Kaidan just shook his head as Shepard hacked the lock on the mako's hatch. It was a little disturbing just how easily he did it. Which left Kaidan wondering if it was skill on Shepard's part, or if security on a mobile missile launcher was really that poor. He really hoped it was the former. "You know, you could have asked to borrow the mako."
"But then they could have said no." Shepard shrugged. "Get on the scanner, let us know what we're getting into."
"I'll drive..." Garrus started to climb up to the hatch.
"The hell you do." Shepard shook his head.
"You can't man the guns and drive at the same time, Shepard." Garrus gave him a challenging look.
"That a bet, Vakarian?" Shepard returned it with one of his own.
"Not everything has to be a competition." Kaidan shook his head.
They both turned to stare at him with looks that suggested that was completely news to them. He sighed, and got into the mako.
#
Crackling over the radio revealed there were survivors somewhere. Michael gestured for people to be wary as they headed in to investigate. The refugees they found immediately started panicking. Well, most of them. A woman gave the guy who looked to be in charge an annoyed look. "Relax, Jeong. They're obviously not geth."
"Get back, Juliana." The man glared at them. "Who are you? What do you want?"
Michael rolled his eyes. "Commander Shepard. I'm here to remove your geth problem."
"You see?" The woman, Juliana, folded her arms. "You worry too much."
"And you trust to easily, Juliana." Jeong turned his glare to her.
"I'm just glad to see a friendly face." Juliana nodded to him. "I thought we were the only humans left on this planet."
There was an undercurrent here he didn't quite like. "Fai Dan and some members of Zhu's Hope are still alive."
Juliana immediately whirled on Jeong. "I thought you said they were all dead."
"I said they were 'probably' all dead," Jeong replied weakly.
"They're still alive." Kaidan spoke up from behind Michael. "But the geth hit them pretty hard."
"We know what that's like. Those damn synthetics are relentless."
"Just tell me where I can find them." Michael looked around. Not a lot of survivors, but still more than he'd expected to find. If they'd gone to Zhu's Hope and combined forces, they'd all have been in a lot better shape.
"You see?" Jeong glared. "They're not here to save us. We should just wait for company support before we -"
"Ignore him." Juliana shook her head. "The geth are up in the ExoGeni headquarters. Just a bit further along the skyway."
Jeong turned towards him and actually pointed a finger. "Those headquarters are private property, soldier. Remove the geth and nothing else."
"I'm not interested in your company secrets." Though if he did find himself in Jeong's office, he was definitely going to help himself to something. On principle. And carve his name in the asshole's desk. He started to turn to head back to the mako.
"Commander, before you go..." Juliana held up a hand. "My daughter, Lizbeth. She's missing..."
"They shouldn't waste time poking around." Jeong waved a hand. "We can do a proper accounting of our casualties after the geth are gone." On second thought, maybe he'd 'accidentally' drop a grenade in the guy's office.
"That's my daughter you're talking about. She's still alive. I know it."
He got what information Juliana had, and promised he'd keep an eye out. Under the circumstances, he really didn't want to give her false hope.
#
Before they could leave, yet another person asked for help. This one wanted information off his computer, but was afraid it was too dangerous for him or one of his friends to go back for it.
Kaidan just shook his head as they walked away. "Well, that's very comforting. Certain death for some, fine for us."
Garrus nodded. "Why do people always assume we enjoy putting ourselves in harm's way?"
"Maybe they've met us before?" Shepard glanced back at them and raised an eyebrow.
A smile came to Kaidan's face. It was possible the commander had a point.
#
"Four geth, one missile." Garrus made noise that sounded more like a cackle than a laugh. "Beat that."
"It was the little infantry ones." Michael shook his head. "I can't believe you're even bothering to brag about that. It's like saying 'hey, I stepped on four ants.'"
"What's an ant?" Garrus glanced at him before turning back to the guns and firing another shot.
"Minuscule earth insect that swarms. Watch the colossus."
"I see it, keep the Mako steady."
"You did notice it's shooting at us, right Vakarian?"
#
The shot missed all of them by at least a foot. Michael aimed his sidearm and was about to fire when he realized the other shooter was a human woman. "Damn it." She stared at them. "I'm so sorry. I thought you were geth, or one of those varren." She let the gun fall to her side.
Michael lowered his sidearm. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
And she turned out to be Lizbeth, Juliana's daughter. "It's my own fault. Everyone else was running and I stayed to back up data." She gestured. "Next thing I knew, the geth ship latched on and the power went out. I was trapped. I tried to get out, but the way was blocked."
"We'll clear the geth soon enough." Michael nodded to her.
"It's not the geth." She shook her head. "It's the energy field they put up. They don't want anyone else getting access to the -" She cut herself off.
At last. The plot thinned. "I'm here for the geth. If you know something, tell me."
She hesitated, and then nodded. "I don't know for certain, but I'm guessing they're here for the Thorian."
"Thorian?" They exchanged looks with each other before turning back to her.
Lizbeth explained that it was an indigenous life-form ExoGeni was studying and said she could tell them more when they were safe. He thought she might be a little worried that if she answered all their questions, they'd leave her behind. Kaidan would likely be upset if he tried. She gave them her ID for any locked doors they encountered, and went to find a good hiding place.
#
To absolutely no one's surprise, it turned out krogan mercenaries didn't rank among the world's best hackers. He got a little bit of information from the VI after dealing with the krogan, but it raised more questions than it answered.
They followed the power cables and found...
"What is this place?" Kaidan looked around. "Almost looks like the geth built themselves some kind of church."
Michael nodded. It was strangely disturbing. He examined the claw the geth ship had used to latch on to the building. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I don't think we have enough ordnance to deal with this."
"I'll mark this day on the calendar." Kaidan nodded.
"What if we put grenades in the joints?" Garrus looked over the claw.
"No." Michael shook his head. "We'd need at least eight high-explosives to even have a chance. The flashbangs and the gas won't even scratch the paint." He shook his head. "It's a lab. Let's look around, we might be able to find or rig something."
#
Kaidan shook his head. "Found the weapons locker, but there's barely anything larger than a pistol. No grenades." He looked at where Shepard was examining the door controls. "Commander?"
"I think I've found a pretty big safety violation." Shepard started touching controls. "I'm going to have to add it to my report." He hit the last control, and suddenly the blast door came down, shearing through one of the claws. There were creaking and crashing sounds as the other claws tore free and the geth ship started to fall away from the building.
"Commander..." Kaidan starred.
Garrus let out a laugh. "That certainly did look unsafe."
"I know." Shepard shook his head. "Can you imagine? Someone could get hurt."
"All right." Kaidan shrugged. "The door out will be open now. We can head back and deal with this Thorian thing."
#
They had only gone a few steps when the communications started working again. Joker's voice came over. "I repeat, Normandy to shore party. Are you reading? Anyone there? Normandy to shore party. Come on, Commander, talk to me."
"Is that you, Joker? What's going on over there?"
"We're in lockdown here, Commander. Something happened to the colonists. They're banging on the hull, trying to claw their way inside the ship. They're freaking out."
"They can't do any real damage." The Normandy could take anything the colonists had left and laugh it off. "We're on our way back. Just hold your position."
"Uh..." Joker's voice came back over. "Yeah. Okay. Well, we'll just wait right here for you, Commander."
#
Lizbeth was waiting for them when they got out. "There you are." She waved. "We should get out of here. I don't think this place is safe."
Oh, it most certainly was not. But mostly for her. "You said you didn't know about the Thorian." He narrowed his eyes. "I don't like being lied to."
"I-" She visibly paled. "I was afraid. I wanted to stop the tests, but they threatened me, told me I'd be next. When the geth attacked, I stayed behind to send a message to Colonial Affairs. I tried to tell them where to find the Thorian, but the power cut before I could send the message. I..." She looked down. "I never meant for this to happen."
Michael shook his head. "Where's the Thorian?"
"The Thorian is underneath Zhu's Hope, but the entrance is blocked." She gestured. "The colonists covered it with the freighter just before the geth attacked."
"But why are the geth after the Thorian?" Michael frowned. "What could Saren want with it?" And why were the colonists apparently protecting it?
"Well, it does have unique mind-control capabilities. That's what ExoGeni was interested in."
He starred at her for a moment. Joker's voice over the comm saved him from having to find a wall to beat his head against. "Normandy to shore party. Come in."
"What is it, Joker?"
"We're getting a lot of geth comm chatter. Looks like they're headed your way."
He shrugged. "I guess wrecking their ship drew a bit of attention." He shook his head at Lizbeth, but gestured for her to follow. "Let's move out."
"I might be able to help." She fell into step behind him. "Undo the mess I helped create."
#
As soon as the voices came over the comm, Lizbeth stood and popped open the hatch. "That's my mom. Stop. Stop the rover." She started climbing out.
Michael hit the brakes. He debated just continuing on, but Kaidan was climbing out after the woman. "Oh for..." He sighed, and followed.
#
To his complete lack of surprise, Jeong was still being stupid. Only this time, he was armed and stupid. "Everyone shut up. Let me think." Armed, stupid, and melodramatic. Should really be a law or two against that.
"What's going on?" Lizbeth hissed at Michael. Michael just glared at her.
"You won't get away with this." Juliana was shaking her head.
"Get her out of here." Jeong gestured, and one of the guards grabbed Juliana.
"Get away from her, you son of a bitch." And then Lizbeth was standing up and heading down there. Unarmed, and stupid. Maybe they should have put a leash on her.
"Lizbeth." Juliana ran towards her.
"Damn it." Jeong glared. "Come out where I can see you. All of you." Michael shrugged, and walked out, flanked by Kaidan and Garrus. "Hah, Shepard. Damn it. I knew it was too much to hope the geth would kill you." Jeong shook his head. "I found some interesting facts about you in the ExoGeni database. I know what you did on Torfan. There's no reason for this to get bloody."
That was rapidly becoming untrue. "Not this time, Jeong. You need to back down and let them go."
"You don't understand. It's not that easy." Jeong waved a hand. "Communications are back up. ExoGeni wants this place purged."
"This is a human colony, Jeong." Lizbeth shook her head. "You can't just re-purpose us."
"It's not just you." Jeong actually sounded like he thought he was being reasonable. "There's something here far more valuable than a few colonists."
It's like the man was just begging to have all of his teeth shattered. "Are you going to tell them about the Thorian, or should I?"
"The what?" Juliana blinked.
Lizbeth sighed. "It's a telepathic life-form living under Zhu's Hope. It's taking control of the colonists there. ExoGeni knew all along."
"You won't get away with this, Jeong." Juliana glared.
Jeong shrugged. "So you keep saying. But nobody's going to miss a few colonists."
He really should make a bingo card for situations like these. This was getting boring. Michael decided to point out the obvious. "You're a bean-counter, Jeong. I'm a Spectre. Tell me, how good are those odds?"
"A Spectre? That's a load of crap. There aren't any human Spectres." Jeong swallowed. "Right?" For the love of... The guy could look up Torfan, and not that? He needed to have a chat with ExoGeni about their hiring practices. And a few other things.
"Is that really a chance you're willing to take, Jeong?" Lizbeth smiled.
"ExoGeni will send more assayers." Jeong was starting to look desperate. "They'll know what happened."
"Tell them the geth destroyed the Thorian." Michael shrugged. Shooting this guy was starting to sound more like mercy kill than execution.
"Yeah, but the infected colonists can't be here when the company men come." Jeong shook his head.
"You can't just kill the colonists. It's not their fault." Juliana clenched her fists.
Lizbeth turned towards him. "If you kill only the Thorian, it might be enough to stop the infection. Maybe."
He turned towards her, and caught the look on Kaidan's face. Michael took a deep breath. "It's worth a try, but I don't know if I can avoid harming the colonists." Those scientists the biotics had poisioned had just wandered around. From the sound of things, the colonists were actively fighting.
"There has to be another way." Lizbeth sighed.
"Maybe there is." Juliana nodded. "Come and talk to me before you leave, Commander." She started to walk to a lab bench.
Michael gestured for Kaidan to follow her. If there was a way, Kaidan's medical training made him the most suited to figure it out. Michael turned back to Jeong. The man actually tried to sound threatening. "Just make sure there's no evidence when you're done."
"Garrus..." Michael glanced over his shoulder. "You were with C-Sec. Would Jeong here be considered evidence?"
"I'd consider him exhibit A, actually." Garrus nodded. "He'd last about thirty seconds in interrogation."
Jeong's eyes started to widen.
#
Kaidan fitted the gas cylinder into the concussion grenade, and glanced over his shoulder at Shepard. He couldn't make out what he and Garrus were saying to Jeong, but the guy was starting to turn a mottled green and looked ready to wet himself. "What's the safe distance for this nerve gas?"
"I doubt it will affect you at all. There are only trace amounts of Tetraclopine, a neuromuscular degenerator. Since their immune systems are already weakened, it may act as a paralyzing agent."
"It's worth a shot." Kaidan nodded. He looked down at the grenades, and signed. "Exactly six shots." Well, with his biotics added to the mix as well as the skills of Shepard and Garrus, maybe that was enough.
"Good luck." Lizbeth nodded, and gave him a weak smile.
#
The thing that attacked them was... Michael stared at it. What the fuck was the thing that attacked them?
"What is that?" Kaidan ran his scanner over it. "There's no way that's human, infection or not."
"Alright." Michael nodded. "The colonists are going to be shooting at us, which is going to make this fun. Check your targets. Shooting these things good, shooting colonists bad. Our objective is as few fatalities as possible." He frowned, and then split the grenades between himself and Garrus. "Gas grenades and biotics." He sighed. "And in a pinch, there's always a rifle butt to the face, but let's try to leave that as the second to last resort."
Kaidan gave a small smile. "You got it, Commander. Let's do this."
#
The gas took out all the shooters except Arcelia. She came up, her rifle aimed at Garrus's back. With a sigh, Michael moved in, grabbing her arm and lifting the rifle up so the shot missed Garrus by several feet. He brought the top of his head down on the bridge of her nose, sending her to the ground. Blood gushed from her face, but she was out of the fight. He sighed. If she hadn't been so rude to them earlier, he'd have felt really bad about that. He shrugged, and headed back into the fray.
#
He told Kaidan to make sure the colonists were both alright and going to stay unconscious for long enough for them to figure out what a Thorian was. And then kill it.
Hacking the lock to move the freighter didn't take long. Michael was starting to head in when he heard Fai Dan's voice. "I tried to fight it, but it gets in your head. You can't imagine the pain." The man had a gun in his hand as he staggered towards them. And they were out of grenades. "I was supposed to be a leader. These people trusted me." He lifted the gun. Reluctantly, Michael did the same. "It wants me to stop you..." Fai Dan shook his head. "But I..." The gun shook. "I won't." Fai Dan shifted his aim. "I won't."
The man pulled the trigger. And took his own life. Michael sighed.
#
"Okay, but the numbers. We just need to find..." Kaidan nearly ran into Shepard as the man came to an abrupt stop. "To find..." His gaze went to whatever Shepard was staring at. "What..." He stared. "Is that?" It was massive, possibly larger than the Normandy.
Shepard sighed. "Nothing's ever simple, is it?"
Slowly, Shepard started to move forward, gesturing for him and Garrus to stay put. He took a deep breath, prepared to put up a barrier and haul Shepard out biotically if needed. Liquid started to drop from the thing's tentacled... mouth? And then an asari slide out of... Okay. There was a chance he was going to have at least one nightmare about that.
"Invaders. Your every step is a transgression. A thousand feelers appraise you as meat, good only to dig or decompose." The green asari stared at them. "I speak for the Old Growth, as I did for Saren. You are within and before the Thorian. It commands that you be in awe."
"You gave something to Saren." Shepard nodded. "Something I need."
"Saren sought knowledge of those who are gone. The Old Growth listened to flesh for the first time in the Long Cycle. Trades were made. Then cold ones began killing the flesh that would tend the next cycle. Flesh fairly given. The Old Growth sees the air you push as lies. It will listen no more."
"Give me what I need and I'll strike back at the one who betrayed you."
"No more will the Thorian listen to those that scurry. Your lives are short, but have gone on too long." She attacked.
#
"You know what I wish we had right now?" Michael glanced at Garrus.
"More grenades?" Garrus fired at one of the creepy psuedo-asari.
"I was going to say a lawn mower." Michael nodded, and shot one of the strange human-shaped fungal things. "But I think you're onto something with this 'more grenades' idea."
#
"There's another one of those nodes. Garrus, hit it." Michael had to punch one of the fungus-people. There were just so many of the damn things, and they swarmed from all directions.
Kaidan glowed blue, and used his biotics to throw a half dozen of them off the ledge. Michael moved in to provide him cover fire, and some benefit from his kinetic shield while he recovered. The Thorian made a roaring sound as Garrus sniped another node. Michael and Kaidan stayed back to back, keeping the fungal-things from getting to the turian as he focused on the Thorian itself. "Almost there, Commander," Kaidan said. "That thing has to drop soon."
"Hopefully before we do." Shepard grabbed one of the fungal things and threw it at where one of the psuedo-asari was starting to glow. It hit her, knocking her back. He then shot her before she could get her biotics going again. One of the fungal things closed, forcing him to resort once more to hand to hand. Ah well, it was good practice for meeting up with Hackett later.
#
As another node was blasted apart, the Thorian started to shudder. Then it started collapsing in on itself. The remaining nodes pulled free as it fell, shaking the entire structure. For a moment, Michael was worried the entire place was going to go down with it. With a final rather horrifying sound, the Thorian was gone.
Michael was just about to make some sort of witty clever remark, when a pustule on the wall started to move. And an asari fell out of it. He went with a curse instead, and nearly fired a shot before realizing this particular asari was blue.
Slowly, she got to her feet, and began looking around her. "I'm free." She smiled. "I'm free. I -" She seemed to notice them for the first time. "I suppose I should thank you for releasing me."
Maybe. "How did you end up inside that..." He glanced at it before looking back at her. "Thing?"
"My name is Shiala. I serve -" She shook her head. "I served Matriarch Benezia. When she allied herself with Saren, so did I." Past tense was definitely appropriate. "Benezia foresaw the influence Saren would have. She joined him to guide him down a gentler path. But Saren is compelling, Benezia lost her way."
"Are you saying Saren can control minds?" Hadn't Benezia implied something similar?
"Benezia underestimated Saren. As I did. We came to believe in his cause and his goals. The strength of his influence is troubling."
"Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy." Or so they liked to claim. He was starting to have his doubts. "How could one fall under Saren's control?"
"Saren has a vessel. An enormous warship unlike anything I've ever seen. He calls it Sovereign. It can dominate the minds of his followers. They become indoctrinated to Saren's will. The process is subtle. It can take days, weeks. But in the end, it is absolute. I was a willing slave when Saren brought me to this world. He needed m biotics to communicate with the Thorian, to learn its secrets. Saren offered me in trade. I was sacrificed to secure an alliance between Saren and the Thorian."
And they'd suggested he was an evil boss for wanting to space the rat-monkey. "Then why were the geth trying to destroy the Thorian?"
She shrugged. "After Saren had what he needed, the Thorian became a liability." She nodded to him. "Saren knows you are searching for the Conduit. He knows you are following his steps. He attacked the Thorian so you could not gain the Cipher."
Maybe this mission wasn't a waste of time after all. "What's the Cipher? And why did Saren need it?"
"The beacon on Eden Prime gave you visions. But the visions are unclear, confusing. They were meant for a Prothean mind." She spread her hands. "To truly comprehend them, you must think like a Prothean. You must understand their culture, their history, their very existence." She lifted a hand. "The Thorian was here long before the Protheans built this city. It watched and studied them. When they died, it consumed them. They became a part of it."
And now his head was starting to hurt. "Just give me some plain answers. Where is the Cipher?"
"The Cipher is the very essence of being a Prothean. It cannot be described or explained. It would be like describing color to a creature without eyes. To understand, you must have access to endemic ancestral memory. A viewpoint spanning thousands of Prothean generations. I sensed this ancestral memory - the Cipher - when I melded with the Thorian. Our identities merged, our minds intertwined. Such knowledge cannot be taught; it simply exists."
"You taught Saren." He narrowed his eyes. "You can teach me."
"There is a way. I can transfer the knowledge from my mind to yours, as I did with Saren." Oh, this sounded very much like something he was really going to regret. But he nodded. "Try to relax, Commander. Slow, deep breaths. Let go of your physical shell. Reach out to grasp the threads that bind us, one to another." Shiala began to approach him. "Every action sends ripples across the galaxy. Every idea must touch another mind to live. Each emotion must mark another's spirit. We are all connect. Every living being united in a single, glorious existence. Open yourself to the universe, Commander." Her eyes went black. "Embrace eternity."
#
Images floated in his mind. Some vaguely recognizable. Others dancing tantalizingly out of reach. The screech of metal on metal. Noise and knowledge, too fast for him to be able to grab any long enough for them to make any damn sense. For a moment, he simply drifted in space, looking across the universe at... something.
When he opened his eyes again, Shiala was looking back at him. Her face mirrored his own confusion. She nodded. "I have given you the Cipher, just as it was given to Saren. The ancestral memories of the Protheans are a part of you now."
Kaidan's hand touched his shoulder, and then the man was running the medical scanner over him. "What just happened? Are you okay?"
"I saw..." He needed to redefine the term 'okay'. "Something. It still didn't make any sense."
"You have been given a great gift: the experience of an entire people. It will take time for your mind to process this information."
"You look pretty rough." Kaidan put the scanner away and gave him a worried look. "We should get you back to the ship." Right. Liara really was going to want to dissect him now.
Shiala sighed. "I am sorry if you have suffered, but there was no other way. You needed the Cipher. In time, it will help you understand the vision from the beacon."
Michael looked at her. "And you?"
She swallowed. "If you allow it, I would like to stay here with the colonists. They have suffered greatly, and I played a role in their suffering. I would like to make amends."
He shook his head. She was dangerous, but he wasn't sure she was actually a threat. Kaidan looked from Shiala to Michael, concern in his eyes. Michael nodded. "The colonists will need help. They could use you."
"Thank you, Commander. May fortune smile upon you."
#
He made it out of the Thorian's chamber on his own legs, but it was close at a couple points. Kaidan never got more than a couple feet from him. Any other day, he'd probably have found that irritating.
The colonists were recovering. Juliana and Lizbeth were tending to them. Arcelia didn't seem to be holding a grudge over the broken nose, but she was pretty upset about Fai Dan. He really couldn't blame her.
"Let's head back to the Normandy." Michael gestured.
"Right." Garrus nodded. "Can't have you falling down in front of all these people."
"Kaidan, when we get back, have Dr. Chakwas give Vakarian a full exam." Micheal waved a hand. "He's under the delusion he's funny."