Pathfinder Ryder cautiously passed under the opened doorway and emerged from the east wing of the unexplored Temple grounds. Scott turned his head quickly looking over his shoulder toward the controlled Destined Kett swiftly coming into the human's field of vision. The tall creature stepped into the dark blue mist and suddenly vanished. Ryder's attention diverted forward to the vast courtyard, slightly tilting his helmet's visor upward, Ryder glanced up to the outer transparent barrier's surface being drenched upon by the heavily falling sleet. He lowered his head drawing his sight to the far west center of the courtyard where the grand statue of the Archon stood upon a raised platform. Located directly opposite of the Archon's statue were four evenly placed pillars that balanced the transparent view window which overlooked from high above the courtyard. Scott made another quick glimpse around finding Kett-designed pods scattered throughout the entire area. Taking a mental note Ryder came to tactical-conclusion that the pods would suffice for low-rise cover.
Scott continued to glimpse over the room, gradually lowering the gun's point toward the ground, and quietly muttered, "I remember this room... Several months ago when we were on the rescue mission to save Ambassador Sjefa, we watched from that window," the human motioned toward the view window above the courtyard and further explained, "as the Angara prisoners willingly climbed into a row of pods... they were under some sort of trance. It was unbelievable.."
Drack's voice rumbled, "Yeah, I remember this place. Still gives me the creeps.. I can't get that image out of my head when we watched an Angara become... exalted."
Sky injected politely, "I do not believe the Kett have the ability to mind control. I have speculation that there may have possibly been a construct that brought the Angara under the affects of hypnotism."
The robotic voice of Sam additionally agreed, "It is possible that such a device exists but there are no records stating its information based on the compiled Kett data. If the Kett discover a way to use its properties on the species from the Milky Way then the probability outcome will prove greatly to our disadvantage."
The Krogan loudly growled disappointment, "We can guess all day but that doesn't explain when this trap is going to show. I was expecting to be greeted by Kett right about now." Drack gradually walked forward, brushing passed the human Pathfinder and stopped to glare down at one of the pods. "I'm starting to have a bad feeling about this... and that's not good."
The Pathfinder squad whirled around into the sound direction of the door abruptly hissing and sealing shut. The three Angaran civilians swiftly huddled closely around the dark silver figure of Sky and made nervous looks toward the sealed doorway.
Scott hastily returned his attention toward the open courtyard and called over his shoulder, "That's the first sign of the trap! Everyone get ready!" The human hunched forward making a swift dash toward one of the fallen pods and knelt down to one knee seeking cover behind the empty pod. He bent slightly upright in order to peer over the smooth rounded surface of the pod and quickly sighted the silhouettes of the large bulky Ascended Kett following behind the infantry that began to rush from the far side of the courtyard.
A thunderous shrill broke the silence over the entire area and continuously carried in high-pitched echoing sound. The loud clomps of heavy-falling padded feet very slowly followed after the mysterious animal's piercing cry.
Scott lowly grunted in the sound of discomfort through clenched teeth and quickly dropped down onto both knees, shaking his head quickly back and forth. He turned his head into the direction of the old Krogan diving down behind one of the meagerly stacked piles of bronze-colored pods.
"What the hell was that?!" The human man demanded with a worried look showing through his helmet's visor.
Drack quickly shook his head and growled in annoyance "Ugh! My ears won't stop ringing! Whatever it is its going to become a nuisance for us, Ryder!"
Ryder looked over his shoulder toward the three Angara clenching their hands over the placements of their hidden ears and had become buckled down to their knees expressing the signs of distress caused from the unknown beast's high-pitched shrill. Pathfinder Ryder took mental note onto Sky seeing that the man in silver armor appeared unaffected by the high-sounding shrill as he outstretched his right hand and quickly brought down the spherical glowing barrier to surround himself, the three Angaran civilians, and Lamees. Scott shifted his gaze toward the Jardaan falling down onto her knees with both of her hands covering the sides of her head.
"Uhhh... that noise.. It's so painful-sounding. I can't... move." Lamees murmured before tightly closing her golden eyes and very slowly shook her head.
The human Pathfinder called into his receiver directly to the Initiative's artificial intelligence, "Sam, is there any way to protect us from that noise? It's affecting the Angara and Lamees pretty bad... Urk, I hope my ears are not bleeding!"
Sam responded calmly, "I can provide a sound nullifier over the receiver transponders to reduce the sound input."
"Do it, Sam!" Scott exclaimed his command. He whipped his helmet's direction toward one of the Chosen Kett rounding the pillar structure placed closest to the Pathfinder squad. The Kett soldier swiftly raised its gun's point to take aim upon the human man. "Ah, shit-"
The controlled Destined creature suddenly stepped into the way of the weapon's rapid blasts taking the point-blank impact into its torso. The Destined Kett violently shuddered as it collapsed onto the metal floor with a swift pool of its own dark green blood quickly staining across the bronze-colored ground.
Scott slowly gaped his mouth into a form of anxious-surprise but made deep sigh of relief watching the Chosen Kett quickly diverting its direction away from the Pathfinder.
"I assume you took control of that Kett, Sky?"
"Correct. There is another coming upon your position." Sky responded in an echoing monotone.
"I got it!" Drack shouted and stood up from his hiding place to unload a few rounds of spraying bullets upon the Ascended One that ventured closely toward the human's location. The Kett warrior momentarily stumbled back from the shotgun's forceful blasts and finally fell upon its backside to gurgle in its own blood steeping out of its mouth.
Another shrill pierced through the waves of sound with an incredible potency that riled the three Angara and Lamees into crying out in agony.
Scott pitched a groan, clenching his eyes, and dropped his firearm to the ground in order to place his hands onto either sides of his helmet.
"Ah, FUCK! SAM! That sound nullifier is not working!" Ryder growled agitation and slowly shook his head as the onset of disoriented nausea began to set in. "Ugh.. what the.. I feel sick.."
The artificial intelligence responded in the private channel with Scott, 'Your inner ear drums have sustained the critical level of damage, Pathfinder, you are going to experience a temporarily hearing loss until Doctor T'Perro can repair the damage. The disorientation is caused from the damage done to your inner ear drums.'
"NO SHIT, SAM!" Scott shouted over the ringing in his ears. "SORRY IF I'M YELLING, I CAN'T HEAR MYSELF!"
'I will do what I can, Scott, to prevent any further damage. I am still able to provide battle-tactical assistance through our private channel.'
The human Pathfinder gathered his weapon into one hand and peered over the pod's surface toward the direction of the old Krogan suddenly making his charge to shoulder bash into one of the Chosen Kett that had come within range for Drack to make a straight-forward attack. The Nackmor Krogan toppled over on top of the Kett soldier and quickly regained into a standing composure. Drack gripped the Krogan-designed weapon into both hands and lowered the gun's barrel to a point-blank range toward the creature's bone-constructed face. A silent blast ignited from the end of the barrel and caused an eruption of darkened blood with shattered bone fragments to fly up into the air.
'Pathfinder, the door behind us has reopened. I detect Kett life signs quickly approaching.' Sam's voice warned into the private channel.
"HOW THE FU- THEY'RE BEHIND US, TOO?! SAM, YOU COULD HAVE SAID SOMETHING SOONER!" Ryder demanded in a raised voice. He half-turned, diverting his attention toward the opened doorway behind the three fallen Angara. Scott took notice of the brilliant shine of dark silver armor swiftly stepping out from under the protection of the powerful biotic barrier as Sky made a quick dash for the reopened door's control panel.
'Sky has stated that he will make a connection into the Kett's control systems to create a lockdown on all of the doors preventing the Kett's ambush.' Sam calmly responded into the Pathfinder's private channel.
Ryder returned his attention to the battle front and suddenly took in an inhale of a deep soundless gasp at the sight of a very large creature that stood shoulder-height to the Archon's statue. The beast paced very slowly forward on all four very long bulky muscle legs with the similar appearance of a Wraith's leg bone structure. The creature's largely padded feet exposed deadly length blackened talons extending from its bone-covered digits. The great-sized head was as widely shaped in resemblance to a Wraith, additionally adorned in a thick layer of bone armor. The dense bone-structured armor was shaped into horns which made the giant creature look like a Fiend. The protective bone shell covered the outer sides of the torso and long limbs but had left the dark blue-colored thick hide underside of its chest and stomach exposed. Scott quickly became distracted by the shimmering spines that were extended out of the strange creature's backside. The spines glimmered elegantly displaying randomly shifting colors as the spines gradually swayed with the beast's motions.
The human man forced himself out of the overwhelmed bewildered state into military-trained composure. Scott analyzed into his own thoughts, 'How the fuck are we going to take this thing down?! There's no way for a head-on attack. We should keep our distance until I figure out its weakness. The chest area, maybe? The stomach doesn't have armor but I don't have a good mark from this range.' The Pathfinder adverted his gaze to the old Krogan making a swift approach toward the great-sized creature while popping off silent blasts at the beast's head. Ryder grew into panic and quickly shouted, "DRACK, GET BACK!"
The Nackmor Krogan was suddenly struck by one of the beast's front limbs being forcefully flung across the courtyard and hit backside against the view window. Drack's body hard smashed into the transparent window causing cracks to take shape around his body before the Krogan made the plummet toward the metal floor and had fallen into a motionless heap.
"DRACK! DRAAAACK!" Scott's voice pitched into a fearful-sounding shout. He returned his attention to the controlled Kett that stood up from its hiding place to land a few shots at the monster's large head.
The beast jarred open its wide mouth full of razor teeth and whipped its neck to suddenly drop its gaping mouth over the figure of the Chosen Kett. The over-sized creature strongly clenched its teeth together and spun its large head into the opposite direction, briefly unlatching its jaws apart, and flung the Kett's body through the air to clash against the statue of the Archon.
The figure of Sky suddenly appeared knelt down next to the human Pathfinder and turned the flattened faceplate to stare Scott down with an unseen gaze.
'Sky has established the lockdown and has permitted my full access into the facility's systems. Lamees and the Angaran civilians are in a state of paralysis and unable to offer any assistance. I detect that the Krogan's life signs are rapidly dropping. Sky is offering to use his abilities for this circumstance.' Sam's voice injected into the Pathfinder's private channel.
"GREAT! I REALLY COULD USE THE ASSIST RIGHT ABOUT NOW!" Scott shouted over the persistent ringing in his ears.
Sky's helmet nodded offering his acknowledgement. He immediately stood up, quickly extending his right arm out before him and fanned out his long fingers. The green glowing runes began to rapidly pulse as Sky revealed his true biotic capabilities by generating a tall-standing transparent pillar that appeared to be consumed under silver glowing fire. The silver fire pillar rapidly shifted its shape into the length of a wide wall and began to move forward as Sky slowly walked forward directing the burning wall toward the great beast.
The creature reared up on its hind legs and gaped its large mouth open for another soundless shrill.
'Sky requires your assistance, Scott. He cannot make any motions of attack while the biotic wall is up. He has instructed that you must come stand to his left side in order to be provided something of value for you to use.' The artificial intelligence conveyed Sky's explanation through the private channel.
Scott slowly arose to his feet and wobbled in place as the onset of disorientation overwhelmed him causing his eyesight to become hazy. He carefully climbed over the pod and made a very slow staggering approach toward the dark silver armor. The human Pathfinder came up beside Sky's left side and momentarily shuddered from the sudden feeling of nausea quickly churning within his stomach.
Ryder clenched his eyes tightly shut and lowly muttered, "Ugh, gonna... throw up..."
Sky outstretched his left arm toward Scott's direction and gripped his palm down onto the top of the Pathfinder's shoulder armor.
Scott expressed a brief grunt of surprise from the sharp pain suddenly jabbing through the layers of his armor and sharply pricked directly into his skin.
Sam's voice gave warning, 'Pathfinder, an unknown entity has been injected into your bloodstream and is bypassing all of my attempts to neutralize the foreign substance. The entity is targeting for your implant. My firewalls are being ignored. It is uploading an unknown sequence program that I am unable to analyze at this time. I detect unknown micro-organisms multiplying at a rapid rate while they are being carried through your bloodstream. The micro-organisms are making connections into your muscle fibers, seemingly providing an enhancement for your physical endurance while making repairs to the damaged tissue within your inner ear canals and rectifying your hearing loss.'
Scott quickly reopened his eyes once feeling the disoriented nausea rapidly passing and spun his helmet to face into Sky's direction.
The human Pathfinder demanded, "What the hell did you do to me?! I feel... weird.. like an adrenaline rush." His bright blue eyes appeared with surprised-disbelief from under his helmet's visor.
"Take up arms, Pathfinder! I have given to you an ammunition ability that can only be used once. The bullet is meant to penetrate through the beast's head. You must kill it now! I am only able to hold this ability for a short amount of time." Sky's echoing voice commanded.
Ryder swiftly adverted his focus onto the greatly-sized monster that pressed itself up against the far wall in its attempt to escape from the faintly glowing silver barrier. Pathfinder Ryder lifted the handgun's scope into his sight, steadying his aim with the grip of both hands, and placed the target upon the center of the colossal beast's head. He tightly gripped down the trigger which ignited a single green glowing bullet to zip out of the weapon's short barrel and swiftly seared through the air. The glowing projectile made its mark as it easily slipped through the bone-structured armor covering the creature's head. Within seconds an explosion of darkened green blood erupted in the place of the monster's head sending up a large wave of thick liquid, together with large bone fragments, to splatter upon the floor surrounding around the over-sized Wraith's claws. The rapidly shifting of colors that coursed through the wavering spines dimmed down to a solid darkened form and fell around the creature's torso. The great-sized body gradually toppled over and heavily fell upon the ground creating a sudden rumbling shockwave that caused the interior flooring to shudder under the Pathfinder's boots.
Sky lowered his arms to his sides allowing the silver translucent wall to fade. He dipped his helmet down taking in a slow deep breath. The green glowing runic patterns returned to a steady pulsing glow.
Scott quickly holstered the handgun and charged to the location of the Krogan's unmoving body. The human man came down beside Drack and outstretched both of his hands to place down upon the old Krogan's chest, offering a gentle shake.
Ryder gradually raised his voice into a shout, "Drack! DRACK! DRAAACK!" He lowered his exclaim into desperate sound, "You better still be alive, old man! You have grand kids to get back to on the Nexus! I'm not going back without you, stubborn Krogan!"
"Ry..der.." The Krogan's grumbling voice slightly gurgled in his slow response, "Tell... my... Ru'shon..."
Scott quickly injected "You can tell her yourself, old man." He lifted his helmet toward Sky's approach as the humanoid in dark silver armor came to stand over the old Krogan.
"He is soon to perish, Pathfinder." Sky's voice softly echoed.
Ryder shook his head and angrily objected, "There's gotta be something! Sky, you've gotta have something else up your sleeve!"
'Pathfinder,' Sam's voice politely injected into the private channel, 'There is nothing that can be done to replenish Drack's life signs. This is an inevitable fate.'
The dark silver figure knelt down to one knee and extended his left hand to press his palm and fingers onto the side of the Krogan's scale-covered neck.
Scott made a confuse-surprised look and demanded, "What are you doing?!"
Sky offered explanation, "I am injecting the Nano-nites into the Krogan's body. They have been programmed to restore Drack's vital organs and will also work to replenish anything that he has lost."
"Come again? Nano-nites?" Ryder cocked his eyebrow into a further puzzled look.
The artificial intelligence elaborated, "Nano is the short reference for Nanotechnology. Given the right commands the Nanotechnology is versatile to be instructed in various tasks within a living organism's body starting at the molecular level to control individual atoms including blood and tissue cells. This technology is not yet explored for the reasons involving the numerous risks that could potentially cause more harm than good. Sky had previously injected this similar Nanotechnology into your bloodstream which has served the purpose to repair the damaged tissue and restore your hearing."
Scott made an anxious look through his visor toward Sky and elevated his voice into a near shout, "You injected me with those things?!"
Sky moved his hand away from the Krogan's neck and supplied calm retort, "They served their purpose and no longer reside within your body."
"DOES Lexi know about this?!"
"Of course." Sky cordially nodded and continued, "For this very such reason I had not wanted to have my information given to your Initiative and Sam... This conversation is counterproductive. We have wounded to tend to."
Ryder momentarily contemplated and hesitantly agreed with a sigh, "You're right.. but this discussion isn't over.. I want more details later. We have to get Drack back to the Tempest first-"
"Oh, sure, forget about us, right?" A male Angaran's voice transmitted over the communication transponders.
Pathfinder Ryder glimpsed toward Sky and asked out loud, "Huh? What's going on-"
"With the help from Sam gaining control over the systems we were able to escape the Kett's surveillance with other survivors. Evfra sent you after us, didn't he? We hacked into the control systems and tried to find a way to signal to you that we were still alive but these damn Kett were trying to sabotage our efforts by luring you into that room with that Colossal Wraith.. that thing was bad business but it appears you managed to kill it. An amazing feat, to say the least, Pathfinder Ryder."
Scott stood up and slowly turned to look around the courtyard, "Where are you guys at? I'll meet up with you-"
The Angara interrupted respectfully, "Don't worry, we're on our way to your position right now, Ryder. You say you have wounded? Let's get them back to your ship."
.
.
Doctor Lexi T'Perro made a disgruntled sigh, "I thought I would never find myself saying this but GODDESS! What in the hell happened down there, Scott? Both you and Sky come back completely unharmed while I get dumped with three Angara, a paralyzed Jardaan, and an almost dead Krogan."
Drack tiredly chuckled, "I'm not almost dead, doc, technically I was. I still got Ryder beat on the amount of times I should have stayed dead."
Scott lightly shrugged and argued point, "Hey, at least this time I can say I didn't die!"
Lexi stood beside the medical table where the Nackmor Krogan laid upon. She shot a dirty look toward the human man and remarked sarcastically, "I guess that's one blessing that I can count."
Scott slipped his one arm after the other into the sleeves of his leather jacket and persisted to question in a curious manner, "So, you knew about the Nanotechnology, Lexi? Why didn't you tell me about it sooner?"
Lexi returned her focus onto the old Krogan and quickly retort, "Patient-doctor confidentiality, Ryder. But I suppose that confidentiality is semi-broken now that Sky has used it on you... Which, by the way, WAS a bad idea, Sky." Lexi whipped her head to glare toward the silver figure standing on the other side of the medical table. "You should have consulted with me first before using Scott as an experimental guinea pig! And what about Drack? What is going to happen to him? Not that I'm complaining that he's still alive but... Nanotechnology is still very far beyond our understanding. I wouldn't even ask Sam to run tests on it, that's how risky it is."
"We can have surgical implants placed into our bodies to reconnect a lost limb, or even replace entire vital organ, Lexi. Wouldn't that count?" The human Pathfinder inquired, crossing his arms over his chest.
Lexi gradually shrugged and answered, "That's a technology that we can maintain control, Scott. Atoms and molecules we cannot. It's like asking your T-cells to switch off from their normal duties to go do something else instead of fighting off infections."
Scott gingerly egged on, "Can the Nano-nites fight infections and or such things as diseases?"
The Asari doctor nodded without looking toward the Pathfinder, "Presuming so if they are correctly programmed to target specific virus strands." Lexi looked over the holographic screen's display hovering above the Krogan's body. She hummed quietly and quickly turned her head making surprised glances between Sky and Pathfinder Ryder, "Wait a minute! Scott, are you... no, never mind. That's entirely Sky's judgement call. I can't impose that idea. Patient-doctor confidentiality..."
Sky slightly titled his helmet as if expressing a puzzled demeanor, "May I inquire what idea you desire to impose upon, Lexi?"
Lexi diverted her full attention onto Sky and made a hopeful look, "Sky, you have everything that we need to delve into Nanotechnology. If the Nano-nites can be instructed to repair a person's hearing loss and fully restore a broken limb... possibly reform an entire ligament and organs. What the Nanotechnology is doing for Drack right now is... breathing taking! It's our cure for the incurable diseases. Think of what this could do for all of us, Sky. You have the handbook that we had never thought to exist."
Sky straightened his neck before slowly dipping his head down.
"I will... think about it."
The Asari softly sighed and nodded in understanding, "I'm sorry, Sky, I wasn't trying to force you to break our deal. This option is entirely up to you." Lexi turned her head returning her focus onto the human man, "Scott, as for Drack... I have to pull him from active duty. He is no condition to fight... or head-butting. The Nano-nites in his body are in affect and I dare not disrupt them from what they have been programmed to do. I will keep this stubborn old man in the med bay to continue monitoring for any hopeful improvements."
"Ah, shucks, doc, I didn't know you enjoyed my company that much." Drack quietly grumbled.
Lexi looked down upon the Nackmor Krogan and half-smirked.
"If those Nano-nites can make adjustments to get rid of that stubborn streak of yours..."