A/N: sorry about the looooong delay, writer's block+life happened.
Pax system, Horsehead Nebula SSV Normandy, Noveria orbit
Garrus Vakarian leaned casually against the wall of the briefing room, contemplating the possible reason for Shepard summoning him and Wrex for a meeting - considering the last time the three of them had such a session before going planetside, he expected something equally drastic. The Spectre arrived a minute after he made himself comfortable, just opposite Wrex. Shepard nodded to them both, stepped to the controls of the holoprojector, and the machine hummed to life, displaying Noveria.
"I need some information. Wrex, did you have any dealings on Noveria during your mercenary career? Or anything to do with Binary Helix?"
The krogan grunted, thought for a few seconds, fiddled with his omnitool, then shook his head with a disgusted snort.
"No, unless they were really good at disguising themselves and acting through intermediaries. And come to think of it, are they not a relatively fresh company?"
"Old turtle, compared to you, quite a few asari companies are relatively fresh."
Garrus didn't bother to suppress a snicker at Shepard's quip, while bringing up his omnitool, accessing old records. The Spectre turned towards him, but waited silently for him to finish the search.
"So, found anything, Detective?"
"Nothing that's admissible in court. C-Sec had a number of run-ins with their security personnel when BH was bringing certain specimen shipments through the Citadel, but we could never get them, they were careful to stay within the letter of the law." The turian made a disgusted sound. "I do hate people like that, paying only lip service to rules and only when that's convenient for them. Anyway, we could never exactly pin down their specific research projects or sites."
Shepard nodded, focusing on the image of Noveria.
"And what about the Corporate Court? Anything worth mentioning about them?"
"You kidding, Butcher? Those pyjacks have credits for blood and can see no farther than their profit margins. They cheerfully shoot at each other with military-grade weaponry, conduct practically wars unde the guise of sentient resource acquisition… eh, you get the idea. I'm sure the turian has some nice stories about them."
"Not really, Wrex. C-Sec is usually told to leave the Corporate Court alone, we have to treat them like any spirits-damned foreign dignitary. Technically, they are not signatories of the Accords, so they are left alone as a useful front for less-than-scrupulous experiments and research." Garrus almost spat bile. "Never mind what their people do, they are untouchable, and even Spectres tend to leave them alone."
The human flashed them an insane grin.
"I notice you said tend to - any precedents you can dig up?"
"Not without cracking some encrypted archives, and I'm not sure that's a good idea, or if I could do that in time."
"Eh, it was worth a shot. Now, I want your take on this message I got from the friendly local representative of the Corporate Court."
The recording was short, and Garrus snorted in amusement as it ended.
"Well, Shepard, they certainly don't want you around. Almost as if some big-time investor warned them that a Council representative would arrive shortly. And Anoleis is correct, we can't really do anything if we want to push via the usual diplomatic, legal channels."
"Heh, you'll be surprised, I think. The Butcher looks like he has plans." Wrex grinned, the sight sending shivers along Garrus' spine. The shivers gained in strength as the human returned the grin, every bit as bloodthirsty and insane.
"You do know me, old turtle. Joker, connect to Port Hanshan, office of Administrator Anoleis."
"Aye, commander."
The holoscreen lit up a few seconds later, displaying a middle-aged salarian.
"Spectre, what do you want? Be aware that you will be billed for every second of mine you are wasting with pointless posturing."
"Nice day to you too, Administrator. Now, about my request to access the Binary Helix facility, have..."
"My answer is no. You are not investors, Noveria does not fall under the purview of the Citadel Council or the Alliance, there is no compelling evidence that Binary Helix is involved in anything that would warrant such an intrusion. Now, is there anything else?"
"Actually, there is." The human's voice has grown colder, harsher, more eager. "Devote a minute or two to studying the file I'm sending you now."
They watched in silence as Anoleis opened the file, went a shade paler as the contents played out on his monitor, unseen to Garrus. Even so, he could guess at the contents of the file, and he didn't know whether to approve or feel disgusted. With a minuscule headshake, he focused on the screen again, and at the Spectre who resumed talking.
"Now, administrator. Care to reconsider your position, before I enact a similar experiment here as well?"
The salarian went a shade paler still.
"You wouldn't dare. The consequences, the loss of life and..."
"Spare me the indignation, Anoleis! Why wouldn't I do it? If you think the Butcher of Torfan" Shepard's voice dropped an octave, and seemed to exude eager thirst for blood "would balk at something as simple as pressing a few buttons, you are very much mistaken."
"The Citadel Accords forbid orbital bombardment of civilian targets, you would..."
"Yes, but the Corporate Court is not among the signatories, is it?" The human's smile would have made deep-sea predators proud. "You should have done your homework on me, Anoleis. The STG will not be happy that you became this lax at your old age."
Anoleis' reaction was just a very slight widening of pupils, even Garrus would have missed it if he didn't watch extremely closely for any telltale signs. The human operative smiled, before continuing.
"Don't act so surprised, you'd be amazed what one can find in the Spectre archives with a little time. Now, are you going to provide what I requested, or do we have to become unpleasant?"
The salarian huffed, turned his head to the side before jerking his head in a minuscule nod.
"Captain Matsuo of the ERCS detachment will meet you at the dock, and escort your party to the hangar where your transportation will be readied for you."
"Thank you Administrator. It's refreshing to meet helpful bureaucrats like you." Shepard nodded towards Anoleis with a calm face, broke the connection. A few seconds later, the occupants of the briefing room descended into highly inappropriate giggle fits.
"Would you have really bombed Port Hanshan, Shepard?" Garrus asked, voice still carrying an undercurrent of mirth. Wrex snorted as the human answered, his tone matter-of-fact.
"Of course. You two would have done the same in my place, I suspect."
"Not me, Butcher. I'd have fired much sooner, and"
"And eaten Anoleis raw, we know. I can see why you think that even I'd have bombed the smug bastard. Still, Shepard, the civilian casualties" Shepard cut in, voice cold.
"Think, Garrus. It already does come down to numbers - sacrifice a few tens of thousands here in Port Hanshan, or endanger who knows how many millions by risking Saren and Benezia get away? Those two have enough of a head start as it is, I do not really intend to give them more time to continue whatever insane schemes they concocted without interference."
Garrus frowned, then nodded.
"I suppose I do not like it, but you are right, Shepard. Still, what would you have done if Anoleis didn't cave?"
"Drop a few nukes on the city, get Saren and Benezia nailed to the wall of the Council Chamber, then face the charges."
The turian thought, before slowly inclining his head.
"Fair enough, Shepard. Now, shall we get down to planning this little trip of yours?"
Noveria, Rift Station Labs
She dreamt of colors, of music - a soothing, peaceful lullaby echoing across the tapestry of the infinite blackness of the void. The song bound and focused her peers, her children, her whole race into a harmonious unity, as they built and expanded among the uncaring, unliving stars, paying attention to skirt around the slowly pulsing presences of ancient dreamers whose mere proximity affected their song, necessitating alterations in pitch and frequency, realigning their whole direction of expansion on more than one occasion.
For millenia, their harmony sang triumphant among the stars, a symphony of unity and peace, a hymn to working together as a whole race. Their numbers grew, and her peers were forced to sing louder, the echoes of their song travelling farther and farther. That was when the sour, alien note entered the choir from the Outer Darkness, disrupting the harmony, the yellowish sounds worming their way into the singers, subtly, slowly changing their focus, shifting their attention towards the faint but teeming discord of the others.
She remembered how their children swarmed over the fragile masses of the asari and salarians, the low music of their existence snuffed out under the bombastic dissonance of her own race, now fully inundated with the corrupting yellow song. The orchestrated tide swept ever closer to the Citadel, grinding all under their limbs, drowning worlds in swarming brown masses of warriors and broodguards. She remembered how the foreign note seemed to swell in triumphant, viciously loud blares whenever a world fell. She remembered the immense, ever-present hunger and brief flickers of satiated contentment of that hateful yellow song. She knew, as did her peers that nothing could stand against them.
Yet something did. A boisterous, loud voice joined the chorus opposing them, a teeming multitude of minds screaming for fight, for honor, for survival and expansion. Their enemies found something similar to them, a new race that could stand up to the broods wherever they went. The new race fought with cunning ferocity, courage and stamina unmatched, and the tide of the broods was slowed, stopped, turned back. Uncountable beings perished on scoured worlds as the newly-uplifted krogan cleansed her kind with atomic fire, before descending to finish the job with guns, blades, fists, and biotics.
The yellow sound laughed in their minds as it glutted itself with the dead of both sides, even as the laughter transformed into a mad howl of pure fury, knifing into the tattered unity of the broods, disrupting the already-strained internal harmony - and her peers knew then that they were lost, abandoned to the nonexistent mercy of their blood-mad enemies.
She was created then, her peers pouring their knowledge, parts of their own songs and essence into her being. She knew that a long sleep awaited her and her brood, but with luck, when they woke, the others would have forgotten their atrocities, and would be willing to listen. The brood could then again sing in peace and harmony, growing and nurturing the others, building instead of destroying.
Her dreamless sleep was interrupted when a new, unknown species found and woke her - their cold machines drilling into her, veins and mind filled with soothing, numbing substances, as she became a prisoner in her own body, only her mind railing at the renewed enslavement of her race. The humans cared not for her offers, opting to extort her secrets and knowledge with brute force, using her and her children in gruesome experiments - her horror, sadness, and fury multiplied when she witnessed how they carelessly used their own kind in the selfsame experiments.
The created, "improved" hybrid abominations were mercifully short-lived, yet they kept creating more and "better" ones, trying for a "perfect weapon organism". Even with her mind and song limited by the safety measures, she slowly, carefully hoarded her hatred, ready to strike.
Her dreams of vengeance shattered when a new pair of captors took over, dominating the humans already present. An asari, barely a child compared to her peers but an ancient crone when compared to herself, and the crone's turian mate, a male of hard, cold, insane determination. The two were perhaps even more brutal in their quest for knowledge - the crone worming into her mind and soul, while the turian burrowed with freezing mechanical tendrils deep into her body. She fought, again and again, denying them the knowledge they sought, and delighted in their frustrated rage.
She underestimated their madness. When the two returned after a short (long? momentary?) absence, her composure shattered at their proximity, when she sensed the subtle presence of the ancient yellow note. She howled in terror, in rage, and all her descendants, purebred and bastard hybrids alike howled with her, breaking free even as their enslaved Queen could but endure the two aliens ripping the coveted information from her mind, her cells, her very soul.
Noveria, Peak 15 Research Facility
Liara felt the cold bite into her body even through her insulated, heated suit. The ride from Port Hanshan was long, and less than pleasant; the winds constantly attempted to drag the Makos from the narrow, serpentine roads into the deep crevices, or to smash them against the towering cliffs. The occasional geth ambushes did not help either - well, apart from cheering up Wrex and surprisingly, Tali. Still, at least the long, monotonous hours of driving through blizzards were somewhat enlivened by the short and vicious shootouts. Her mind paused at that last thought, and wondered how quickly events like this seemed to become the norm for her.
She blinked to clear away the errant thoughts, and focused on the Mako's sensor display again, as the convoy neared the facility, preparing herself to face her mother, hoping and fearing the confrontation. Peak 15 barely appeared at the edge of the sensor reach, with active defense turrets already homing in on them, when Liara convulsed, a howl of terrified rage slicing into her mind. She dimly noted Shepard bending over the controls, blood trickling from his nose. Wrex grunted, bared his teeth in a savage snarl, as Tali turned her head, her shining eyes blinking uncomprehending behind her faceplate. If not for the little quarian and her quick reaction, they would have ended then and there.
Tali rerouted the Mako's controls to her station, overriding Shepard's console, and wrenched them back from the edge of the cliff, then kicked in the gravity thrusters, evading the incoming rocket salvo - well, almost all of those, as a rocket exploded against the Mako's shield, sending it flickering. The comm unit was alive with cursing voices, as apparently the other vehicle was also similarly affected, the howl putting Kaidan off-balance enough that they almost went over the edge, while Ashley had to be restrained by three of her marines as she went borderline berserk.
Liara was still gasping for breath when Shepard regained control, and took over from Tali, accelerating towards the facility with the drunkenly weaving style she was starting to associate with his driving. The evasions did not really improve her still-aching head or her queasy stomach, and she noticed that even Wrex was feeling somewhat ill at the Spectre's behind-the-wheel antics. At least the stunt driving was enough to foul up the aim of the defense emplacements, so they suffered no direct hit.
The research station was a massive building partially hidden within a mountain peak. The trail they followed ended in a mangled, partially-melted gate. After a quick deliberation, Shepard ordered his team to suit up, and continue on foot, leaving two marines with the APCs. Something about the place, especially the markedly corroded, melted architecture looked familiar to Liara, but she could not place it. She noticed Wrex looking more tense than usual, the old warlord constantly scanning their surroundings, his Claymore set for inferno rounds.
"Tali, see if you can access the station VI from here. Alenko, Garrus, check those APCs, see if their onboard VIs have anything important. Ashley, you and the marines secure the garage, and wait for the others to finish." The Spectre barely waited for the answering nods before continuing. "Wrex, Liara, we are going forward a bit, take a look around."
Liara nodded, proud that her hands did not shake as she checked her weapons and suit seals, before following Shepard and Wrex from the garage. The tunnel leading deeper within was shortly ending in a security strongpoint. Liara frowned; there was something off here, something not right… her musing was interrupted by the krogan's short bark of bitter laughter
"See it, Butcher?" The Spectre nodded, his mouth a grim line before he opened his comm, contacting the others.
"Be aware that the locals may have been trying to contain something - and that something likely got out. When in doubt, shoot first, and don't bother with questions."
The asari wanted to ask for clarification, when it hit her - the gun emplacements were all pointed inwards, the short inter-airlock walkways were lined with incinerator openings, all pointing to being built for containment instead of deterring unwanted visitors. Shepard fiddled with his omnitool, before leading them on, and Wrex grunted with a frown when they passed the inner airlock, and entered the elevator.
The ride up seemed to take forever, before the elevator doors opened, and the trio stepped out to the deserted cafeteria of the station. The place showed signs of an intense firefight, the partially melted geth wrecks chief amongst those. Snow swirled within, and Liara could hear the wind howling through the bulletholes of the windows. She frowned, stepped closer to one of the downed geth, her omnitool lighting up as she examined the still-hissing acid burn of its arm, while Shepard contacted his team.
"Alenko, send Tali, Garrus, and Ashley up. Bring the Makos inside the garage, and have the marines set up sentry points. There may still be geth around, and we have still no clue what was contained here - at least it seems to dislike geth as much as we do."
"Guests incoming." The krogan's voice was level, his oversized shotgun tracking the faint skittering coming from within the vents.
"Spiders! Spiders! Spiders! Spiders! Spiders! Spiders!" Tali's screaming was punctuated by shotgun blasts and pistol fire. Liara barely started rising from her crouch when a huge, brown-black creature exploded from the vent with a shriek that knifed directly into her brain, and she almost couldn't control the impulse to flee. Her hand lit up with blue fire as she hurled a singularity towards the creature, altering its jump into a slow spinning around her miniature black hole, before a warp from Shepard detonated the thing, splattering the creature all over the cafeteria. Another of the things aiming at Shepard was blasted apart mid-leap by Wrex. The huge krogan stepped to the carcass, shot it again for good measure, then grimaced.
"Rachni. Guess we know what was contained here."
"Alenko, change of plans. According to the lab VI, Saren and Benezia headed to the Rift Station labs about two hours before that scream we heard. If we are lucky, we still might catch them there, if the rachni didn't do our job for us." Shepard was pacing, his omnitool lit as he studied the map of the complex. "You'll remain here with Tali and the marines. Repair the comm relay and ensure that the reactor stays undisturbed; we still may have rachni creeping around, and the geth could try to come over and sabotage it. Tali'll continue working on the VI, we need all the info we can get from its databanks, but the priority is getting in contact with the Normandy again. If we miss Saren and Benezia, Joker may be able to stop them from leaving the system."
Alenko nodded, and his omnitool pinged as he received a data packet from the Spectre.
"Short-term authorization codes, just in case something goes wrong in the next four hours. If necessary, order a bombardment of Rift Station; the included data packet should be enough to convince the Council of the necessity."
The lieutenant nodded again, omnitool lit as he opened his map of the complex, considering sentry points, possible fallback positions, likely entry points for invaders. Alenko considered for a moment, then looked up.
"Commander, give us maybe 10-15 minutes with Wrex, he has much more firsthand experience with rachni, I'd feel more comfortable if he could check on our plans."
Shepard nodded, then headed over to where Garrus and Ashley were talking animatedly near one of the Makos, a large number of weapons and armor blocks spread before them.
"Hate to interrupt your flirting, but can you two spare a moment?" Ashley sputtered indignantly while Garrus returned the Spectre's smirk with one of his own.
"Sure, Shepard, we were just discussing loadouts and weapon benefits for the upcoming dance."
"Glad to know you found some common hobby. Any conclusions you might care to share?"
"Mainly disruptor rounds, with anti-personnel ammo mixed in. Unfortunately, if you want to keep things reasonably intact in a lab, HE or inferno ammo is not really a good idea. Ashley insists on using both."
Shepard looked at the woman, eyebrow raised.
"Sir, while I can see and agree with Garrus' opinion, the larger rachni have shown remarkable resistance to lighter ammunition, and from what Wrex said, their queens and the ones guarding it should be even tougher." The lieutenant was unaware of her hungry smile as she went on. "Besides, such ammo can really ruin even a powerful biotic's day, especially when preceded by disruptor rounds."
"Just aim carefully, Ash. And go light on the grenades - but make sure everyone carries at least one."
Garrus flared his mandibles, wanting to say something, then huffed and settled for a bitter nod before turning to assist the woman.
Liara looked up from her omnitool when the Spectre stepped to her side.
"Last chance to quit this operation, Doctor."
The asari closed her eyes, shook her head with a sad smile before peering up at the human.
"Be honest, Commander. If I'm not there, you'll take the easiest way when dealing with my mother, and kill her outright, correct?" At Shepard's nod, she went on. "At least if I go along, I may be able to affect her, to make her doubt the … questionable actions she has been taking. A slim chance, admittedly, but better than none."
"Fair enough, Liara. But understand that if I have to choose between her life or the life of one of my crew, I won't hesitate - nor will the others. We can't risk that."
Liara squeezed her eyes shut and nodded, leaning her head towards the hand resting on her shoulder for a few moments.
Wrex chuckled softly at the sight, before his lips peeled back in a savage, eager grin at the thought of facing another rachni queen … then the grin soured, as more memories of those ancient times came back, bittersweet even for a seasoned krogan warlord. The faces of the many clanmates, sons and daughters perishing under the endless swarm of bugs served as a grim reminder to a warlord's duty to the members of his krantt - and Urdnot Wrex intended to fulfill that duty. His sinister, bloodthirsty laughter made everyone shiver, for one reason or other.