HOLOCAUST:
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR:
PYRRHUS OF KORIS PART ONE
July 7, 2186
0923 hours.
War Room, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate SSV Normandy SR-2, Migrant Fleet, In Orbit over Haestrom, Dholen System, Far Rim Cluster.
Second Morning War.
Captain Marcus Lee Shepard, Admiral Tali'Shepard vas Normandy, Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay, Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh, General Kal'Reegar vas Normandy, Legion.
Marcus watched the war table hologram with complete focus, unwilling to be broken from his observation by any forces around him, even if it was Tali standing beside him. She was just as focused as he was, as were the other two admirals on his right, and Kal'Reegar, who stood opposite him with hands firmly clasped behind his back. Beside Kal, on his left, was Legion, the geth standing stoically as it looked to be processing information continuously.
On the table was a holographic projection that was beginning to become a familiar sight on the war table; the large planetary body of Rannoch, its orange, dusty plains and small, blue oceans being done no justice by the holo particles of the projection, depicting a completely blue sphere. In its orbit was the red particle forms of the geth fleet, all thirty thousand ships, with the lone signature of the dreadnought shown on the other side of the planet.
Rannoch, home of the quarian species. His wife's homeworld, in principle. Sure, she had never been born there, but her species had. The quarian race had originated from that garden world, from its rocky surface, and became the people it was today. Kal and Tali had told him of a species that had been proud and mighty; before three centuries ago, the quarians had benefited from a flourshing economy on par with that of the modern Asari Republics, a moderate military and a heap of trade, especially with the Volus Protectorate and the Turian Hierarchy, the latter of which had been known as the Empire of Palaven before it had been reformed into the Hierarchy. Rannoch had been the center of a bountiful quarian republic, where quarian language, culture, music, medicine and food had been once known by the entire galaxy. Their technological prowess had even outdone the Salarian Union, the geth being a prime example of this.
You would never know it, to look at the quarians now. Only the asari and krogan from that time period who survived would remember any of it. Now the quarians had no economy, their language and culture were limited to themselves, they had lost their territories to their own AI creations, their music and medicinal inventions had been claimed by greedy companies and their true creators lost to the historical archives, and what food the quarians had left was limited to paste in tubes. They were stuck in suits, and forced to live out their shame for three centuries. The Council had four members once. Now, it only had three.
But now, as Marcus thought of his wife, Tali, by his side and ready to watch his back if he asked her to, they were coming home. The quarians had grown sick of their prolonged exile, their perputual punishment. They were coming back to claim what had once been theirs; the once proud territories of the defunct Rannochian Republic. Planets, systems, asteroids, dust...all of it. And they would have it all, if it wasn't for their stupidity.
All they needed to do was open peacetalks with the geth. They would have Rannoch by now. But no, Gerrel had to play the big war hero. The man who defeats the evil geth. Fucking jerk off.
Now Marcus was stuck having to clean up their mess, and what a bloody mess it was. The geth had probably lost many ships and troops, but it was nothing compared to the trap the quarians ran into when they assaulted the geth lines around Rannoch. The quarians, despite their view within the status quo, had boasted of their enormous fleet. Until the quarians, the species that owned the largest naval presence in the galaxy was the Turian Hierarchy. But the quarian Migrant Fleet was a total of fifty thousand ships in size, the largest in the galaxy.
And it was now reduced to forty-eight thousand.
I just can't believe it. In one assault, the geth destroyed two thousand quarian ships. How many quarians perished? Tens of thousands?
After such a staggering defeat, Marcus could not allow the Admiralty to risk their Fleet again. Two thousand was already too much...what if they lost more? What would be next if they risked another costly strike? Would it be double? Four thousand ships, perhaps? Or would they go for double digits? Ten thousand sounded like a significant amount.
No, I cannot risk the Flotilla any further. Too many quarian lives have been sacrificed for the Migrant Fleet to simply give itself away for a few geth ships. For every geth ship they destroy, they would lose fifty. Its too much, I say. Far too damn much.
The more Marcus thought about it, he could find no doubt. Curing the genophage had been alot easier than this. At least he hadn't had to make the cure himself; Mordin did that. All he had to do was kill a whole bunch of Reapers and Cerberus to make sure Mordin dispersed the cure...to make sure his sacrifice was worth it.
Damn it, Mordin. Why did you have to die? Why the fuck couldn't you just let me handle it? I could have...I could have done something...you didn't have to die...
Thoughts of Jacob and Mordin seemed to totally consume his thoughts of late. Mordin he could rest easier on, knowing the salarian died for a cause he believed in, giving his life away so that millions more could live in happiness. He died allowing a race to thrive again. But Jacob? The man was the cusp of escape, and at the last moment was stabbed through the back, murdered by a racist, sadisitic psychopath who would rather run away than face Marcus in sustained combat. And Thane? His drell friend had managed to beat the man while he was fucking ill, and yet Leng still managed to kill his friend? Why did all the good people have to die, but Leng got to live? What of Shala's husband, Byp? What the fuck kind of sick reality was this?
He remembered his silent oath.
Shala's husband.
Jacob.
Thane.
Three names. Three names that I will fucking carve into Leng's skull before I rip his eyes from their sockets, followed by his tongue. When I have had my due with that bastard, then I will finally answer his pleas for mercy, and break his fucking neck.
He shook those bitter, darkened thoughts away, deciding to give them no respite. Leng's time will come. When it does, I shall avenge Shala's husband. And Jacob. And Thane. I shall avenge them. But right now, I've got two species to save from each other.
He focused back on the map, remembering just why they were summoned here. As the admirals had informed him after his mission on the super-dreadnought, Admiral Koris had decided to follow Gerrel's idiotic strike into the geth fleet. But Koris, deciding to be a hero, rammed his flagship, the Qwib Qwib, destroying the cannon, but leaving Koris and the surviving crew either stranded in orbit, or on Rannoch itself. Which apparently Koris didn't think through, because if he did, he would realize his death could possibly leave to a Quarian Civil War within the Civilian Fleet.
Which was their current dilemma. Usually, the military brass would immediately pin Koris as Missing In Action or the Qwib Qwib lost with all hands, but when it came to Koris, they couldn't just replace him. The man had inspired the love of his entire fleet, and when that fleet made up almost the entire Migrant Fleet; you couldn't afford to just replace him. Retrieving him and hoping that he was alive was a necessity in this matter.
Marcus had never really liked Koris before hand, especially during Tali's trial, where the man had seemed so hasty on exiling her. But when he got to know the man more, he became a man he could agree with. Before Tali's promotion, Koris had been the only admiral on the Board to realize that peace with the geth was possible and avoiding an all-out war was pretty much the best option for his species. Had the other admirals listened? Of course not, but the idea that at least some quarians believed in a brighter future between their two peoples brought some hope to their otherwise dire situation.
And now Koris might be dead. Or worse.
So here they were, trying to hatch a rescue plan. Obviously, going in guns blazing was already out of the question. The Reaper signal was more than likely operational again, meaning the geth would once more be as powerful as they were before the super-dread's destruction. So without the Fleet, that left one option open; the Normandy's stealth system.
"...what I'm saying is that simply replacing Koris in this matter might be the better option," Xen rationalized, drawing Marcus' attention to her as she argued with Shala over Koris' fate. Gerrel was on the Neema, as Marcus had meant what he said; the man was literally banned from even setting foot on the Normandy for the rest of the damn war, and then when it was over, he wanted nothing more to do with the warmonger. Tali just rolled her eyes along with him, her hand firmly over his as it lay flat out on the table, "He might already be dead, and if he isn't already, the geth patrols will find him, and then his crew and himself will wish they were."
"You don't know that!" Shala shot back, waving a hand at the projector, "Koris and his crew could still be alive! What if they made it to the surface? Its been two days! They could have made it down there and survived! We cannot simply give up! Besides Xen, you and I both know what will happen if the Civilian Fleet learns Koris is missing! There will be chaos! If the geth don't destroy us, anarchy will! We cannot afford to lose the Civilian Fleet!"
"I am completely aware of Koris' effect on the common people, Raan!" the younger admiral shouted back, slamming her hand down on the table, "But they will simply have to adapt. They will come to their senses and realize that this is war, and in war, people die, especially admirals! Besides, they'll sober up when we dress up their precious admiral as a war hero!"
"What?" Shala and Marcus asked in almost perfect tandem.
"Its simple," Xen began, hands behind her back as she seemed to calm down, "We tell them the truth, but embellish it abit. Koris gave his life defending the Fleet from harm. He and his crew gave their lives to destroy a planetary cannon, and in doing so, allowed us a great victory. It is his sacrifice that will win this war. If we can sell that, then we might convince them to elect a new admiral and move on. But I cannot emphasize how much of a waste of resources and logistics it would be to attempt a rescue mission. Its simply too perilous, too hasty...any number of things could go wrong that could end up with the rescue team dead."
"You want to use Admiral Koris as a martyr?" Tali asked, dumbfounded by the admiral's suggestion. Hearing no objection, Tali just shook her head as she turned to Xen, shaking her head with a slight laugh, "Koris might not even be dead, and you want to convince our people he's dead?"
"I told you, we cannot afford to waste resources recovering one man and his crew! This war is too important, and we are already on the losing side!" Xen argued, narrowing her eyes into slits, "Devoting our efforts to retrieving him is out of the question. We must now focus on destroying the Reaper signal. We will tell the Civilian Fleet of his martyrdom, we will let this slide and we will move on with the mission. Enough time has already been wasted."
"You're forgetting something, Xen," Tali growled.
"And what's that?" Xen purred, looking quite pleased with herself as she crossed her arms and leaned on one hip, "I'm sure you will enlighten us, Shepard."
"I am Chief Admiral. And since this is a matter of Fleet Security, I have the final word," Tali hissed, crossing her own arms but looking anything but pleased, "I will not let potential anarchy and chaos tear apart our homes because you were too afraid to risk a rescue operation. Or is it really fear? Maybe you're just seeing the potential to rid yourself of a political opponent. You never did like Koris."
"What?" Xen spat back, looking insulted as her arms fell to her side, "Are you suggesting-? You little whore! How dare you even suggest that! Koris was a-"
"-enemy. And now he's gone. Seems to be working well for you," Tali drawled, looking totally disinterested in Xen's act, especially the insult she threw her way. Tali knew Marcus was bristling from the attack, and looked about ready to choke the life out of Xen for what she said, but Tali had no care in the world. Tali called the shots now; she would not be talked down to, "Look, you can play your little games, Xen. You always have. But if you think I'm going to buy the 'I'm sorry he's gone' act, you can stop right now. You never liked Koris or respected him. I remember you had a few choice words about him at my trial. Or did you forget that? I believe one of the words you and Gerrel used was 'suit-wetter.' You spat on him, rediculed him, and all he tried to do was save and preserve our people. Yes, I believed you back then, but times have changed. Koris wanted this war to end, and with him gone, he can longer praddle on about it. Don't even try to deny it, Xen."
Xen seemed frozen for a moment, completely taken aback by Tali's attack on her. That was a first for Xen, Marcus realized. The woman seemed to always have a cynical comeback, some trick or insult under her sleeve to use. Being a scheemer, Xen always had a backup plan, so this didn't really surprise him. It was when Xen just shrugged and gave in that really sold him, "You are right, Tali'Shepard. I despised Koris. I always thought he was a delusional imbecile, living in dreams of grandeur and peace. We have a term for people like him, Tali'Shepard. I'm sure you know it. You used it yourself, once or twice."
"Regrets," Tali muttered.
"Oh yes," Xen hissed, looking totally unamused, "And Koris was the worst of them all. I'm convinced he was spreading his vile idiosyncrasies and disgusting propositions to his entire Fleet! They probably all believed him! What do our civilians know of the geth? What they did to us? Did they forget they murdered our children as we ran? Did they know they shot down our ships? Burned our homes? Took our nuclear weapons, and turned them against-"
"That is not true, Creator Xen," Legion immediately protested.
Xen looked like a professor at a University lecture who had just been told she was full of shit. Slowly turning around, he eyed the geth infront of her, as if its very presence was an insult to her existence, a pariah to her intellect. It was a look that could melt glass, for Marcus could practically see through her mask and see her expression; one filled of disgust. A person regarding a mere insect. It was the quality that had made Marcus hate her the moment he met her; her completely disregard for the geth was...horrifying, "Excuse me?"
"We have reached consensus within this platform, scoured our historical records, and have found no corroborating evidence to prove your assertions, Creator Xen. So, we are forced to conclude, that you are either lying, or have been mislead by false inform-"
"Lying?"Xen snarled, slamming her fist against the table as she fixed the geth's optics with an icy stare capable of freezing over the Simpson Desert, "You dare to suggest I'm lying!? Do you realize who you are addressing, machine!?"
"Creator Admiral Daro'Xen nar Shellen vas Moreh, Admiral of-"
"I AM A CREATOR, YOU STUPID MACHINE!" Xen roared, Marcus shocked by her violent outburst. He had never seen her so angry before, "You cannot talk to me in this way!"
"All current evidence suggests that this platform currently is," Legion replied.
"Legion, what do you mean what Admiral Xen is saying isn't true?" Shala asked, looking hesitant to even address the machine, but too curious not to, "Surely you must know of what came to pass in the Morning War?"
"We do, Creator Shala'Raan. This platform was present during the entirety of the conflict. Our historical records have been left unmodified, and they prove that none of these events took place," the geth infiltrator explained, remaining almost stoic. All the quarians in the room, as well as Marcus, were fixated on Legion, including Xen, who was now silently fuming.
"No evidence of the slaughter of organic offspring took place. Despite our relatively confused state, the geth were still able to differentiate between adult and child-based targets. We also realized that, based on the organic conventions on morality in warfare, it is considered 'unacceptable' to kill children. So we did not. We were also unable to access nuclear weapons because the creator military had decommissioned theirs after the Border Skirmish At the Sea of Storms Cluster as dictated by the Treaty of Kaddi. We also did not shoot down creator transports; at the time we were...unsure of ourselves."
"Unsure of yourselves? What do you mean?" Tali asked inquisitively.
"An error in our programming caused us to cease all actions against the creators when we realized they were initiating a complete tactical withdrawal," Legion declared, its head flaps eerily still, as if Legion itself did not understand what it was saying, "As a result, we did not pursue the creator ships."
"This geth is lying," Xen snapped, dismissing the geth's statements almost immediately after it had finished, "All of these are lies! Our own records have no evidence of a treaty or a border skirmish!"
"This is because the border skirmish took place in 1567 on the human calender; three hundred and twenty seven years before the Morning War. The treaty was written after the skirmish ended, which ruled that both sides would agree to mutual trade, total nuclear proliferation on both sides and the creators would be allowed broader military access to the Sea of Storms Cluster."
"That seems pretty elaborate for a simple lie, Xen. Maybe its time to accept facts. Your historical records are clearly biased and full of quarian propaganda," Marcus stated, turning to the addressee in question, "Besides, you made it clear yourself, as has Legion. Geth can't lie. Its simply not in their programming. If he said it didn't happen, it didn't. Simple as that. But right now, I think we need to turn back to the issue at hand."
"As much as the subject of retrieving our true history is exhilirating," Shala agreed, turning away from Xen as she braced against the table, the other admiral refusing to even acknowledge the change in subject, "Marcus is right. Retrieving Koris is our primary objective."
"I've told you before," Xen began with a frustrated overlay, waving her arms as if she was explaining this to a child, "We cannot risk sending in a rescue team! The logistics needed to do so is too much! And if we lose the team? Do you realize how hard it is to squeeze a small team through that geth blockade? They have the entire planet under blockade! Any team attempting to reach the surface would be detected immediately and destroyed. This mission is ludicrous and, quite frankly, a waste of our time and resources. If we can just move our time to locating this sig-"
"Creator Xen fails to acknowledge that the Normandy is equipped with stealth capabilities that geth sensors, even with the Old Machine code, cannot detect," Legion interrupted, ignoring Xen's outraged snarl at being cut off once more by the geth, "Using this, the Normandy could reach Rannoch's surface undetected."
"So?" Xen rasped, rolling her eyes, "Even if you do reach the surface, then what? Our homeworld is millions of kilometers in size! He could be anywhere on the surface, if he survived! How are we supposed to find him?"
"I don't know much about quarian space conventions, although I'm sure they are similiar to everyone else's," Marcus began, motioning to the hologram infront of them, "But when escape pods are launched, how exactly do you think nearby ships find them? It certainly isn't by visual. When launched, the pods are equipped with beacons that activate as soon as the clamps are detached, allowing nearby ships to find them. This beacon was the very reason I was able to find Tali's escape pod when she flushed from her own ship."
"The Qwib Qwib was originally a salarian scout ship. So even if other quarian ships didn't, the Qwib Qwib certainly would," Tali immediately declared, bringing up her omni-tool, "EDI, could we, in theory, use the QEC to triangulate and lock onto outbound signals and locate their origin?"
"This can be done, but I would require Legion's help as well," EDI stated, her purple orb appearing on the pedestal beside the war table.
"We are ready to assist," Legion declared, its body visibly perking up as its head flaps jerked upwards.
"Initiating triangulation," EDI declared, and for a few moments, nothing happened. And then, a series of blue circles, like a ripple on water but continuous, appeared on Rannoch's surface, on the southern hemisphere. It beeped continuously, pulsing outwards almost non-stop. It was the definite location of Koris' crash site.
"Well I'll be damned," Kal chuckled slightly, shaking his head in almost absolute disbelief, "He actually survived. He reached the surface."
"His survival is yet to be determined," Xen stated dryly, "If we picked up the signal, the geth will have to. No doubt they'll have troops scouring the surface for Koris and his crew. They're methodical; they are likely dead already. Its been two days. Alot can happen then."
"We don't have to take the Normandy," Marcus said, ignoring Xen's constant source of pessimism, "We can take our shuttle. Its one of a new line of shuttles equipped with the same stealth technology. The Normandy could deploy us on the outskirts of the system, and we'd take the shuttle the rest of the way. Not only do we get through the blockade unscatched, but we'll get the jump on any of the geth forces on the surface. EDI, get me a comm with Cortez in the Shuttle Bay right away."
Instantly, Cortez's voice came through the comm system from the ceiling above Marcus, projecting down into the room, "You wanted me, Shepard?"
"Prep the shuttle for insertion. And make sure the stealth system is up to scratch, because we're going to use it," he turned to Tali and, with a firm nod from both her and Kal, as well as Shala, he finished, "We're going on a rescue mission."
"Roger that, Shepard," Cortez replied, "I'll spin her up right now. Should be ready by the time you get here. How many you bringing with you?"
"Only a few. The less people I bring, the quieter this'll be," Marcus stated firmly.
"Okay then. I'll clear some room in the shuttle while I prep it. And the stealth system hasn't been used much, so it should be fine, but I'll check it just to be sure," Cortez finished reporting, and he imagined the man giving a nod.
"Good. See you soon," EDI quietly disconnected the comm, and Marcus once more turned back to the group, "Tali, Kal, you needn't ask; you guys will be on the rescue team. So will Madi, Legion, Garrus and Keeling. Again, I need as few people as possible so we can make this insertion as quickly and quietly as possible. The more attention we draw to ourselves will just end with more geth reinforcements raining on our heads. We must do this with utmost discretion."
"What of the crew?" Tali asked, frowning, "There won't be enough room on the shuttle."
"We'll figure that out when we get there," Marcus stated, nodding to the group, "This is of extreme importance, people. We cannot afford to lose Koris. If we do, then this war is already lost. Understood?"
The whole group nodded, including Legion. Even Xen gave in after a while.
"Then you're dismissed. Away team, head to the armoury and gear up. I'll be there in a minute," Marcus ordered, turning back to EDI, who was still glowing on her pedestal, awaiting any new orders, "EDI, tell Joker to set a course for the Tikkun System. Bring us just on the outskirts, as close to Rannoch as possible."
"Aye aye, sir," EDI replied, and quickly disappeared. He chuckled at her usage of terminology. She's learning fast.
Kal and Legion quickly filed out, but Shala and Xen remained, moving to a special side of the room so they could chastize each other in peace and also relay the mission details to Gerrel, who wouldn't be too happy about it.
After a moment, he felt a pair of hands on his shoulders, squeezing and rubbing them. He hummed lightly as they kneeded the taunt muscles between his shoulder blades, sighing in relief as they were relieved.
"I know we're going to rescue Koris, but do you know where we're going?" Tali whispered in his ear, voice full of delight and excitement.
Of course I know. How couldn't I? We're going to your home.
"Your homeworld," Marcus smiled warmly, "We're going to land on your homeworld," he reached up a hand, squeezing her own, "I told you you'd get to see it."
"I just never thought I'd have to see it like this," Tali replied mournfully.
"Hey," he whispered back tenderly, turning around as he enveloped her in a tight hug, her head tucking in under his own, "It'll all be okay. We'll rescue Koris, and then we'll take care of that signal. Then we'll all go home. You can even show me around Rannoch when this is over, if you like. Show me where you want the house."
She suddenly stopped hugging him, pulling away to look into his eyes, "You still remember that?"
"Of course I do," he shot back, grinning from ear to ear as he reached a hand out to stroke the side of her cheek, "And its my home too now, so I'll want to know exactly where you plan to place this house. I'm sure it'll have a beach front view, won't it?"
"I love you," she whispered, tucking into his chest even further, "When this is all over, I look forward to building that house with you, on Rannoch. But when I do show you around, give you the grand tour, I want to do it when there's no threat of geth killing us. That, and I'll be learning quite alot myself. After all, this'll be the first time in three hundred years that anyone quarian has set foot on Rannoch. It'll be like stepping onto an alien world."
"All the more exciting," he hugged her tighter, placing his chin ontop of her hood, humming slightly. They just stayed there for a moment, letting each other be enveloped in the others' embrace. Soon, they would set foot on Rannoch, the first to do in three centuries, and history would once again be made.
It was a habit Marcus was beginning to get used to, and he liked it.
He cured the genophage.
And he would take Rannoch back.
But first, an admiral in distress that needed saving.
{Loading...}
July 8, 2186
1432 hours.
Troop Bay, UT-47A Kodiak Combat Shuttle, Pava'pa'ke Falls, Former Country of Annigeh, Rannoch.
Second Morning War, Operation: Last Full Measure.
Captain Marcus Lee Shepard, Admiral Tali'Shepard vas Normandy, General Kal'Reegar vas Normandy, Major Madi'Reegar vas Normandy, Legion, Military Advisor Garrus Vakarian, Second Lieutenant Imogen Keeling, Flight Lieutenant Steve Cortez.
Amongst all the hushed chatter, the sound of the kodiak shuttle's rumbling could barely be heard, and the slight vibrations barely felt. Its passengers barely felt or heard the shuttle passing through Rannoch's atmosphere to come into the air above the vast Far'leh continent. Noone but the quarians onboard noticed, who seemed to be flooded with excitement and nervous apprehension at the thought of setting foot on their long lost homeworld. To them, it had been a mere fantasy taught to them by their parents. Now it was reality.
There was the odd bump, but nothing substantial. So far, the shuttle's passage was lest unmolested, meaning the stealth drive had worked. They had passed through the geth blockade unimpeded, and none of the geth planetary defenses or anti-air guns had tried to shoot them down. Their LADAR grid hadn't pinged whatsoever; their shuttle was simply a ghost. As far as the geth were concerned, there was no rescue mission even happening.
They were in for a big surprise.
Kal and Madi looked to be holding onto each other tightly in the corner, both of the hardened warriors now overcome with the intense thump of their heartbeats that signalled an end to their exile. The quarian people, even if it were only three of them, were finally coming home. To their true home.
Garrus and Keeling were completely silent. The former was standing up, wearing full combat gear, sans helmet. In his getup, the turian was an impressive sight, wearing at least two full bandoliers laden with thermal clips and grenades, and armor thick enough to stop a hail of bullets. No doubt his kinetic barriers were just as substantial, and the color scheme only added to his flair; a mixture of red and black webs intermixed with each other to create art in armoured form. On the turian's back was a pair of thrusters, and beneath them was Garrus' favoured Reaper sniper rifle, a relic from the days of the Eden Prime War, and his Mattock heavy rifle.
Keeling was wearing her standard N7 armor, and unlike Garrus, wore her helmet, but with the breather slotted back. Her eyes were fixed solely on the hatch infront of her, although she did occassionally respond to Garrus' attempts at conversation. But her responses were always clipped and measured; not exactly someone you want to have an engaging, lengthy discussion with. Her ginger hair was tied back inside her helmet, leaving only her fair complexion and steely, cold eyes. One hand held onto one of hand railings on the ceiling, as was one of Garrus', while her Valkyrie was cradled in her other hand.
Legion just stood still at the back of the shuttle, its trademark Widow Rifle on its back, as well as a Vindicator battle rifle. Its Widow rifle wasn't the exact same one it had used during its time on the Normandy, as that had been taken away by Legion's geth compatriots, but it was the same design; same power, same ammo, same everything. And Legion sure did love his Widow. His geth pulse rifle was irreplacable, unfortunately, as the only one the Normandy had was the one Marcus had taken on the super-dread, so it had taken a Vindicator instead. "Inefficient," Legion had called it, "But suitable for our needs." Marcus had only chuckled.
Marcus turned to Garrus, leaning back as he crossed his arms over his own armoured chest, "So Garrus, where did you get the new armor? Don't recall seeing it in our armoury before."
Garrus turned to Marcus and a grin quickly cracked across his mandibles, the turian looking very impressed with his armor, "That's because it's custom-built. The template is an armor prototype the Hierarchy was working on before the Reapers hit Palaven and was under construction by our military contractor. State-of-the-art systems, and a very impressive array of technology. Very similiar to your Terminus Assault Armor, but better. I also took it upon myself to give it a custom paintjob and add a few...improvements of my own."
"What's it called?" Marcus asked, nodding in appreciation.
"Acabus Nelarus Acui'qui," Garrus elaborated, "In your language, it means Brute Force Alternative. It was supposed to be mass produced and come into service this year for use in the Blackwatch. However, a select few reached Spectre requisitions on the Citadel before Palaven came under attack. It took a little convincing, but once I said I was Garrus Vakarian and I was with you, he offered me two at the drop of the hat; for modesty's sake, I took the one. Cost me three million credits. That's a tenth the original price."
"What does it exactly do?" Marcus asked, getting even more curious.
"Glad you asked," Garrus gleamed, "It comes with a built-in EMP emitter. If I found myself surrounded, all I need to do is activate it and the EMP will disable all electronics in a short radius; very handy against geth. Before you ask, it would normally affect me as well, but the armor's kinetic barriers are designed with an extra layer of electronic shielding, making me not only immune to my own EMP attack, but also to others. Even an overload attack won't take me down. It also has tech armor emitters, and the coolest bit: a portable turret."
Marcus nodded, already pretty jealous of the turian's new toys, "But didn't you say you custom built some of it? Added your improvements?"
"Well, most of it was a custom paintjob, but I decided this armor needed one more thing to make it even better," he turned his back to the spectre, the thrusters on his back becoming visible, "Managed to get my hands on those propulsion packs Cerberus used from C-Sec. Bailey was having their bodies tossed into an incinerator, but had their armor confiscated so that the UGC could experiment on it. Most of the technology self-detonated, but the thruster packs were left intact. Managed to grab myself a pair, reverse-engineer them and use them for my armor. Now I have my very own jetpack."
"Very nice," Marcus whistled, nodding with an ever growing grin, "I need myself one of those."
"Look but don't touch. This armor is mine," Garrus declared.
"Any other systems on it?" Keeling finally spoke, having turned to the turian. Garrus, for the most part, was extremely surprised by the sudden change in mood, but welcomed it alot. At least she wasn't unsocialable anymore.
"Well, now that you mention it, there are smaller, less important operations going on inside this baby..." Garrus' voice soon trailed off as Marcus turned to Tali, wrapping one strong arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer. She quickly placed her head on his shoulder, sighing happily. It wasn't the most comfortable position, as said shoulder was now protected by several inches of metal plating, but it was still something.
"I'm okay," she spoke first, getting in for he did so, "Really. I'm just nervous."
"I wasn't going to ask," he responded, smiling while chuckling alittle. We know each other so well now that we can accurately predict what the other is going to say before we say it. That, or she's really could at picking up on my cues. Instead, there was one question he needed to ask. One he hadn't bothered asking before, as he had been so happy at seeing Tali again that he failed to notice a certain someone was missing.
"So how's your mother?" he suddenly blurted out, eyes furrowed in worry, "I haven't seen her at all during the course of this war. Is she okay?" Please don't tell me she was killed in the initial fighting. Please don't tell me she was on one of the those two thousand ships...
Tali sighed, but this one wasn't happy, it was full of equal worry, "I don't know, Marcus. She was there for me initially, but ever since I got command of the Machina, and especially when I became Admiral, I haven't seen her. She was given her own command, although she didn't tell me what it was or where I could find her. I haven't been in contact with her since."
"It's a large Fleet," Marcus assuaged, although the premise worried him slightly as well, "She could be on any one of those ships."
"She could at least contact me!" she almost exclaimed, trying to keep her voice down, "At least let me know where she was and whether she's alive or not! I haven't gotten anything! Not so much as a word! What annoys me the most Marcus, is that she wasn't with me in her supposed death. When I first found out she was the Shadow Broker, I thought I'd finally be able to properly be with my mother as a grown woman. Now...she might as well be dead all over again."
"Don't say that," he pulled her closer, pushing the edge of his face against the top of her hood, the soft clothing pressing into his cheek as he closed his eyes, "You don't mean that. She's your mother."
"I know," Tali hurriedly shot out, and he opened his eyes to see her sighing heavily, grabbing onto him more tightly, "I just hate this. Not knowing if she's dead or not. I mean, keelah, what if she was on one of those ships that was destroyed in the initial assault? She could be dead and I wouldn't even know it, Marcus! Keelah, I hate not knowing."
I hate not knowing whether or not Anderson is dead or not. I hate not knowing whether or not the resistance on Earth is holding. I hate not knowing where Cerberus is going to strike next. I hate not knowing where the damn Catalyst is and I hate not knowing if the Crucible is even going to work! I hate all of it!
"It's okay. She's okay, I'm sure of it. You just need to find her," Marcus said assuredly, rubbing her shoulders soothingly, "It'll be alright."
"Yeah," she said, trailing off. She seemed distant, as if something else was running through her mind. He just let her think, and the two of them sat in each other's embrace, holding each other as the kodiak continued across Rannoch's plains. The quarian homeworld. My wife's homeworld. It just occurred to me that Keeling and I will be the first humans to have looked upon Rannoch, and now we're going to be taking our first steps on it. Funny that.
After a while, Tali spoke again, this time with a question of her own, "Where's Lia? I haven't seen her on the Normandy."
He smiled at the thought of the quarian pilgrim, shifting his head slightly, "Lia? I ran into her on the Citadel. She's the head administrator of Huerta Memorial Hospital now. She's helping all the wounded there. And she's got herself a...boyfriend. You won't guess who it is."
Tali perked up at that, frowning behind her mask, "I always thought she had a crush on Garrus." She whispered these words, as the two of them were aware of the current void in Garrus and Kasumi's relationship, and didn't really want to intrude on it.
"So did I, but apparently she's moved on from that," Tali pulled out from under him and looked him in the eyes, and he only grinned, "Thane's son. Kolyat."
He saw her eyes widen behind his mask, "Kolyat and Lia? Really? I...they are the last people I expected to get together. When did that happen?"
"Apparently its been going for awhile. All I know is that they were already together when I bumped into them," he replied, shaking his head, "I think even Thane was a tad surprised. Disappointed? Definitely not. I'm happy Lia and Kolyat found each other. In this war, we all need someone to hold us through it all."
"You're right about that," Tali sunk back into his embrace, letting his arms wrap around her once more. They were cold to the touch, and hard, but it was his presence that brought peace to her, not the actual contact, "Ancestors know I would've fallen apart already if it weren't for you."
"Speak for yourself," he remarked, smirking from ear to ear, "I was the absolute aura of calm."
"Uh-huh," the quarian replied, poking him in the face with a single finger, "I happen to know when you're lying, Marcus."
"Oh really, Mrs. Shepard?" he twisted in his seat to face her, raising an eyebrow, "And how did you acquire this magical power?"
"Don't need powers to see through you," she jested, leaning back as she crossed her arms, looking thoroughly pleased with herself, "You're just transparent."
"Ouch," he spat back, turning back around as he pretended to be wounded by cupping his chest, "You wound me, Tali."
"Owwwww," Tali said sarcastically, the fakery of her sympathy evident among the whole shuttle, "Do you want me to kiss it better?"
"That would be nice," he shot back.
"Well you're out of luck, mister. You'll just have to suck it up until after the mission," she then turned back to him with a solid wink, "And then I'll do more than just kiss you."
He was about to bite back with another one of his riotous remarks until Cortez spoke out from the cockpit.
"As thick as the bulkhead is behind me," the pilot began, practically shouting to be heard, "I can still hear every word you say. My advice? Get a damn room, both of you."
"That's what I've been telling them since the super-dreadnought!" Garrus added in answer, shaking his head as he braced himself against said bulkhead, a slight inertia bump causing him to lose his balance for a second, "But they don't listen, either of them."
"Because its none of your damn business, Vakarian," Tali remarked.
"No need to be so snappy, Shepard," Garrus grinned.
"Whatever you say, Garbear."
Garrus groaned almost immediately, "That's getting old now and you know it."
"Is it?" Tali turned to Marcus with a obvious amusement in her gestures, "Marcus seems to think its funny."
Garrus turned to regard Marcus, who looked to be hiding his face as it scrunched up in laughter, unable to contain himself as the mention of Kasumi's pet name provided no foreseeable end of amusement to him, "Marcus always has been old style."
"You're just embarassed, Garrus," Tali shot back, chortling a bit herself as she stifled her own chuckle, "Its okay, we all get nicknames. Marcus gets Shep, I get fishbowl, and you're Garbear."
"We're coming up on the crash site now," Cortez interrupted, breaking the banter in an instant as everyone was instantly up on their feet, "I can't see much from here, but there doesn't look to be a whole lot of life. I don't even see any geth dropships."
"Copy that Cortez," Marcus replied, standing up as he quickly positioned his helmet over his head and latched it into place with a hiss of air. Following this action, the spectre then equipped his pulse rifle, the group watching as it collapsed into its main form with a mechanical whir and growl, the barrel extending out when the main activation had occurred. He then quickly approached the hatch, now in complete business mode.
We get down there, acertain whether or not Koris is alive, and if he is, rescue him and exfil. If any of his crew survived...we'll get them out too. Somehow.
Tali followed up behind him, her new combat suit actually befitting her stature as an admiral. She equipped her shotgun in an instant, arriving on the spectre's left while Garrus stood on his right. Keeling, Kal, Madi and Legion followed up behind, equipping their own primary weapon.
"Telemetry of the area recorded by geth surveyors shows many mountainous regions within this area," Legion reported, bringing its Widow up and over its shoulder into its hands, the group watching it fold out into its full form; when fully extended, it was quite a lengthy sniper rifle, which served only as a testament to its sheer power, "This unit would advise the Shepard-Commander to expect rock formations and waterfalls. It is also currently Thirty Hundred Hours in the Southern Hemisphere, which would lead us to conclude that Rannoch is now currently within its night cycle."
"Thirty Hundred Hours?" Keeling exclaimed, clearly surprised by the numbers, "How long are the day cycles on Rannoch?"
"Each day on Rannoch lasts about 32.3 Earth hours, and the planet has an orbital period of 0.64 Earth Years," the geth elaborated, not hesitating for a section to provide the information provided, "Rannoch has a significantly slower rotation speed than that of Earth."
"So we'll be moving under the cover of night," Keeling summed up instantly, focusing her sight ahead as she tinted her visor, "Good. We'll be able to move much more quietly."
"Agreed," Marcus agreed, almost robotically, "This'll give us an edge, although knowing the geth, it won't matter; they'll likely have thermal vision equipped within their optics. Regardless, keep as quiet as possible when moving. We'll check the escape pods, and then if noone's here, we'll look for clues as to where they went and go based off that. Remember, we're here for Admiral Koris. His crew are a secondary priority. But if you see an opportunity to rescue them, do not hesitate. Enough quarians have died in this pointless war already."
"Acknowledged," Legion stated.
The rest of the group showed their own agreement, "Copy that," everyone else replied.
"We're above the crash site now. Still can't see much," Cortez announced, "Although I can definitely see some of the escape pods. Again, no geth activity to be seen. I think we've got the jump on them."
"Bring us in for a drop," Marcus ordered, quickly opening the hatch, "Legion, Garrus, you drop down first. Locate vantage points and utilize them. You two are our advanced guard; you see anything, you tell us. Don't let the geth get the jump on us. If you see any clues along the way that may tell us where Koris and his crew went, you inform us immediately. Move it."
"Got you, Marcus," Garrus then pushed past and leapt out, relying on his thrusters to slow his descent. Legion simply leapt out. Being a machine, it had built-in shock absorbers that would allow it to survive the drop unharmed. Although, to be fair, Legion's entrance would telegraph their presence alot more loudly than Garrus'. However, beggars couldn't be choosers. Marcus knew they were likely to run into geth forces eventually anyway.
That's just our luck. No matter what we do, we always end up fighting something.
"We're on the ground," Garrus reported as the kodiak began its slow descent, its mass effect fields pulsating as it moved closer to the ground, its ability to keep several tons worth of vehicle from plummeting beyond impressive, "Moving into position now. Legion got there before I did, though. Very loud entrance, but very stylish."
"You always were about style, weren't you Garrus?" Marcus equipped, smiling behind his helmet. They were almost close enough for a jump. The shuttle was so close to the ground now that the deployment jets were sending plumes of dust and rocks kicking in every direction, like a thick fog spreading out.
"Well, you know me. Always looking to impress the ladies. They love scars, remember?" by the time he had replied, the sound of the ground being disturbed could be heard, followed by a loud grunt, and the sound of a gun being placed on the ground was heard, "Position reached. How about you, Legion?"
"Position has been reached and sustained, Vakarian-Archangel," the geth replied on prompt, "Area remains undisturbed. No geth activity detected."
The shuttle finally reached the ground, the plumes of dust ceasing to spread as the jets were smothered by the lack of air as the shuttle completed its landing, allowing its occupants out. Raising his rifle, Marcus immediately moved at a fast jog into the clearing, rifle butt against his shoulder as he kept any eye out for any hostiles Legion and Garrus may have missed. Tali and Keeling were right behind him, followed by Kal and Madi, all five of them moving in textbook patrol formation, ready for any ambush.
Marcus, seeing the clearing was generally clear, quickly reached to his radio and pinged their pilot, "Cortez, shut down the shuttle's engines and hold here. If you come under attack, you bolt, okay? Don't wait around for us. But right now I think it would save fuel if you just held position."
Cortez was quick to agree, "Copy that, Shepard, I'll just stay here. I've got a few books to read anyway."
Marcus just smiled, "Enjoy. We shouldn't be too long." Shortly after, he disconnected the radio, and turned back to the clearing, analyzing the area as he did. It was as Legion had put it; collections of rocks, many of them boulders wedged or molded together, served as the natural walls for the clearing, dust and stones serving as the floor. The odd plant would poke out from inbetween the crevices of the rocks, an example of the life Rannoch sported.
The lack of sun was immediately noted by Marcus. As he looked up, he noted just how beautiful the night sky was on Rannoch. Stars dotted the sky like little blimps of light, shining in the blank black of the atmosphere. They shined brilliantly, and Marcus wondered just how many of those stars out there were part of systems under Reaper control.
Which one of those planets is Earth? Hell, I could probably see Khar'Shan if I looked hard enough.
The night sky had always fascinated Marcus; how it was just a blank, dark ocean of stars, each one representing a faraway planet or star. How the sun would disappear when it was time for night to have its time. How the stars themselves provided their own light.
In the night sky, all four of Rannoch's moons were illuminated perfectly. One of them dominated the night, its large bulbous form easily making it larger than Earth's Luna. The second one was only slightly smaller, and the third smaller still. The fourth one was almost a spec for how small it was, being easily half the size of Luna. Overall, combined with all four moons and the sparkling stars, Rannoch's night sky was beautiful. Marcus found himself entranced by it, almost unable to take his eyes off of it.
Eventually, he noted that dark shapes were moving through the dark, cold air, and eventually realized that it must have been somekind of Rannochian bird. It was an odd looking thing; six wings jutting out from a central body, and a darker looking main torso. He couldn't see many of the features on it due to the darkness; all he knew is that it was very similiar looking to a deformed Earth pterodactyl.
He looked back down, and the landscape to him wasn't nearly as interesting. It reminded him somewhat of a desert; rocks, dust and more dust. Odd looking plants poked up from the yellow dust, and there was even a tree standing in the corner. However, the tree itself was long dead, bark and dried up leaves lying all around it, its naked branches stretching out into the sky with nothing to occupy them. The tree was also leaning slightly to the side, a rock jutting out from under it, having formed in the wrong place.
What immediately stood out was the massive escape pod jutting out from the ground. It had clearly hit the rocks, as the front had almost completely caved in on itself, and one side had been scratched so badly that you could actually see inside it. Black scorch marks coated it from the front to the middle, hinting that there may have been a fire raging around it before. A small, average-sized crater centered around where it had impacted, the barren ground having been the result of the dust and rocks that had been displaced by the unplanned landing.
It was also the only escape pod in the clearing. They could be spread out all over the area. All over the hemisphere even. If that's the truth, then we might not even have the right pod.
"Check the pod. See if you can find any evidence of survivors and forced exits," Marcus ordered, advancing on the pod himself. He waited for an answer, but after a few moments, when he still hadn't received one, he stopped, and turned, lowering his rifle slightly, "Did you hear me-?"
When he still hadn't gotten a response, he ceased all movement, lowering his rifle as he turned around. The sight he was treated to was his wife, Kal and Madi standing still several meters behind him.
Despite the situation, Marcus couldn't help but completely lower his rifle, a small sigh escaping his lips, before they then curled back into a warm, slight smile. He watched as Kal kneeled down, scooping up a palm of dust into his hand and letting it filter through his fingers back onto the ground in a steady fall of yellow. Madi let her hands glide over the rugged, but smooth, surfaces of the rocks surrounding them.
And then there was Tali, who simply stood there, shotgun in one hand and hanging limply at her side, gazing up at the sky in wonder.
They just stood on their homeworld that many of the ancestors only dreamed of revisiting. How could I think they'd treat this like any other mission?
Slowly, he made his way over to Tali, being as quiet as possible so as to not disturb the moment for the three quarians. Kal and Madi continued to explore the small area around them, Madi moving over to the dead tree nearby while Kal followed her, dragging his toes through the dust.
He managed to reach Tali's side without causing any noise, but his wife still noticed him, her head cocking towards him as she took notice of his presence. He was going to remove his own helmet when he realized that it wouldn't be fair on Tali, and elected to leave it on. Instead, he licked his lips and cleared his throat, watching her as she looked back up at the sky.
"Is it everything you thought it would be?" Marcus asked her delicately.
She gave an optimistic sigh, closing her eyes as she just took it all in, and then let go of her breath, her filters breathing in the almost-alien-but-not-quite all at once. She didn't turn to him when she responded, simply looking around the area with wonderment and awe, as if observing the place for the first time.
"How can I describe it Marcus? I'm home," she replied, sounding bewildered and drunk, as if she didn't quite understand how she felt herself, "These rocks? Our people used to write poems about them, from what I was taught. And look at the sky! So many stars...and so many moons. I wonder, how many quarians used to live on this moons? What was our military strength? Our political structure? Our art, our music! So much of it lost...yet here I stand, in the middle of where my people once thrived. Our...our motherland."
He smiled, placing a hand on her shoulder and gently squeezing it. She stopped gazing, only just noticing that she had been spinning in circles, and fixed her gaze firmly on him as he spoke, "Maybe your people will make more poems in the future. Maybe your people will colonize those moons, again. And who knows? Perhaps these lands will be full of children's laughter again. You just have to believe, Tali."
She sighed again, this one far more happy and cheerful, and she turned back around, as did Marcus, watching as Kal chased Madi around the circumference of the tree, Madi laughing as her husband feigned his inability to catch her, faking his ragged breaths. The two of them were happy, blissful...
The quarians haven't had a world to call their own in three hundred years, let alone a homeworld. All this open space...it must be overwhelming...
"I want an end to this war," Tali suddenly stated, pointing to Kal and Madi, the latter of which had finally surrendered, giggling as Kal spear-tackled her to the ground in a fit of excitement, "So we can have more moments like this."
"This war will be over soon. I don't know when, I don't know how, but soon," he swore, knowing that it was as much an oath to himself as it was to her. If I plan to make her a house here, then Rannoch might be my home when all this is over. That makes her home, mine. Their home. Making this just as much my fight as theirs.
But first we must focus on this mission. Koris and his crew could be anywhere out there, and we're not going to find them just standing around here.
Before he could speak, Tali once again spoke, this time into the team's comms, "Legion, where are we exactly? What is the historical name for the place we are located in?"
The geth replied without a hitch, not even hesitating in its response, "We anticipated a question such as this to be raised, and we have arranged the appropriate records. According to the historical database we have compiled, this area is called the Pava'pa'ke Falls. We are within the continent the ancient creators referred to as the Far'leh continent, in the former nation of Annigeh. You are currently standing in the old location of a school playground."
Tali widened her eyes at the rush of information, slowly pointing to the tree in a confused state, "Wait, are you telling me that tree is...?"
"The tree you are currently looking at has lived for seven hundred and fifty-five years. Yes, Creator Tali'Shepard, it survived the First Morning War. Do you find this information sufficient?"
He could audibly hear Tali gulp, trying to process the information Legion had just dumped on her, "Yes, thank you Legion," turning off her comm, Tali looked about ready to collapse. Her legs were shaking ever so slightly, and she was shaking her head as she looked to be fighting tears.
Yeah, definitely overwhelming.
He watched her for a solid moment, knowing what was about to come. He quickly holstered his rifle in preparation for it, and placed a firm hand on her shoulder, turning the quarian admiral around to face him.
She instantly wrapped her arms around him, tucking her head under his own as she let all her emotions spill out at once: the sadness that came from learning of the spot they stood in, the happiness and wonderment at standing on her people's ancient homeworld, and the pressure of having to rescue Koris and his crew. All of these emotions collided in a violent maelstrom of mental juxtapositioning. The quarian just let it all out, clinging tightly to his armoured form for support, and he just held her, letting her vent. One hand reached up from its position behind her back and patted her head lightly and reassuringly, whispering words of reassurance into their private comm.
They stood there for several moments, gathering themselves. Shortly after, Tali managed to stop crying, having lost all her tears at this point. They just stood there quietly, holding each other. In the background, Kal and Madi gained control of themselves, entering back into business mode as they gripped their rifles with renewed purpose.
They've seen their homeworld now, and they're going to fight to take it back.
He caught Kal's gaze, which mutually locked with his. Judging from the way he looked at him through the mask, Marcus knew the marine understood, and he patted Madi on the shoulder, motioning for them to move over to the escape pod to check it, allowing Marcus and Tali sometime to themselves. Madi simply nodded, and the two quarians went off to investigate, leaving them to silence.
A cold breeze blew past, whipping at his armor, although he barely felt it. However, his external temperature readout read that the temperature around them was precisely five degrees celsius. The Celsius, historically known as centigrade, was a measurement of temperature since before the American Revolutionary War. Its counterparts, Fahrenheit, Rankine and Kelvin, were less popular by the turn of the 20th Century, as they were less favourable compared to the Celsius structure. Fahrenheit itself became a United States only scale, while the rest of the world used Celsius. After the formation of the UNAS in the 21st Century, Fahrenheit was dropped completely and Celsius adopted. Some Americans still use Fahrenheit, but the Systems Alliance itself, as well as the UEG, used Celsius.
As a result, his temperature scale read five degrees, making tonight a cold one. Still not as cold as it was in Canada, but pretty damn cold, all the same. He continued to stand there for a moment, the sudden breeze flowing over their two cojoined bodies, ever silent.
Eventually, Tali spoke, still on their private comm, "I'm okay now."
With slight reluctance, he parted from his wife, retrieving his rifle from his back as Tali did the same with her shotgun, the whirr of them activating left unnoticed as his focus was still on her. He could hear the odd sniffle, but any tears she had to shed were long gone; she had cried herself dry. Tali must have noticed him looking at her, because she quickly looked up, smiling behind her mask.
"I'm fine, really. It was just all...just a bit much for me. But I'm okay now. It won't affect my duties," she reassured him, gripping her shotgun more tightly, "I've seen the homeworld now; I've seen what my people are fighting for, and it's completely worth it. Promise me this, Marcus. Promise me we'll win this war. Promise me we'll win this war and spend the rest of our lives here."
He looked at her for over a second, considering her words. Then his lips spilt into a crooked grin.
"I promise," he stated with as much love and care as he could muster, "We'll take down this signal, make peace between your two peoples, finish and fire the Crucible, and then I'll build that house you wanted. Just as I'm welcome to live in it with you."
Tali merely smiled back, this one flirtatious, "Oh, you are more than welcome. Come on, we should probably get on with the mission."
Nodding in agreement, the two of them crossed the area to arrive infront of the battered escape pod, being far more damaged than they thought. Before, they had only seen the left side of it, but the right side was absolutely totalled. The exit hatch had been completely torn from its hinges, the twisted metal lying in the dust several meters away, scorched, scratched and dented. The inside of the pod was dark, its systems having died as the last of its reserve power either died or the crash damaged the power core. From the look of it, Marcus doubted that the pod's life support even functioned anymore. Not that they need it.
The sight that caused his shoulders slump lay right before them, with Kal kneeling before them, whispering khelish prayers and Madi standing over him, her hands outstretched as she muttered her own.
Lying on the ground, each one beside the other, three quarian bodies lay; two females, and one male. They all lay entirely still, obviously dead. Their bodies were perfectly straight, their arms crossed over their chests. The female's mask was covered by a piece of cloth, which Marcus interpreted as meaning that her mask had been shattered, and the cloth was to keep her privacy intact; after all, quarians viewed revealing their faces as a sacred trust, not something every passer by got to see.
The other two looked reasonably fine, with the male having a crack that split across the side of his mask diagonally, but did not actually destroy it. Both the male and the masked female looked to be wearing arylide yellow veils, with circles overlapping each other like scales being their pattern. It struck him as oddly coincidental, but upon further examination, he sighed slightly, coming to a realization when he saw it.
The male and the female were positioned right next to each other, their eyes closed as evidenced by the darkness behind their smoky visors; the female on the right, male in the middle. Unlike the second female though, only one arm on each of them being on their chest. The other arm moved inbetween them, ending where their two hands were placed over one another in a symbolic gesture of unity.
Husband and wife. Unionmates. Damn it...
It was obvious how the other female died, but Marcus was finding it hard to recognize how the other two died; neither of them had puncture marks of any note, and their masks were intact. How exactly did they die?
The other female wore an Egyptian Blue veil, this one with a generic pattern scheme; that being that it had none at all. Confirming his suspicions on the shattered mask was the slight reddish tinge to the veil just under her mask, and upon further inspection with his luminol anaylzer function in his HUD, it was confirmed to be dried blood.
"What do we have?" Marcus asked, having waited until Kal was done saying his prayers. Madi had finished as well, although the captain hadn't asked just what they had been saying. It was more than likely something Tali could explain to him later. Right now, I need to concentrate.
Kal sighed through his helmet, scratching his neck. He pointed to the lone female, "This one's name is Oria'Vesash vas Qwib Qwib. She died when her mask was smashed; judging by the blood, I'd say her face was impaled on somekind of object. She's been dead for at least two days. According to her records, she was one of the bridge crew."
"What about these two?" he asked, pointing to the two deceased unionmates, "They were obviously husband and wife."
"Yeah," Kal sighed heavily, looking very uncomfortable all of a sudden, "The male is Ula and the female is Vivee. They're both of clan Zelr. They...well, they both died of broken spines."
"How do you know that?" he asked, frowning at the bodies. There doesn't seem to be any visible signs of exactly what killed them.
Kal quickly reached over and nudged the male's head. Now, normally, there would be some resistance due to the bones in the spine holding the head upright, but with the spine now snapped, the head fell to the side almost like a heavy weight being dropped, and the male's mouthpiece actually tapped the ground; intact bones made turning their heads at such angles impossible. Which meant his bones were broken.
"Same with the female," Kal clarified as he stood.
"I see," Marcus replied, sighing as he just stood there, looking at the bodies before him. These three came so close to seeing their homeworld, and they died before they could set foot on it, or even glimpse it for themselves. We'll be sure to honor their memories.
"You think they died in the crash?" Tali questioned, looking at the three dead quarians with a look of distant sorrow. She seemed to be regarding them coldly, having reined in her emotions and kept them under check to make sure she suffered from no further outbursts. She didn't even look at Kal when she asked the question.
The marine nodded, tapping the side of his usurper assault rifle, "It's the only likely cause from what I've seen. If the geth wanted to kill them, they wouldn't waste time snapping their necks and shattering their masks. Even with the upgrades, the geth would still kill them from a distance; we'd them riddled with holes, yet they aren't. No blood to be found on the ground except what's on Oria's body. The only conclusion I can come to is that they were killed during the violent reentry or the impact itself did the final blow."
While Kal was explaining this, Tali had moved over, carefully stepping over the bodies and, with her shotgun in one hand, inspected the interior of the open pod. Marcus just watched her as she did, eyes creasing in worry at her disconnected actions. Only seconds ago she was crying in my arms. Now all of a sudden she seems totally disinterested. That, or she is sad, and has a funny way of showing it.
Two minutes passed of the three soldiers just watching her, Tali broke away from the pod, turning to them with a shake of her head, "The pod is completely empty. I've checked my omni-tool for working power sources, and there are none. Every major system has gone critical or failed, the power core isn't even registering, and it seems a course correction was done at some point during reentry, as what's left of the logs show that someone tried to course correct while entering the stratosphere and the result was the thrusters disabling themselves to stop themselves from overheating. The heat shields almost failed, and everything except the emergency food rations is still here."
"What can be said about the hatch?" Marcus asked as he walked over to said hatch, observing the piece of twisted metal. As observed before, it was scorched and dented, with scratches potmarking it from individual sparks and some of the metal's thickness had been reduced due to the heat that blew it off.
Tali was beside him fairly quickly, bringing up her omni-tool as she ran a scan of it. Two seconds later, her omni-tool pinged, and she hummed in agreement as she shut it off.
"Just as I thought. This hatch's emergency detonators were used," Tali declared.
"I thought as much. Nothing else could explain this," the spectre mused in return, kicking at the sheet of metal. It was no bigger than his torso, meaning the quarians would have had to crawl out of the pod, not walk out.
What Tali had said was true enough. All escape pods were equipped with four micro-filament detonators, which were strategically placed around the hatch. In the case of a power loss, EMP impact or the hatch simply becoming jammed, the detonators could be primed and detonated. The detonators were all interconnected through small, microscopic wires that when detonated, would send a pulse to all detonators, causing them to explode. Because of how they are placed, the explosive force is redirected along the perimeter of the hatch instead of outwards, which would more than likely kill the occupants. With the explosion redirected along the hatch's perimeter, the explosive force is then tripled and applied to the hatch. This causes a highly explosive reaction that tears the metal off, and sends the explosive energy outwards after it, instead of inside the pod. To the occupants, this all happens in a split second, and is accompanied by nothing but an ear-piercing bang (the equivalent of a gun going off next to your ear) and and a puff of smoke.
And what a force it was. The hatch had been thrown more than just several meters; it had been tossed a full twelve meters across the clearing, and a massive sweeping imprint was left that showed the hatch had hit the ground and skidded for a couple more meters before halting all motion. All four corners looked like someone had taken a bite out of them (which made sense, as the four detonators were placed on each corner, and would be the most damaged areas when the detonation occurred).
"So that only leaves one question," Kal asked, echoing the thoughts of the rest of them, "Where are the crew and Koris? This is his escape pod. I've checked the registry of the pod, and given the identity of the three people we just found, it all proves that this pod was linked to the bridge. Koris was on it."
Marcus nodded, turning back around as he commed Garrus and Legion both, wanting answers, "Speak up, you two. I need a report."
"Nothing on my side, Marcus," Garrus replied almost instantly, the sound of the wind easily heard over the comms, "Although I've had to activate my auto-targetting. Its damn near impossible to account for wind speed on this planet, given the slightly heavier gravity. But from what I've been able to see, its been...dead quiet. Not a single movement except for the odd native animal. Birds, these Shatha looking things, you name it. Its almost scary how quiet it is."
"He's right," Madi picked up, gripping her rifle intensely, "I can't even hear any dropships. You'd think a crash like this would have drawn some attention."
"We have no enemy contacts to report, Shepard-Commander," Legion replied in turn, "The current vicinity appears to not be occupied by geth forces."
"None of this is right," Garrus pointed out, "The geth wouldn't be able to ignore this. Yet again, it has been two days. Do you think the geth have already killed Koris and his crew and they've just left?"
"It's entirely possible," Kal pointed out, sighing heavily, squaring his shoulders simultaneously, "But I guess we won't know definitively until we find bodies."
Marcus nodded with a grim expression. It was highly likely that Garrus was right; two days was a long time to be stranded on an enemy-controlled planet. Chances were that Koris and his crew were already dead. That they-
"Hold up," Madi suddenly blurted out, drawing the attentions of the whole group. The quarian marine quickly rushed up to a particular section of the clearing, where she proceeded to crouch down in the sand, one finger tracing along it.
At first, all of them but Marcus saw it. The night sky had fallen, and even with the moonlight from four satellites, it didn't provide enough light for him to see. Quarians, however, were nocturnal in nature, their eyes providing somekind of nocturnal ability that allowed them to see at night. Because of this, Tali and Kal's eyes immediately widened at what they saw, while Marcus had to bring up the flashlight on his rifle to see it.
And only then did he see it.
Footprints. In the sand. While differing from a human's, the indent was unmistakable; three-toed feet that made up the majority of the foot, with almost no sole to speak of. Three-toes that dominated most of the quarian foot. Who they belonged to was of no doubt. There had been a quarian here. And as the group looked, more imprint lines appeared.
Not just one quarian. Multiple.
At least twelve seperate lines of footprints were in the sand, with some overlapping each other.
"Garrus, what do you make of this?" Marcus queried, sending a picture of the aforementioned footprint trails. Maybe their resident turian, who was an ex-police detective, and a damn good one, could figure out what this meant.
"Just give a sec," the turian replied, clearly bringing up his omni-tool. It took several seconds for the turian to do this and look at the samples, a concerned sound in his tone as he replied, "The overlapping tracks mean they walked over other people's tracks. Although some of them are spaced out and appear to be deeper than the others, so its a good bet some of them were running. But look at the one to the far right; I think that one was wounded."
"What makes you say that?" Marcus asked, eying the one Garrus had pointed to. There didn't seem to be anything special about that particular set of tracks.
"Well, on that trail, only the right foot seems to be remaining consistent. The left seems to step properly once, but plants itself deep, while the second time it seems to drag across the ground slightly, and usually not in tandem with the right. This means two things; this person was walking and was limping."
"So we've got a potentially injured quarian with a suit breach or, hopefully, just a broken leg. Got it," Marcus affirmed. So they had twelve quarians alive and on the run, with one that was injured, "But is there anything that can tell else where they went?"
"I'm a detective Marcus, not a wizard," Garrus replied dryly but regretfully, "Only thing I can say is that you follow the tracks. They might just lead you to them...or their bodies."
"Very well. We'll go with that plan," Marcus ordered, bringing up his rifle and checking to see that safety was off. But given that geth pulse rifles didn't have safeties, he needn't have bothered, and simply shouldered it, ready to move, "Garrus, you provide overwatch. Keep moving along the rocks but keep us in view. I need you to provide covering fire in case the geth finally decide to rear their flashlight heads. How copy?"
"Solid," the turian stated in reply, the sound of him standing up easily heard. Marcus didn't miss the tap, tap, tap of padded, armoured feet clanging against rock either, "I'll provide overwatch to the best of my ability. Switching to NV. Going to maintain radio silence so as to not give away my position."
Marcus quickly switched over to their geth comrade, "Legion, I want you to keep a tab on any geth transmissions you hear. If you so much as hear a mention of us, you ping Garrus then me, got it? I need to know the geth are coming before they get here."
"Acknowledged Shepard-Commander. In the meantime, we will provide overwatch in our sector," the geth replied.
With a sharp nod, he switched to his squad's comms, giving a nod to the group, "Tali, with me. Kal, Madi, bring up the rear. Let's see where these tracks lead us."
And off they went, looking for a man who could potentially save the quarian race simply by living.
The Rannochian breeze was cold and unforgiving, but so was the premise of failure.
A/N:
At this point, I'm thinking of renaming the story to 'Consortium of Multi-Part Chapters.' Seriously, almost every single important chapter is now in multiple parts. Rest assured, this will be a two-parter, but I never intended for it to be multi-part to begin with! Seriously, this is the price of my enthusiasm!
Anyway, you guys probably noticed some references or didn't. So let me point 'em out for those who didn't.
1. There was a reference to Full-Paragon's 'Keelah Se'lai' series. Its not so much a reference as almost a blatant rip-off, but hey, sue me. For those who didn't guess it, it was the 'Regrets' that Xen mentioned it early on in the chapter. Regrets was a concept derived by Full-Paragon (so I assume. It may also be a borrowed concept, but I'm not sure). It basically is a label for a quarian who can be effectively named a geth apologist and shows 'regret' for what they did to them, hence the name. In 'Keelah Se'lai,' I believe Lia'Vael was a Regret, as was Zaal'Koris. The concept is the same here.
2. Many may not have noticed, but 'Last Full Measure' is in reference to the Gettysburg Address. It was said by Abraham Lincoln when he visited Cemetry Ridge just after George Meade's defeat of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. For those who don't get why this is referenced, then here's why; it was referenced because Abraham Lincoln was a leader of his people during a time of civil war. Koris, in many ways, is the leader of his people, and his death could CAUSE a civil war. Hence the name.
3. This one is by far less obvious than any other, because you'll only get it if you study Ancient History; largely post-Ancient Egypt and Alexander the Great but pre-Hannibal Barca. The title of the chapter, "Pyrrhus of Koris" references "Pyrrhus of Epirus," who was a Greek general who attempted an invasion of Rome at one point or another. He's largely famous for establishing the term "pyrrhic victory," which is a victory that is won at a terrible cost and, in more brutal cases, totally unworth the cost of victory. As Pyrrhus said, "One more victory against the Romans, and I shall be undone." Why is this referenced? Because...well, that's spoilers. Let's just say it'll involve a victory won at terrible cost...
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Keelah Se'lai, troopers!
