"Captain, we are nearing Oasis but…we have a problem."
Melara turned away from where she was speaking with her mother, sister, and wife and looked over at Vina, who stood at her station in the CIC.
"What is it?"
Vina gestured toward the galaxy map, bringing up the holographic image of Oasis in its place. "Our scans are encountering interference from the massive power cells buried beneath it, as Irie warned us would happen. Joker has managed to clean up some of the interference but we still cannot get a clear picture or accurate life-signs. That's not the issue however. These are."
The scanner zeroed in and highlighted no less than seven blips over and around the base, outside on the moon itself. "They are mostly within the interference zone but we can track the pattern of movement and they appear to be fighters of some kind. Every so often we get a faint life-sign reading from them but we cannot pinpoint for certain."
"We do not have fighters on Oasis," Irie said, regarding the blips.
Melara's dark eyes reflected back the blips as she watched them move. "No, they move like fighters but they're far too small. If these readings are even close to accurate, each of these objects is only two or two and a half meters in length. Small probes, perhaps? Weapon turrets?"
"Probes and weapon turrets would not have life-signs," Vina said.
"They might if they are of the same tech as Pio and his ship. Cyberorganic, remember?"
"That would mean that the extragalactic species are already here," Liara said softly. "This may be a scouting party, a precursor to full invasion."
"If that sound you heard was one of the Red Queen's species, you may be right," Melara said. "Joker, keep us in full cloak, and I want full continuous scans of this sector- if there are hostile ships out there I want to know yesterday. Notify both the Council and the Alliance fleets- warn them we may have a hostile invasion starting in this system. Vina, notify the others and get suited up. We'll put the shuttles down at this perimeter here and go in on foot. I want a full detail, armed and armored-"
"I am going with you," Liara said. Melara gave her a stern look but quickly nodded. Her mother had seen more combat in her life than most of those standing here. As well, she was the only one here to have seen the Red Queen and the Jabberwockies in person, the only to have direct experience with them. That experience and positive identification would be invaluable.
"As am I," Irie said quickly. "I know the complex layout, all possible shortcuts and hiding spots. I have all the security codes and computer clearance."
"All of which you can provide from aboard ship," Melara said. She was less comfortable with the idea of bringing Irie along. While she could handle a weapon and even defend herself with biotics and hand-to-hand combat (you could not be a child of Del Shepard and not be somewhat adept at all manner of self-defense), she was not a soldier, and having her wife, her mother, and her sister all down in harm's way was not a situation she was comfortable with.
"Melara, please," Irie's stormy eyes were intent. "Please. Those are my people down there, my friends. And I can compensate for any unknown variables much faster in person than over a com."
Melara fixed her elder sister with a look, then nodded tersely. "Fine. Get yourself a hard suit and a weapons' pack. But you will follow orders and you will let my men engage in any combat necessary, do you understand? You engage only to halt a direct threat to your life."
"I understand, of course. Thank you."
"All right then, get suited up. We go down hot in five."
Outside the Oasis complex, the moon had a thin but breathable atmosphere, and a gravity that was just slightly over that of Earth's moon. Within the complex itself atmospheric generators and artificial gravity kept the living and working conditions on par with most home worlds, making it far more comfortable-but out here the story was different. While the thinner atmosphere made no difference, as all were wearing their helmets locked down and relying on suit oxygen- the gravity would force them to mind their movements- most especially Sihra, whose powerful legs and quick reflexes would lead to her easily overcompensating and fumbling in the lighter gravitational pull.
The shuttles touched down half a mile from the research base itself, landing only long enough to offload before they headed up again. The Normandy's two fighters had been deployed for surveillance and were under the RC guidance of Joker. If it came to it, they would be back up if combat struck before they got inside the facility.
From where they initially landed they could not see Oasis. A ridge of rough rocks and cliffs blocked their view, but also offered them cover as they moved in. Once in the rocks they spread out into three teams- one headed by Eír and including Athena, Red, and the Wolf (whose real name Mel still did not know); one directed by Vina and containing Sihra along with several security crew; and the final team lead by Melara.
As they caught sight of the complex through the rocks, Mel signaled all the teams to halt as they assessed the situation.
"The main surface access is there, to the east," Irie told her, crouched nearby as she pointed. "The flight deck and cargo bay is directly south-west."
"We should try for the east surface access," Melara said. "We'll be under cover for longer. To get to the cargo bay we'd have at least a hundred yards of open ground; east we'll only have twenty five yards."
"I do not see any of those flying objects the Normandy scan picked up," Liara said. "I do not actually see guards or surveillance of any kind."
"Joker, are the fighters picking up those unidentified objects around the facility? We're not picking anything up."
{According to Normandy scans the objects are still there,} Joker replied. {The one nearest your current position is a hundred and thirty seven feet precisely to your south-west, at sixteen meters elevation.}
Melara focused on the area described and saw absolutely nothing but clear air. Switching her HUD to infrared, then to ultrasonic, still picked up nothing.
"We've got no visual confirmation, and nothing on HUD IR or US. Verify the scan please."
{Scan repeated. The object is verified and moving to the north, now at twenty meters elevation. We have it on both IR and US as well as short-range radar and ladar.}
"That is not possible. There is nothing there," Irie said with a shake of her head, still trying to see this mystery object.
"They may have some kind of cloak or signal dampener," Melara told her. "It may be interfering with our systems here groundside but the Normandy may be outside the dampener's range. It could also be that the signals themselves are ghosts sent directly to the Normandy to present the image of a stronger hostile force than actually is present. Joker, I want you to send in Alpha on an intercept with the object nearest us. Give it a flyby."
{Understood. Sending in Alpha.}
Melara looked intently at the sky, watching. If the object was a ghost, Alpha would sail right through it and nothing would happen. If it was real, this would likely prod it to attack or at least show itself. Either way, their presence would be revealed, but she had little choice. She could not tell her team to cross that field without knowing precisely what they were facing in the form of aerial threat.
The fighter came into view, sweeping in almost silently. It crossed the open field, banking on a turn that would put it in direct interception with the unidentified ping. As it swept past, nothing happened…at first. As it turned sharply at the end of its pass, however, everything changed.
Melara thought she saw the arc of a metallic structure, a white and bronze blaze of color. It was there only a moment, and then Alpha twisted, careening out of control as it tumbled toward the west. It was too distant to tell the extent of the damage visually, but damaged it clearly was…and moments later, it crashed, pluming into the dusty surface of the moon.
The gold and white blaze was gone as quickly as it had appeared, but the alert had been given. Liara suddenly gripped her arm, pointing toward the facility. "Mel!"
The south-west cargo doors were opening, and out of them came strange, gangly creatures in eye-strangling primary colors.
Melara had never seen one in person, but she had heard them described in great detail. She had no doubt in her mind as to what these were.
The Jabberwockies were coming.
"Everyone, lock down! Biotic heavies to the west, we have incoming hostiles! Keep to the rocks and head for the east airlock access!"
She shoved her sister's shoulder that direction, her rifle already in hand. She saw Athena and the Wolf suddenly come bounding over the rocks, both like torches of blue, forming a biotic wall against the oncoming horde.
Moving forward, Mel and her group opened fire as the first of the Jabberwocks moved into range. They were fast, but as the biotic wall neared them they recoiled almost frantically, shrieking and hissing. The other teams had moved to the fore, half engaging their own biotics and weapons, the rest clearing the way to the airlock door. The Wolf and Athena moved forward and the Jabberwocks shifted back again like a scattering of fish, two falling as bullets chewed into them.
Then white and bronze flashed into being, almost directly overhead. This time, Melara saw it clearly as it darted down behind the biotic wall, grabbing Athena by one arm and sweeping upward. Immediately Athena turned her powers against her captor, and half the wall died. The Jabberwocks took immediate advantage, rushing in around the Wolf and sweeping toward the soldiers.
The flying creature shrieked and seemed to almost come apart in midair as Athena focused her prodigious biotics against it, tearing it apart with dark energy. Released only thirty or so feet up, she cushioned her fall and quickly rejoined the battle. Eír had come up to fill the gap, and the pair tried to reform the rest of the wall, sending a tidal wave of dark energy sweeping through the hostiles. Half the Jabberwocks darted away from the biotics themselves. Others, not fast enough, were slammed aside and flung away in the wake of them.
"Go, to the door," Melara ordered, shoving both Liara and Dae in that direction along the rocks. She fired again, taking out one hostile with shot through the head, before biotically slapping another away that bounded for her. Above, she saw another flying creature appear from nothing, but as it darted down toward Eír, Sihra leapt in from nowhere and landed on its back. Alarmed, it arched up, rocketing into the sky with the rakir clinging to it. Prevented from using her teeth by her helmet, that didn't stop Sihra from tearing into the thing with an omni-blade. Faintly luminescent blood flared out in a fan and then rakir and alien became a tangled ball of spitting, ripping fury plummeting out of the sky. Sihra managed to pitch the thing away from her just before they hit. She came to the ground in a hard roll, back on her feet in a moment and lunging in to finish it off.
"Joker! Bring in Beta and sweep the hostiles!" Melara ordered as Eír, Athena, and the Wolf managed to reform the wall, driving the majority of the Jabberwocks backward. Spotting one that had slipped the net as it tackled one of her security, Melara broke into a run, her own biotics flaring up. She lassoed the beast as it started tearing into the private, ripping it back from her and sending it smashing with all the force she could muster into one of the rock faces. As it collapsed, she grabbed the private.
"Laws!"
"I'm all right! It's not bad. I'm all right ma'am, I-look out!"
There was no time. Almost the moment Laws shouted, something hit her. It felt like being struck by a Mako, and pain sank almost instantly with fire into both her shoulders. Her gut dropped to her feet as she was lifted into the air at speed, her rifle tumbling away from her fingers. She heard the bark of Laws' pistol, then shouts over her com. Something flared blue, and her body twisted, slamming against that of the creature carrying her as it suddenly jolted to the side. The pain from her shoulders tore hotter into her at the sudden motion.
All of this happened in less than a heartbeat. Drawing on her own biotics, gritting her teeth, Melara wrenched her wounded arms upward and tried to grab hold of the thing holding her. One hand connected and she gripped flesh, sending the strongest flare of biotic energy she could into the thing. There was another jolt, an angry sounding holler colored with pain, and then they were tumbling again. One of her shoulders was freed of its grip, and ignoring the crack of bone in the other, she twisted, grabbing her pistol and turning as much as she could, pressing the muzzle against flesh.
She was able to fire once, and was rewarded with another scream of pain. The rate of their tumble suddenly increased and they were freefalling. She prayed they weren't too far over the ground, or that someone was close enough to cushion the impact, and tried to pull the trigger again. Through luck or accident, the thing still clawing onto her was able to knock the pistol off target, tear it from her hand. Almost the moment it ripped free of her grasp, something hard crashed into her with bone crushing force. She heard a moan, the faint dry whistle of air…and then all was black.
"No! Mel!"
Liara heard Dae's terrified shout as she and Sam clambered over the last set of rocks before the airlock door. Her heart stopped at the note contained within that cry and she spun around, eyes wide.
Dae and two soldiers were watching their flank, the assassin rippling with biotics. A few dozen yards away a private was on one knee, firing a pistol upward at one of the strange flying creatures who was rapidly gaining height. In the monster's grip, she could see the armored figure of her daughter, the back of her hard-suit already painted with blood as her weapon tumbled away. As the sight registered, Dae sent a wave of biotics toward the thing.
"Oh, Goddess! Mel!"
Liara started to run after the creature, barely hearing Sam's own surprised cry behind her. Dae's biotic strike hit the creature on one wing, sending it careening to the side a moment. For a breath, Liara thought it might have worked, that the monster was crashing. She prepared herself to cushion her daughter's fall.
Then, the thing righted itself, still holding tight to Melara. A flash of orange filled her eyes. Adjusting her biotics, Liara slammed the Jabberwock aside with barely a thought or a pause, then sent another wave after the flying creature. It missed, but Mel had managed to wrench an arm up and catch hold of it. Liara saw dark energy swarm around the beast and it cried out, overcompensating. In an instant it was tumbling out of control toward the complex.
Even though Liara had been running as fast as she could after them, the flying thing had been much faster. As they started to tumble they were too far away for her biotics to catch them and she urged more speed out of her legs, silently praying with every step she took.
Goddess, not her. Please, not my daughter. Please do not take my daughter!
She saw Mel wrench again, and this time heard the pop of pistolfire. The creature had nearly righted itself but as it was shot it cried out again and began to fall even harder. At this point, they were nearly a hundred feet in the air and almost directly over the complex itself. Liara was much too far away to catch them or cushion their fall.
They tumbled out of the air, slower than they would have had the gravity been stronger, but still far too fast. They just missed the upper levels of the complex building, and Liara heard someone scream as they struck the edge of the complex's outer wall, the concrete slamming directly into Melara's shoulders and back with her attacker atop her. The scream sounded like Dae's voice. Liara felt one of her own starting in her throat but nothing but a soft moan of air escaped.
The pair tumbled down the wall of the complex, ricocheting off of it before they hit the ground with force as well.
Liara ran. Every time something headed her way she swept it aside with a flash of dark energy, not even bothering to look and see if it was friend or foe. Her eyes remained fixed on the two motionless figures on the ground, just outside the open cargo doors.
She was still twenty five yards away, at least, when she saw something reach out of the dark of the cargo bay. She could make out little in the way of detail but it seemed to hook the body of the flying creature, dragging it forward into the bay. At the same time, another limb reached out and did the same with Melara, catching hold of part of her pads and sliding her within the bay. Liara sent out a whip of energy but it was still too far, falling just short of her daughter's leg. Reaching for the small of her back, Liara drew her pistol.
Another pair of the flying creatures landed, several Jabberwockies- both wounded and not- rushing into the bay as they fled, the flying things walking in after them through doors that were already sliding shut. One of the aerial creatures seemed to pause, looking toward Liara. She aimed the pistol, eyes alight, and fired toward it. It only shifted one wing structure, the bullets harmlessly singing away as if repulsed by barriers. Its face burned into her mind, and then it was turning away, walking into the bay.
The doors boomed shut a breath later. Ignoring the tears on her face, Liara didn't stop running until she had reached them. Dropping her pistol her fist slammed into the heavy, reinforced metal once, then again. A breath later and Dae was there, slapping her hands into the door as well, Sam rushing up on her heels.
"Mel! Melara! Let me in you cocksucking bastards!" Dae's voice was ragged with fury and grief as Sam took hold of Liara.
"Are you hurt?"
"They have my daughter," Liara said. "I do not even know if she is alive. We must get in there, now!"
"We will," Sam said, taking her shoulders. "They're not keeping her. Li, look at me. They're not keeping her, I swear it."
{This is Irie,} her breathless voice came over the com. {I have the door south-western doorway open. The first hallway is clear. We must hurry.}
"We are coming, Irie," Liara said, already turning that way. Vina's voice replaced Irie's.
{The field looks clear, everyone's retreated. Regroup and get to the south-west door; T'Soni has it open. Laws, get the shuttles here for evac- only those too wounded to fight, clear them out now. The rest of us are going in. They've got our Captain, and be damned if they're keeping her.}
The others started heading that way from all over the field. Liara, though winded from her mad sprint, barely felt it as she trotted back the way she'd come. Fearful as she was for her child, she was determined not to lose hope.
It could very well be that we find her, and discover she has already gutted every one of the hostiles personally, she thought. Part of her knew better, of course- Mel could not have come through that without being wounded. Even Del, with all her enhancements, would have been seriously hurting after a fall from that height and a collision with a stone wall. That Mel had not moved or attempted to get to her feet after landing said that she was unconscious, at the very least.
Turning her head, Liara looked toward Dae, knowing that the younger asari had to be just as fearful as she was- then suddenly jolted in surprise, sliding to a halt.
"Oh, no…" she said, eyes roaming the field to be sure they had not deceived her.
"What's wrong?" Sam asked. "Li, what's the matter?"
Feeling her stomach sink, Liara looked at her bondmate.
"Dae is gone."