I don't own either Mass Effect or AvP.
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USCSS Betty, Attican Traverse
Few people would have seen anything amiss about the mid-sized trading vessel coasting slowly through the local star system. At most, they would have wondered what a human trader was doing there, out in uncolonized space, where settlements were few and far between and pirates and slavers were an endless source of concern. True, the traders seemed reasonably well-armed for a ship of its type, with several defensive laser emplacements around the bridge, but that would not be much help against a serious attack. A more knowledgeable observer might have noticed that the ship seemed to feature more cargo hatches than was normal. Then again, cargo ships came in all shapes and forms and having additional access points to the cargo bay could be very useful. Such an observer might also have wondered about the rather extensive sensor and communications array that the ship sported. But, once again, such things were not unknown, especially for traders that risked venturing in the Traverse or even the Terminus systems. Being able to detect other ships and to send and receive messages long-distance could be very useful indeed. Captain Elgyn, officially a simple trader, unofficially USM reserve, certainly thought so, though the nature of the message he'd just received was far from pleasant.
"It seems like we'll have to make a detour, Ms Lawson."
"A detour?"
"New orders. We're to proceed to Feros at best speed to provide support for USM Normandy." Elgyn looked at his guest. "Commander Shepard has reported a new Xenomorph infestation. We're to evacuate any and all survivors."
"Evacuate? What about sterilizing the colony?"
Elgyn shook his head. "We have no orders yet in that regard. Instead, we're to, and I quote, take all necessary precautions and wait pending a decision by Arcturus HQ."
"And they won't make a decision until the General Assembly has made a decision, who will not make a decision until the Citadel Council has made a decision, who will not make a decision until the universe has died of its own entropy." Miranda Lawson shook her head, "Nothing new there. Captain, send a message to Normandy, so they know we're on the way. Then I will need to send several messages myself. Perhaps I'll be able to expedite things a little.
-0-0-0-
Feros, Zhu's Hope
"So, that's the situation," Shepard concluded. "There are two separate threats here. The xenomorphs in the old utility tunnels, and the Thorian, whatever that thing is, and its... creations in whatever hole we find underneath the colony. For the xenomorphs, the rules are easy. We stay defensive, keep them away from the ship, and evacuate asap. Not sure if the fleet will come and sterilize the place, seeing as how it's in neutral space, but that decision is above my pay-grade anyway. Now, the Thorian is a different story. I want to know what Saren and the geth awere doing here, and as I said before, there is no way that its presence is just a coincidence. So, I think it's time we paid that thing a visit."
"And what do we do about the xenomorphs in the meantime?" Alenko asked.
"Not much we can do." Shepard shrugged. "I'm certainly not going to crawl after them in those tunnels. The best we can hope for is that it will take them a little while to set up shop. That will buy us the time to deal with the Thorian. We'll reposition the automated weapons platforms to cover their most likely lines of approach if they decide to come out. We'll equip a few people with flamethrowers as a backup. Meanwhile, I want Normandy's crew out here. Have them drag the unconscious colonists over to the docking bay, so we'll be able to evacuate them quickly. And make sure everyone is checked for chestbursters: X-ray and sonogram. No shortcuts. If we're lucky, HQ will send us some backup. If not, well, then we'll have to fly them out ourselves."
"With all due respect, ma'am. Wouldn't it be better to wait? If you go after this Thorian and the xenomorphs attack, you could be cut off."
"What's the alternative, Lieutenant? If the brass decides to purge this place, we'll never find out anything. And if they don't, all we'll have achieved is a delay, and we still have to go down there. Right now, we don't even know if Saren was here. But the geth definitely came, and they wouldn't be wandering around here just to admire some old ruins. Besides, even if the xenomorphs attack, I think we'll be able to fight our way through. Xenomorphs need strength in numbers, and there aren't enough warm bodies on this planet to give them that. No, their options are limited here. Defensively, the automated guns will rip them to shreds, and I have no intention of attacking them where they live. Once I have the information I need, they can have this planet for all I care."
She walked back to the crane controls. Lifting the ship was simple enough. Underneath the hull, a hole in the floor appeared, with a staircase leading down.
"Alright, everyone. Time to go and get the job done. Wrex, Williams, Estanza, with me. Alenko, take everyone else. Set things up like we discussed and try to keep our escape route open."
-0-0-0-
The staircase spiralled down for what had to be at least a dozen floors, but progress was quick. There was no resistance, no xenomorphs nor any of the Thorian's creatures. Shepard and her small team continued on. A corridor stretched out like a dark tunnel from the bottom of the stairs, with a dim light at the end.
"That's daylight," Williams remarked. "But by now, we're below ground level. I guess there is an airshaft or something to the surface."
"Maybe this Thorian needs sunlight," Shepard shrugged. "I mean, it's a plant, and it has to get its energy somehow. Anyway, let's just see what we're dealing with. Check for any sign that the geth or Saren made it this far. Meanwhile-" She stopped in mid-sentence. As they emerged from the corridor, they stepped onto a gangway that spiralled around a large vertical shaft. Light was streaming in from the surface. In the middle of this shaft, suspended by long tendrils over a drop of unknown depth, hang an enormous brown mass.
"What The Fuck is that?" Estanza breathed.
"The Thorian, I presume," Shepard said. "I think we have a bit of a problem."
-0-0-0-
Zhu's Hope, Feros
"Lieutenant Alenko?"
"What is it, Mr Moreau?"
"We just got a message over the FTL. It's from a ship called the Betty. The same-"
"The same one we resupplied from. I remember. What do they want?"
"They say they're on their way to back us up. They have medical gear onboard to deal with the colonists."
Alenko's eyebrows rose a fraction. "So quickly?"
"Yes, sir. Looks like 'xenomorph' is the magic word these days."
"Good to know. Keep me informed. I want to know as soon as they're in-system." Alenko looked around. So far, everything was calm. "Any more good news?"
"Well," the pilot sounded a bit hesitant. "Not sure if this counts, sir, but the doc just told me that our resident quarian is waking up."
"Ah, that's good." Alenko looked around. So far, the colony remained quiet. Shepard and her team were still underground, dealing with whatever they found there and there had been no sign of-
"Lieutenant!" Jin's voice cut through his thoughts. "We have movement on the stairs. Something's coming up from the maintenance tunnel."
At that moment, the automatic guns opened fire.
-0-0-0-
Underneath Zuu's Hope
Shepard stepped forward, trying to grasp what she was seeing. The creature was massive. The central mass hanging over the airshaft was already large. On top of that, its tendrils, each thicker than a human being, reached out in all directions. There was no way of telling how much of the thing was beyond their sight. There seemed to be something vaguely resembling a mouth in the centre of its body, surrounded by tentacles that swayed back and forth.
As Shepard took another step forward, the tentacles suddenly contracted. There was a rush of some fluid, and a slender, humanoid form dropped to the platform in front of the team. Shepard involuntarily recoiled, hands tightening on her rifle. The tentacles drew back, revealing what looked like an asari in commando gear. However, where the typical asari varied in skin colour between azure and blue-purple, this one was grey-green. She looked around with eyes that were as green as her skin until her gaze settled on three humans and the krogan before her.
"Invaders! Your every step is a transgression. A thousand feelers appraise you as meat. Fit only to dig or decompose."
"Now that's just plain rude," Shepard said. "Also, I'm hardly an expert, but I don't think asari are supposed to come in that colour. You may want to have that looked at."
"I speak for the Old Growth, just as I spoke for Saren," The strange asari continued as though the Commander had not spoken. "You are within and before the Thorian. It commands you to be in awe."
"Sure, why not? It's quite impressive. Consider me to be in awe." Shepard shrugged. "But speaking of Saren, what exactly did he want here?"
"Saren sought knowledge of those who are gone." At least the asari seemed capable of some interaction. "The Old Growth listened to flesh for the first time in many millennia. Trades were made." Her eyes narrowed. "Then cold ones began killing the flesh that was promised. And the great serpents returned, ready to claim those that still lived. Flesh that should have served and tended the Old Growth. Flesh, that was fairly given. The Old Growth sees the air that you push as lies; your very existence an insult. It will listen no more!"
"Really? That's a shame. But I wasn't going to let it keep the colonists anyway. Still, maybe the Old Growth is prepared to do things the smart way, rather than the hard way."
"No more will the Thorian listen to those that scurry." The asari's eyes narrowed even further. The blueish haze of biotics appeared around her. "Your lives are short, but they have gone on too long."
"The hard way it is."
Even as Shepard said the words, she raised her rifle. At the same moment, a blue glow surrounded the asari's body. Shepard's finger tightened on the trigger, but Williams was faster. A burst of machine-gun fire hit the asari dead centre. Her biotic barrier held against the impacts, but she staggered and the barrier collapsed, giving Wrex the opportunity to rip her apart with a blast from his shotgun.
"Fall back!" Shepard herself jumped back to the gallery that ran around the airshaft.
"Movement!" Estanza gestured along the gallery. At the same time, Shepard's own motion detector lit up. It was not a moment too soon. At least half a dozen of the Thorian creepers rushed at them. Once again, they proved to be relatively easy targets as they simply charged straight into the gunfire. Still, if there were too many of them... Even as Shepard thought it, there was a noise behind them. More creepers, this time moving to cut the team off from the access corridor. Again, the team shot them down, but there was more movement in the darkness behind them.
"Shepard," Wrex moved forward. "We need to take this thing down. Now!"
"You won't get an argument from me, but how? I doubt it has a central nervous system. And even if it does, it's likely deep inside the body somewhere. So where do we shoot it?"
"What about grenades?"
"Same problem. All they'll do is cosmetic damage. Any explosives strong enough to destroy that thing might just bring the building down on top of us. Unless-" Shepard looked around. It's hanging over that pit. So it has to be attached somewhere. Probably a lot of places, because it has to be heavy. Her eyes followed one of the Thorian's tendrils.
"Look there. That tentacle, thing, whatever it is, has attached itself to the wall. That must be what's keeping it suspended. If we can cut those points off, the thing's own weight will do the trick. I guess we should have brought more explosives," Shepard shrugged. "Ah well, we'll just have to make do. Wrex, cover our backs. Estanza with me, we'll move ahead and clear the way. Williams, use the smartgun. Saw through that root, or whatever it is."
"You got it, ma'am."
Even before Shepard and Estanza could move ahead, Williams opened fire and a stream of bullets tore through the Thorian's tendril. It was a thick tendril, but the M-56 smart-gun was loaded with armour-priecing high-explosive bullets that were designed to cut through steel plates. Organic material simply could not stand up to that kind of onslaught. It lost structural integrity and fell apart.
"Nice." Shepard looked at the damage. "let's go people. Around and around until we've cut the whole thing loose. I just hope we won't run out of bullets first"
There was a weird, moaning sound that seemed to originate all around them. Then a new wave of the Thorian's creatures converged on them.
"Enough of this!" Wrex' biotics flared up, and several of the things went tumbling backwards and into the airshaft. More were cut down by bullets. But this time they had come uncomfortably close. they had to finish this. And quickly.
"Over here, Commander. Another one." Estanza pointed toward another of the Thorians's tendrils that has somehow attached itself to the wall.
"Okay. Williams- No wait. Williams, take over on point. Let's see what some explosives will do." Shepard unslung her grenade launcher and sent a high explosive projectile into the bio mass. It had enough velocity to embed itself into the matter and explode there. The tendril broke.
"So, that works as well. Good to know." There was another moan and their motion detectors lit up again. "And here they come. Brace yourselves!"
More of the Thorians's creatures appeared. But they were not alone. Behind them, in the half dark, Shepard saw the tell-tale blue flare of biotics.
"What the-" Shepard threw herself aside to avoid the incoming blast and was almost successful. Most of it passed by, but even the edge was enough to spin her around and toss her to the floor, her rifle flying away. She rolled over and kept rolling to stay away from whatever might follow next. Bullets passed over her head as Williams sent another salvo toward the enemy. As Shepard got to her feet, a familiar figure appeared. The asari rushed forwards with impossible speed, clearly using her biotics to propel herself forward.
Biotics were rare among humans and combat trained biotics even more so. Still, the USM had developed techniques to deal with them when required. Shepard rushed forward, just as the asari slowed down, closing the distance. The biggest weakness of biotics were the time that it took to power them up. Asari were better at it than humans; much better, but even so, there was always a delay and there was absolutely no doubt that an asari could not match a human in physical strength. Shepard simply threw herself bodily against the asari, slamming her to the ground, grabbed her around the throat, and squeezed. Hard. The blueish haze disappeared as the asari's concentration broke. Crushing her throat was a moment's work.
"Okay, next." Shepard looked up to see the rest of her team staring at her. "What?"
"Eh, nothing ma'am. Nothing."
"Good, I don't know if that was the asari's twin, or her clone and either way, I don't care. Let's go."
-0-0-0-
Another burst of automatic fire, another groaning noise, and another tendril broken. Shepard shook her head. They'd worked their way around and around, ripping off the Thorian's anchor points whenever they encountered them. meanwhile, the Thorian's defenses had not really improved. Wave after wave of its creepy creations had swarmed around Shepard's team, only to die under a hail of bullets. The asari, or her clone, or whatever it was, had shown up two more times as well, but had been overcome with relative ease both times. Lacking weapons and with her biotics performing less than impressively, she was unable to do much damage.
"Another one, coming right up."
The team focused on yet another tendril, ripping it apart with bullets. There was another groan, but this time, the sound seemed different, and it was intermingled with other noises, sounding almost like cables, snapping and breaking under stress. The ground turned into a scream, then silence.
"Was that...?"
"I think it was. let's take a look." Shepard cautiously moved to the edge of the airshaft. The brown-greenish mass of the Thorian's body had disappeared, leaving behind only strips of organic matter and slowly pulsating blisters on the walls.
There was a tearing sound and one of the blisters opened, and a familiar figure dropped down to the floor. Shepard leveled her gun and approached cautiously. It was the same asari, dressed in commando gear, but this time her skin was blue-purple rather than green. She stood up slowly and looked around.
"I-, I'm... free. I'm free." Her eyes met Shepard's. "I suppose... I suppose I should thank you for releasing me."
"Don't get all excited about being free yet." Shepard said. "Shooting you is still very much an option. Who are you, anyway?"
"My name is Shiala. I serve... I served Matriarch Benezia." The asari looked away. "When he allied herself with Saren, so did I. Benezia saw Saren's potential, and she shared his concerns about..." She hesitated.
"About us." Shepard filled in the words. "Yes, we know Saren's opinion of humans, as well as Benezia's feelings regarding the peace treaty. So, she decided to join him in his private little war."
"No! Well... not initially. Benezia wanted to use politics, not violence. She thought she could persuade Saren to help her in this. But something changed. Somewhere along the line, she lost her way and started to follow his way of thinking."
"She tried to manipulate him," Wrex chuckled. "In the end, he manipulated her. Funny."
"Really?" Shepard shook her head. "I don't buy it. Benezia has been around for what? A thousand years? In my experience, people become more stubborn when they age, not less. And we're talking about someone who had the strength of mind to reach her level of power. You don't get that far if you're weak-willed. So how could Saren change her opinion that radically? I think it's more likely that she was already thinking of violence. Saren just voiced what she felt."
"Perhaps a little," Shiala said. "She was angry and disappointed. But I don't think... I don't think that's all. Saren's influence is.. troubling. He is more persuasive than he should be. Looking back, it's easier to see. I think-" She shook her head.
"What?"
"You would not believe me."
Shepard laughed without much humour. "Lady, I live in a universe where a turian Spectre and an Asari Matriarch conspire with hostile AIs to use xenomorphs in a plot against humanity. Meanwhile, I just shot up a sentient, mind-controlling plant that apparently had the ability to clone an asari, complete with biotic powers. I'm ready to believe just about anything."
Shiala looked down. "There is something about the Queen."
"The Queen?"
"The Queen of the great serpents; those whom you call the xenomorphs. It is difficult to describe; almost unnoticeable at first. But, the more time one spends in her vicinity, the more things change. People want to stay, not leave. For some, it happens in days; for others, weeks, even months. But the end is always the same. Being away from her becomes.. almost painful. And those that stay, it's like their thoughts become aligned with each other, with Saren. Perhaps... Perhaps even with the Queen herself."
"What?" Williams spoke up for the first time. "Ma'am, you cannot seriously believe-"
"Believe what? That there is an alien that can control minds? In case you forgot, we just killed one. And the idea that the xenomorphs have a hive-mind has been suggested before. In any case, we can discuss it later or get some eggheads to discuss it for us. Let's assume that I believe it. So, Benezia and everyone around her ended up jumping on Saren's bandwagon. Fine. that brings me to the next question. What were the lot of you doing here, on Feros?"
"Saren sought knowledge," Shiala said. "He needed my biotics to communicate with the Thorian. By that time, I was his willing slave. when he offered me to the Thorian, I went, willingly."
"O-kay. But why would he want to talk to that plant anyway?"
"The Thorian was old. Much older than you can imagine. It had gathered knowledge over countless millennia. It was here before the protheans first came and managed to capture many of them."
"Prothean knowledge," Shepard nodded slowly. "Like their language. A better translation than any we've managed."
"Language, yes, but more than that. It had absorbed the prothean mental and emotional world: their culture, their way of thinking, everything. A prothean cypher, if you will, that can turn one's very being into that of a prothean. And Saren needed that. He had interfaced with the prothean beacon on Eden Prime. It gave him dreams, visions; but they were unclear. The beacon was designed to be used by protheans. Understanding the message requires that one thinks like a prothean, that one is prothean. That is not knowledge that can be taught. Instead, I linked my mind with the Thorian and absorbed its knowledge, then passed it on to Saren."
"And then Saren said, 'thank you very much' and departed, leaving both the geth and the xenomorphs behind." Shepard grinned. "Seems like the Thorian didn't get much of a deal."
"No. Saren betrayed the Thorian. He wanted to make sure noone else could gain the knowledge he had gained. There were reports from Eden prime; that you may have interacted with the beacon before it was destroyed. Saren could not risk that you, too, obtained the prothean cypher. So he left the great serpents behind. In time they would kill the colonists, as well as the exogeni team. They might even kill the Thorian, or if they did not, your people might, when they came to sterilize this place. As for the geth..." She shook her head. "Who knows what their priorities are. For the moment, they work with Saren, but he does not truly control them. They have their own plans."
"I see." Shepard considered the asari for a moment. "Well, it seems that mister Saren's plans have gone slightly awry. So, tell me, now that we have taken out the Thorian, would there be another way to obtain that, eh, cypher?"
"It is not impossible. The cypher is imprinted on my mind. It would require a mind meld but I can give it to you. If you would consent to it."
"I see." Shepard shook her head. "Believe it or not, you're the second asari who's suggested to take a peak into my mind lately. I suppose I should be flattered. And if that's what it takes to make sense of this prothean stuff, well-"
"Eh, ma'am?" Shepard turned around to look at Williams. "Ma'am, you're not seriously contemplating...?"
"Going through with some bizare asari mating ritual? I need that data, chief. And it seems like this is the only way I'm going to get it. Besides," Shepard smirked. "She's not half bad-looking. I could do worse."
"But-" Williams almost seemed to blush. "Ma'am, I mean. What about security? She'll get inside your head, read your mind. Who knows what she can find out if she starts looking around? The risk-"
"What security risk, chief? What is she going to see in my mind? My passwords? I have to change those on a regular basis anyway, and I'll change them again after today's session. Memories of boot camp, officer training, and the rest? She can have them. Sure, I have gold clearance, but I'm not a flag officer. Most things I know are something that a half-decent spy could find out if they cared enough to try. The one secret I knew about was the new dreadnoughts we developed. Guess what? That's out in the open. As for my private life, she's welcome to look in on any sex I've had. Might even be fun! No, If I can finally make sense of whatever it is the prothean beacon tried to tell me, it is worth the risk. Besides, we have a little insurance of our own." She turned around. "Alright, I'll consider doing the meld. But not here. First, we go back to Zhu's Hope. Then I'll talk to our own expert on the matter, and then, only if we all agree, we'll go through with this freakshow."
As the group made their way back along the dark corridor, Shepard's communicator pinged.
"Yes?"
"Ma'am, Lieutenant Alenko here. You need to hurry up. The xenomorphs are moving in on the colony. We're holding our ground, but I don't know for how long"
-0-0-0-
HNV Relentless Fury, in Orbit around Virmire
"Councillor Sparatus has been informed. The Council agrees: We will take charge of the situation on Virmire," Lieutenant Victus looked around the briefing room. None of his people showed surprise. They all had known this would be coming.
"We cannot go in directly," Someone remarked. "Too many air defence batteries. We might be able to destroy them, but it would damage the facility, and STG are adamant that it should be captured intact."
"I agree. Configure the gunships for troop transport. We're going to need them." Lieutenant Victis stared at the 3-D map display. "I'll send a message to this captain Kirrahe. We're going to need a complete map of the facility. We'll bring the ship in low, below the horizon, and deploy the gunships. Then we fly to the laboratory below the effective level of the gun turrets.
"We will not link up with the STG unit first?"
Victus shook his head. "No. It would cost time and give the defenders time to prepare. Again, we could probably blast our way in, but not without levelling most of the above-ground structure. If we want to avoid that, we'll need surprise, and that means hitting the facility as quickly as possible from the moment we enter the atmosphere." His mandibles twisted briefly. "Consider yourselves privileged. We'll be the first unit in the Hierarchy to deploy our new equipment in actual combat."
There were a few nods. The gunships were brand new, not just this particular model, but the entire concept. One of the lessons the Hierarchy had learned from the Relay 314 incident was that they had need of flying vehicles that could deploy ground troops and support them in the field. Starting from the design concept of human Cheyenne gunships that had been observed on Shanxi, the military had drawn up a list of requirements for a similar vehicle. Unfortunately, development had been slow. The requirements had simply been too many and often mutually contradictory. Still, the turians had persevered, and the resulting weapon system was impressive indeed. With a modular design, the new gunships could be configured for almost any combat role, from troop deployment and ground support to air-to-air combat. They could be deployed from orbit if necessary, and even perform limited space combat if it became necessary to attack an orbital facility. The Hierarchy was justifiably proud of its achievement, believing, with some justification, that they had managed to improve on the original human concept. Unfortunately, the various delays meant that it had only recently been cleared for combat duty, and Victus' unit had been lucky to receive some of the first production models. Now, finally, they would be put to the test.
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A/N: The Betty (with Captain Elgyn) was the pirate ship in Alien Resurrection. I figured it would be appropriate to use the name for a Corsair ship.
The turian gunships are ME2/ME3's A-61 Mantis. However, I didn't use that name since I've made them a turian development. I imagine that humans might still call them bthat, but turians would have their own designation.
The idea that the xenomorph queen can actually influence minds, on a subconscious level, was used in the Earth Hive book series. There the simple presence of the queen influenced people's nightmares and drove large groups of people insane. Without Sovereign to do the indoctrination thing, I needed another source of mind control, so I borrowed the idea.
The thorian cloning the asari is a bit of a problem. In order to use biotics effectively, the thorian would have to give her a biotic amp as well, which does not seem possible. That's why I downplay her biotics here.
