A/N: after feedback over at Spacebattles, I revised the Feros bit and reuploaded the chapter, Feedback welcome :)
Citadel Presidium
Despite the nausea, dizziness, and slight fever she was surely running, Tali felt happy. She and her ship (and thinking that made her pause) defeated a geth flottilla without being pounded into scrap metal. Chief Engineer Adams wrote a recommendation for her that reduced her to a stammering, nervously babbling teenager, as she did basically nothing extra, every decent engineer would have realized the issue with the FBA couplings and gone to fix it, nevermind the possibility of being fried by the drive core pulses. And she was even more surprised when both Adams and Joker (as the pilot insisted on being called) praised her for the quick emergency cooling she did on the main cannon - it's not like the other engineers could not spot the pattern in the data, and take preventive action…
Anyway, her back and ribs still somewhat hurt from all the patting and hugs she got from Adams' crew, and even Shepard, as Captain of the ship had congratulated her (and that gesture made her very happy for having an opaque, combat-specced visor for her helmet) … before he told her in no uncertain terms what he would do to her if she stayed on-station any longer with her suit rupture. Still, she could figure from his tone and body language that it was much more praise and concern than an actual threat, and the official ID patch her suit sported after the events made her feel even more proud.
All in all, Tali felt that humans were not nearly as biased and racist as she learnt - or maybe it was just their professionals who looked at results and efforts first, and did not concern themselves with faces if the standards were met. She could hardly wait to be back on the Migrant Fleet, and try out some things the humans managed to implement, especially with the power routing from the drive core, and the precise focusing of their laser arrays. Of course, the Normandy's whole heat venting and emissions control could also be useful for implementation, but maybe she ought to focus on the filtration equipment first, she should really ask Adams about it, he seemed so knowledgeable, and always willing to offer advice while not discarding her own ideas, unlike…
"What are you doing here, quarian?" The flanging, cold turian voice so close to her made Tali reflexively shudder, before she looked up from her omnitool towards the three C-Sec officers accosting her.
"Eh, little suit-rat's probably drooling over the tech in the Emporium, or maybe trying to figure a way out to get her paws on someone's credit chit" one of the human officers moved closer, blocking her sight. Tali started to feel really afraid - her companions were close, true, but she had no way to let them know her predicament, and it seemed unlikely they would recognize the official patch denoting her as a crew member of the Normandy.
A huge shape loomed out from the Emporium, behind the three officers, and Tali, unseen behind her visor, smiled. The figure let out a sinister, low laughter that sent a chill down her spine, and she knew it was a friend.
"I suggest you clowns leave the Butcher's engineer alone, before he smears you all over the Presidium. Or go ahead and try something, I haven't eaten today, and feel a bit peckish." Wrex chuckled again, the sound made more ominous as his shotgun unfolded.
"Wrex, old man, don't make a hassle - you know unsupervised quarians are not allowed on the Presidium." The turian's voice dripped with scorn. "And put away that toy gun, before I haul your fat ass before the Duty Officer."
Tali's fingers flew over her omnitool, readying the necessary programs to fry these idiots before Wrex actually had to follow up on his threat. The krogan still looked bored, relaxed - but Tali did not forget the armorcam vids she watched about Therum, and shuddered a bit as Wrex again smirked.
"Why don't you idiots scan her nametag first, hmm? That way, I don't have to pick my teeth with your bones? Or are you really stupid enough to risk annoying a Spectre, and the Butcher at that?"
The two human officers looked at each other, before one of them ran his omnitool's search along Tali's suit tag, and his eyes widened, stance showing his fright.
"Marcus, it is legit...she really is on Spectre Shepard's crew..." The turian flinched at that, then reluctantly nodded towards Tali, turned to march away, then caught something at the edge of his vision, and went stiff. Following his gaze, Tali could not suppress a vindictive snort, as Shepard was leaning on the wall next to the Emporium. Her heartrate spiked as her Captain stepped closer, eyes on the C-SEC officers - then her eyes widened as she read the Spectre's stance and bearing, an apex predator itching for fight, circling its prey.
"Shepard...Commander. We have to be at the Embassy in ten minutes, and the nice officers found here no problem, so why not leave them to their duty?" The Spectre smiled at her words, but that expression would have been more suited to something from the void, preying on unsuspecting victims.
"Your engineer is correct, Spectre Shepard, we were just going, and I'm sure this was just a misunderstanding, and..." The human and Wrex still loomed closer to the C-SEC officers, and Tali was getting increasingly worried, so she did something she never thought to do before. A quick step brought her to Shepard's side, and her hand reached out for his. The Spectre stiffened at her touch, his eyes turning towards her, chilling Tali to her very core with the mad lust for blood and violence dancing in the gold-flecked gaze of the human. Shepard blinked slowly, eyes filling with warmth, then nodded.
"You got real lucky, officers. You might want to be more careful in the future."
Tali felt her breath ease as Shepard and Wrex walked with her towards the human embassy, and she tried to puzzle out why the Spectre was looking at her periodically with amusement in his eyes, or why Wrex seemed to be struggling with holding back laughter - weren't both males on the brink of unnecessary violence just a few minutes ago? Why were they so amused now, why all the grinning above her head when they thought she could not see them? Maybe she should check the Extranet for information on this behavior. She lifted her hands, to open her omnitool, and froze, almost hyperventilating.
"Something the matter, Miss Zorah?" Shepard's voice was amused, and Wrex snorted, clearly struggling to keep from laughing.
"Shepard. You are...you are holding my hand..." And then she seemingly teleported from between the two males, eyes wide behind her faceplate, heartrate spiking again. "I...that is, we...could you..."
"Relax Tali, breathe." He had the gall to grin at her, after making her flustered! The nerve of that man!
"Thank you Shepard, for the extremely useful advice, I'm sure you'll get a medal for it." For some reason, her vitriolic tone set both Shepard and Wrex off, and they walked on, laughing, while she tried her best to glare at them hard enough to make the two combust. Maybe she should look into that, integrating laser tech into her suit and helmet would make it more combat-efficient, yes, perhaps she should talk with Adams about the power needs, maybe ask Garrus for calibration hints...
Human Embassy
"With all due respect, Councilor, my answer is no." Donnell Udina glared at Councilor Tevos' projection. "Spectre Shepard assures me that Doctor T'Soni is in no way complicit in Matriarch Benezia's actions, and frankly, his argument about her possible insertion as a mole being too costly does make sense."
"Careful, Ambassador. Would you repeat the same facing an asari Justicar?" The voice of the asari was smooth, cool, curious. Udina chuckled.
"Councilor, you do not want to go that way, trust me. What would the other Spectres think if a member of their team was so blatantly undermined by the Council? What do you think the Alliance's reaction would be if you tried practically abducting a tactical or possibly strategic asset? How would we outsiders consider the asari Matriarchs if you all but confirmed that they simply use even their children as disposable pawns? So spare me the theatrics, Madam Councilor."
"Very well, ambassador. The Asari Republics and the Citadel Council would both request that the Systems Alliance hands over Liara T'Soni for interrogation on her involvement about the Benezia Incident to the Justicars. Failing that, Spectre Shepard must keep the Council and the Justicars informed on Liara T'Soni's whereabouts and actions, and arrange for an interrogation session with a Justicar as soon as feasible."
"Very well, Councilor Tevos, I will inform Spectre Shepard about your request. Have a nice day, Madam Councilor."
Udina's professional, bland smile was replaced by a stern glare after the image of the asari faded, and he turned towards his guests. Liara and Tali seemed to wilt and fidget under the glare, while Shepard, Anderson, Hackett and Wrex remained impassive.
"I'm sorry to cause you so much trouble, Ambassador. I stated before to the Commander that I am willing to..."
"Stop right there, Doctor." Udina's voice was firm. "I may not like Shepard and soldiers in general, but that does not mean I consider them unqualified morons. If I did not find his arguments at least somewhat convincing, I would have handed you over on a silver platter. But, as I said to Tevos, Shepard's explanation makes a good amount of sense."
Wrex snorted.
"A politician with some sense and a spine. Watch out for this one, Shepard, he should go far." Udina glared at the smirking krogan, then the ambassador turned towards Admiral Hackett, who stood and started pacing.
"I understand the commander's reasoning, and agree with him, but if the Justicars persist or try to use force, we may not like it. I do not have enough specialists capable of taking on Justicars, especially since I'm assigning my N7 complement to Shepard." Hackett frowned, thought for a few seconds longer. "And no matter how much I'd like to, I can't give you more ships, Shepard. Reports from the Armstrong Nebula point at increased geth activity, and I am taking the fleet in to eliminate them."
"I understand, sir. Who and what can you give me?"
"You will get four additional frigates, a cruiser and a carrier while keeping the Normandy as well. We agreed to give command of the task force to Commodore Anderson. You'll get Captain Lee Riley's team of N7s, in addition to the normal Marine forces attached to such task groups. Director Bergman promised you half dozen specialists for the Normandy, they should be arriving tomorrow."
"And the ships, sir? When can we leave?" Tali coughed discreetly, and the two men turned towards her.
"Chief Engineer Adams assures you that the Normandy is ready to leave in four hours. The repairs have been completed, shipboard equipment restocked. I forwarded you the relevant lists and reports. Also, Doctor Chakwas reports that the marine complement of the Normandy is ready for duty, with Lieutenant Alenko ready for light duty." Tali seemed to shrink a bit as Shepard nodded and smiled at her.
"Commodore Anderson" Shepard's voice was happy "when are your ships ready?"
"Well, Spectre, we will be ready for takeoff tomorrow. My people are checking the inventories, and the embarkation of marines is expected to finish in seven hours. I'll forward you the relevant information within the hour."
"Doctor T'Soni, did you get access to those databases you mentioned?" The asari nodded.
"Yes, and by crossreferencing the data with the intelligence reports from Spectres Kryik and Vasir I managed to find a few possible sites worth checking." Liara smiled, pleased as the three officers and Wrex looked approvingly at her. Udina just nodded, then went over to his comm panel, where a priority incoming message was indicated.
"Care to enlighten us?" The asari triggered her omnitool, typed for a few seconds.
"I forwarded my search results to all of you. In conclusion, I estimate the next likely targets would be Eingana, Binthu, or Feros. Binthu has some Prothean buildings that have been marked for exploration in two months. Eingana is of course a Precursor ship graveyard, and the Exogeni colony on Feros has been running smoothly for about a year." Liara did not notice the minute wince of Hackett at the mention of Feros.
"Did you mention Feros, Doctor T'Soni?" the ambassador's voice was curiously flat, emotionless, his hands holding a datapad, and slightly shaking.
"Yes, I did, the human colony there has..."
"It has gone dark, after being attacked. They were jammed, their last message just reached us via the network. Here, read." Udina handed the datapad to Shepard, and both Hackett and Anderson stepped closer to the Spectre after he motioned for them.
Liara would long remember that moment, when the faces of the three hardened military men went ashen, and the datapad cracked in Shepard's fist.
"Tali, get back to the Normandy. Tell Adams that we take off within the hour. Wrex, go with her - if anyone holds her up, kill them, and let me worry about the consequences. Also, Tali - notify Chakwas to pack as much medigel as she can." The quarian, frightened, could only nod before she left. Wrex remained for a second longer, waiting for commentary from Udina. When the ambassador nodded towards him, he chuckled, the bloodthirsty sound chilling Liara to her bones.
"Anderson, I need your ships to follow me as soon as feasible." The newly-minted commodore nodded. "Admiral, if there are any C-type bombardment shells on our ships, I want some of them loaded on the Normandy, and ensure that Anderson's ships also carry at least a pair each." Hackett nodded, omnitool lighting up as his fingers raced across the keys. "Also, I'll need Riley's N7s, and if Susan's at Grissom Academy, you might want to alert her too, Admiral - just in case we fail."
"Ambassador, I'll send you a report on estimated damages as soon as we're at Feros. Meanwhile, can I rely on you to handle possible press leaks from Exogeni?" Udina nodded, grimly smiling, before the ambassador frowned, turning towards Liara, and the asari felt her blood freeze at the human's cold gaze, her body tensed to form a barrier, hurl a singularity, to defend herself.
"What about her? Are you sure she can be trusted, even with this type of information?"
"Sure? No, ambassador, with this type of information none of us are considered fully trustworthy. But I want her there, her insight and knowledge about Protheans may come in handy, not to mention having a biotic who can squash geth colossi with a gesture. Doctor T'Soni...Liara." Shepard turned towards her, datapad discarded, gold-flecked brown eyes locking on sky-blue. "This is your last chance to step aside. If you want to, the Ambassador can hand you over to your people. I'm not sure that would be worse than what we may encounter on Feros. And if you are coming with us, you'll need to swear secrecy about the operation."
Liara hesitated for a fraction of a second before extinguishing her field and nodding, stepping towards the Spectre. Her eyes flicked towards the cracked datapad, curious about what could engender such reactions in these humans. The screen showed only two words, obviously some kind of code. Opera Night.
Feros
Ethan Jeong was not afraid - as the rising young star project manager of ExoGeni, he was terrified. He remembered his assignment to the Feros research colony as a huge success, a path to the Board, or even possibly politics. Now, all those dreams were slowly being eroded by a geth barrage. The observation post shook, its lights flickered as the kinetic barrier finally failed under the sustained bombardment. He still wondered how they could have gotten past all the early warning systems.
Jeong was doing his utmost to tune out the sound of the warning klaxons, the flickering red emergency lights, and focused on the security camera screens, which still worked - and considered why those were left to them, when the geth overwhelmed every other system, the human cyberwarfare defenses unable to keep up with the speed and sheer number of attacks.
The cameras showed him the black-armored asari approaching among the geth troops, as the huge walking machines spat green lightning at the defensive emplacements, reducing the cannons to melted, ruined wrecks one after the other. His people were trying to get control over the guns, or bring up the secondary kinetic barriers of the emplacements, but the geth were swarming the human systems - why would they even try to beat a race of machines, a race of computers in electronic warfare?
He flinched as the geth melted their way through the hangar doors, and saw the internal defences melt under a withering barrage of plasma fire. His people were huddling in cover, the mercenaries likely hoping to survive until the geth actually tried entering the complex - that way, perhaps they could at least inflict some damage on them. Even he noted the geth fire becoming more sporadic, and he could see the defenders tense, aiming for the entrance, spoiling for a chance at stopping the machines.
It was not geth that entered. The first lithe, black-armored shape charged through the opening in a blue blur, her shotgun's roar masked by the boom of displaced air. The guards instinctively focused on her - not long, maybe half a second, or a second at most. That, however, was more than enough for the asari's companions. The hangar space became a chaos of gunfire, screams, bloodspatter and surges of biotic power. The outcome was unsurprising, though. The defenders were professionals, true, and several of them had served with or even been in combat for the Alliance or the Blue Suns at one point or another. That did not really prepare them to hold off personal retainers of an asari Matriarch - commandoes who had decades or centuries to hone their skills in both direct conflicts and the shadowy wars of assassination.
It took less than a minute, and the hangar was silent again. One of the asari was slightly limping, two or three other sported small dents and nicks on their armor where their barriers failed or they missed dodging a shot. The humans were all dead, and the commandoes made sure of that by shooting each body in the head. Jeong suppressed a shiver at the sight.
"Jeong. Jeong! Hey, Jeong!" His vision blurred, cheek hurting. Who was that woman again? Lizbeth someone-or-other.
"Yes, Lisbeth?" For some reason, she looked angry at hearing his flat, emotionless voice.
"They will be here in minutes, Jeong. Julia is keeping the internal comms open at the moment, but he says he can't keep up with the geth hacking for more than a few minutes longer. We got word to Zhu's Hope, and sent over all our data from the attackers."
"Yes, Lisbeth." Why was she telling him these things? Should he care? He will be dead or worse shortly - just when his carreer started to rise.
"The authority codes, Jeong. You have the codes to start the self-destruct process, and..." Her voice was interrupted by the low hissing and bubbling from the direction of the door, and she grabbed him, shoved him towards a terminal. "Set the self-destruct, Ethan, NOW!"
Jeong's fingers moved slowly over the terminal, and he managed to input half the code before a blue light splattered him over the wall. The observation post remained standing, the fusion reactors below still working, the databanks accessible.
Fai Dan swore as the comm line from the ExoGeni outpost went offline. So far, their barriers managed to withstand the geth barrage, though just barely, and thanks to Gavin Hossle's quick thinking, managed to reach a stalemate against the geth cyberwarfare. Even so, he was fatalistic - the overwhelming force of the geth would surely roll over them...if the containment of the Thorian held, that is. If not, well, he'd certainly wish for the geth to just kill him. His mood was not helped by the constant minute tremors from the Thorian tripping the sensors, or the steadily-strenghtening headache.
"Fai, we have a problem." Ian Newstead motioned him over. Fai Dan felt his blood chill at the sight. Geth were inside the reactor complex powering the containment.
"Can you reroute the power needs for the containment to our reactors?"
"You know that'll essentially kill off our barriers, right?"
"If it comes to that, wouldn't you rather take the geth than those creeps?"
Newstead nodded, his fingery flying across the haptic screens. The barriers and lights flickered, and for a few seconds, the control room seemed to fill with a heady, pregnant stench, a barely-there fog misted the air… then the sensors indicated that the containment field was back at full strength. Fai Dan nodded at Newstead, and went over to another of his crew.
"Arcelia, any chance for calling in backup?"
"No, Fai, the jamming is still in place - and not just the generic comm freqs, the Alliance and ExoGeni-specific ones as well. I can't get any response from the comm buoy or the satellites either, and that's not just the jamming."
"Wonderful. Why spend all the money on shiny new tech like this, and then it gets taken out by stupid flashlight-headed robots with simple ballistic strikes. Arcelia, remind me to paste the idiot who designed those satellites without military-grade barriers. Also, compile the data we have here and what we got from the ExoGeni crew into a burst packet. Just in case." Arcelia nodded, started typing. Newstead looked as if he wanted to say something, but Fai Dan shook his head.
"Status of the barriers?"
"Holding at 35%."
Before Fai Dan could react, the ever-present minute tremors from the Thorian below stilled, and the dark Feros skies were lit by the flash of an overload charge, as the geth redirected the full power of the occupied reactor into the already overtasked colony systems. Systems and VIs flickered and failed as the charge ran amok in the electronic veins of the complex. The barriers dropped, never to be raised again, as a geth barrage blew out the capacitors with pinpoint precision. Security bulkheads slammed closed as the emergency lights cast a bloodred glow over the humans.
"Containment field?" Fai Dan's voice was tired, resigned. The answer came from below, a deep, triumphant huffing roar felt as much in their bones as in their minds - just before the motion sensors inside the complex went berserk.
The access corridors leading towards the Thorian were gone, consumed and altered by the creature into a yawning fleshy maw that seemed to devour light, sound, and tore at the minds of the humans. Screams, moans, and insane giggling filled the complex, as the colony members' minds buckled under the pressure of the Thorian's presence. Training and built-in protections could help only so much - the sheer overwhelming presence of the incomprehensibly ancient creature drove too many humans over the edge of madness, never to return.
Then, the greenish mock-humans skipped from that abyssal portal, their movements and stance radiating overeager friendliness and need for closeness before they could wrap their spindly arms around the intended victim, leaning in for a grotesque kiss - then vomited a brackish fluid all over the victim's face and head. Flesh and steel bubbled and melted alike as the fluid rendered the humans digestible for the Thorian. Here and there, gunfire lit up the complex, as the more coherent staff members tried to defend themselves...or spare themselves the agony. Still, all considered, they were the fortunate ones.
The Thorian's awareness wormed its way around the mindscapes of the still-living humans, its vines probing and prodding at their sanity, their minds, seeking entry and domination. Very few managed to withstand it, or at least keep it together for a short while. Most cracked under the pressure, sanity and soul torn away, swallowed by the creature, leaving only empty husks, only fit for consumption. Then there were those whose will was strong enough to keep a semblance of their self together even under the Thorian's pressure. These unfortunate ones howled their agony while thrashing and convulsing on the floor, before standing up calmly, relaxedly - with a vibrant green light shining from the vines that seemingly thrashed behind their eyes.
Ian Newstead and Fai Dan stood with their back towards Arcelia, their assault rifles spitting short bursts at any approaching creeper, while the woman worked frantically on finishing the data packet on her terminal. Arcelia shrieked, blood running from her ears, hands clawing for her eyes before she went for her sidearm, aiming at the terminal. Newstead was faster, and put a burst through her skull as he kicked the corpse away from the terminal, before he himself was tossed aside by Fai Dan - and Newstead's blood chilled as he saw the shining, thrashing vines behind his friend's eyes.
Ian Newstead knew he was a dead man, but he still went for his rifle, bullets pinging off the floor behind him, slamming into his armor, blood leaking from his wounds. His aim was good enough to burst the Fai Dan-thing's head before the thing could finish him. Coughing blood, he crawled back to the terminal, using every trick he learned during his N4 training to keep his mind functional enough, sane enough to do his last duty. He did not realize that his eyes and ears were bleeding, or that the tortured, ear-splitting screams and wails stopped. He did not feel the unnaturally heavy, pregnant taste in the air, the stench of an overgrown, cancerous, ever-spawning, ever-multiplying thing. His world was focused on the terminal, and his need to reach it.
His fingers felt slow and clumsy as he composed the message he hoped would punch through the jamming - especially since it should be sent on an unknown, very special channel. A simple, short code phrase that has been used for over a century by certain human forces, becoming widespread among military personnel and xenoform researchers after the Burning of Irem and the Leng Excursion. The phrase always signified blood, madness, and mankind's struggle agains the uncaring, pitiless whims of fate. A phrase that always before indicated more than mere struggle, more than mere survival. For humanity, survival was not enough.
His lips peeled back in a last, savage, satisfied smile as Ian Newstead, former N4 soldier, slumped over the damaged terminal, that did manage to send the short code phrase with the necessary coordinates and signifiers into the comm network, where the Alliance would surely pick it up.
Opera Night.