As I woke, my eyes begin to blink furiously, trying to adjust to the beams of light now assaulting them. And after what seemed like an inordinately long amount of time, I found my vision finally beginning to return. Looking straight up, I found the sky above me a still hue of gray, with the sun shining a bright column of light through its parting clouds, telling me I was probably in for a spring shower.
"Ugh-"
"Hey, I think he's awake."
The voice immediately had me freeze. After blinking a couple more times, I sat straight up and took a look around me. To my surprise, I found it was not about to rain, and in fact, I wasn't even outside. No, I was laying on some kind of cot in the corner of an extremely spacious room, where a large variety of aliens were pacing about nervously.
"Good morning Sleeping Beauty," Ashley smirked walking over.
"What...where am I," I groaned, bringing a hand to my head.
"You don't remember?" Tali asked genuinely concerned behind her.
"I... Noveria...I think we entered Port Hanshan...and..."
I sat up straight now, and in the process, caught a glimpse of my left hand. My poor, poor hand.
Oh...right.
The duo stared at me more than a little concerned now. But they had no need to worry, as everything had already started to come flooding back to me.
The ERCS. Thresher Maw. Garage Battle. Vomit. Oh god, the vomit...and Rachni Attack. I got stabbed by a Rachni.
"...the last thing I remember is getting hit by a bug," I told them. And then I did a double-take.
"Had me worried there for a second Shield," Ashley replied. "That wound and your hand are one thing, but I don't we could let you tag along in good conscience if you became amnesiac on top of all that-"
"Where's Shepard?" I blurted out in a panic as I realized where we were. Rift Station. The last pit stop before you went to confront Benezia and her army of Geth and Commandos. If Shepard had already gone to face them, then that means I could miss the entire battle and-
"She went down to the labs," Ashley replied, interrupting my line of thought.
Phew, didn't miss it, they're just doing that side-quest...
But then I noticed that one Asari Commando in disguise who attacked you in the labs, still meditating on her stack of crates. And if she hadn't left to confront them yet, that means that-
I turned my attention back to Ashley.
"You were out for awhile ," Tali began. "We think you had an adverse reaction to the-
"Which lab?!"
"Is there more than one?" Ashley asked with a dubious look.
"What's Shepard and everyone-else doing right now?!" That outburst caused several people in the room to stare in my direction.
"They're stopping Benezia," Ashley replied, with an angry look on her face.
The Chief was left behind due to her earlier injury, I could clearly see that. And obviously not happy about it. Then I looked at Tali behind her, who probably just volunteered to stay behind. Or, maybe Shepard didn't trust these scientists well enough to leave two of her injured alone with them. And if it was the latter, then that bitch was goddamn prescient.
I shot up out of the bed and hissed, "We have to get out of here. Right now."
"What the hell is your problem?" Ashley said with a scowl.
"These guards are employed by Binary Helix," I pointed to a gun for hire at the opposite end of the room. "Which is owned by Saren and Benezia. Do the math," I said wild-eyed.
Ashley grew deathly silent.
"But...that Captain told us Benezia was down in the labs. If they're working for her-"
"Quiet!" I hissed. Ashley was fingering the pistol on her hips now. "Telling you guys she was in the hot labs was a false lead. To give Benezia more time to do whatever she was doing." I looked in the direction of the Asari commando who had just gotten off her crates. I turned back to my present company. "How long ago did they leave?"
"A few minutes ago," Tali said warily.
"We have to act. Fast." I said.
But what 'act' we were exactly going to do...I had no clue. There was Ventralis and his guards. The Asari Commando and her Geth. All I really knew is that when you came back from the Hot Labs, that this place became a ghost town. Which I always took to mean that they cleaned house while you were gone. So if Shepard had just left, that meant at any moment...
"How do you know this," Ashley said, discretely unfolding her firearm. "If that's true, why haven't they attacked us yet?"
"I don't know. But I'm telling you, they're about to."
And what the hell could we possibly do if they did. There were guards in the room just across from us that led to Benezia, on duty with some defense drones. Continuing my ocular patdown, I counted three more guards in the main room we were in. Six in total, not including however many guards were with Ventralis at the entrance and however many more there were in the rooms adjacent to us. Not to mention the Asari and her Geth. There was no way just the three of us could take them all on.
"Shepard," Ashley discretely radioed into her earpiece. "...Shepard?"
"No signal," Tali whispered, checking her omni-tool.
"How the hell are we going to tell them they're walking into a trap?" Ashley hissed.
"We can't," I said, staring at the Asari now eye-balling us. Momentarily turning to my right, I let out a quick sigh of relief upon seeing that the Salarian laying beside me was still conked out on his bed. Would have been a bit awkward had he been awake to hear all this.
"There must be another way to communicate with them," Tali whispered, continuing to fiddle on her omni-tool.
Another way to...TO COMMUNICATE!
"Guys, we're outnumbered," I said spurring to action, stating the obvious. "There's no way we can take them all on."
"Which is why we need to tell Shepard to get back up here," Ashley retorted.
"Or," I replied, "Why we can solve this like civilized people. Try to convince them their employer is bad news bears."
"What?"
"Sorry, convince them to switch sides."
"Are you insane?" Ashley immediately scoffed. "You really think talking to them will work? What, you plan on showing them 'the error of their ways' and why they shouldn't do what they've already been paid to do? I seem to remember what happened last time you tried that-"
That caused a sour taste to be left in my mouth. "What other options do we have?" I ended up barking back already up, beginning to walk away from them backwards. We didn't have the time to deliberate. I didn't know if I could do it, and I didn't know what the hell all the guards were waiting for. But we couldn't just sit around and do nothing-
Turning back around to see where I was walking, I surprisingly found my path currently blocked by the Asari that had just been watching us.
"Hey...where ya going?" the blue alien asked innocently. Her voice was sweet, non-imposing, maybe flirtatious even. If I didn't know any better, I would have never guessed she was actually a blood-thirsty Asari commando working for Benezia. Which is why one should be wary of Asari I suppose.
"Uh...out," I said, carefully sidestepping around her.
"It's dangerous out there. And you're injured. You should stay here until your pals get back," she replied, getting in my way again.
"Yeah I...I was just going to talk to Captain Ventralis about that actually," I replied nervously.
"Trust me, you're better off staying in here, where it's safe," the Asari tried to coax me. "Those things still attack us every once in awhile. You could be caught in the crossfire."
I quickly looked aside to a guard who was eyeing me, very on edge. And returning my attention to the Asari, I racked my brains on what the hell I would do.
Oh god...what the hell DO I do? I have to come up with a way to get to Ventralis. Which she obviously doesn't want me to do. She's in my way...but what could I possibly...and then the solution suddenly popped into my head. Of course. It was so obvious.
"Your friends looked like they've seen combat before though, so I'm sure-"
"I'm sorry, what's your name?"
"...hm?"
"What's your name gurl?"
She raised an eye 'bone' at me. "Uh, Alestia Iallis. Now why don't-"
"You don't have a phD?"
She sighed. "Doctor Alestia Iallis."
"So you are a scientist here."
She looked at me like I was stupid for a second before continuing. "Yes, I'm a member of one of the science teams. But-"
"What do you do?"
Her bubbly personality was now slowly fading away as she answered. "Molecular genetics. I specialize in biotic-enhanced allele-specific hybridization. So I'm-"
"Biotic-enhanced? As in the subjects are given biotic potential before they go through trials? Or as in the alleles already possess an inclination for biotic manipulation through regular inheritance?"
"The latter," she said now crossing her arms. "But I am sure you would find my work quite-"
"You tellin' me there's a specific gene for biotic potential?!" I asked now, genuinely curious. If that was true then why would-
"No. I track inherited variations of the gene sec7 in the DCR samples of ephydroidea diplotessidae we receive from Thessia, as one of sec7's allelomorphs supposedly holds the key to how great the ability for manipulation of dark energy and mass effect fields is expressed in that particular species," she recited quickly.
"Do you think you could say that in galactic?" Ashley said, joining our conversation.
"I track what is called a gene in a genetic sequence that strongly influences how much biotic potential a bug displays," she said very slowly, putting emphasis on every word she spoke.
Ashley was not amused.
"How would you even test that?" I asked next. "Are those bugs actually able to use biotics to lift things or...?"
The Asari rolled her eyes in exasperation. And as she did, I quickly made a motion to Tali, who had just joined us, and to Ashley, who had been present for a large amount of the conversation, as I then slowly began to step away from the group.
Thank god, our brilliant Quarian got the clue, as she immediately began continuing my barrage of questions.
"Why do you perform trials on these insects instead of your own race? Wouldn't it be more beneficial to your species to look at the gene that's responsible for your own biotics?"
"Because there are an exponential amount of factors that play a role in determining our biotic ability," Alestia replied annoyed.
"But why don't you just single out one gene sequence and see what impact that has on one's biotic ability?"
"As I just said, there is no 'one gene' that determines an Asari's skill at manipulating of mass effect fields," Alestia reiterated, with a tone one would use toward a five-year old. "The genotype for Asari biotic potential is polymodal, and is affected by literally hundreds of alleles in our genetic sequences. As opposed to most other races who just receive the ability through a mutation initiated by eezo exposure."
"I'm sorry? Pretend I didn't waste several decades of my life studying this stuff."
"...the Asari genome is more complex than a bug's. You can't just do a conditional knockout for 'one gene' because-"
I was now safely out of the circle and speed-walking out of the room. Choosing the door with a train sign atop it, I soon began to jog through the following hallway. Too late for Alestia to stop me now I thought, as I started to pick up the pace. Classic Misdirection. Thought I could have annoyed the Asari enough to leave me alone, but the distraction my team made fore me worked just as well too.
As I ran down the hallway though, I realized I didn't exactly know what the hell I was doing anymore. If Ventralis and his flunkies were priming their weapons right now, waiting for the go-ahead to clean house, I might actually just be running to my death. Which, oddly enough, didn't cause me to slow down as I entered the next hallway. Though I figured that was probably just because we were all going to die regardless of what happens. Whether we stayed and fought in that room, or served ourselves up on a silver platter to the enemy, our future looked bleak. We had one injured, and the other being the least combat savvy member of the entire team.
And Tali too of course. Yet still...
I only hoped that if I failed, I could at least get back in time to help the two girls escape the subsequent chaos. It was due to my own carelessness that we were currently even in this mess. If they were killed by Binary Helix's men...it would be on me, passing out before we got here. Hah, forget Virmire and Rannoch, thanks to me, it would be on Noveria they'd both meet their ends.
Although if all else fails and we end up dying...there is always the possibility of reset.
...if this is a game. Which it's not.
I squinted my eyes as I ran past some piping on my right, and through the last hallway before Ventralis' defense perimeter.
I really needed to stop talking to myself.
As I exited the last hallway between me and Ventralis, the first thing I registered was the immediate sound of gunfire. Not aimed at me of course, but still, it had me frozen in terror enough to stop before the corner. Once I got it through my thick skull that I was safe, I slowly grew enough courage to peek around the hallway's corner. And thankfully, it wasn't Shepard and friends already assaulting the guard's position like I had originally feared. No, it was just the Rachni. Though that wasn't much better, I at least knew the reason now for why we were still alive. I decided to forgive the bugs for their earlier transgressions in light of this. For they had stalled the guards before they had been able to execute their orders.
The Rachni were currently crawling through the grating one by one, attempting to bypass the makeshift barricade with sheer numbers. And it was working. A man on the right was suddenly gutted as a lobster knocked aside the stack of crates he had been hiding behind. The bald man in the center I took to be Ventralis himself was entirely distracted by the others still coming up, and so, didn't see this particular Rachni sneak up behind him either.
"Ventralis!"
He lost his tunnel vision just in time to notice the bug charging at him, and instead of dodging, tackled it head on. The dude's balls must have been the size of a Krogan's to even consider that. But I quickly deemed this a solid decision, as the Rachni couldn't immediately impale him with one of its long ass whips. It did however push him to the ground with its creepy vestigial baby limbs right after, and let out an intimidating screech.
Adrenaline Rush.
My vision became onset with the familiar sepia overtones as time started to slow. The Rachni was in position to strike Ventralis on the ground, while the man had pulled out his own sidearm and was now aiming it at the creature. I unclipped the pistol on my own hip and pointed it toward the two. But I knew I only had time to pick one target. And even though I knew in the back of my mind that I could just let them finish each other off, no skin off my back-
I pulled the trigger.
Upon shooting it however, I was very surprised to find that I could handle the recoil of my Predator with just one hand. I thought the muzzle climb would resemble the assault rifle's back in that Synthetic Insights office, especially without both hands holding the grip but...evidently not. Just my right was enough.
And once the slug hit it, the lobster's head popped like a balloon, sending splatter everywhere in slow-motion. With the Rachni beginning to collapse upon Ventralis, I moved my sights past it, taking out the two other kamikazes slowly skittering in our direction. The last of Ventralis' men still alive were able to help me take down the last bug, right as my rush petered out. And though the room was cleared, I was still trembling regardless once the final Rachni hit the floor lifeless. Because I simply didn't know if I had made the right choice or not.
"Damn you have a good sense of timing Ramirez," Ventralis loudly announced, pushing the dead creature off him. "Those things almost got us this time. With that signal jammer on, we couldn't-"
"That's not Ramirez," the only other guard in the room left standing quickly pointed out.
Ventralis turned toward me with a look of concern, but immediately calmed upon seeing my face. "Oh, hey, weren't you the one that was out like a light? One of Shepard's crew right?"
"Yeah," I replied, not lowering my gun.
Then he looked down. "Hey...don't worry, you can put your gun away now. Those things shouldn't be coming back anytime soon."
He glanced in the direction of his companion.
"Ventralis," I replied, still not lowering my gun. "Call it off."
He now turned back to me, feigning confusion. "What are you talking about?" His partner thought I didn't notice him discretely trying to bring his gun back out, but I did.
"Don't move," I said moving my gun in his direction.
"Buddy...put the gun down," Ventralis said holding a hand out, while using the other to slowly reach for the gun he had just put on his back.
"You're going to try to kill everyone."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Ventralis said with straight face.
"Ramirez should be here any minute," the guard to Ventralis' left said. The Captain stared daggers at him in response.
I quickly put my back against a wall to avoid said Ramirez sneaking up on me. "You got orders to kill them all didn't you?! Why!?"
"You need to calm down," Ventralis repeated himself. "No one's trying to hurt anyone here."
But...if he's telling the truth, then where did everyone's go when you came back. If they didn't do that then-
I immediately refocused on the two Binary Helix guards in front of me.
They still betrayed you in-game regardless. He WAS given orders from Benezia. He sent you to the wrong Lab because of it. He's lying right now.
"Benezia is talking with the Rachni Queen right now. And you just sent Shepard to the wrong lab to find her. Not only did the Matriarch gave you orders to do that, but to kill everyone else while she's gone too."
"Look-"
"Who the hell told you all that?!" his acquaintance broke out next to him. "Was it Ramirez? That bastard's been saying he's had second thoughts about this entire thing since she's left-"
"Dammit Allen," Ventralis cursed, dropping the charade. Then he turned his attention back to me and narrowed his eyes.
"Don't do it," I quickly shouted. "I have phasic rounds! They bypass shields, and I'd kill you before you could even draw your gun!" That seemed to give him pause. The other guard however already had his own out, and aimed in my direction. Ventralis gave a motion for him to hold fire though. "We also have heart monitors in our suits," I continued to bluff. "If it flat lines, Shepard would be back up here before you know it."
"By then, it would be too late," Ventralis replied darkly. His comment made my blood run cold. "If she's even still alive."
"She is!" I spurted. "But why in the hell would you even listen to Benezia in the first place? Why would you kill all these scientists? The people you've been working with the entire time you've been here!? What kind of monster are you?!"
"I'm carrying out the order because I work for Binary Helix," he replied stoic. "And the Matriarch is an executive secretary for the corporation. She wants the Rachni outbreak and Binary Helix's hand in it to be covered up, so we're-"
"I get the reasoning behind the order," I exclaimed, "But why the hell are you FOLLOWING it!?"
"Because these very 'scientists' are the ones responsible for the Rachni attacking us in the first place!" he yelled back at me. "I lost four men to them today alone. FOUR!"
"Not all of them worked on the Rachni!" I shot back.
"Yeah, some of them worked on the development of illegal biotoxins to be used for biochemical warfare. Or ways to clone functioning organisms possessing biotic abilities too!"
"Captain, you're breaking your NDA," the gun for hire named Allen interrupted him. Then to me, Allen also added "Does it make it better that we're also being paid top dollar for this?"
Ventralis scowled in his direction again.
"Do you not realize that she's a criminal?"
That accusation in particular caused the Captain to raise an eyebrow. "I doubt the Matriarch was the sole person who authorized the Rachni project. And we're on Noveria. I doubt the suits would even consider it illegal-"
"What?" I replied confused. "No, I'm talking about the fact that she's doing this all for Saren! The rogue Spectre. An interstellar terrorist currently wanted by the Citadel Council!"
"What? You're talking out of your ass," Allen murmured. "There's no way-"
"And what do you think she'll do to all of you once you do what she asks?" I now asked them. "A cover-up by killing everyone involved only works if everyone involved is actually dead!" His eyes seemed to widen at the comment, as if he had never even contemplated the idea. "You think a corporation would assassinate its own employees?!" I pointed out next. "She's on the lam with Saren, and they're just covering their tracks in case anyone followed her here! Which we did!" I reminded them.
Ventralis was silent. And his buddy happened to noticed this. "...you're not actually believing this are you Captain? Did you see the number she gave us!? You'd-"
"It's off," Ventralis suddenly cut him off.
"But Captain-"
"It's off! Capische?" the Captain yelled at his subordinate.
With that, Allen fell silent. "...yes sir."
Then Ventralis turned his attention back to me. "You're right. That's been on my mind ever since the Matriarch gave us those orders...it's kind of obvious now that I think about it." The man frowned. "Forget Benezia. And forget Binary Helix." And the dread that had been consuming my every thought vanished. My muscles relaxed, I let out a sigh of relief, and lowered my gun. "But we'll have to be careful going back in. Since Ramirez hasn't come out here to check yet, my men will likely expect me to give the order as soon as we enter the room."
"I understand," I replied. "What will you do?"
"I'm just going to walk in and shake my head. That's the sign. They'll know the whole thing's off when I do."
And I couldn't believe it. I had done it.
"...thank you."
"No..thank you," Ventralis replied with a solemn nod.
"Shit," Allen muttered as we began our walk back.
Several Hallways Later.
Once we got back to the common area of Rift Station, you could feel the tension in the air. Yeah, it was so thick that everybody in the room was visibly uncomfortable. Even the Elcor. Guards all around it stood on edge, each holding their guns a little too tight, who I knew were just waiting for Ventralis' order. I found Ashley and Tali no longer talking with Alestia in the center of the room, but instead, standing in the far right corner of the room where I had originally woken up. Next to that injured Salarian doctor. They too, were more than alert, as I could see that they already had their guns locked and loaded. Thus, the whole world seemed to come to a stand still as they waited for the order that never came.
And though it never did come...lives were still lost regardless.
As soon as I heard the click, I knew I had failed.
Adrenaline Rush.
It was the sound of an unfolding gun. And it had come from right behind me. Where Ventralis just happened to be standing. As I spun around at inhuman speed, faster than I could have thought possible, before Ventrali's assault rifle had even finished unfolding, the mercenary Allen began to slowly yell:
"Cleeeeeeea-"
Upon spinning around, I locked eyes with Ventralis for just a moment, before pistol-whipping the fuck out of him with my Predator. I'm pretty sure I broke his nose with how hard I hit it, but of course, the bastard deserved it. As he fell toward the floor, I turned my attention now to Allen, who was continuing to yell:
"-aan Houuussssse-"
Before he had even registered what had happened to Ventralis beside him, I sent a flying knee right into his stomach, causing him to keel over in pain upon impact. Now that he was bent over, I swung my pistol butt down, hitting him sharply on the neck. And it was in that instant that my vision began to return to normal.
"Ohhhhh shhhit," I ended up saying as it had ended much quicker than I had anticipated. The next time I blinked, guards were already firing in my direction. Before I knew it, I had already hoisted Allen back up with my arm around his neck and used him as a human shield. Returning fire, I saw at the very back of the room two more guards entering the fray. They immediately fired upon the first person they saw...which happened to be the Salarian lying on the cot next to Ashley and Tali. Gunfire was immediately returned on their position...but not by them.
"DOCTOR PALON!"
A guard in the middle of the room had begun firing on the two newcomers after yelling the Salarian's name.
"Ramirez YOU SON OF a-"
That guard was subsequently interrupted by an overload sent from Tali's omni-tool, and then gunned down by Ashley next. And by now, screams were breaking out all across the room, as the entire area had become a warzone. Guards firing in every direction: at scientists, at Tali, at Ashley, at me, at the various other guards who were now of the opinion that what they were doing might just be wrong...it was just simply chaos. I had no idea who to shoot at as bullets whizzed by in every direction. Then the shields of Allen dropped and the man was assuredly killed. I decided at the point to just shoot at the ones trying to do the same to me.
I quickly dropped the lifeless body and dove to my right, taking cover behind a conveniently placed crate that was convenient height of a grown man. As I popped out around it to return fire on the guards, I noticed people were now hitting the floor left and right. Not all of them conscious. Ashley and Tali though were still relatively safe, currently in the process of taking down the defense drones that had just flown into the room.
"Resolutely, I accept death with open arms. May the ancestors of Dekunna have mercy on my soulllll-"
The Elcor's distracting last words were immediately interrupted by Ramirez, who yelled for 'Petozi' to get down. In the process of doing so however, the guard with a heart of gold was hit. Swept up in another wave of frenzied adrenaline, I began to immediately return fire on the perpetrator responsible. The Elcor, Petozi, now hugging the floor, pulled the wounded Ramirez safely back against the crates that were sheltering his hump.
As my target hit the floor, I emptied my gun's heat sink and turned my attention toward my next victim, who was none other than the Asari commando Alestia herself. She had to be taken down before she joined the fray. Lord knows how drastically a biotic would alter the playing field. But before I could even line her up in my sights however, Ashley had already tackled the Asari to the floor, yelling "Get down!" as a drone swooped overhead.
IDIOT-
The drone, along with two more guards, dropped across the room as she did this, although I wasn't entirely concerned with the how or why. I was too busy shouting "SHE'S ON THEIR SIDE!" to the two Normandy squad members currently trying to protect said commando. But the warning came too late. They were both subsequently thrown backwards in an enormous biotic display. And as the two landed on the metal floor in a daze, Alestia quickly pulled herself back up, taking out a concealed firearm in the process, and pointed it in their direction with a sinister, almost cartoonishly so, grin.
I had already left cover at that point, moving at cheetah-like speeds toward their position. If the Asari Commando had been defenseless, and was just wearing the plain uniform of a science officer, I could have taken her down with one slug. But if the Asari had a concealed kinetic barrier, or biotic barrier up, I don't know if I could finish her off before she did the same to one of the girls. I couldn't, and didn't, want to take that risk. As Alestia open-fired unsportsmanlike on the two lying dazed on the ground, in an attempt at what I assume was to kill them, I tackled her head-on into the bunk room.
Landing on top of the Asari, I ripped my gun back off its magclip and immediately brought it level with her head. Even if Alestia did have shields, with the gun this close, it wouldn't matter. It was past its threshold. I held the Predator just inches away from her forehead, finger sitting on the trigger, ready to pull. But...even with death knocking at her door, I found Alestia staring back at me defiantly, her resolve unwavering. Her crystal blue eyes filled with contempt, her nose scrunched in disgust. The woman bared her teeth as she hissed at me.
"Get on with it."
But staring at Alestia's face...her scaly ass face...her bright blue scaly ass face...her petite, scowling, bright blue scaly ass face...
It quickly became apparent that I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it. I just couldn't fucking do it. And she soon realized it too.
In an instant, a purple aura enveloped her, and I quickly found myself sailing clear across the room, out of the barracks and back into Rift Station's main chamber, right up until my body collided with a crate. Upon impact, I got the wind knocked out of me and I collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. And as I lay there, Dr. Alestia Iallis, if that was even her real name, exited the room we had just been in and started to saunter over in my direction. And as she did, I quickly found my sight blurring, so bad that I don't think I could have even seen a two-story house. And I didn't fail to notice around me that not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
"You should have taken the shot when you had the chance," the Asari said, drawing her weapon once again. "Unfortunately for you, you won't be getting one again."
"No. He won't."
BLAM.
I hit my head against the back of the crate in shock as the Asari dropped to the cold floor dead. Instead of the gratitude I should be feeling however, I couldn't help but think her timing was a little convenient. A little TOO convenient.
"Shepard!"
But it didn't mater. Tali and Ashley both got up from where they had just been crouching, having been distracted from the entire diatribe by a dying scientist up until the shotgun blast, and now jogged over to the room's most recent arrivals. As they reconvened with the rest of the group, Garrus walked over to me and extended a hand, helping me back onto my feet.
"What the hell's going on here?!" Shepard asked, as most people would when they came upon such a drastic turn of events.
"Why don't you ask him," I replied first, pointing to Ventralis still lying on the ground several feet away.
As Shepard leaned down over him, I looked back across the room. And like I had thought, I found little was moving in the room around us, though that didn't mean everyone was dead like I had morbidly presumed. Doctor Cohen and several associates sat in a circle, currently helping the injured doctor Tali and Ashley had just been attending to, while Petozi, the Elcor, sat still on his haunches, left evidently untouched by the fire fight that had raged around him. In addition to these individuals, sitting next to Petozi, was the turncoat Ramirez, who was not as severely injured as I had previously thought either.
I let out a labored sigh, and returned my attention to the company present. I didn't fail to notice though that those who had just returned looked like shit. They had clearly had had it rough in the Hot Labs. Every one of their armor's were scruffed and scratched, several of them having places that had melted entirely away. Every one of their faces were cut and bruised, not to mention stained with blood, though I don't think it was their own. And the looks they had on their faces, Liara especially...seemed to say they had seen things no man/woman should ever see.
I'd still say we had had it worse though.
And in other news, it became clear very quickly that Ventralis wasn't going to talk. Mostly because he was still knocked out cold. From what, I had no idea, as there was no possible way I had hit him hard enough to do that. In any case, in light of this turn of events, Ashley quickly filled Shepard in on the missing details instead.
"So, is every remaining staff member here and accounted for?" Shepard said loud enough for everyone in the room to hear after Ashley finished her rendition of events.
"Not everyone," the man I previously recognized as Doctor Cohen said from the back. "I believe Han Olar, Tulvus Marvein, and Matt McCallish are still downstairs in the scientist quarters."
OH SHIT-
"We have to get down there right now!" I immediately relayed to Shepard, once again, in a panic.
"What is it now?"
"Uh, Benezia brought commandos with her right? There could be more downstairs threatening to finish off the remaining scientists!"
Shepard seemed to take that as reason enough. "Everyone to the lift!" Ashley made sure to be one of the first to leave for it, so Shepard didn't have time to order her injured ass to stay.
And as the rest also started in it's direction, I decided to take it upon myself to ask "Doctor! Think you can hold down the fort until we get back?"
"I can try," he replied. "But simply, why? Why did Ventralis and his men from the ERCS commit all this needless bloodshed?!"
ERCS...of fucking course they were.
"Ask him when he wakes up," I repeated, pointing to Ventralis as I followed Shepard toward the elevator. "Or ask Ramirez!"
The shout-out caused the last remaining guard to nearly jump in response. Despite his complicity in the act...at least in the end, the guy took a stand for what he believed in. No shame to be held in that.
One Elevator Ride Later.
As soon as the lift's doors opened, we found we had arrived just in time.
"What? Will I get a 'you know too much speech'?"
"Shut up," the commando replied annoyed, cocking her gun.
"Step away from the Volus!" I shouted from the back of the elevator.
"Dammit you ass," Shepard cursed, as we were forced to immediately go into room guns blazing. It proved to be a novel idea however as the Asari and her Geth were taken care of lickety-split. They hadn't had a chance. The only other left standing beside the squad at the end of the fight was our Volus scientist. Fortunately.
"Everywhere I go, I'm the only survivor," the Volus muttered. "Maybe you'd better stand back."
Then I noticed the two other scientists, already dead. Unfortunately.
"Get a hold of yourself," Shepard replied.
"They killed the science teams," the Volus solemnly said. "We know what they did. The company wants to bury their mistake."
"Tried being the key word," I replied.
"There are still survivors in Rift Station. We'll take you there," Kaidan told him.
"No, I'd only endanger them too."
"Have you seen Matriarch Benezia?" Shepard quickly cut in.
"Yes, the Matriarch. They sent the Matriarch to make us disappear."
"Benezia? So she's still ali-she's here?" Liara stammered.
"Yes. She ordered Ventralis to send you to the Hot Labs. She expected the Rachni to kill you."
"Nearly did," Garrus said.
"Speak for yourself," Wrex snorted.
Shepard motioned for them to cut the chatter. "Where is she?"
"She is in the Secure Labs. The passage at the back of this room leads to it from here."
"Then let's go collect the lady," Shepard remarked.
"Do whatever you like," the Volus curtly replied. "I'm getting off this mountain."
Ah, I wish I could join you pal.
But...there's still one thing left for us to do.
Codex Entry:
Omni-gel Security Concerns
You're familiar with it agent. The catch-all that's made the Humans richer beyond belief. The stuff that can consume anything on a door to whatever you're currently holding in your hands. I guess you could call it 'miracle gel' like you did in your last report, but technically the stuff is just composed of common, reusable industrial plastic, ceramic, and light alloys kept in a patented semi-molten state of non-newtonian fluid. A patent we've had yet to crack which is the real miracle here. But I get your jist.
And I think it's one of the Broker's biggest fears right now too. Any door, any security system, slathered in enough of that stuff will be rendered useless. Eats it's way through whatever the panels are made of, snakes through whatever it can't, and is pretty much guaranteed of short circuiting it. A pyjak could break into our systems with enough of the stuff. Hell, maybe even a Human haha. It's no wonder the thing's become used by everybody and their mother since its release onto the market.
But here's the good news...I think my division's just made a breakthrough! Currently working on a new allosteric composite material that the stuff can't stand. Don't want to offend but you're not currently on a need to know basis to know the specifics...but if it turns out legit, we may be looking at quite the hefty payload from the Broker. And if you can come through with this delivery, we might even put in a good word for you too.
Good luck on getting it here.
Regards,
Doctor Mantis Toboggan, MD
Author's Notes:
You know what always bothered me? How did Cerberus get a hold of all those Rachni and Thorian Creepers on Binthu? Like, how would they know about a class whatever secret of Exogeni's? Even if they had agents with access to it, how the hell did they get a creeper off of Feros? Same situation for Binary Helix and the Rachni. So I'm telling you, there could only be one explanation...which Shepard might have just come to conclude on her own in the previous chapter. Has anyone ever noticed that the in game logo for Binary Helix is just one hexagon short of Cerberus'? Coincidence? I THINK NOT. Binary Helix and Exogeni are Cerberus Fronts I tell you! They're wacky experiments and lack of ethics are just up Cerberus' alley! And what does that mean?! Absolutely nothing!
Speaking of Exogeni and the Thorian though...with how long we've been on Noveria now, I fear that Feros' arc alone might be another ten chapters now. At least. Oh dear.
And before I forget:
Toothy - I tried to clear it up a tad more in the previous chapter, but Shield's left hand is still very much lacking two fingers. It's just not impairing every one of his actions as much as I thought it would. His maimed phalanges will definitely be addressed in the future tho. And fuck you.
Lanny - Haha, you'd think so right? But just when he thought he was out...things just keep pulling him right. back. IN!
PeterQuill'sWalkman - And hope this sates your lust for action bro...I really do. I don't know how much more excitement like this Shield can take.
Iota Draconis - Thank you very much! :)
Wolfund - And thanks for the review too pal. Also- fuck you.
In the Next Chapter: "Now when you say 'ethnic cleansing'...what exactly do you mean?"
Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!