III

The drive to Peak 15 was very scenic...and dangerous. The geth troopers, armatures, and turrets made it hard to admire the snowy mountains. When the fighting came to halt, Elena looked through the scope and observed the mountains. She wished that it wasn't cloudy and so snowy that it made the look of the outside almost foggy. She really admired snow and the effect it left behind when the sun was shining. The light would cause the snow to glimmer like tiny crystals. She sighed as the thought entered her mind.

Eventually, they reached Peak 15. A wrecked vehicle that was on fire blocked the way into the garage. Garrus spotted a door that lead into the building and told Shepard.

"Good work. Put your helmets on and gear up," she ordered.

They all put on their helmets and got out of the Mako. Once they were in, the interior garage door opened, revealing geth juggernauts, geth repair drones, and krogan who were waiting for them. Elena, Garrus, and Ashley ducked behind cover before engaging them. Garrus switched his assault rifle with his sniper. Ashley activated a carnage round and fired it at the destroyer, which crashed into a pole that was behind it. Elena fired at the repair drones to ensure that the fight with the geth juggernauts wouldn't last longer than need be.

"Bring it you flashlight-headed freaks," Ashley taunted.

Elena giggled at Ashley's insult. She's just getting started. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a krogan on the level above them. She turned on her comm. "Garrus. Krogan on the upper level."

He nodded his head and aimed his sniper at the unsuspecting krogan's head. He pulled the trigger and was rewarded with a dead krogan falling to the floor. He smiled and returned his attention back to the fight that was taking place in front of him.

Elena fired her assault rifle at two krogan that were going up a small flight of steps. When the one died in front of it, it came charging at her. She backed up, switching her assault rifle for her shotgun. She activated the carnage round and fired it at the krogan. It was sent flying back a few feet and then it skid as it made contact with solid ground.

An announcement was heard over the comm. when the battle ended. "User Alert. All Peak 15 facilities have been severely damaged."

"Great," Elena muttered. "Knowing our luck, we'll have to repair some things before we do anything else."

They walked through a tiny entryway with two turrets facing the door that lead to the other room.

"Why are the turrets facing the wrong way?" Garrus wondered.

"They want keep their people in as much as they want to keep others out," Ashley said.

They took an elevator up when they reached the other room. Once at the top, the doors opened to a snowy hallway. On the other side of the hallway's door was another snowy room. Elena assumed it was some kind of lobby, except the chairs and tables were turned on their sides and there were geth. Quickly, she ordered her troops to scatter in order to cover more ground and to flush out any geth that were hiding.

Elena threw a grenade, which drew out a geth trooper. She fired three rounds to kill it. Then she switched to her pistol to kill another geth trooper. Ashley hit a geth with the butt of her shotgun and then fired a round into its head. Garrus took down a geth trooper that was sneaking above a small flight of stairs. Then...all went quiet.

Elena's heart raced in her chest. Once it came to being on the battlefield, she didn't enjoy the quiet.

"Defensive formation," she ordered when she heard noise and she saw movement.

They now stood back-to-back. An intense creaking sound put all of them on edge.

"What was that?" Garrus asked.

"Animals? Wind?" Ashley wondered. "This place is in bad shape."

Elena couldn't agree with her more. Suddenly, small green creatures charged at them. They spotted the creatures and open fired. Then huge bug like creatures attacked them. One got dangerously close to Elena. It shrieked at her before hurling one of its elongated sharp-pointed tentacles at her. It managed to graze her side. She grunted in pain. Then it hit her, knocking her to the ground. It raised its tentacle for a fatal blow, but a round from Garrus' assault rifle pierced its head. It collapsed it front of her.

She sighed with relief while placing her hand over her injured side. Garrus walked over to her.

"Shepard, are you all right?" he asked.

She moaned. "I'll live."

"Let me patch that up for you." He took her hand and guided her over to a wall while Ashley swept the room with her shotgun. Then he gently set her down. He began to apply the med-gel.

For such a well-built turian, he had a gentle touch as he worked on her. He made sure all the exposed areas were covered. While he did, Elena examined every feature of his face. She had the desire to reach out and touch his metallic skinned cheek while stroking his blue markings. His blue was the same color as her eyes. When he was done and looked up, she locked onto his eyes. The blood immediately flowed to her cheeks, making her blush when he looked deep into her eyes.

Oh crap, she thought. I hope he isn't seeing this.

Garrus could not help himself. Her glimmering blue eyes were the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. He convinced himself that none of the females he'd seen over the years could compare to Shepard. He liked her easy-going personality when she wasn't kicking ass on the front lines. As he stared at her, the desire to stroke her delicate cheek grew. He wished he could play with her soft black hair.

Ashley's question stopped their trance. "What the heck were those things?"

"I'm not sure," Elena said. "Maybe we can find somebody here who knows."

"That is, if we can find someone who actually survived in these type of conditions," Garrus said.

"Good point."

Garrus offered to help her up. She smiled and grabbed his talon. Then he pulled her up. She picked up her weapon and gripped it tightly.

"Let's move."

They proceeded to the main core of the station. The V.I. was offline so Elena went into the room that contained the V.I.'s memory core. She had proceeded down into the core so that she could get the V.I. back online. After successfully transferring the core's modules in the correct place, she was able to get it back online. The V.I. had introduced herself as Mira. Elena asked what was going on. Mira explained-at least the information that was allowed to Elena-about the breach of safety protocols and loose containments. Also, the main core was disabled and needed a manual restart. The tram way system was inoperable and the landline connection were disabled. She also told Elena that Matriarch Benezia was in the hot labs, which was located somewhere at Rift Station.

With no more questions to ask Mira, Elena and her team began to make the necessary repairs in order to get to Rift Station.

Of course, they ran into opposition in each area. When they went to repair the landlines, they encountered the strange alien bugs. The small green aliens charged at them, exploding if they got too close and came in contact. The bigger bugs that were brown either charged or launched green acid at them from their maws.

That won't settle well with our armor, Elena thought.

In the main reactor room, they encountered geth, which prolonged the task to reach the reactor.

Eventually, they finished the repairs and headed to the tram station. Elena wasn't quite sure why, but the empty tram lobby made shivers go up her spine. The desolation of the place was eerie to her. They all got into the tram with Elena pressing the button to start it.

"Departing Central Station. Destination Rift Station," said Mira.

"Now arriving at Rift Station, Binary Helix research facility."

The tram slowed to a stop as it reached Rift Station's tram lobby. Once it came to a full stop, the doors opened.

"Weapons ready," Elena whispered. With all that had happened since they reached Peak 15, she wasn't going to take her chances. Like Central Station's tram lobby, the area was devoid of life and quiet...maybe too quiet for comfort. Elena crept out of the tram with Garrus and Ashley watching her back.

They swept the entire lobby with their weapons while keeping their eyes and ears open. They never encountered any enemies of any type when they exited the lobby and the station's first main level room. Once inside, there were two doors. On the right, the red knob indicated that the door was locked. So they chose the other doorway. An elevator awaited for them on the other side. Once inside the elevator, it took them up.

When the elevator's doors opened, Elena saw three figures aiming their weapons at them. She sighed with relief, thankful to finally see some friendly individuals.

"Stand down," she commanded.

The human that had a bald head with an well-built upper body and light brown skin ordered the same with his troops. Elena approached him. He held his hand up apologetically.

"Sorry. We couldn't be sure what was on the tram." he said.

Elena shrugged. "I'd only be upset if they fired."

"Even hopped up on stems, my people know the rule. Two legs good, four legs bad. Look you're human enough that I won't shoot. I'd like to know who you are."

"My name is Shepard. I'm a Spectre. And you are?"

"I'm Captain Ventralis."

"What happened here?"

"The aliens overran the hot labs last week. Only Han Olar got out and he ain't all there anymore. First we knew, the bastards were climbing into my command post. We had a lot more staff then."

"You were taken by surprise and had civilians to protect. You did good, Captain."

Elena noticed the captain's shoulders slump down. She knew the feeling, losing people under your watch, or worse, under your command was a terrible thing to feel and know.

"Yeah. Sure as hell don't feel like it. The Board sent in a asari to clean up the mess. She went to the hot labs yesterday. We haven't heard from her since."

They were all shocked, but satisfied to know that the matriarch was there after all.

"Benezia. Is she still over there?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I don't see what one person could do. There is an emergency elevator by the trams." He took a step forward and handed Elena a small, rectangular card. "This card will let you activate it. It can take you down to the hot labs. Oh, and if need any first aid, Dr. Cohen's downstairs in the med bay."

"Thank you." She turned to her team. "Let's go."

Suddenly, they all heard the protesting groan of the ducts and the shriek of the familiar hostile aliens.

"Hell! Man the perimeter," Ventralis commanded.

Elena, Garrus, and Ashley took out their weapons and got behind the crates. Then the aliens burst out and attacked. They all fried upon them, ending the fight within a few seconds. Elena stepped out into the open when the coast was clear, putting her gun back on the magnets on her armor's back. Garrus and Ashley followed suit.

Ventralis sighed. "Thanks for your help. A few hours, a group comes up from the tram tunnel. It's better since we locked down the elevator."

Elena looked down at the lifeless corpse of the unknown alien. "Do they always attack here? It's an obvious killzone."

"The only other option is over the mountains and down through the ducts. They would freeze just like everyone else. I don't know why they keep throwing themselves at our defenses. Even animals learn not to stick their noses where it hurts."

Elena simply nodded and turned back toward the elevator. It took them back down. Elena headed to the other door when the elevator stopped and opened its doors to let them out. She inserted the card, which summoned the elevator that would take them down to the hot labs. The room they entered had chairs, tables, and cranes on the sides, leaving the middle-a big portion of the middle-wide open. A lone man sat in a chair. She cautiously approached him. As she got closer to him, an unnatural force hit her that made her want to back off.

He slowly looked up at her. "Are you here to secure the situation?"

"Yeah," Elena said. I guess. "I'm a Council Spectre. Who are you?"

"I'm Yaroslev Tartakovsky, the operation's director. I would stand up and shake hand, but..." She noted that he seem to trail off to something else in another world before he spoke again. "You must listen. If we can't contain our mistake, they'll drop bombs from the battle station. You understand?"

"I don't understand anything yet. What were you doing here?"

"Binary Helix found an egg. It was on a derelict ship, thousands of years drifting. This was a rachni ship. Inside they find many eggs in cryogenic suspension."

"So they brought it here to wake it up?"

"Binary Helix planned to clone rachni. Mass produce them to create an army."

When Garrus heard this, he clenched his talons while Ashley's heart jumped into her throat. While Tartakovsky kept talking, Elena continued to listen while peeking back at her team. She could see that their bodies were suddenly stiff and tensed up. But she didn't blame them because if they didn't stop Saren from creating an army of rachni, there was chance that he would've succeeded in his plans...whatever they were. Her attention turned back toward the director when he explained the significance of one of the rachni eggs. It turned out that it was a queen.

"This is fascinating, but we don't have time to chat," Elena said.

"These rachni are beyond saving. It is a sad thing, but they must be euthanatized. I am thinking that the neutron purge must be set off."

"How do I set it off?"

He pointed to a room that was a few feet away from where Elena and her team were standing. "The arming controls are nearby. All you do is insert the key. Then I will give Mira destruct c-UH!" Suddenly, one of the rachni's sharp tentacles ferociously pierced the director's chest, leaving a gaping bloody hole in the center. The director looked down, horror clear in his exhausted eyes. Then he looked back to see the rachni. It shrieked and then tossed him aside as if he was a rag doll.

Ashley swiftly took out her shotgun and fired. It hit the rachni directly in the head and the mid-section. Elena walked pass the dead rachni. She kneeled down to the director's blood-spattered corpse and searched him for the code. She shortly found it and then headed to the room the director had pointed out not a minute before his death.

Elena activated Mira's terminal.

"Connecting. I have full access to the facility, and at your disposal," Mira said.

"Activate the neutron purge," Elena commanded.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that without proper code authorization."

Elena looked at the key and memorized the code. "Code input: 875-020-079. Code Omega local execution."

"Verified. Code Omega execution in 120 seconds." Then she disappeared from the terminal.

She turned to her team. "When we get out there-run-do no walk to the elevator."

"And if rachni or geth get in the way?" Garrus asked.

She got her shotgun out and cocked it back with an devilish smile. "Blow them to hell."

They nodded and got their weapons out. Then they sprinted for the exit. All whole lot of rachni filled the room when they came out. As Elena had instructed, they shot down any rachni that got in the way. As soon as her whole team was secured in the elevator, she smacked the button. The doors closed and took them up. While going back up to the main level, a low thunderous sound followed by a tremor from the purge shook the elevator a bit.

Elena decided to go back to Ventralis to tell him that his job will be easier since they set off the purge. When they arrived, the place where they found him last time was bare. She looked around to try and find him.

"Captain?" she called out. "Are you here?"

Garrus went up to her and whispered, "Shepard, I don't like this."

She agreed. "Neither do I, Garrus. Believe me. Weapons out. Captain and his team might've retreated to the back area if they were attacked."

"Let's head there then," Ashley said.

Elena nodded. "Chief, take point. Garrus, cover the rear."

"Roger," they said in unison.

They took out their weapons and advanced to the back area. They were all surprised, yet relived to see the captain and his team when they got there. Elena noticed a peculiar expression on the captain's face. To her, it seem like he was guilty about something.

Something's wrong, Elena thought, trying to shake a feeling off.

Her assumption was proven when the captain said, "I'm sorry about this, Shepard. We got orders from Benezia."

All their eyes widened in shock and anger.

"You traitor," she hissed under her breath.

"Open fire!" Ventralis ordered.

"Fire!" Elena shouted.

From then on, Elena and her team fought off ERCs through every hallway and corner they walked into. At this point, Elena was sick and tired of Noveria. In her mind, she vowed to make Benezia and Saren pay for making her go through all of this. Still, a part of her felt guilty for what she was forced to do. The ERCs were just doing their job, it wasn't like they freely chose to attack her. Nevertheless, she didn't hold back. She wasn't going to stand-by and have them kill her, she still had a galaxy to save.

Things finally began to settle down as fewer and fewer guards appeared.

Their fighting lead them through many hallways and up stairs. The room where the fighting stopped had an elevator waiting for them at the end of the passage. They entered. It took them down to Rift Station's lower levels. They zigzagged through a room before walking through a narrow passageway. The door opened and, at long last, up a flight of stairs, stood Matriarch Benezia.

Elena took a deep breath and then walked into the door. Garrus and Ashley ever so diligently trailing behind her.

"You do not know the privilege of being a mother," Benezia said. "There is power in creation. To shape a life. Turn in towards happiness or despair. Her children were to be ours to hunt and slave Saren's enemies." Benezia walked away from the tank that held the rachni queen. She now focused her attention on Shepard. "Have you faced an asari commando unit before? Few humans have."

Elena waved the threat off. "You won't look so smug when I pump your skinny ass full of plasma."

Benezia glared at her. "Your confidence is a poor mask for your fear." She then used stasis on Shepard.

That bitch, she thought.

Garrus and Ashley quickly took out their weapons (both assault rifles). Garrus walked in front of Shepard while Ashley covered their backs. They aimed their rifles as the commandos as they appeared and attacked them. One of the commandos threw a ball of dark energy at them. Ashley shoved them out of the way. Finally, Elena was free. She took out her shotgun. They fired upon the commandos.

Elena threw a grenade to make them draw back. Garrus used the opportunity to use the damping ability to disable the biotics. Elena fired on the first commando while Ashley fired on the other. With the combined teamwork of one another, they were able to defeat both commandos. But Benezia wasn't finished yet. She summoned more commandos while adding geth to the fray.

"Chief, provide some covering fire," Elena ordered.

"Aye, aye ma'am."

"Garrus, you're with me."

He nodded and followed her to one of the four corners of the room. They hid behind two crates. She looked at him to give an order when she saw a commando charging toward them.

Oh, you little- She aimed her weapon and fired. The commando's body tumbled down the steps, landing in front of Garrus.

"Now, before I was so rudely interrupted," she said glaring at the commando's body. "Garrus, sneak up those stairs and do what you do best. Don't worry," she said with a smile when he saw a look of reluctance on his handsome face, "I got your back."

He gazed at her face and smiled. He carefully made his way up the room's second set of stairs while getting his sniper out. Elena kept a careful eye on all sides.

Secretly, Benezia summoned more commandos and geth again.

Garrus sniped a geth sniper when he spotted something red out of the corner of his eye. He looked to see a another geth sniper aim its weapon at Shepard. He jerked up from his position.

"Shepard! Look out," he shouted. He stood in front of her and shot the sniper. He shot its arm off and then at its chest.

Elena looked from behind Garrus to see the dead geth. She sighed. "Thanks."

He peeked back her. "My pleasure."

They smiled at each other. Then Elena simply lowered her head, the smile still plain on her face. "Chief," she said over the comm. "Are you all right?"

"Excellent Commander," she replied.

"Okay. Make sure Benezia doesn't go anywhere, we're coming over there to confront her."

"Got it."

Then the comm. shut off.

Elena didn't expect questioning Benezia to go so... peculiarly. When she told her to start talking, Benezia gloated about Saren, but it didn't last long. Then she talked about something she called 'indoctrination' and how she tried to resist it, but failed in the end. Only part of her mind was sealed away to make it possible for her to talk to Elena without having the desire to kill her. Benezia told about the horror of indoctrination. Also that no one was themselves when they were around Saren.

Elena asked about Saren's ship Sovereign. Benezia understood her confusion and curiosity. She described how it was nothing like she had ever seen. Strange things happen when someone is on the ship. She then told Elena how Saren sent her to Noveria to find the location of the 'Mu Relay.' Apparently, the rachni had inhabited that area of the galaxy thousands of years ago and they were the ones that found the lost relay.

Benezia had taken the information from the Queen's mind. Elena could hear in Benezia's voice that she did regret her actions. She told the Matriarch that she still has the chance to redeem herself. The asari gave the Commander the coordinates that she had given to Saren before Elena and her team arrived on Noveria.

Unfortunately, Benezia could feel the effects of the indoctrination taking affect on her.

Elena stepped forward, but Garrus blocked her path using his arm. She saw him shake his head. When she looked back at Benezia, she saw she had an malicious, dark look on her face.

"Die!" said the Matriarch.

All of their instincts quickly took over. They took out their weapons and fired at her. After she fell, they went after the two commandos that snuck into the room.

When all was quiet, Elena went back up the stairs to check out the rachni queen. She gently placed her arm on the glass while her eyes examined the queen.

Unbeknownst to her, one of the dead asari commandos began to stand up. Once up on her feet, she walked over to the tank and Shepard. Elena jerked back when one of the queen's tentacles appeared and roared at her. When she backed up, she bumped into the asari commando. Garrus and Ashley ran to aid their commanding officer when they heard the roar. Elena backed up until she was in front of her team. The dead asari opened her eyes and began to speak.

"This one serves as our voice. We cannot sing, not in these low spaces. Your musics are colorless."

"We filled you with enough plasma to pop a tank," Elena said, not fully believing what she was seeing in front of her.

"This vessel is at the edge. Yet she struggles. You cannot see her magnificence. We are breathing on the embers. We are the mother. We sing for those left behind. The children you thought silenced. We are rachni."

Elena walked up to the tank, looking at the queen. "How are you speaking through her?"

"Our kind sing through touchings of thought. We pluck the strings, and the other understands. She is weak to urging. She has colors we have no names for. But she is ending. Her music is bittersweet. It is beautiful."

Elena turned around as the queen continued to speak. She started to become interested in what was happening. She took in every detail as they presented themselves. While doing that, she gazed at her team. Both looked tense, probably because she was close to the rachni queen. After fighting through the rachni to get to this point, they weren't going to let their guard down just because one could talk.

She smiled at how loyal they were. To help them relax a bit, she walked back to them. She looked at the queen when she asked whether Shepard would give her kind a second chance to live on or condemn her to death.

"Commander, I don't trust this thing. We know its kind are killers. The tank is rigged with acid. I recommend using them," Ashley said.

"If you kill her, you consign an entire race to death," Garrus said. "We should let the Citadel Council decide her fate."

"You're companions hear the truth. You have the power to free us, or return our people to the silence of memory.

Elena thought about everyone's words. She understood Ashley's mistrust of the rachni. Then again, she didn't want the death of an entire race on her shoulders until the day she died. She silently contemplated before speaking up.

"I won't destroy your entire race," Elena decided. "You'll go free."

"Commander, there is a reason their kind was hunted to extinction. It is better to safe then let a dangerous race loose," Ashley snapped back.

"Chief, are we any better if we kill them?"

"If this had happened on Tokyo, or Armstrong, or on the Citadel, the death toll would be..." she trailed off as she thought about those horrors.

"You will give us a chance to compose anew? We will remember. We will sing of your forgiveness to our children."

Elena went up to the tank's computer console and typed in a few keys. The tank rose while the commando finally was taken over by death. The tank's door opened. Before she left, the rachni queen looked at the commander who in turn looked up at her with a smile and a nod. Then she departed.