have brought evaporated as they entered the hallway. Shepard and Liara both had pistols drawn as they led the way into the small, narrow room. There were turrets on either side of the hall, but the odd part was that they were pointing further into the facility rather than towards the exit. "Why are the weapons pointing the wrong way?" asked Liara as she looked at them both.
"They want to keep things in as much as they want to keep people out. Like the Cerberus R&D lab," said Wrex as he followed them in. Looking over at the plasteel blast shield to the next room, he shook his head. "Nobody in there either. Looks like we might be fighting more geth soon."
Shepard opened the door on the far side and signaled them all. "Elevator, let's go." They all stacked inside quickly and were rocketed upwards by the lift. Shepard glared at the door of the transport. Thus far, three of her squad, including herself, had been injured and they just barely got in the front door. She recalled the last two missions related to Saren and sighed. An exploding volcano and the thorian had briefly winded them, but the most grievous damage was some lung damage to Ash and a broken nose for herself. Whatever was going on in this place, she didn't like it.
Before, she was willing to concede that Benezia's donation here may have had little to do with Saren. But after trudging through the geth ever since they hit the garage, that possibility was now gone. Whatever she was doing here, it was more than just some pet project for the asari matriarch. Even being a traitor hadn't stopped them at the door, so she had no fear of coming here. The geth being here meant that this was important, something that was worth killing over.
The elevator crawled to a stop before finally sliding the door open. As soon as the door opened, her weapon was up and she moved forward into the tunnel hewn into the mountain. There was another door ahead and she signaled the others to take cover on either side. Activating her cloaking again, she opened the door and was immediately startled as a round was fired through it.
"Damn, they're probably covering every door all the way up to the lab," said Shepard as she slowly moved through the doorway. It appeared the shot had been reactionary as a response to the door opening. The sniper didn't currently see her.
"Whatever she's hiding in this place has to be big. You don't bring this kind of muscle for small stuff," said Wrex as he set Tali down gently before pulling his weapon off again.
"Damn, there's snow out here. They're going to see my footsteps," growled Shepard as she looked around the area. It was a small courtyard that was likely used for aesthetics and breaks from the monotonous lab environment. There were small tables and chairs that were scattered across the area as if a large wind had knocked them over. "I'm going to have to expose myself. Wrex, can you provide backup?" she asked as she spied the sniper hiding behind a table at the far end of the courtyard.
"Yeah, I've got you," said the krogan as he stepped up next to the door.
"When I signal, you come in and help me clean up what's left. Liara, you watch the door and make sure nobody gets to Tali," said the spectre as she brought up the UI for her grenades and cranked up the power.
"Heehee, and what should I do Shepard?" came Tali's voice, much more cheerful than she had expected.
"Damn, the sickness is already getting to her," growled Shepard as she sped herself up. Once her explosives were ready, she aimed directly at the wall behind the sniper.
"You could say I'm down with the sickness, no?" asked the quarian before she snickered to herself. "Such an interesting song…"
"She's becoming delirious, Shepard," said Liara as she stared at the girl with concern.
"Yeah, I got that. Thanks," said the spectre as she finally fired the explosive. Both the sniper and another geth looked directly at her before turning their weapons. But as soon as they did, she detonated the grenade. The sniper blasted into pieces and the backup was knocked backwards from the attack. This alerted the other geth in the area immediately. "Wrex, now!" she shouted as she whipped out her pistol and dashed for cover.
The krogan burst through the door into the courtyard and his biotics lit again. Within seconds he vanished and smashed into one of the geth that had moved down from the stairs to the office area above. As soon as he impacted, Wrex maneuvered quickly and blew the machine in half with a shotgun blast before he turned to another hiding at the top of the stairs behind one of their hexagonal deployed shields.
Shepard slipped around behind some of the tables, her eyes checking Wrex's position carefully as she did. Each step she took was carefully placed on an area of ground with no snow. But she stopped as she saw geth-like footprints appear in the snow in front of her. Growling, she gripped her pistol as the steps headed towards Wrex's position.
Leaping forward, she tackled the cloaked automaton, sending it sprawling with her on top of it. But it reached up and grabbed her by the throat and began squeezing harshly. Placing her pistol barrel against what felt like its chest, she squeezed and fired rapidly. The machine let out a chirping wail of clicks before its cloaking died and it went limp. Coughing, Shepard pried its hand off her throat before getting back to her feet and taking cover once more. But she sighed to herself as she saw that Wrex had already cleaned the rest up.
"Wrex, never let anyone tell you that you're not an MVP," said Shepard as she stepped out of cover and dropped her cloaking.
"Heh, damn right," he said with a smirk as he held his shotgun up. Shepard stepped up towards the stairs, but chills went down her spine as she felt a familiar tingling in her mind.
The spectre looked around with her eyes wide as she heard a metallic grinding as if something were shearing through the hull of a ship. "What the hell was that?" she asked with her pistol ready.
"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this," said the krogan as he too readied his shotgun again.
"Liara, Tali, go ahead and move forward. Me and Wrex are going through the break areas to make sure it's clear," she ordered as she nodded to the mercenary.
"Affirmative, Shepard," said Liara as she knelt down and got the quarian to her feet as gently as possible.
"Hey Shepard, did you know that your name in old English means 'animal herder?'" asked the quarian jovially as she stumbled along with Liara.
"Yes Tali, I'm aware," said the spectre as she let herself smirk for a moment. Despite her comedic behavior, Shepard knew that she had to get her to a clinic soon. Waving to Wrex, she led the way with her pistol. But the feeling in her mind wouldn't go away. Something horrifying, something disturbing was waiting ahead for them. She didn't know how she knew, or why she was feeling as if she was about to have a panic attack. But she knew she was ready for it.
Suddenly, a metal grate flew off the wall in one of the rooms right as she walked past the doorway. She spun around and aimed her weapon, but froze in place as she saw a large, four-legged insect with flowing tendrils aimed at her. It let out a shriek that felt like it was tearing at her brain. She nearly dropped her weapon as she went to grab her helmet. She didn't know what she could do to make it stop, but Wrex solved her problem as he charged into the room and blasted its side open with his shotgun.
The bug let out a pitiful scream before the krogan lifted his foot and crushed its head beneath his boot. Shepard fell to her knees holding her helmet as she felt a headache creeping through her head now. "Was that what I think it was?" she asked through gritted teeth.
"Yeah. These bastards have rachni here. Which means that Cerberus probably got theirs from the same place," said the krogan as he glared at her. "No more games with these ones, Shepard. If you get soft now, they'll cook your brain like a fish filet," he said seriously as he helped her up.
She shook her head to clear it. "Whatever they're doing to these things, they're not sane anymore. Putting them down would be a mercy," she said as she stared at him.
"Not quite the answer I was looking for, but as long as you follow through. I don't want to keep having to save your pyjack ass because of that big heart of yours," said the krogan sternly as he turned away from the insect's body and headed for the door.
"Either way, Wrex, you're still here under my orders. If I'm not in imminent danger, or if I order you to stand down, I expect you to follow those orders," she said as she followed him out.
He merely grunted at her in response. Liara carried Tali's weight as she brought up the rear. "How many elevators does this place have?" asked the asari in annoyance as she helped the quarian inside it as well.
"It's a multi-tiered facility unfortunately. So, we're probably going to be going up and down plenty of times," said Shepard as she hit the button for the tram floor. But it immediately turned red.
"The personnel tram is currently offline. If you need assistance, please contact the maintenance department. If this is an emergency, please contact the chief medical officer or head of personal affairs through the comm in the customs office blow," said a feminine VI voice from the speaker.
"Dammit!" growled Shepard as she hit the help button.
"Apologies, but the Mira help VI is temporarily offline. Maintenance should be along shortly to assist in restoring core functions to the facility," responded the speaker.
Shepard growled as she looked over at Tali. "Looks like we're going to have to restore the power before we can get the tram moving. Are you going to be alright?"
The quarian looked up at Shepard, her eyes much less jovial now. "I… I can feel it. It's pretty bad, but nothing I haven't experienced before," she said before looking away in embarrassment. "And, sorry I was a bit insane earlier. The first wave of effects from exposure usually make us euphoric."
"It's alright Tali. Just stick with us and we'll try to get you some sterile medication," said the spectre as she hit the button for the core.
Laboratory Core Facility - Peak 15 - Noveria
Shepard's skin crawled as she entered the core room first. The tingling in her now throbbing head was back, which meant there were more of the rachni nearby. It was bad enough she had to worry about Wrex accidentally blasting something in half that she didn't want him to, but now she had the literal galactic boogey men jumping out at her from the smallest compartments. She suddenly felt herself connecting with an old hero of hers from the vids, the claustrophobic feeling of walking down cramped halls with murderous aliens potentially hiding in every nook and cranny. She was thankful that they didn't have acidic blood at least.
Wrex stepped into the room behind her with his shotgun primed. She was grateful he was ready, as much to her surprise, a vent flew off the floor and a flood of the small worker class swarmed out towards her. Wrex took out most of them with a blast, leaving her to pick off the rest. "You alright Shepard? You seem a little jumpy at the moment."
"I preferred the bug aliens when they were in a glass cage," she said in annoyance as she scanned the area around with her multi-vision, a new upgrade installed after running into other stealth units. With geth stalkers around, she wasn't taking any risks. She looked the room up and down with thermal vision before switching over to x-ray. "Damn, we've got another one of the big ones coming through the ceiling," she snapped as she backpedaled and held her pistol up. Wrex merely stood his ground before aiming his shotgun upwards and blasting straight through the grate.
The insect-like creature shrieked loudly as he sent another destructive blast upwards, before it finally fell. Wrex growled loudly as its entrails spilled over his body, covering him in greenish muck. "Awww hell," he groaned as he tried to shake it off his gun.
"Well, Wrex, you love being out in front," said Shepard with a smirk. Turning towards the core, she kept her x-ray vision on until she found a small terminal on the outside of the core. After a few seconds of typing, she sighed. "Looks like the geth didn't want the tram working after Benezia used it."
"It might also be a safety in place," said Liara as she helped a limping Tali forward.
Shepard eyed her curiously. "Safety?"
"Facilities that do this kind of work always have multiple safety nets in place in case of containment failure. There's typically a last resort, some kind of satellite mounted weapon to destroy everything within kilometers. But they also have other measures. The guns we saw in the back hall, purge protocols, and especially lockdown of transport. Despite how… disturbed these creatures may seem, they are intelligent enough to use the tram."
"Well, they're here, aren't they? That means they've had to have used it," said Tali as she sat down against the core itself. Her breathing had picked up, and now she sounded as if she was about to hyperventilate.
"Maybe," said Shepard as she stared down at the girl. "Are you going to be alright?"
"I'll be fine for now, Shepard. My antibiotics are currently counteracting any infections I may have gotten. But I will need actual healing medication if you want me to be of any use while I'm down here," said the quarian as she looked up at the woman. "I-I'm sorry I'm such a liability."
Shepard's brows furrowed as she shook her head. "You're not a liability. Even while injured you took out that juggernaut yourself. I'll be damned if I could do that on my own with a spike in my leg," said the woman as she squeezed Tali's shoulder. "Now, sit tight here and keep your shotgun ready. No telling when those bugs will be back," she said as she stood up and walked around the outside of the core. At the far end, she stepped into an alcove where the main VI terminal was located. Reaching down, she activated it, and hooked her omni-tool into the system.
As the hard-light screens popped up in front of her, she examined them thoroughly with her brows furrowing. "What's the issue?" asked Tali as she slowed her breathing.
"Looks like the VI's power source was jacked to the main generator. So, when it unplugged, the VI went offline as well. We need their help in order to find out how to get the power back online," growled Shepard as she placed her hands on her hips.
"Compress the VI into a small package and see if you can transport their data to the backup power," said the quarian, her voice raised so that Shepard could hear her in the core.
Shepard's eyebrow flew up at the idea and she nodded. "Not a bad idea. They may not have access to the main system anymore, but they'll still be able to tell us what killed the power so we can repair it," said the woman as her fingers began working rapidly, moving fragments of data at a time from one server onto another. Once it was all collected onto the foreign server, she reconstructed the program and activated it. Almost immediately, she stepped back in surprise as a holographic figure popped up in front of her.
"Hello, I see you are trying to restore this facility. Would you like some help?" asked the VI as she looked at Shepard.
Shepard's eye twitched at the response, but she shook off her annoyance and nodded. "Yes actually. And what do I call you?"
"This system is known as Mira. My I ask your name so I can log this encounter?" asked Mira politely.
"Jane Shepard with the Citadel Special Tactics and Reconnaissance," responded Shepard as she crossed her arms.
"One moment, confirming identity," said the hologram as she looked towards the ground. Within seconds, she looked back up with a smile. "Identity confirmed, Spectre. You have been granted full access to all available systems," she said as she tapped her chin. "Please note that all queries related to private corporate matters requires privileged access from the Binary Helix board of directors."
"Of course it does," said the spectre in annoyance as she scratched her head. "Alright then, let's get to the point. You were online when Matriarch Benezia arrived at Peak 15, correct?"
"Affirmative. The matriarch checked in at the checkpoint entry upon her arrival," she said, then she looked away for a moment. "Alert, the checkpoint is currently unavailable due to an attack from unknown infiltrators."
"It's been taken care of. Continue," she ordered impatiently.
Liara stepped up to the platform and stared at the VI. "Benezia departed immediately to the Peak 15 hot labs after her arrival." The VI looked away again before turning its gaze back to Shepard. "Alert, the tramway is currently inoperable."
"And why did the tram become inoperable?" asked the Spectre curiously.
"There was a critical failure of procedure in the hot labs. Due to containment protocols, the main reactor shut down, taking all power away from the tramway and non-critical systems in the entryway," responded the VI dutifully. "A manual restart is required."
"What was this critical failure?" asked Liara, her own impatience now showing.
"A containment failure within the hot labs reached critical status. Chances of breach imminent, resulting in the containment protocol activating, severing my systems' landlines from the internal labs of Peak 15," said the VI.
"Great, so that means you won't have any information about what happened since," said Shepard with a groan before finally shaking the thoughts from her head. "Alright, how do we manually restart the reactor to power the tram?"
"In order to restore power, you will need to manually restore my landline connection to the Peak 15 facilities. The power lines from the core will need to be reconnected to their transistors. Once these are finished, the tram will be online and ready for use," said the VI.
"Alright then. We have our jobs," she said as she looked at her squad. "Wrex, you're on roof to reconnect the landlines. Liara, you stay here with Tali and make sure nothing happens to her. I'll reconnect the power," she said as she reached down and grabbed her pistol.
"Shepard, are you sure about this? There could be more rachni or geth down there," said Liara with an expression of concern on her face.
"I'll be alright, don't worry. Once I've connected the power, I'll be back down here and we'll get on the tram to find your mother," she said with a confident smile behind her helmet.
"Alright then," said the asari, her voice betraying that she still worried as she drew her weapon and sat next to Tali.
Looking over to Wrex, the two nodded to each other before heading in different directions.
Laboratory Core Roof - Peak 15 Noveria
He was somewhat relieved to be on his own for a change. While he enjoyed the company and comradery of working with a squad, Shepard continually frustrated him by insisting on doing things the hard way and talking things out. He snorted as the elevator stopped and the door hissed open for him.
"There better be something for me to kill up here," he complained as he stepped out into the freezing cold weather. Looking around, he held his shotgun ready just in case. "Now, where are those damn landlines?" he asked as he examined the area.
The roof was full of comm cables and towers used for projecting signals to and from the lab areas within, and even back to Port Hanshan for emergency procedures. But at the moment they were all dark and unmoving as if something had sucked the soul out of this place.
He stepped between a pair of the towers, but suddenly came to a stop. "Oh, damn," he growled as a rachni warrior shuffled out from behind one of the towers ahead. Immediately, he was hit was a wave of telekinetic static loud enough to deafen him. He let go of his shotgun with one hand and grabbed his helmet as if it somehow helped to ease the pain. "Bastards think you can cook my brain? Make me weak?" he growled as he gripped his shotgun again. "I guess you didn't learn your lesson last time!" he shouted as he charged forward.
One of the insects launched a biotic attack at him, but he threw his own up and ignored the blast as the combining dark energy detonated. One of the rachni opened its maw, but Wrex wasn't about to find out what it was preparing to do. He raised his weapon and blasted the bug's face off. It shrieked in horror and began to skitter around frantically as the krogan turned to the other. It looked as if it was charging another biotic attack, but he charged into it and slammed it against the wall, crushing its insides with his weight.
Turning away from the shattered rachni, he stopped as he saw another two of the bugs crawl up over the sides of the roof. "It's a damn infestation!" he shouted as he lit his biotics and charged again, this time the impact blew off the insect's legs and sent it hurtling off into the snowy white void below.
The other had already gotten a shot off, ejecting some kind of liquid onto his arm. Almost immediately he felt it searing through the armor and into his flesh. He roared in agony as orange filled his eyes again, his shotgun now forgotten as he sprinted for the creature. It screamed as its tendrils whipped out at him, but he felt nothing in that moment. His eyes were on his target and anything in his way would die as well.
Grabbing one of the whipping limbs from the air, he yanked the creature hard, sending it catapulting towards him. Lashing out, he headbutted the bug with his helmeted head with enough force to split a skull in half. But somehow this thing had survived. Reaching down, he gripped the disoriented creature and ripped both of its antenna off with a single jerk. Then, he wrapped his arms around its curved body and lifted it into the air over his shoulder. Letting out a loud battle cry, he slammed it down into the stone roof with a satisfying squish. Lifting it again, he slammed them down once more.
The shrieking had stopped, its four legs had gone limp, and the pain in his head from their telepathic attacks had stopped. But still he lifted it up and shouted, "This is for my ancestors!" before slamming it once more until the entire upper half of the creature exploded on impact. Letting go, he breathed heavily as his haze started to clear. Looking down at his arm, he groaned. "That's gonna leave a mark…"
He reached down to where his shotgun was and picked it back up before tracking down the landlines that had ejected from their connection points. Grabbing them with his good hand, he yanked on them to get some slack before sliding them into place and locking it manually, causing the towers around him to light up again.
Reaching up, he activated his comm. "Landlines up and running again. On my way back," he growled as he plodded away from the gruesome sight.
Peak 15 Power Block - Peak 15 - Noveria
She growled to herself as she saw geth patrolling the pathways that led to the electric generators. They were easy enough to see through the plasteel shield across the walkways, but the controls to connect them again were heavily guarded by the walking automatons. "Damn. Maybe I should have brought someone with me," she said as she activated her cloaking.
Sneaking out of the cover of the elevator room, she slowly crept across the metal pathway with snow flying wildly. She hoped that the blizzard would somewhat help her stay hidden and was thankful that the walkways here had internal heating to keep ice and snow from building up so she wouldn't have to worry about footprints showing. But, as she approached the far end of the walkway, she realized very quickly that she had made one very unfortunate mistake.
The nearest geth turned to her as she rounded the corner and immediately raised its weapon. She dove as quickly as she could behind the walkway safety barrier as he blasted at her with the plasma weapon, the shot causing the metal where she was standing previously to warp. "What the hell!?" she shouted to herself as she prepared her pistol. But as she pulled her gun up, she realized what had happened. The snow was falling and settling on her armor, creating an odd floating effect that outlined her frame almost perfectly. "Damn blizzard!" she shouted as she heard the the geth's footsteps approach.
Spinning around the corner, she placed the pistol against the geth's weapon and fired, destroying it before aiming up towards its head and putting a round directly into its optical light. Reaching down, she grabbed the heavy machine and tossed it over the walkway before seeing two more approaching her. Her multi-vision alerted her of another on the walkway above and she looked up wide-eyed to see one with a rocket launcher aiming directly at her. Her omni-tool flared, and she aimed at the rocket trooper, sabotaging it, and causing it to go limp. The rocket aimed downward, and fired directly at the machine's feet, blowing it into oblivion as Shepard began firing at the two much larger geth approaching her.
Backpedaling, she slid behind the cover and pulled another explosive out of her omni-tool, setting the power to max before slapping it on the safety rail. Then, she crouched down to keep from getting hit from their constant plasma fire and moved away as quickly as she could. But with her lack of focus, she slapped directly into something, which knocked her on her hind end. Looking up, she growled as she saw another invisible frame draped in snow standing over her. It reached down and grabbed her by the collar of her armor before jerking her to her feet.
She stared up at the invisible stalker as the ping for her grenade's proximity alert went off. Slapping her omni-tool, the explosive detonated, blasting the walkway off the cliffside and sending the two geth out into the white abyss as well. The geth's cloaking vanished, revealing a dark greyish plating with white stripes.
Reaching into her omni-tool strap, she pulled out her turian blade and jammed it into the creature's arm, causing it to lose its grip on its weapon as the ligament powered down. She then jumped and put all of her momentum into a dropkick, landing it directly into the automaton's chest. The blow knocked the geth backwards a few steps, but it still stood towering over her as she landed on her behind. Thinking quickly, she opened her omni-tool as Tali had taught her on Feros and hacked into the geth's now useless weapon laying on the ground. Pulling it up, she aimed directly for center mass and triggered it to fire.
The weapon charged for a second, then shot a blast of hot white plasma directly at the geth's torso. It blasted clean through, showing the melted hot edges of the wound glowing as the creature looked down at its injury. Suddenly, its optical light died and it fell to the side, sliding off the walkway and falling down into the abyss below.
Breathing heavily, she sat stared down into the white flurry. "Why didn't it kill me while I was down?" she asked in confusion. Sighing to herself, she sat down and leaned against the barrier as her comm activated.
"Landlines up and running again. On my way back," came Wrex's voice.
"Well, that's good news," she said as she heard the familiar sound of geth drones flying in from the white wilderness. Sighing to herself, she stood up again and activated her omni-tool. The small group of defenders began firing on her position on the walkway. Suddenly, their shields popped and return plasma fire burned them out of the air before they could do any damage. Sighing to herself, she looked around for her pistol and groaned as it was nowhere to be found. "Dammit, that was my favorite too," she complained before turning back to the walkway. Hopping over the plasma-burned hole, she made her way around until she finally stepped up to the console. Activating it, she watched as her command caused the power connection to slide back together inside the plasteel casing.
The sound of the joints locking together again was accented by the hum of power flowing through the cables around her again. She nodded, then turned around and made her way back to the others.
CODEX ENTRIES
Down with the Sickness | Art | Music
A rather crass song in the human Heavy Metal genre from the band known as "Disturbed." It came out in the year 2000 CE on the album "The Sickness." Considered a human classic, it was translated only a few short years ago by a Disturbed cover band known as "Shattered" into Galactic Common, where it had a popular run on the Citadel. It is still one of the number one song requested by krogan to Citadel radio broadcasters.
Multi-vision | Technology | Military
A visual indicator that scans on multiple frequencies at the same time, including thermal, x-ray, and sound vibration. Usually saved for the most secretive of infiltrators, it can only be fooled by the very best gear known to the galaxy.
Rachni Warrior | Culture | Rachni
In rachni society, the warriors are a class that are only outnumbered by the workers. Their main job when not in combat is assisting builders with nest duties. However, when a queen is in danger, they spring into action and fight ruthlessly to protect her. They have minor biotic capabilities, allowing them to lift and throw enemies, and have inherited a minor amount of the queen's telepathic powers, making it possible for them to harass and disorient enemies mentally. Finally, their most destructive attack comes from acid that can be spit at a distance of several yards. This corrosive substance can eat through even the thickest of armors in seconds.