Garrus Vakarian
I had never used the comm room as anything more than a meeting room, and neither had Tali for that matter. But here we are, Miranda having told us to simply go here and 'TIM' would give us the briefing on this himself. I'm not sure why he wants to give it to us directly, but I don't suppose it matters in the end either. As the comm room table descended into the floor, the lights dimming, we stepped onto the circle in its place. The room went dark, then the lights in front of us revealed a sun in a black, open office, probably with its own holo screens as an office like this, so large and empty, and with no visible windows separating the office from the vacuum of space to the massive sun behind this man in a chair simply wouldn't be possible. As for the man in the chair, I'm limited as to how I can describe him. Smoking a cigarette, some sort of blue ocular implants, older, and a dark suit with a white collared shirt beneath.
"Garrus Vakarian. Tali'Zorah." His voice was formal, not too terribly deep. "Let's skip the introductions. We already know who each other are."
"A mass-murdering psychopathic bastard," Tali hissed. TIM only gave a sideways glance.
"Aequitas, a planet in the Minos Wasteland. A week ago, a mining team went dark after reporting having found a strange artifact. Despite the fact that the planet has no signs of any prior civilizations for the Reapers to have harvested. The reason this should be investigated, however, is that hours after the team went dark, life signs were detected again. Yet, no contact. A local force went in to investigate before going dark themselves, and, finally, additional signs of life being detected. It is my belief that whatever this artifact was is connected to the Reapers, and has more than likely turned both the mining team and the local force into Husks, or something akin to it. If this is confirmed, I have my own team that has been investigating signs of Prothean activity, archaeologically, of course, that has also gone dark after reports of Geth following them. Despite how fundamentally the Commander and I disagree on… the practicality of ideals, among other topics, I do trust him in military tactics and as a judge of militaristic skill and command. Thus, I will extend my trust and confidence in Shepard's successes towards you.
Tali simply made a fist with her right hand, the back of it facing him, and stuck her thumb out from between her fingers. And so, I decided to follow her gesture up with the Turian equivalent. Taking my left index's talon, holding it up and out, and scraping my right index talon against it. He took a very long drag from his cigarette, letting the smoke out in a sigh.
"Right."
Garrus Vakarian
A day and a half later, we were in orbit over the frontier world. If we were going to be dealing with Husks, then this mission was all going to be short-range focused. But fortunately, we at least know the maximum number of Husks we're likely to be dealing with. Between the mining team and the local force sent in, and assuming every last one was in a condition viable for Husks, we're looking for Forty-Seven total. Shouldn't be too bad. EDI has an LZ for us just outside the mine entrance so all that's left is selecting the team. Grunt is a given, having a Krogan wielding a Claymore alone could probably win the day here. But Tali and I figure it would be smart to take more than we need, and biotics specifically in case part of the mine starts to collapse. So that adds Jack and Samara. And I also suggested Zaeed so that we'd have both him and Grunt making up the front line as we moved down through the mine. We'd load everyone's weapons up with incendiary rounds, and finally, we made sure to pack demolition charges. We didn't even need Shepard's insistence to destroy the Reaper artifact to know that it needed to be done.
And so, we gathered our squad and headed down to the surface, explaining the situation, and plan, along the way. Grunt and Zaeed would be side to side in the front, Tali and I side to side behind them, and Jack and Samara the same behind us. The mines aren't very wide so we can only fit two side to side, and we don't need to worry about spacing as we're only dealing with Husks. As for the planet, it was a rainy night as we landed just outside the mine entrance. The mine clearly still had power, as the floodlights shining out from the entrance were active. We got into formation, weapons at the ready, and proceeded into the mine. Only a few dozen meters in we came to a T-junction. Grunt checked left while Zaeed checked right. As Grunt checked, he immediately opened fire with his Claymore, the shot immediately followed by moaning deformed hisses and snarls. Clearly, there were husks on the left as Zaeed spun around, and opened fire, the two falling back into the entryway and getting down on a knee so we could shoot over them. Running around the corner came a group of Husks, though not all were once Human. Unsurprising, as the world was discovered by the Turians. The Turian decay and cybernetics reminded me of Saren, and also seemed to incorporate the metal already present in our Carapace. Four of them in total came around the corner and were quickly left as charred, burning, shredded corpses. We held position a moment longer in case the gunfire was bringing any more to us. After a minute of waiting, we heard nothing and saw nothing.
"How many were around the corner?" I questioned.
"Three," Zaeed answered. Forty more. I added the other three to my kill tracker to keep track. "And the right side is caved in."
"Understood." Zaeed and Grunt got back to their feet and we proceeded further into the mine, past the three additional corpses, and starting a path down. It curved around to the right, but Grunt stopped in his tracks.
"I hear footsteps. Around the corner. I took my shotgun and tapped it against the support beam near me a few times, a clanging sound echoing through the mine.
"Backwards to the T-junction. Just shoot as they come around," I called out as the Husks were clearly reacting, screeching and growling from around the corner. Mostly Turian husks, but some Human, and even what seemed to be a Salarian, even more spindly than usual and with one horn missing, and the other just metal overshot the corner, almost tripping over themselves as they attempted to redirect towards us. Their mechanical eyes and the lights over their bodies the same blue light that they were two years ago. Undoubtedly the best thing about fighting in such narrow corridors against Husks was that our shotgun blasts could easily penetrate the rotting flesh and tear into the Husks behind them as well. While only the slug of the Claymore could consistently do penetration kills against Husks, some shots still went through into the head of the Husk behind our targets thanks to the incline they were running up. And this group was significantly larger than the last. When it was done, I counted another eighteen kills for the team. Twenty-Two left. If not for our helmets, the air would be thick with the stench of burning flesh. After holding position for another moment, and no further contacts, we proceeded. We quickly came across what seemed to have been a common area, probably where most of the Husks had been when we got their attention.
Pushing even further, as signs of minerals became more common, parts of the mine that hadn't been cleared out, we came across a large, open chamber. If not a natural formation, it wasn't part of the mine, that much was certain. And at the back wall was some form of machine. The artifact, clearly, and made of the same metal as Sovereign. At least it appeared so. But between the architecture, the strange purple light at the top of it, the slight headache, and the fact that all twenty-two of the remaining Husks were standing in this chamber, staring at the damn thing? Reaper artifact. But strangely no Dragon's teeth. They hadn't noticed us yet.
"A grenade at the center of the chamber should be able to take out several husks without causing the cave to collapse. As soon as it hits the ground, open fire at the Husks closest," I ordered. The center of the chamber should be… twenty-five meters out. I took a grenade from my belt, and cooked it, counting to three before throwing. I released the breath I was holding as I saw it impact right around where I meant it to. The others had already fired a shot from their weapons by the time I took aim and killed another Husk. All of them shot their heads around to stare at us as the grenade went off, killing five, while our shotguns had killed the same amount. With only twelve left and most of them at a distance, putting them was simple. The comms chimed, signaling that EDI was about to speak.
"I am required to inform you that the Illusive Man would like the artifact to remain intact. I have also warned him that such an outcome is highly unlikely."
"Don't tell me he expected a different outcome," I chuckled.
"Very well. Then I have identified structural weak points both on the machine and in the surrounding cave. A collapse should destroy whatever is left from the charges on the artifact. If you suspect deception, please, scan the locations and verify." Tali wasted no time at all starting her scans, though she focused on the cave, not wanting to get too focused on the Reaper artifact,
"EDI is… telling the truth," she almost huffed, as if hoping to catch the AI in a lie. We planted the charges quickly, setting them up to a detonator on my Omni-tool and rushed out of the cave. Only when we were in the shuttle and taking off did I press the button. There was no vibration to feel until I saw a shockwave followed by smoke and fire exit the mine. Seems like a job well done.
Tali'Zorah vas Neema
When we returned to the ship, I had immediately gone to check on John, but he was asleep. And just recently, according to Dr. Chakwas. I want to be here when he wakes up, but since he's patched up and I need to do my job in engineering… I feel torn.
"You could leave something for him," a familiar voice called out from behind. Startled, I turned around immediately to see a small, human woman grinning back at me. Kasumi.
"Wha-Where? Kasumi!" She giggled.
"What? Your boyfriends hurt and you keep turning your head left and right, starting to head to the seat by him, starting to head out of the medical bay. I can put the pieces together Tali," she crossed her arms over her chest, still smiling. Leave him something for when he wakes up."
"Like… what?" I regained my composure. Kasumi shrugged.
"Something small. Maybe some candy. Maybe a note telling him what's been going on. That you miss him. Maybe a book or magazine, or something like that. Maybe a picture of something pretty you see on a mission."
"Well, I don't know what candies he would like, or what books."
"Then why don't you leave him a message, and have some idle chit-chat with him later for ideas?"
"I can do that. But... do you think you could help me write it? The only things I can think of are…" I tried to think of the right words. "Like a boring mission report, or a weird and probably way too creepily 'romantic.'
"Sure! Just follow me to my office," Kasumi remarked, taking me by the hand and dragging me towards her room. When there, I sat on the couch while she sat on her bed, changing position constantly. Eventually, what we had put together as a message on the Omni-tool started by briefly touching on the mission. Simply that it went off without a hitch. That I hope when he reads it, he's feeling better and that I'll be there at the end of my shift to keep him company. That if there's anything he needs; he should let me know. Kasumi did, however, suggest one final and strange addition to the message. Less than Three, but in its equation form. Nothing in the equation that would be 'less than three.' It didn't make sense until Kasumi explained. The symbols for Three and less than, for humans, creates the shape of a heart. Which, apparently, in human culture represents love. Of course, this brought on new concern, as I didn't want a message to be how I told him that I love him for the first time, but Kasumi reassured me by explaining that while it symbolizes love, it's use doesn't carry the same weight as the word itself. It's closer to being used for endearment. I took her word for it.