A/N: Frelling TANJ this took forever! I'm so sorry for the long wait but this is a LOOOOONG chapter and I really wanted to do it justice. I also lost a little momentum between the Sovereign bit and the Saren bit if I'm being honest. In addition, I have an original project I'm working on that has taken a lot of my attention recently. This fic was meant to be "missing moments" and not a novelization. I promise it will still mostly be that. But I felt this mission really needed the full treatment. I hope I did It well. Anyway, read and review. Any feedback is appreciated. Also, thank you to my awesome betas, RecursiveN7 and Donovan.
The smoking Mako rolled into the Salarian STG's camp slowly. Shepard didn't dare take it faster than about 20kph, not while it was missing two wheels and partially on fire. The Geth resistance enroute had been much greater than they had expected and a handful of lucky shots from the veritable army they faced alone had gotten through their barriers.
"Commander, glad to see you all...mostly in one piece."
Kaidan's voice came crisply over the comm channel. Shepard could see him standing beside Ashley and waving.
"Glad to be mostly in one piece," He replied, bringing the wreck of a tank to a stop on a dry patch of sand near the makeshift camp.
For such a small group, Shepard was surprised to see the scale of resources afforded to the STG. They had a dedicated medical tent with modern-looking technology inside. They had a barracks, small mess hall, and even a quartermaster's supply tent from the looks of it. He realized with a pang of guilt, that the seven Salarians standing in a knot around the Captain's tent must be only a fraction of the original STG unit. There were nearly 20 beds in the barracks. 13 more dead he could add to his personal tally. 13 brave, intelligent soldiers who were dead because he took too long.
"John," Tali said gently, leaning into the cockpit and putting a hand on his shoulder.
Was his distress really that obvious? He sighed to himself and turned to face her, letting out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
"Ready to go?" He asked, quietly wishing the three of them could just sit in the Mako and ignore the world a little longer.
Tali paused then nodded and Garrus punched the door release. The machinery hissed and creaked in protest and instead of the normal smooth downward opening motion, the door shuddered and fell to the sand with a "thud".
"That explains the 'hull integ' message I was seeing for the last hour," murmured Tali, looking at the armor-plated door lying in the mud.
"Crosby is going to love us even more after this one," Garrus quipped, shoving Shepard's shoulder with a chuckle.
Shepard let a little smile cross his face and shoved back, "I'm blaming it on your shooting".
His mood was lightened, until he saw Captain Kirrahe waving him over.
"Commander, good to see you, many casualties, difficult situation. Glad you were able to come," He spoke in that distinctly stilted, Salarian way.
Shepard had been told once in an interspecies operations course that the Salarian language was structured in a very contextual way and thus, translation programs often missed many of the interstitial phrases that humans were used to.
Two hours, a near-death experience with Wrex, and a hair-raising speech from Capt. Kirrahe later, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali were once again blasting their way through a geth-infested platform.
"I never thought I could get bored of combat. But it feels like every single engagement up this river has been the exact same 8 geth over and over," Said Garrus, taking off the head of a trooper and returning to cover without breaking cadence, "Can't we trade jobs or something? Let me fling biotic bombs at them for a change?"
"When you become a biotic, let me know," Shepard responded, launching a singularity followed by a detonation-inducing warp toward a few mobile platforms.
"I don't believe it, Garrus Vakarian complaining about sharpshooting," snarked Tali as the geth she was tangling with dropped into a mechanical heap, sparks shooting out of the stylish new hole in its abdomen.
"All I'm saying is that you can only take off so many geth heads before it feels repetitive," He was obviously trying very hard not to appear defensive.
"Then stop aiming for the head and aim for their fa'kra," She responded, fingers moving wildly through the holographic controls of her omni-tool, "More of a challenge, less bullets wasted."
"Wha-?" Garrus began to ask before Shepard cut him off.
"Their little head light. Weakest point on a geth mobile platform"
Tali looked at Shepard for a heartbeat before returning to her task, dodging a rocket as she hacked away.
A minute later, there were no sounds but their footsteps, heavy breathing, and the ticking of cooling weapons. They loaded up on Medi-Gel at the dispenser on the raised platform and carried on through the winding canyon.
The path they were meant to be following ran along the marshy bottom of a winding slot canyon carved several hundred feet into the sandstone. Each installation they had cleared appeared to have been built as a guard post specifically for geth. The architecture was uncomfortably brutalist and there were no accommodations or creature comforts whatsoever. Except for the inexplicable Medi-gel dispensers, there was no hint that anything organic was ever intended to visit the stations and live.
They hadn't walked far when a transmission from Kaidan and the STG came through a staticky comm channel. They were pinned down by rocket drones.
Shepard noticed the canyon took a weirdly artificial turn just ahead and followed it on instinct. A long, curving ramp led from the canyon bottom up to a round platform overlooking a bay. It would have been very pretty if it weren't for the circumstances. Tali went ahead of them and climbed up the ramp before instantly flattening herself to the ground.
"Tons of drones," She stage-whispered back at them.
"Did they see you?" Garrus asked.
Garrus and Shepard inched their heads around the curved ramp to see 8 geth drones armed to the teeth and hovering in formation on the raised pathway. There were some fuel tanks on the platform beneath them that looked unarmored.
"Not sure. But they haven't started shooting yet...trying to hack into one," Her omni-tool lit up and her hand flew furiously around it from her prone position, "I don't think I can actually take control of one, but I might be able to mess up its flight coordination and knock the others out of position."
"Can you try to crash one into those fuel tanks?" Asked Shepard
"mmmmh...yeah. This should do it."
She hit the "execute" key with a flourish and the third drone from the left suddenly swung rightward and crashed through two of its compatriots. The five remaining in position started firing randomly, sending sprays of bullets and rockets in every direction.
"Shket," Swore Tali.
None of the fuel tanks had been hit, much less ruptured. Shepard intended to fix this. He flexed his hand over his Avenger rifle, using a trick he had not quite perfected and hoping desperately that it worked. The weapon buzzed and hummed with biotic energy as his little warp field settled into the mass magazine.
He aimed and fired a quick 3-shot burst at the fuel tank closest to the knot of chaotic drones. The projectiles left clear purplish trails and struck with unexpected force. Shepard was fairly certain the heat from the resulting fireball burned off his eyebrows.
Once the inferno died down, he spoke, "You both okay?"
"Yeah,"
"Yep,"
"Alright, let's go," Shepard stood up and dusted himself off.
The Comm clicked to life, "If that was you nuking those drones, thanks."
"Anytime Alenko," Shepard shot back with a little satisfied grin.
He may not have been able to save everyone, but at least he could get the heat off of his friends when it mattered.
"What was that you did with your gun?" Tali asked as they poked around the wreckage, looking for anything useful.
"Someone told me you could put a slow warp field into your magazine and when you fire, the bullets will carry the field with them. Supposed to increase damage...I guess it works," He said, a grin spreading across his face.
"I'll say, that was one hell of a shot," she exclaimed.
He could tell she was smiling under her mask. Her eyes roamed over him for a moment before meeting his own.
"Hey Tali, Is this something valuable?" Garrus asked, holding up a silver box about the size and shape of Shepard's palm.
The object had a gemstone embedded in the center that emitted a faint whitish glow. The whole thing seemed to vibrate and shift in and out of focus as if being seen through flowing water. It was impossible to keep eyes on it for more than a second.
Tali jogged over to him on the other side of the platform.
"Keelah...I've never found one intact before," She said with reverence, carefully taking it from him.
"What is it?" Shepard asked, trying to get a good view of the object.
"I think it's a geth quantum communications adapter. It carries a pair of entangled particles which allow instantaneous FTL communication...If this one is fully functional...it could give us all sorts of insights into the geth network."
"Why did a drone have one? Wouldn't it make more sense to have it in a...well...bigger geth?" Shepard asked, trying to reason it out.
He knew the geth used quantum communications and that they were heavily networked, but he had always assumed there were main trunk communications that were filtered through some sort of command unit and transmitted by radio or something to the smaller units.
"Nobody is really sure why some platforms have them and some don't," Tali answered, still turning it over in her hands, "I have a theory that they might put them in inconspicuous places to make it hard to cut the group's communications to the larger network."
"Pretty smart for a bunch of robots," said Garrus dryly.
"They are as smart as you or I...maybe smarter," Tali said, fixing her gaze on the turian.
Garrus held up his hands defensively, "Sorry, didn't mean to offend your ancestral enemies."
She huffed and opened her omni-tool to scan the object.
"Hey, I don't want to get in the way, but we need to keep moving," Shepard said, cautious not to disturb Tali's scanning.
She nodded and tucked her prize into some hidden fold in her realk.
"You'll have to show me how you can hide so much stuff in that skintight suit," Said Shepard thoughtlessly.
Tali shot him a look, "I thought we had to keep moving".
The platform where the fuel tanks had been was the apex of a turn in the elevated walkway they were meant to be following. Tali turned to continue along the pathway, Garrus and Shepard followed. They came to a fork and Shepard scouted ahead, carefully sticking to some randomly-strewn crates for cover.
There were geth and krogans scattered around the path into the facility...working together.
"Garrus...I've got something besides geth for you to shoot at," He said through the comm, trying to retain the element of surprise.
"Thank the Spirits. Let's do this," He enthusiastically charged his Mantis rifle and launched himself across the killbox and into some more advantageous cover.
Four shots echoed off the canyon walls and three krogans and one geth fell. The geth had been shot cleanly through the center of its fa'kra.
Garrus really is unbelievably good at what he does.
They ripped and tore their way through the remaining enemies. The walkway was now several hundred feet above the canyon floor and Shepard used several biotic throws to launch unprotected foes into the void below.
He hissed, his biotic amps were burning like mad. It felt like the muscles under his shoulder blades were on fire. He took three quick, deep breaths and tried to center himself.
A gentle hand squeezed his shoulder, "Are you okay?" Tali asked, panting heavily herself, eyes wide.
John nodded and met her gaze. He put his hand over hers and stood up again, "Let's keep going".
Across the base, Kaidan Alenko crouched behind a control panel that had long been decimated by gunfire. He dropped his overheated Avenger and picked up another. It was a trick he had learned during the Blitz. If you had the space to carry an extra gun, you could let one cool while you fired with the second.
He drove round after round into the growing horde of geth. There was no use in even differentiating the enemy types anymore. There were just so many.
"Singularity coming up," He warned his Salarian comrades before hurling a powerful mass effect field over his cover and into the throng of murderous machines.
A jolt of pain shot from his head down his spine to his waist at the overpowered biotic output, but he shook it off. The aches and pains were just a cost of doing business at this point.
STG Lieutenants Ghenk and Corro were ready and started shooting the instant the field took root and started sucking in geth. Ghenk even had the bright idea to toss a grenade into the singularity and let it do an ungodly amount of damage.
These Salarians are pretty damn good in a fight.
He popped up out of cover to fire into the writhing ball of geth caught in his singularity. Once his rifle was red hot and refused to fire any more, he reached for his second. Kaidan dropped the singularity, fairly certain that everything within it was out of commission at this point. The geth fell in a pile of sparking charred metal on the ground of the AA tower control room.
"Are you guys almost done in there?" He called to the two STG Field Engineers engaged in getting the relay operational.
"Nearly done. Geth work, hard to overcome. Synthetic intelligence, naturally interfaces well with computers," Replied Engineer Reeree.
"Alright, pedal to the metal and let's get out of here," He called but got only silence in response.
"Statement unclear, meaning inferred...will move quickly," said Reeree after a moment.
Kaidan had learned in the last few hours that language inconsistencies were definitely one of the most challenging things about working with a non-human team. He was surprised by just how many Alliance standard communications were actually rooted in idioms or some context that was lacking in the translation VI.
"Shepard, one tower down," He radioed to the Commander
"Great work, keep me updated. We are entering the compound now," Shepard responded
Kaidan answered with a "roger" and the channel closed.
Shepard, Garrus, and Tali had just cleared the first room inside the building. The altered salarians had given him pause, but on some level he had been expecting it. If those almost-human creatures on Eden Prime were any indication of what they were facing, it seemed obvious that mind control or alteration on some level would be a tool in its arsenal. Still, he had seen their empty beds at the camp.
Another of the turned STG agents let out a high-pitched screech as he was launched backward by a blast from Tali's shotgun. He tried to stand on broken legs and fired his weapon indiscriminately. Another shriek tore from the soldier's singular amphibian lung before his body completely gave out and he collapsed twitching on the concrete floor.
I can't imagine being turned against my own people
Are they even aware right now?...were they...-
He got a sudden flash of nausea, guilt, horror, raw pain, buzzing in his head like bees. There was a thundering sound of raw energy discharge. His mind's eye saw flesh being pulled apart to reveal wiring, conduits. He felt-saw his own body being rent apart and...
Nothing
As quickly as the sensation had begun, it stopped. He opened his eyes which had evidently been screwed shut. Shepard was lying on his back on the concrete floor. The first thing he saw was Tali's helmeted head wreathed in a halo of dingy yellow light. His heartrate slowed gradually.
Tali's safe...good
"John! What happened?" She cried, her hands on his shoulders as he regained awareness.
Her eyes are so -
"John!" she shook him, panic in her voice.
"Where's Garrus?" He almost shouted, reality hitting him like a mass driver.
"Defensive position," Came the Turian's reply.
"John," Tali said softly, "Are you okay? I thought we were clear...and...you just collapsed..and were screaming..and..."
He wrapped his hand around one of hers and squeezed reassuringly.
"Not sure, felt like a...memory that isn't mine"
"That's...concerning," Tali said as Garrus discharged his Scorpion SMG in two short bursts.
"Come on, we have to go," she declared, hauling him up to his feet with surprising ease.
John stumbled and had to hang onto her for support momentarily, "Thanks".
"Of course...now let's go. We'll tell Liara about your...vision later," Tali said decisively.
He shook off the nauseating memory once more before replying, "Right...Let's go"
As Shepard was getting to his feet, Garrus was firing at something with increasing tempo.
"I could use some fire support...if you're done."
Tali leveled her shotgun and rounded the corner to find several geth troopers and three remaining indoctrinated STG agents.
"Keelah," she groaned as she took the head off of the first unfortunate salarian.
"Maybe if I tell myself they aren't really people anymore..." Tali thought to herself shamefully.
Shepard grimaced, watching the gory scene but joined in with fervor. His friends needed him after all. He launched a flurry of biotic attacks; first a singularity, a warp field, then a weak barrier between the ball of energy and his team to protect from the detonation. His implants burned again but he shook it off with a grunt, letting them cool down while he took aim with his rifle.
"Firing concussive shot," Called Garrus.
Tali and Shepard both instinctively dropped into cover right before the shockwave hit them. Shepard popped his head up in time to see three geth frozen from the shock. He took the opportunity to knock two of them out with his Avenger. Tali got the third with an electrical overload.
The corridor ahead was clear as far as Shepard could see.
"Nice work," He hit Garrus' shoulder lightly.
"Just stay upright," The Turian responded dryly before they continued onward.
They met little resistance as they continued onward, clearing room after room. A surprising number of valuable weapon mods were just laying around on desks and in incongruous places. Shepard happily took as many as he could get scans of. Tali also managed to lift a shocking number of credits from poorly secured terminals as they sifted their way through the compound.
"I figure stealing money from Saren is a public good," she had said defensively to Garrus' questioning look.
"uh-huh".
Shepard had not been able to contain a guffaw.
These two are probably the only people in the universe who could make me laugh right now.
Then they came to a long, curved room with containment cells lining the wall. Water dripped from the out-of-view ceiling and everything seemed to be covered in a thin layer of moss or algae. Flickering yellow light illuminated the chamber poorly, leaving twitching shadows in corners. Shepard felt his body tense for combat.
Instead of geth stalkers or some other inconceivable horror though, there was a salarian looking at him with gigantic eyes from inside the first cell on the right.
"Who are you? Told you everything! knew someone would come," The prisoner began babbling
"Slow down...I need to know where you came from," said Shepard firmly.
He tried to get a bearing on the salarian's mental state but his already tenuous grasp on salarian emotional cues mixed with the obvious chaos of being a prisoner of war and test subject meant that was nigh impossible.
The prisoner snapped to attention, "Private Menos Avat of the Third Infiltration Regiment STG, sir. Captured on reconnaissance six days ago, glad to answer, sir".
That's a good sign at least.
Shepard went to speak but the commando continued on, "Never any questions from these bastards. Just whispers and poking and cutting," Shepard had a brief flash of that same memory but kept his wits this time, "I'd have said anything to get retribution".
I can understand that sentiment.
"What did they do to you soldier?" Images of horrific mind and body altering experiments flitted around the edges of Shepard's mind.
"Experiments, purpose unknown. Effects of endless whispering on shortened temper? Who knows? I just want out."
As the conversation ran on, Shepard was still unable to judge anything about how this person would act if released. All he could tell was that the salarian was becoming more and more agitated, more manic, more terrified.
"We can't leave him to rot in there," Said Tali firmly
"What if he turns around and shoots us," Responded Garrus.
Great..I'm the tiebreaker.
"We're letting you out," said Shepard carefully, hand on his pistol nonetheless.
Maybe one of those beds won't be empty tonight.
"Get out of here. We're going to bomb the base. You need to run," Said Garrus, eyes narrowed on the jumpy amphibian.
"Can do. Good at following orders," His eyes went wide and he shivered, "It's so simple...It's so fucking simple!" He cried out.
Suddenly, he lunged at Tali, wrapping his arms around her waist and driving a slight shoulder into her abdomen. They both went clattering to the ground, the salarian straddling her. He drew back a fist and screamed as he sent it flying toward Tali's unprotected neck.
Just before it connected, a flash of biotic energy yanked him off of Tali and left him suspended, tumbling in the air, shrieking. The noise he made was horrifying. It sounded like he was shredding his vocal cords into confetti. Green blood began to spew from his mouth and his eyes flashed blue.
"You...cannot...stop...rrraaaaaaagh!"
Private Avat's body twisted in horrifying ways that a body shouldn't be able to move. Bones cracked audibly, joints were displaced. All apparently in a mindless, destructive attempt to get at Tali again. She clumsily scuttled backward, away from the suspended salarian.
A single pistol shot echoed around the chamber and the poor creature went limp, flopping around in the mass effect field like a ragdoll.
"Putting him out of his misery," Said Garrus flatly, holstering his weapon.
Shepard's eyes went to Tali, still lying on the floor, propped up on her elbow and panting heavily. One arm was wrapped protectively around her bruised abdomen. Her breathing seemed labored.
"Are you okay?" He asked, dropping to a knee by her side and supporting her head.
A terrifying image of her lying unmoving on the concrete flashed in his mind's eye. He grit his teeth.
"fine," She wheezed, "just need a minute...diaphragms shocked I think."
John watched her, mind buzzing, itching to fix this. All he could do though was make sure she was safe while she recovered.
"Alliance, over here!" Came another clearly salarian voice.
Fury flashed across Shepard's face.
There's more of them
Garrus approached the cell this time.
"Your friend caused us some trouble..." He said warningly.
"I saw that. He's not the first. Likely you encountered other STG coming in," The commando said matter-of-factly.
Shepard bit back a curse.
It would be so easy to just leave them here. Definitely safer
The speaker seemed so infuriatingly lucid though. Like there was a real personality there instead of whatever half-formed facsimile Menos Avat had. The distinction was incredibly clear side by side.
"Could tell you about tests in greater detail, but sense time constraint. Should talk after escape," said the apparent leader of what Shepard could now see was a cadre of five salarian commandos.
"Five on one is a tougher fight," Said Shepard, unconsciously shifting his body between Tali and the still-sealed cell.
"Let them out," Said Tali firmly, her breath coming easier.
He whipped around to look at her, "What!?"
"I agree," Said Garrus, "They are definitely in a clearer mental state than Avat was."
"After what just happened, I don't trust it."
"Well it happened to me, and I do," said Tali firmly, eyes now boring into Shepard.
He grimaced and readied his rifle, "Fine, it's up to you."
"I take full responsibility for this," Tali stated, "Open it up."
Garrus hit the switch and the door slid open. Five salarians walked calmly out of the cell, although their eyes remained warily on Shepard.
"Thank you," said the leader, nodding to each of them in turn, but casting a distrustful look Shepard's way.
"There's a rally point at your original camp," said Shepard, jaw tight, "The blast will obliterate it though. There is a Mako there that should still be functional enough to get you out of harms way...hurry."
"Better chance than we had this morning," one of the other salarians said before the group took off at a trot in the way Shepard's squad had come in.
I would have just killed them...all of them just because of the actions of another victim
...Maybe I really am already out of touch with the reality of people's lives...
The thought made him shudder and he was sure that if he made it to his bed tonight, he would find little rest there.
They continued working through the halls, clearing out little pockets of resistance where they found them. Their path led them to a large, brightly lit room. As they breached the room, weapons at the ready, they found two enormous geth Juggernauts apparently in a standby mode. Low-pitched modulated clicking and whining noises came from the machines as they activated and turned their glowing red fa'kra'n on Shepard's team.
"Damnit," cursed Shepard, pinning himself to a wall beside Garrus.
Tali was safely behind cover on the other side of the hall and already furiously working on her omni-tool.
He quirked an eyebrow, "Tali?"
"mmhm...hang on," She murmured, clearly quite busy.
The first shots came screaming out through the doorway, a string of small arms fire. Shepard knew Juggernauts packed much bigger firepower but they knew they couldn't hit them from their present position. They were probably approaching though.
"Garrus, I need you ready with two shield overloads as fast as you can,"
"Roger, I'll be quick"
"Tali?"
"mmh...hang on...got a...Ni!" She exclaimed in triumphant Khelish.
"What have you got?" He heard the heavy footsteps of the mechanical nightmares approaching quickly.
"Something new...shoot their antennae," She said firmly.
Suddenly, the quarian girl leapt into action, jumping into the doorway in full view of the geth, "Garrus, overloads!" she cried.
Garrus threw his overload grenades with pinpoint accuracy. Static flared and the geth shields fell, causing the juggernauts to stumble. Tali leveled her pistol not at their center mass, but at the antennae on their backs. Shepard raised his gun to help, realizing he had just been staring at Tali. A few lucky shots removed the thin pieces of springy metal from the now unshielded geth.
As the geth turned to retaliate Tali activated her omni-tool and flicked the 'execute' key with a flourish.
Both Juggernauts, now in full view, froze. They seemed to vibrate and briefly lose balance before turning to face one another. Shepard and Garrus stopped firing, too interested in what the hell could stop these killing machines from killing.
Shepard watched, on edge, gun still raised as one geth platform raised a massive fist and smashed it into the neck of the other with punishing force. Sparks erupted as the metal made contact and the damaged geth platform stumbled back. "
A series of unsettling clicks, buzzes, and angry grinding came from both geth as they opened fire on one another. They used their guns and their fists before both creatures locked in a stalemate, trying to out-muscle their identical opponent. Their fa'kra'n flashed red and they froze solid for a few seconds until one of them, the one that had thrown the first punch, collapsed on the floor.
The second then rotated its own 'head' until, with a sickening grinding of gears and twisting metal, it separated from its body and clattered on the steel floor. The headless body stood, apparently inert, beside its own head and its murdered compatriot.
Shepard had lowered his gun as he watched the spectacle and his mouth opened and closed like a fish.
"What the hell was that?" Asked Garrus, fixing his steel eyes on Tali.
"My project from last week...it actually worked," she said, slightly in awe herself.
"That was..." Shepard finally found his voice, "Incredible".
A broad smile spread across his face, "Unbelievable..."
Geth are supposed to be unhackable...she really is scary good at this kind of thing
He watched her as she did a little self-satisfied wiggle, bouncing from one leg to the other. It was difficult to restrain his urge to wrap his arms around her in celebration.
On a mission...life and death...idiot
But damn...
"That'll be useful..if you can do it again," Said Garrus, a rare smile cracking his scarred mandibles.
"As long as they don't transmit my code to the network, I'll be able to do it".
"That's why you...ohh...smart," Shepard said, following the logical path of her attack.
He couldn't take his eyes off her as she casually disassembled the fallen geth. Shepard was in awe at her accomplishment, her grace in battle...her.
Tali stowed her omni-tool and their eyes met for a heartbeat. He felt electricity pass between them like an overload grenade. It left his skin prickling hotly and his mind fuzzy.
Life and death...she doesn't see you like that...stop
He shook his head like a dog trying to dry off and spoke, "Grab anything useful and let's keep going," the feeling was still there though.
Tali seemed almost startled for a moment, then snapped back into action. She returned to her work with haste and stashed a few choice bits of tech in hidden pockets. What was too large to transport, she scanned with her omni-tool.
Three minutes later, they were again marching down the hall. As they walked, Shepard thought he saw Garrus and Tali share a significant look. He was probably just being paranoid though.
Does Garrus know about...what exactly?
He knew Garrus and Tali were close, maybe romantically? Maybe there was something going on that he had totally missed? It would also give a reason why his feelings for her weren't reciprocated.
I'm also just awkward
A wet, sick feeling settled in his chest and he tried hard to ignore it, with little success. The only thing that managed to bring him back to the present was a scream.
"Don't shoot! Please, I just want to get out of here," The frightened plea came from an asari, hiding under a desk.
She stood up slowly, hands raised. By the looks of it, she was in late maidenhood and of a mixed race coupling, belied by the striking black markings on her face and head. She wore a black and orange uniform that Shepard had seen on other, dead, researchers throughout the compound.
"Who are you? I'm not going to hurt you," said Shepard, lowering his weapon and looking to his sides to ensure Tali and Garrus did the same.
"Rana Thanoptis, neurospecialist...but this job isn't worth dying over...or worse..." She answered, apparently relaxing somewhat, "You think the indoctrination only affects prisoners? Sooner or later Saren will want to dissect my brain too."
"I thought this was a breeding facility," Said Garrus, stepping forward a bit.
"Not this level," she paused, "We're studying Sovereign's effect on organic minds...At least, that's what I assumed. Saren kept us in the dark as much as possible."
"You helped them and you didn't know why?" Asked Tali, outraged.
"I didn't exactly have the option of negotiating...and this position is a little more permanent than I'd expected...but I can help you. This elevator leads to Saren's private lab...I can get you in," She seemed resolute in her intention to help.
That's a nice change of pace
Thanoptis turned and walked toward the elevator. Shepard, Garrus, and Tali readied their weapons instinctively, but the door opened to reveal just an elevator car.
"See?" She asked, maybe a little over-eager, "Full access, all of Saren's private files."
The asari paused again, and when nobody spoke, she asked, "Are we good? Can I go?"
This woman was probably responsible for turning half of those salarians. Her research would be used to indoctrinate countless krogan if Saren was successful.
Can I leave her to die?
This sort of thing really needed to be sorted out in an Alliance tribunal.
It's way above my paygrade. Maybe I'll send some MPs to pick her up after we leave.
Shepard answered sternly, "I'm about to blow this place to hell and gone. If you want to make it out alive, you better start running."
"What? You can't!" Rana began, bewildered, "I...ahhh!" She cried out and started at a full-tilt sprint past them and down the hall.
"You enjoyed that," said Tali quietly.
"What she did was terrible...but she probably doesn't deserve to die," responded Shepard, stomach twisting over the decision as they stepped into the elevator.
The doors closed and the car accelerated upward. Garrus occupied himself with his omni-tool. Tali silently squeezed John's shoulder. It loosened the growing mass of knots within him...until the doors opened.
The red hologram illuminated the chamber and a deep sense of foreboding filled Shepard.
"This is not good," said Garrus slowly.
"You are not Saren," The hologram spoke in a thundering, rasping, machine voice that made no attempt to sound human.
"What is that? Some kind of VI interface?" Garrus asked.
"Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh," came the reply, "you touch my mind...fumbling in ignorance...incapable of understanding."
Ice crept through Shepard's veins as the pieces fell into place.
Garrus gave voice to Shepard's fears, "I don't think this is a VI."
Tali adjusted her grip on her shotgun, uncomfortably shifting her weight.
"There is a realm of existence so far beyond our own you cannot even imagine it...I am beyond your comprehension...I am Sovereign."
Shepard got the impression that Sovereign, whatever it was, enjoyed this reveal immensely.
"Sovereign isn't just some Reaper ship Saren found," Shepard said finally, unsure who he was actually addressing, "It's an actual Reaper."
Tali shuffled closer to Shepard. She looked ready to raise her gun against the hologram.
"Reaper...a label created by the Protheans to give voice to their destruction...In the end, what they chose to call us is irrelevant. We simply are..."
The voice shook Shepard's bones and awoke some ancient ancestral dread within him. He got the sense that his companions felt the same.
"The Protheans vanished 50,000 years ago. You couldn't have been there...it's impossible," Garrus' voice held some hint of prayer that he was right.
"Organic life is nothing but a genetic mutation...an accident," Sovereign spat the word like poison.
"Your lives are measured in years and decades...you whither and die...We are eternal, the pinnacle of evolution and existence. Before us, you are nothing. Your extinction is inevitable...we are the end of everything."
Rage flared within Shepard, over even the crushing dread. Whatever this being was, no power in the universe could be entirely certain of an outcome. Like a preacher damning you to hell, wrapping your entire existence into a little paper ball and tossing it into the dustbin of history, it made Shepard furious. Nothing could be sure of victory. The Reapers were an enemy force like any other. And like any enemy...they could be beaten.
John Shepard spoke with the certainty of the trillions of beings he knew would rise to fight this threat. He spoke not with confidence that they would win, but with assurance that specifically Sovereign would not succeed.
"Your plan will fail...I'll make sure of that."
Sovereign practically ignored his declaration, "Confidence borne of ignorance...the cycle cannot be broken."
"Cycle?" Tali spoke finally, revealing her own anger at this self-appointed god, "what cycle?"
"The pattern has repeated itself more times than you can fathom. Organic civilizations rise, evolve, advance...and at the apex of their glory...they are extinguished. The Protheans were not the first. They did not create the Citadel...they did not forge the Mass Relays. They merely found them...the legacy of my kind."
The implications of that were...chilling. How many civilizations had there been? How many people just like him had stood before Sovereign and sworn to defeat it? How many tragic stories had met their end at Sovereign's hand?
Suddenly, all his certainty, bravado...and much of his hope drained away into dark space. As it did though, as his fantasy of driving an explosive warp field into wherever Sovereign kept its brain faded away, a new hope rose. This is a threat on a scale never seen before. This may be enough to pull the disparate forces in the galaxy into alignment against a single enemy. If the Council would listen, if they would take action...or empower him to do so. Maybe this threat could be stopped be every one of the 15 Trillion sapient denizens of the Milky Way working in concert toward a singular goal.
"You're not even alive...not really," He said, that righteous fury dripping from his voice, "You're just a machine...and machines can be broken."
"Your words are as empty as your future," Sovereign replied dispassionately, "I am the vanguard of your destruction...This exchange is over."
As the Reaper spoke, every window lining the chamber walls exploded. Shards of glass bounced off Shepard's armor.
"Shket!" cried Tali, clutching her left thigh.
John whipped around, "Tali!" He wrapped an arm around her unthinkingly, trying to support her weight if she needed it.
"I'm...ghhh...I'm okay John...Some glass cut my suit...and me I guess," Her voice was strained but clearly she was trying to appear calm.
"Do you have a repair kit?" He asked hurriedly.
She nodded
He supported her with his right arm and his left hand began questing for the little faux-leather case she had shown him last month. Several folds of her realk were surprisingly weighted, obviously holding something in a hidden pocket. He never managed to actually get in to one of the pockets though. She produced her patch kit from..somewhere.
"You really need to show me where you keep these things," He said, a little smile spreading across his face.
"Commander, We got trouble," Joker's voice came through the comm.
Shepard nodded to Garrus who then answered, "Hit me...Shepard's helping Tali."
"That ship Sovereign...It's moving. I don't know what you guys did down there, but that thing just pulled a turn that would shear any of our ships in half," Joker was obviously in awe of the raw maneuverability of the hulking entity, "It's coming your way and it's coming hard...you need to wrap things up in there fast."
"I'm wrapping as fast as I can," said John under his breath.
He had already cleaned and treated Tali's wound with dextro medi-gel and was now carefully winding sealant around the suit tear. The little pun earned a pained chuckle from Tali, who had long since given up trying to help and just let him work, despite his unpracticed technique.
"Ow...Keelah, be careful," she admonished as his fingers hit a sore spot.
"Sorry," He murmured, finishing up the seal.
Tali inspected his work and although it was messy, it was certainly safe
"Shepard, Tali, you about ready to go?"
"Yeah," said Shepard, standing and helping Tali up.
"I'm good...Medi-gel is kicking in and secondary seals are good," Tali said, pain easing out of her voice now as she tested the leg.
"Let's head for the breeding facility...time to blow this place to hell," Shepard said firmly, still holding Tali's hand...for support.
Garrus nodded, casting a glance at their hands, before taking point and leading them back to the elevator.
Outside, they found a series of what looked like drainage trenches open to the sunny sky above and lined with cylindrical tanks. Each tank held a krogan in varying states of development. Some looked relatively normal, some were grotesque, some tanks simply held several feet of brownish-purple sludge.
And so they ran onward. The three of them seemed to wordlessly share the same singleminded determination to finish the mission now as fast as possible. They took shots at handfuls of geth and krogan, downing some, ignoring others. This was about speed now.
Kirrahe radioed, requesting that they deactivate some geth turret installation. Ten minutes and a small mountain of slaughtered synthetics later, it was done.
Before long they found themselves at what appeared to be a nexus of these breeding trenches. Knee deep water flowed toward a giant sink in the center. Ahead, was a few hundred feet of trench that dropped away into nothing, just the pink and orange of a Virmire sunset.
Joker would be on his way with the nuke. With everything that had happened, everything that had been revealed, Shepard's mind felt like it was overflowing. He used a trick he had learned forever ago at Alliance "Brain Camp" and closed it all off, focusing exclusively on the mission objectives.
The Normandy came into view, screaming through the atmosphere in a tight turn. Joker was obviously having fun with this. The ship touched down only its forward landing legs and extended the cargo ramp. A team of marines along with Ashley carried the Salarian drive core down the ramp and toward the central sink.
Kirrahe had said that detonating at that nexus point would cause the greatest damage to the facility.
"Lieutenant," Shepard radioed to Kaidan, "The nuke is almost ready, get to the rendezvous point"
"Negative Commander," Came the reply, scattered between heavy breathing, "The geth have us pinned down on the AA Tower, we've taken heavy casualties."
"I knew this mission couldn't be this easy," Shepard thought to himself derisively.
"Get them out of there Joker...Now!"
"Negative, it's too hot! You can't risk it. We'll hold them off as long as we can."
Ashley stepped in, "It's okay Commander, I'll need a couple minutes to finish arming the nuke. Go get them and meet me back here."
He turned and addressed his team, "Up to the AA Tower then."
Tali, Garrus, and Wrex joined him. They followed a trench toward the tower and as soon as the door shut behind them, they were accosted by a squad of krogan warriors and one wearing a distinctly different class of armor, a warlord.
Shepard leveled his weapon and rolled his shoulders, readying himself to discharge the massive amounts of biotic energy this fight would probably require.
"Hang on Shepard," Wrex rumbled from his right, putting a giant, clawed hand on Shepard's rifle.
He lowered the gun slightly and watched and Wrex walked straight into the center of the trench. Nobody had shot at him yet...somehow.
"Warlord!" Wrex called in a booming voice that shook the concrete beneath their feet, "What gives you right to that title? Claim your victories and your warriors!"
The heavily armored krogan "warlord" grunted and stepped toward Wrex. The noise the warlord made was less like a krogan voice and more like gears violently grinding against one another.
"You are...NOT...KROGAN!" Wrex shouted furiously, charging at the white-armored beast.
Though the two opponents seemed equal in size, Wrex knocked the "warlord" back almost 15 feet with his charge.
"You are the shell of a krogan..made with paper and varren shit!" Wrex shouted again and sent a foot smashing down on the armored head of the fallen "krogan".
Shepard, Tali, and Garrus just watched. They all seemed to share the idea that Wrex probably needed to work through this on his own.
"Ooh...that probably hurt," Tali murmured.
They saw a fountain of orange blood gush from the crumpled helmet. Wrex stepped back panting and addressed the rest of the krogan squad.
"Come on you fucking pyjaks! Prove your heritage against a true krogan!"
One charged at Wrex who brought it low with a fist like a gravity hammer. Four more raised their weapons and began firing either at Wrex or at the three who had, until now, been ignored as spectators.
Shepard had let his guard down. A bolt struck his left shoulder, knocking it back as the shields absorbed most of the impact.
"Shit," He swore as he dropped into cover.
"You okay?"
"Are you hurt?"
"Yeah yeah...just kill them," He grunted, his shoulder throbbing and his skin prickling, "Are they shielded?"
"No, just the one," Garrus responded.
Shepard was reclined back against a twisted knot of pipes that was about waist-height. Through a small hole, he could see the "krogan" warriors standing in a tight cluster. He closed his eyes, concentrated, felt the power flow from his abdomen and into his hand, turned it inward, and lobbed it like a grenade at the center of their formation.
The black and blue orb struck as he had intended, sucking all four remaining enemies into the air in a twisted mess of armor and scaly limbs.
Wrex had been engaging at close quarters but was fortunately far enough away that the powerful singularity only managed to knock him over rather than abduct him. He shouted some colorful insult at Shepard's aim but seemed to take pleasure in peppering the floating ball of "grekk fodder" with shotgun blasts...even well after they were all dead.
Shepard put a hand on Wrex's shoulder, "Come on"
The krogan whipped around, fury in his eyes. Then his expression cooled.
"Shepard...you were right earlier," He said, panting, "These are not my people...Saren did not cure the genophage."
Shepard nodded grimly, he felt for his friend. To have a hope like that just torn away from you...it had to hurt. He even understood why things had gotten so heated at the beach. Wrex wanted the best for his people. That was something he could understand.
"Let's go blow the bastard up," He said, locking eyes with Wrex and grinning just a little.
"I'll tell you Shepard, for all your squishy humanity…you're a fucking warrior."
Wrex clapped him on his injured left shoulder with one gigantic hand and Shepard had to make a strong mental effort to avoid crying out in pain. It was a test of strength, no different than boot camp. He had a theory that's just how krogan showed respect.
The squad followed the path and went up an elevator. As they got eyes on the AA tower and started moving toward it across the upper catwalks, a geth dropship appeared over the trenches.
Kaidan came on the radio, "Chief, we just spotted a troop ship inbound to your location."
"It's already here," Ashley answered, "It's already bleeding geth all over the bomb site."
"Can you hold them off?" Shepard asked.
He felt cold in his fingertips, sweat on his palms.
"There's too many!" Ashley cried, clearly distressed, "I don't think we can hold them!"
Shepard felt a hand on his shoulder, Tali, as always. It gave him little comfort. His heart hammered in his ears as Ashley spoke again.
"I'm activating the nuke"
"No...no no no! There has to be a way" He thought, maybe it was out loud, he wasn't sure at the moment.
"What are you doing chief?" He called desperately.
"Making sure this bomb goes off no matter what," She said with finality.
"There's no way out," He thought, mind racing, "If I save her...Kaidan dies. If I save Kaidan...she dies."
This kind of command decision was taught in training of course. Making it in real life though...that was a lot harder.
Saving Ashley meant saving one incredibly dedicated and loyal soldier.
Saving Kaidan meant saving one incredibly dedicated and loyal soldier, an old friend, a team of Salarian STGs, and additional intel.
"Dammit"
The decision was obvious but he didn't like it. He wouldn't have liked any decision. This one was going to keep him up at night, he just knew it.
"It's done Commander. Go get the lieutenant and get the hell out,"
"Belay that," Kaidan called, "We can handle ourselves, go back and get Williams."
As much as he wanted to believe him, he knew Kaidan was just trying to make the same sacrifice.
"Alenko, radio Joker and tell him to meet us on the AA tower."
"Yes Commander...I," Kaidan choked out.
Kaidan and Ashley had become fairly close over the last few months, that just twisted the knife further in Shepard's stomach. He wanted to vomit.
"I'm sorry Ash, I had to make a choice," He said, trying not to choke as he apologized to a friend for signing her death warrant.
"I understand Commander. I don't regret a thing."
The radio went silent. Shepard could see Kaidan's and Ashley's comm channels open though.
"Maybe they were closer than I thought," He closed his eyes for a second, unable to avoid imagining himself in the same scenario.
He covered Tali's hand on his shoulder with his own, squeezing just a bit.
They stepped into the elevator below the AA tower and were silent on the ride up. The doors opened on a field of geth.
All four of them went into the fight with everything they had. Shepard ignored his myriad aches and pains as he threw biotic after biotic in between his Avenger's heat cycles. Garrus was cracking fa'kra after fa'kra. Wrex and Tali were unstoppable forces of nature with shotguns in hand.
Three minutes later, the battle field was silent except for the ticking of cooling weapons and an occasional zap of electricity from a downed robot. Shepard's implants were screaming and his head was pounding. His shoulder burned. He glanced at Tali to see her heavily favoring her injured leg. Even Wrex seemed to be walking with a slight limp.
"We've all earned some R&R after this...especially Ashley," He thought sourly.
Suddenly, a string of warped pistol-shots struck the ground by Shepard's feet. He instinctively jumped away and ducked behind cover.
"What now? What could possibly go wrong now?"
He looked out to see Tali, Garrus, and Wrex all behind cover of their own...and Saren Arterius standing on a floating platform wielding a pistol.
Shepard cried out in aggravation and stood, firing a burst directly at the Turian's chest. His barriers absorbed all the shots and he spoke as if nothing had happened.
"This has been an impressive diversion, Shepard...my geth were utterly convinced the salarians were the real threat."
Shepard dropped back into cover and worked on adding warp fields to his ammo as Saren spoke.
"Of course, it was all for nothing. I can't let you disrupt what I have accomplished here. You can't possibly understand what's really at stake," Saren spoke like he was on a pulpit.
"Why are you doing this?" Shepard asked tiredly.
How was this all connected? How were Saren and Sovereign and the geth all wrapped up together in this plot?
"You've seen the visions from the beacons, Shepard."
"Is that what this is? Am I going to become that now?"
"You of all people should know what the reapers are capable of...They cannot be stopped."
Saren spoke with such reverence...it almost sounded like he was...no
"Do not mire yourself in pointless revolt. Do not sacrifice everything for the sake of petty freedoms. The Protheans tried to fight and they were utterly destroyed,"
Listening to Sovereign had shaken Shepard...listening to Saren just made him angry. This self-styled supervillain giving his little soliloquy as a nuke counts down to destroy everything he built.
"Trillions dead, but what if they had bowed before the invaders? Would the protheans still exist? Is submission not preferable to extinction?"
"Do you really think the Reapers would let us live?" Shepard asked, finally getting a few words in.
"Now you see why I never came forward with this to the council," Saren answered as if they were finally on the same side of some banal political matter, "We organics are driven by emotions instead of logic. We will fight even when we know we cannot win."
"Ashley did...still is...for another-" He thought and checked his watch, "3 minutes...is she dead already?"
"But if we work with the Reapers, make ourselves useful-think how many lives can be spared! Once I understood this, I joined Sovereign, though I was aware of the...dangers. I had hoped this facility could protect me."
"Saren is literally going to talk us all to death….wait...protect him...from the mind control. It didn't work, did it? He is just a puppet," All the pieces started to fall into place in Shepard's mind.
"You're afraid the Sovereign is influencing you. You're afraid he's controlling your thoughts," Shepard stated firmly. Maybe he could actually talk his way out of this.
"I've studied the effects of indoctrination. The more control Sovereign exerts, the less capable the subject becomes. That is my saving grace."
Shepard supposed that made sense. The Salarians he'd been forced to fight had not seemed particularly well-coordinated.
"Sovereign needs me to find the Conduit. My mind is still my own...for now. But the transformation from ally to servant can be subtle. I will not let it happen to me."
"What's the conduit?"
"Tell me why Sovereign needs the Conduit, tell me what it is. Maybe we can find a way to stop them," Shepard demanded.
"The conduit," Saren answered haughtily, "Is the key to your destruction and my salvation. Sovereign needs my help to find it. That's the only reason I have not been indoctrinated."
"Sovereign's manipulating you and you don't even know it! you're already under its power"
"No! Sovereign needs me!" Saren seemed...scared? "If I find the Conduit, I've been promised a reprieve from the inevitable. This is my only hope."
"Am I actually getting under his skin?"
"Together we can stop Sovereign. We don't have to submit to the Reapers...we can beat them!"
"I no longer believe that Shepard," Saren said hopelessly, "The visions cannot be denied. The Reapers are too powerful. Your only hope of survival is to join with them"
Shepard's brief hope of solving this peacefully faded.
"Sovereign is a machine. It thinks like a machine. If I can prove my value, I become a resource worth maintaining. There is no other logical conclusion!"
"You were a Spectre...You were sworn to defend the galaxy. You broke that vow to save yourself!"
"I'm not doing this for myself...don't you see? Sovereign will succeed. It is inevitable. My way is the only way any of us will survive! I'm forging an alliance between us and the Reapers. Between organics and machines. And in doing so, I will save more lives than have ever existed!"
"You're a traitor," Said Tali from behind her cover
"But you would undo my work. You would doom our civilization to complete annihilation...and for that, you must die."
"Time to fight I guess"
Three high-powered shots rang out from behind Shepard. He could see Saren's shields dropped to nearly zero.
Garrus held his smoking Mantis sniper rifle, "You're an embarrassment to our race."
Shepard stood and started driving warped ammunition as hard and fast as he could at Saren.
Geth dropped in from above and Shepard settled into his familiar combat rhythm shoot shoot biotic cover...shoot shoot biotic cover
Finally, after too much dancing from cover to cover, Shepard saw his shots at Saren landing on armor rather than a flashing barrier. Finally, it seemed one more shot would finally end this bastard's life and-
A burst of energy came from Saren, knocking him and his squad flat on their backs. Shepard's face felt burned, every part of him was burning, his armor was hot to the touch.
"What the hell was-"
Suddenly, Saren's hands were around his neck and he was dangling over nothing with only the half-mechanical arms of an indoctrinated spectre between himself and oblivion. He hung on with one hand, trying to gasp for breath. His other hand wound back and drove a fist as hard as he possibly could into the bone and metal of Saren's face.
Shepard felt his hand crumple on impact, but Saren fell backward and released Shepard's neck. Shepard scrambled to his feet and drew his pistol but Saren was already walking back toward his flying platform.
He tried to squeeze off a shot at the back of Saren's head but his right hand was so broken from the punch that he physically couldn't make his finger squeeze the trigger. Shepard made a choked noise of frustration that was interrupted by the warbling of the Normandy's atmospheric lift engines behind him.
Kaidan and a knot of salarians came sprinting out from somewhere and Wrex nearly picked Shepard up and carried him to the ship.
"Let's go you pyjaks," Wrex shouted as they ran up the ramp and into the cargo hold.
Everything got a bit blurry for Shepard as they launched out of the atmosphere.
He managed to stand on shaky legs and limp to the aft viewport just in time to see the blue-green orb of Virmire punctuated by a massive fireball of nuclear plasma. Shepard clenched his jaw and looked to see Garrus, Tali, Wrex, Liara, and Kaidan all standing beside him watching the spectacle.
Lt. Alenko had tears streaking his face.
"Goodbye Ash."
