A/N: I can't say much about this…thank you for reading…*sniff*
Chapter 6: This can't be happening!?
They encountered a few geth along their way, but were taken care of with relative ease. The trio started walking towards the dig site...which did not have a beacon in it.
"The beacon was right here last I saw it." Ashley exclaimed, apparently to negate any possible attempts at accusation. "It must've been moved."
"By who? Our side or the Geth?" Kaidan asked.
"Don't know. Maybe we should check out the research camp, up the ridge." Ashley answered.
"Lead the way, Chief." Shepard said. Williams nodded and lead the Commander and the biotic up the ridge. As Ashley led them, Nihilus chimed in.
"Shepard, these are definitely Geth we're dealing with. Just finished checking out a camp. Lot of dead bodies." the Turian reported. "What's your status?"
"We think we might've found the beacon. Stand by." Shepard reported. Sure enough, Ashley successfully leads Kaidan and herself to the research camp. It was a wreck. Piles of debris in some corners, fires in the other corners, a few barely-intact sheds, but the most eye-catching feature by far was what looked like a collection of dried up bodies mounted on those spikes.
"Camp got hit hard." Ashley observed.
"It's a good place for an ambush. Keep your guard up." Kaidan warned. No sooner did the words escape his mouth did it happen. With audible screeches, the spikes began to lower, making the trio of marines snap their guns in that direction. As the spikes fully lowered, the bodies ripped themselves off and faced the group. They were humans. Emphasis on WERE. They were naked; their skin had turned a grayish-blue with cybernetics strewn out across their bodies. Their eyes glowed blue with menace as they opened their mouths, blue light and a menacing moan escaping from them.
"Oh God..." Kaidan breathed in horror.
"What did the Geth do to them?" Ash asked. It was then that the creatures charged. Acting on reflex, the three opened fire on them. It didn't take long for them to fall to the ground.
"Secure the area." Shepard ordered as she switched out her pistol for her assault rifle. She rained it upon each creature and put a few rounds each into their chests, just to be sure, as Ashley and Kaidan began working on a shed's locked door. Chief took a moment to look at...things.
The situation wearied on bad too extreme as they went along towards the beacon. What was so important about this artifact? What is so important about it that had Geth leaving their sanctuary to get it? This doesn't make sense. But hey, when did it ever? "Nihilus you still there?"
"Still here. What's wrong?" he replied immediately
"Nothing. Ok maybe a few things. Have you encountered any zombie-like creatures yet?"
"Zombie-like?"
"Yeah. Gray skin, glowing blue light all over body, eyes, and mouth. A husk of what they once were. Zombies."
"Yeah. I did. How about we just call them Husks, rolls off the tongue better. Zombies..."
"Cliché?"
"Yeah, Cliché."
"Ok. Husks it is." A silence fell upon the pair.
"Jane?"
"Yeah?"
"You didn't get bite by one did you? Because I don't think I would be able to work with you then. Becoming a squishy smelly human with no use." There was an obvious joking tone to his voice, and Shepard couldn't help it. She laughed.
"You ass!" chuckle, "You are going to pay for that."
"Looking forward to it! Nihilus out." Nihilus quickly cut the connection. She let out one more laugh thinking his words. He really can be an ass sometimes.
Shepard walked over to the shed as Kaidan hacked the door control, following them inside. It was a shed in the truest sense of the word. Nothing but a table and a shelf on the far wall. It was a man and a woman. The woman looked to be in her thirties and had very short red hair. The man looked to be in his forties and his wrinkled face in a terrified scowl and a balding head showed that he had seen better days. A feeling tugged her towards that man; something he encountered recently has left him…different.
"Hurry! Close the door! Before they come back!" the man said in harsh, panicked whispers. Shepard noticed his predicament and quickly pressed a few buttons to close the door.
"You're safe now." The commander said.
"Thank the maker for that." the woman sighed in relief.
"Hey, you're Dr. Warren. The one in charge of the excavation." Ashley said. "What happened to the beacon?"
"We shipped it off to the spaceport earlier this morning." Dr. Warren began. She then gestured to the man beside her. "Manuel and I stayed behind to pack up the camp. When the attack came, the marines held them off long enough for us to hide." She paused and shook her head in sadness. "They gave their lives to save us."
"Nobody is saved." Manuel said as he shook his head. "The age of Humanity has ended. Soon, only ruin and corpses shall remain."
"Give us details on the attack." Kaidan said.
"I doubt we could tell you anything you don't already know. It all happened so fast. One second we were gathering up our equipment, the next we were hiding in the shed while the Geth swarmed over the camp." Warren answered.
"Agents of the destroyers." Manuel whimpered. "Bringers of darkness. Heralds of our extinction."
Something is wrong with him. I can sense it, but what? Thoughts of Manuel's condition popped up into Shepard's mind. "What about the beacon?" Kaidan asked. "Why do the Geth want it?" It seems Kaidan was the talker here for Shepard was quiet the entire time, contemplating their current situation.
"I don't know." Warren confessed. "The beacon is some type of data module from a galaxy-wide communications network. Remarkably well-preserved. It could be the greatest scientific discovery in our lifetime. Miraculous new technologies, groundbreaking medical advances, it's easy to imagine that a lot of hostile factions would want to get their hands on it. Apparently, that includes the Geth."
"We have unearthed the heart of evil!" Manuel exclaimed. "Awakened the beast! Unleashed the darkness!"
"Okay, I've gotta ask. What's with him?" Shepard asked. She had to know what made him like this. What broke his mind like this?
"Dr. Manuel has a brilliant mind, but he's always been a little bit...unstable. Genius and madness are two sides of the same coin."
"Is it madness to see the future?" Manuel asked.
Ignoring his question "Have you come into contact with any other Prothean artifacts besides the beacon?" Jane asked
Manuel shook his head. Seemingly oblivious to Shepard's question "I see it all now. The destruction rushing towards us. There is no escape! No hope! I am not mad. I'm the only sane one left!"
"I gave him an extra dose of his meds after the attack." Warren said in a reassuring tone.
"Alright. You two stay here. Wait on rescue." Shepard said to the two scientists as she drew out his rifle. She then turned to Ashley and Kaidan. "We need to head for the spaceport. Williams, you've got point."
Nihilus Kryik carefully made his way through the spaceport. A few minutes ago, he had just received a report from Jane. She had learned from two surviving civilians that the beacon had been moved from the dig site to the spaceport before the attack hit. The spectre and commander both agreed to link up with one another there. Nihilus was pleased. From past experiences he knew that when Chief Jane set off to look for something, she left no stone unturned. A good trait for a spectre to have. And given her physical statistics and history of her military record, it was easy to imagine her combat skills were improving with the combination of different species fighting techniques.
It was then that Nihilus spotted someone, or something. He was snapped from his thoughts as he quickly took cover behind a crate. He checked his assault rifle. Armed and ready. He quickly moved out of cover and kept the rifle pointed at the target. The fact that it didn't look Geth was the only reason the target was still standing, but Nihilus was ready to pull the trigger at any moment. However, when he got a better look at the mysterious figure, his stance changed entirely.
"Saren?" he asked as he lowered his rifle and his mandibles splayed apart in surprise and confusion.
"Nihilus..." Saren said as he turned around to address the younger Turian. Saren was a rather unusual sight among Turians. For one thing, he lacked the facial tattoos that were typical for his species, indicating he swore no allegiances to any colonial heritage. He also had elongated 'horns' extending back from the sides of his skull, showing that he was part of a racial sub-group of Turians. Finally, there was his artificial left arm; he lost the real one on one of his most dangerous missions. Of course, when you're the Council's top spectre, you go on a lot of dangerous missions.
"This isn't your mission, Saren. What are you doing here?" Nihilus asked.
"The Council thought you could use some help on this one." Saren answered as he casually walked past Nihilus. The younger spectre nodded in reply, but the explanation didn't seem enough. Saren was, in truth, Nihlius's old mentor. He was the one who subjected Nihilus to his trial to become a spectre, just as Nihilus was subjecting Shepard to now. He had no reason to not believe Saren at his word, but something about this made his plates itch.
"Situation looks bad. Geth are all over the place and it looks like they're dead-set on the beacon." Nihilus explained, playing along.
"Relax..." Saren said coolly. "I've got everything under control..."
*BANG!*
Shepard brought up a fist, a signal for the squad to halt, having heard a gunshot in the distance. They stayed there for a long time, not hearing anything else after that sole shot.
"...Keep moving. Eyes and ears open." She ordered after twenty seconds or so of silence. With a 'Yes sir' and an 'Aye aye', they resumed their path to the spaceport.
They continued on their way through the trees until they found themselves at the top of a hill overlooking the docks of the spaceport. However, the hill was also overlooking about a dozen Geth troopers and about half a dozen more husks. The Geth immediately opened fire as the husks charged forward at the three humans.
Shepard took cover behind a tree while Ash and Kaidan took cover behind yet another boulder. Williams fired her assault rifle at the husks while Kaidan kept them at bay with his biotics. Shepard dished out a few pistol shots at the incoming husks. Once the husks were dealt with, it was time to move on to the Geth. Kaidan leapt over the boulder and began firing with his pistol while Ash and Jane covered him with their sniper rifles.
Jane smiled. Between her and Ash, every click of their rifles was a guaranteed kill. Ashley's shot would lower the shields of a Geth, while Shepard's shot took it out. Sometimes they switched. So far, the Commander was impressed with both of them. Ashley's mastery of all four of her weapons almost as good as hers and that's saying something.
Kaidan was no slouch either. Granted, he wasn't so good with guns, but those obviously weren't his specialty anyway; biotics were. And his biotics were very powerful. Any Geth or Husks that didn't end up flying into the far wall floated up into the air as if somebody turned the gravity off, making them easy targets for Shepard and Ashley. If the group kept going like this, Shepard just might be able to find out what was going on with Nihilus before the mission.
After a while, the firing stopped. Kaidan peeked out of cover while Ashley and Shepard scanned the area from afar. "I think we're good, Commander." Kaidan said over the radio.
She clicked her communicator. "Alenko, head up to the docks and make sure the area is clear." Shepard ordered.
"On my way." Kaidan replied before coming out of cover and trotting up to the dock.
"Commander, you need to get over here. Now." Kaidan said. She didn't need to ask why, instantly knowing it was something bad. She broke out into a sprint down the hill towards the dock. After getting over the momentary shock over her speed, Ashley took off after her. Coming up walkway, she saw Kaidan standing over a corpse. Notably, a corpse that wasn't Human, Geth, or husk. Shepard walked over to get a better look at it. It was lying face down on the deck, the back of the head, neck and upper back coated in blue blood. Shepard had a feeling of who it was before he flipped the body onto its back. And it wasn't a good one.
Nihilus. NO! The commander stood wide eyed at her dead turian friend. She couldn't believe it. No… no… this can't be happening!
"Shot in the base of the neck, execution style." Kaidan explained. "Geth might have captured him and killed him on the spot."
"A Turian?" Ashley asked. "You know him?"
It took a while to gain her composure, she had not fully recovered. She wanted to cry, to scream. She wanted the person responsible for this to pay. Rage took over her body as the situation settled in. "He was a spectre on the mission with us. He was going to help secure the beacon. He was also a fri-" the sound of some metal being knocked over interrupted him.
"We've got movement! Behind the crates!" Kaidan snapped to attention and brought out his pistol, Shepard and Ash doing the same, and pointing them at the crates.
"Stop! Don't shoot!" cried out male voice. With a snuffle and a trot, figure stepped out of its hiding place.
A/N: I really didn't want to write this chapter…. I thought about having Nihilus live, but then it would interfere with Garrus' and Shepard's starting friendship. Anyways I am going to go cry my eyes out now….NIHILUS!WHY!?