I don't own either AvP or Mass Effect
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Therum, Knossos System, Artemis Tau Cluster
Run! Liara ran, perhaps faster than she had ever run in her life. She could hear the noises of her pursuer's behind her. Don't stop, don't look back. A large shape moved overhead, blotting out the light of the sun. Smaller shapes dropped down ahead of her. More geth! It was insane. Completely insane. No geth had ever been seen outside of the Perseus veil since the Geth War. And now, they were on Therum, chasing an asari archaeologist who had never even given them a thought. She swerved, ducking behind a building to get out of their line of sight. If she could get far enough away from them, she might be able to double back and get to the shuttle. Taking off would be dangerous with the geth ship overhead, but so far none of them had fired a shot. For whatever reason, it seemed as though they wanted her alive.
The geth ship fired its guns; not at her, but at a target behind her. A flash of light behind her lit up the area, followed by a rumbling noise while the ground shook. So much for that plan!
The loss of her shuttle was a disaster. Not only did it mean she was stuck, but the shuttle had contained her long range communication system. Without it, she had no way of contacting anyone, either to warn them or to ask for help. It also meant that she had lost her supplies, meaning that any help that was sent was likely to come too late. Don't think about that. Worry about the present. The future can wait.
Up ahead was the entrance to one of the main buildings. It had been put in place by a previous expedition that had started to investigate the ruins but had been withdrawn before they could complete their task. But she had taken a look earlier and the system still worked. There was even an elevator that would take her down to the lower levels. If she could get inside, there would be far more opportunities to hide.
-0-0-0-
USM Normandy, Artemis Tau cluster
The mass relay flashed and USM Normandy decelerated into local space.
"And, done! Welcome to the Artemis Tau cluster. All systems functional, stealth mode engaged"
"Thank you, Mr Moreau." Shepard looked around the briefing room. "Well, so far so good. The problem is that for some reason this particular expedition only lists 'Artemis Tau' as their destination. Not a planet, not even a star system. So, we've got our work cut out for us."
She activated the central screen and a local star map appeared. "If I were an asari archaeologist, where would I be?"
"They were looking for prothean artefacts," Vakarian said. "And I cannot imagine that they launched an expedition purely on speculation. Far too expensive. So, we're looking for a planet with clear evidence of prothean settlement."
"Agreed." Shepard gestured at the map. "I looked through this on the way and there is one: Therum, Knossos system. Not a very inviting world because of the volcanic activity, but there are extensive prothean ruins. Definitely a candidate. As for the other systems. Hmm..." She checked her notes. "Forget about Athens. Two gas giants, an ocean world, and a half-molten rock. No known prothean ruins. Besides, the star is unstable. Any expedition there would require massive logistical support. Far more than a typical science team could muster. Same goes for Sparta. One planet that might have supported life at one point but is now a ball of ice, no evidence of prothean presence and dangerous because of constant meteor bombardment. Not a place for a small scientific expedition.
Macedon..." She hesitated. "A distant 'maybe'. A couple of planets that kind-of qualify as inhabitable. The star is weak but stable, and there is actually one planet marked as inhabitable by the volus. They've made overtures to the United Systems for colonization rights. Smart move. We don't technically own anything in Artemis Tau, but it's right on our border and there would have been trouble if they'd just move in." She shook her head. "I wonder how that will work out. Most humans would oppose it, just on general principle, but it's not as though we have much use for an ammonia-based world ourselves. We'd need to put in an atmospheric processor just to make the air breathable. Figure a hundred billion credits and decades before you can walk outside for even short periods. And then we'd still have the problem of the lack of sunlight, so it would remain a frozen hell. Cannot set up a greenhouse effect either. The star just doesn't produce enough radiation to heat that planet. So, if they're willing to pay for it, maybe make some trade concessions and pay the passage fees for the local relays ..." She shrugged.
"They would," Vakarian nodded. "The Vol Protectorate doesn't lack for money and they're always eager to pick up that kind of planet. And it's not as though they're a military threat to you. Your people could do a lot worse."
"Perhaps," Alenko said. "But it's a political decision; so, not necessarily a rational one."
Shepard smirked a little. "Truer words were never spoken. Anyway, we'll keep it in mind. If the planet got surveyed for colonization, they might have found something that's not in the records. But right now Knossos seems to be our best bet. Other than Therum, which shows clear evidence of prothean occupation, there is a second planet we might need to check out: Armeni. Flagged as being of archaeological interest because of some underground stuff. Supposedly, a giant alien graveyard. Not prothean, but definitely a potential destination for archaeologists." She saw Vakarian twitch. "What?"
"That would be illegal," The turian said rather stiffly. "Gravesites are considered off-limits for archaeology, or any form of exploitation."
"Under Council law, maybe. Not under ours. We've dug up every ancient human gravesite back on Earth that we could find in the name of science. And this is the Traverse, so legally speaking it's not really under anyone's jurisdiction. If these science types are in the system they might decide to drop by, just to take a look. Anyway, it adds another incentive. Any other nearby stars either have no planets at all, or it's just small airless rocks and gas giants. Knossos it is." She activated her communicator. "Mr Pressly? Calculate a course for the Knossos system, best speed."
-0-0-0-
Therum, Knossos system
There was noise behind her, footsteps with a distinctive metallic sound. Liara looked around. There was nowhere else to go. No more tunnels, no corridors. The elevator would just take her back to the surface, where the geth would be waiting for her. A place to hide? Not likely. They could take their time. They were machines. Logical, precise. They weren't going to get bored. There was a control panel to the side. Even now, Liara couldn't quite stop herself from checking the symbols. No time for a proper translation, no time for real study, but still... Some of it made sense. This place, it was supposed to be some kind of prison. A place to keep people -or animals, or something- contained.
The noises grew louder. A prison. It would be designed to keep you in. But that would also keep others out. But there were no doors, no bars. Not even a sign that such a thing had ever been here. She looked at the panel again. There! An activation switch. It might be, it had to be.
More noise, very close now. There was no more time. The first geth came out of the tunnel. Liara didn't even bother to step to the panel. Her biotics flared, reaching out and slamming down on the panel. A force field snapped up, blocking the entrance to the small alcove she was standing in. Then, something else activate and she found herself lifted into the air.
-0-0-0-
Knossos, Outer system
There was a flash of light as the ship came out of FTL.
"Welcome to Knossos."
Shepard looked out of the bridge window. "Are we back in stealth mode?"
"Yes, ma'am. And we're doing passive scans only. So, we're completely invisible." The pilot grinned. "Unless, you know, somebody just walks to the window and looks in our direction."
"Right." Shepard shrugged. "Well, you cannot have it all. Until someone comes up with an infiltrator cloak that can cover a whole ship, we'll just have to make do." She fell silent for a moment. There was something at the back of mind, a memory about... Shepard shook her head. It didn't really matter. "Anything on those scanners?"
"No, ma'am. So far, no other ships sighted. Shall I get us to Therum?"
"Yes. And stay in stealth. If there is anyone out there, I don't want to spoil the surprise." She looked at the second bridge station, where one of the scan techs was working the instruments. "Focus on Therum and its orbitals. Depending on the kind of ship they used, they may have parked it in orbit and taken a shuttle down. If so, I want to know."
"Ma'am, I'm getting something on sensors," The technician looked up from her display.
"Well, don't keep me in suspense."
"I cannot be sure, ma'am. It's just bits and pieces of transmissions, but we saw something similar on Eden Prime. I think it's these geth again."
"I see." Shepard looked at the display, but couldn't make out anything. Not that she really expected to. This kind of analysis was an expert's job. "Keep monitoring. But be careful. Remember: AI. We don't want to give them a chance to infiltrate our systems. Oh, and prepare a copy of what you record. Now that we have an expert on these things on board, we might as well make use of her expertise. Speaking of which," She turned to Lieutenant Alenko, who had joined her on the bridge. "When you go to the hangar bay, knock on the door of that sterile room we've set up. I want the quarian on the team when we go down there."
"We're deploying ground-side, ma'am?"
"Oh yes, as soon as we have a location. No way this is a coincidence. If the geth are down there, it's for a reason and it's not because they like sightseeing. I want everyone assembled in the hangar in full gear." Shepard looked at the pilot. "Mr Moreau, prepare for a Mako drop. Let's see if that thing works as advertised."
-0-0-0-
USM Normandy, Therum orbit
"Commander?"
"Yes?"
"I'm getting a distress signal. I think it's the science team."
"Are they under attack?"
"No, ma'am. They're parked on the surface, but there is no sign of geth activity near them."
"I see." Shepard shrugged. "Might as well answer. Stealth, or no stealth, the geth'll notice us the moment we hit the atmosphere anyway. But keep it on a tight beam. No need to advertise our presence more than necessary."
"Yes, ma'am." The technician's fingers flew over her keyboard. "Communication channel open. They have the carrier wave."
"Good." Shepard activated the communication link.
"This is USM Normandy. We have received your distress call. Please advice as to the nature of your emergency."
There was a short pause then:
"This is the Armali University Science Vessel Paranea. There is a geth presence on this planet. I repeat there is a geth presence on this planet. Proceed with extreme caution."
Shepard grinned. "Thanks for the warning, but, eh, we already know. Are you in immediate danger?"
"No. We detected their ships as they approached the planet, but they have not come near our position."
"Why have you not left the system? The geth must be close to the ground. There is no indication of any ships in wide orbit. You should be able to take off and make for the outer system."
"A member of our team is missing. She took one of the shuttles two day ago to visit a prothean ruin outside of our immediate research area. We've been trying to get in contact, but she isn't answering. I'm hesitant to leave until we know what happened to her."
"I see." Shepard thought for one second. "This person. What is her name?"
"Why is that important?"
Shepard sighed. "It is relevant because I requested the information. If nothing else, it'll be easier to search for her if I know what name to shout. Now, are we going to waste time arguing, or will you answer my question?"
There was a moment of silence.
"Dr T'Soni. Her name is Dr Liara T'Soni."
"Thank you. Please hold your present position and send us her last known coordinates. We will proceed and extract her if possible."
Shepard looked up.
"Well, well. The plot thickens."
-0-0-0-
"Ladies and gentlemen, and I'm using that term in the most general sense possible, we are going to make history. This will be the first time ever that a multispecies combat team has deployed from a USM warship. I hope you are all suitably awed by this momentous occasion." Shepard looked around the hangar bay. "Good, now let's get to business. According to the science team, Dr Liara T'Soni took a shuttle three days ago to inspect a second prothean site. From what I understand, these ruins had been partially explored by an earlier expedition, but they pulled out before they could finish. Seems that when the United Systems started settling in the Skyllian Verge they got scared that we might block the mass relays, cutting them off from Citadel Space."
"Why?" Kaiden Alenko looked genuinely confused. "Why would we do that?"
"Because we're human and therefore inherently evil and out for archaeologist blood. Or something like that. Seriously though, this was about twenty years ago, so I can understand that they'd be nervous. Interspecies relationships weren't exactly good. Anyway, it seems they figured that those ruins weren't going anywhere, so they just left their equipment in place waiting until they could come back. Except, for one reason or another they never did. Now, with this new expedition nosing around on Therum, Dr T'Soni decided to take a look and see what the condition of that old dig site is and whether it might be worthwhile to continue their work as well as the new digging that they've started elsewhere. That was three days ago."
"And the Geth attacked just as she was separated from the rest of the team?" Vakarian asked incredulously. "That cannot be a coincidence."
"Agreed. They must have monitored their transmissions and decided that this was the perfect opportunity. The question is, what do they want with her? Frankly, I think this is bad news for us one way or another. If they want her dead, I doubt we can get to her in time. In fact, I would assume that she's dead already if it weren't for the fact that the geth are still around. But even if they intend to take her alive, that would seem to indicate that she's not in direct contact with her mother. Otherwise, this Benezia could just have given her a call, instead of sending a bunch of robots. Still, we have to try. The science team has given us a location, but we cannot land right on top of the dig site. There isn't a whole lot of room, and there are several geth ships in that area. None of them is particularly big, but we're not here to fight a space battle and I see no reason to tangle with them if we don't have to. We'll come in low, drop a couple of kilometres out in the Mako and proceed from there."
"Now," Shepard continued. "We haven't had an opportunity to train together but that cannot be helped. We also have a very narrow time limit, if we aren't too late already. Therefore, I intend to keep this simple. We'll drive the Mako straight to the ruins and just shoot our way through anything that gets in the way. No fancy tricks, no sneaking around, just straight ahead and to hell with the geth." As she spoke she could see the grin forming on Wrex's face. At least somebody appreciated the beauty of simplicity. "Once we're at the ruins, we'll deploy on foot. Jin, Estanza, you two have the most experience with the Mako, so you stay with the vehicle and drive it out to a point where Moreau can bring Normandy down to pick you up. Everyone else comes with me while we search the buildings or whatever is left of them. Frankly, that's all the planning I can do until we know more. Just keep in mind, we want the asari alive, so exercise some muzzle control and try not to shoot any holes in her."
"What if we cannot get her out alive?" Vakarian asked.
"We fall back." Shepard shrugged. We're here to retrieve T'Soni, not to go on a geth hunt. If we cannot get her out alive, there is simply no point in continuing. I'll alert USM headquarters, of course, and they can come and blast the place or drop a battalion of troops here, but that's their concern, not ours. Meanwhile, we need to consider what we'll be facing down there. On Eden Prime, we saw three types of units. A basic infantry model carrying an assault rifle, a small recon and support drone, and a heavy unit that's basically an upscaled infantry soldier with heavy shielding and more firepower. The thing is, they didn't seem very smart. Their entire combat strategy seemed to be limited to: Identify a target, converge on it while shooting, repeat until the target is down. Honestly, I didn't see much sign of real intelligence. Any half-decent computer program could have directed their operations. So, I'm not sure how effective they're going to be. Ms Zorah? Any thoughts?"
Tali looked up. "It would depend on how many there are."
"How many?" Ashley Williams frowned. "Why would having more robots make them smarter?
"Not robots." Some irritation bled through the translation software. "Geth aren't robots. And I'm not talking about the platforms." The quarian made a gesture that the translation routines could not interpret. "The units that you see aren't individuals. They are just mobile hardware platforms. Geth are software routines. The number of active routines on a platform varies and the more there are, the smarter they become as a collective unit. So one platform may simply walk in a straight line while shooting, while another seeks cover and tries to get around your flank even though there is no difference in outward appearance. On top of that, they communicate between platforms. So, if there are more platforms operating as a unit, they make each other smarter. The effect is limited by distance. As they spread out, contact times become longer and they become less effective."
"I see." Shepard thought for a moment. "Can they relocate, from one platform to another?"
"Yes. They can also copy themselves to a server. So even if you destroy the platform, chances are that the geth routines themselves survive."
"Interesting. So, if a single platform comes under attack, then, in theory, these routines could move from other platforms to the one in trouble to make it more effective. Or they could move out of the platform and just abandon it if they thought it wasn't worth saving."
"Certainly. Most likely the latter. The platforms have no individual value and can be easily replaced. But if the software routines are lost, the geth as a whole become less intelligent."
"Good to know." Sheppard nodded. "All of that might explain why the ones on Eden Prime used relatively simple tactics. By the time we landed, they were spread out all over the place. We never encountered more than half a dozen of these platforms at a time. Perhaps they were unable to concentrate enough of those geth programs to reach a higher state of intelligence. Or perhaps they no longer cared. They had the beacon and the survival of individual platforms no longer mattered. In any case, I guess we cannot really predict how effective they will be. So, just apply as much firepower as possible and hope for the best. Which brings me to the other possible opponent. I'm talking about the biological that was deployed on Eden Prime, the xenomorph. Unfortunately, my own information on these things is limited. Prior to Eden Prime, we thought we were rid of these things, so it had no priority in training. I've sent out a request for more info but I didn't receive an answer yet.
So, let's just limit things to my personal experience. Bottom line, as far as I can tell, this is an animal. A dangerous one, yes, but still an animal. It's fast, it's strong, it has a lot of teeth, but it isn't a tool user and it doesn't have any guns. So, as long as you keep it at a distance you're fine. Not really a threat in the open where you can see it coming, but very nasty in confined spaces. Short story: don't ever let them grab you. They can go through armour with one punch. Also, they bleed acid." She waited a moment for comments. None came. "Yeah. They bleed acid. I guess because the universe isn't messed up enough without something that bleeds acid. And not just a little bit. According to the information I currently have, that stuff will eat through standard armour and still be potent enough to seriously injure or kill whoever is inside it. Right now, we have no way of dealing with it in the field. So, again, keep them at a distance."
She shrugged. "Right now, that's really all I can say. Incidentally, if they're around that should be a pretty good indication as to whether Saren wants the T'Soni girl alive. I don't know to what extent he controls these things, but I can't imagine anyone trusting them with a 'capture alive' type of mission."
She looked the others over. "Williams I see you've upgraded to a Draco rifle. Good. You'll need the extra firepower. As for the rest. Ms Zorah, no offence, but I don't want you in combat if we can avoid it. So, stay behind the shooters and focus on tech support. As for the rest, I figure you're all set? Vakarian?"
The turian drew what looked like a block of metal and synthetic material of his back. It folded out into a long-barreled rifle with scope even as he moved. "All set, Shepard. Just give me a target."
Shepard smiled. "Oh, don't worry about that. Unless I'm sadly mistaken, we'll have enough targets for everyone. Wrex?"
The krogan grinned and lifted his shotgun. Shepard's eyes widened. The weapon deviated considerably from the standard element zero based weaponry commonly found among Citadel species. For one thing, it didn't fold itself up into a block. For another, it almost looked sculpted, like a throwback to pre-industrial human firearms, rather than the straight lines and sharp edges of a modern weapon.
"Well, hello. I haven't seen one of those in a while. You didn't have one back on the Citadel."
"Graal Spike Thrower," Vakarian commented. "Designed to kill anything up to -and including- Thresher Maws. Strictly illegal in Citadel Space."
"But we aren't in Citadel Space, now are we, C-Sec boy?" Wrex grinned even more. "You say we might be hunting some animals, Shepard? Trust me, when it comes to hunting, nothing beats a Graal."
"I'll take your word for it." Shepard shrugged. "And the legal issues aren't my problem. Anyway, is we're all good, let's board the Mako. Trust me, you're in for a ride you'll never forget."
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A/N: Unlike in the game, I'm not going to have Shepard & Co. Search star system after star system when some simple deductions based on generally available data could narrow the search area down considerably. Also, none of that stuff with the Dantius family sidequest that takes place in the same area. That's one of those things that work in a game, but not in a story. Seriously, how would that play out? 'Excuse me, sir/ma'am. I know that you're a government-employed military officer and that taking side jobs for foreigners would lead to an immediate court-martial, but while you're on your super important, time-critical mission, could you do me a favour and make a small detour?' You know, in real life, I actually have a package that needs to go to the USA and I think there is an American warship in the nearby harbour right now. I'll just ask the captain to take the package along. Wait, why are there police officers in full combat gear approaching my house?
In canon, Liara is completely alone. Again, for purpose of a game that is fine. But, in terms of a story, it doesn't make much sense. University-based archaeological expeditions are always large affairs and even if Liara somehow managed to organize her expedition as a private venture, doing it alone makes no sense. If she can afford the equipment and a trip halfway across the galaxy, she can also afford to pay a few assistants. So, I tried to strike a balance that maintains realism but still explains why she is alone in the ruins.
