VI
Static filled Elena's ears before being replaced by Kirrahe's voice.
"Comm. check," he said. "Do you read me, Commander?"
"Loud and clear," she said.
"Go. We'll start our push. We'll try to make it to the AA guns, but it might be up to you to finish the job."
"Understood."
"One more thing, Commander, if you happen to find a way to weaken their defenses we sure you use the help."
"We'll keep our eyes peeled." She peeked back at her team-Wrex and Tali. With a smile, she took out her assault rifle and said, "Let's give them hell."
The two smiled back at her and got their weapons out. The assault on Saren's base was set in motion.
Garrus really wished Shepard had taken him with her. He consistently worried about her since she took Wrex with her. Even if he didn't shoot her, he still did not fully trust the krogan. He hated to admit that he had a hint of anger toward her. All of a sudden, that feeling of anger was blended with different emotions such as trust, irritation, and regret. They all originated when he thought about her and his confess. He trusted her, knowing that she would be cautious, even when Wrex was fighting alongside her.
He was irritated at himself for being so foolish to confess his feelings to her. Regret was blended with his irritation. Perhaps she became uncomfortable and now she was afraid to get near him.
No, he thought. Don't even think about such irrational things. Remember the talk you had with her.
What he talked about with her did help him feel better, but not all the way. He was so caught up in his own mind that he didn't notice Liara approaching him.
"Garrus, are you all right?" she asked.
"Shepard?" he asked turning around. Strangely enough, he was both disappointed and relived to see Liara standing behind him instead of Shepard. "Hi, Liara. Is there something I can do for you?"
"No. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."
"I appreciate your concern, but I'm fine."
"Because you seem, well, sidetracked by something."
"I said I'm fine, Liara!"
The severity in his voice made her cringe back. "I...I'm sorry, Garrus. I didn't mean to-"
"No. I'm the one you should be sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you. It's just that my body and mind haven't been where they should be. For the first time ever, I don't feel like myself."
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
"I don't know if you can."
"There must be something I can do."
Before he spoke, he stopped himself so as not to give himself away like he did when he confessed his feelings to Shepard. "I've been thinking about out our mission and the Commander."
Liara chuckled quietly. "I really believe that you don't have to worry about the Commander or the mission. Just look at the progress we've made so far. I have full faith in the Commander to stop Saren and his geth. However, it is strange you mentioned the Commander. I have been noticing that she's been acting strangely."
"How so?" He tried his best not to let his voice or hesitation give him away.
She crossed her arms. "At first, she seemed distracted. Just recently I've noticed that she seems happier about something," she looked at Garrus, "or someone."
"Have any idea who?" he asked. He focused his eyes on the computer console so as to avoid Liara's gaze.
She shook her head. "No." She looked over Garrus, observing the details of his body language. "Do you know who, Garrus?"
He looked up from the console, but didn't look directly at Liara. "No."
She smiled deviously. "Garrus, you know who, don't you."
"Wrex, cover me!" Elena ordered. "I'm going to take out that satellite link."
"Got it," he said.
Elena sprinted and then dove behind a large boulder. She switched the assault rifle for the sniper. She took a deep breath before coming out of cover and aiming the sniper at the satellite. As soon as she had it in her sights, she pulled the trigger. Then she swiftly ducked back into cover, switching back to the assault rifle.
She came out of cover again when the firing stopped. She sprinted from one large boulder to another, making sure that she wouldn't get caught off guard by a geth trooper. She slowly walked up the ramp. All of a sudden, she saw a krogan charging at her. "Oh shit!" She shot at it, but it kept charging.
When it was only a few inches away from he, it was flown back. She jerked around to see Wrex glowing blue. She smiled and nodded. He respectfully nodded back at her. She heard Kaidan's voice over the comm., but his voice was overwhelmed by the sounds of explosion in the background as well as nearby. She got worried for a moment after that.
Elena and her team crisscrossed through a chain of walkways. At the end of the walkway maze was a circular area with blue shields that were separated by only a few inches. Beyond that area were geth troopers and krogan. They took cover behind the shields and then engaged the enemies. Once all the enemies were dead, they entered through the door, which led to more walkways. Only these walkways went to the right and then straight. A little ways away, there were consoles near three separate doors.
Tali walked toward the console. She holstered her gun to free her hands. Then she began typing on it. "We've got access to the base's security. We should be able to cut the alarms from here. We might even be able to trigger the alarms on the far side of the base. It'll clear out the guards for us, but they might be too much for the salarain teams to handle."
"Just disable the alarms, Tali," Elena said. "I don't want to burden Kaidan and Kirrahe with any more trouble than necessary. Besides, we can handle any guards that are inside."
Tali turned off the alarms. Then she took out her shotgun. They entered the building while keeping their fingers near their guns' triggers. They scooped the area. Elena's shields flickered. Wrex jerked his gun to the shooter and fired. The rifle shot hit a salarian right on the chest.
"A salarian?" Tali said puzzled.
"Capt. Kirrahe did mention that he had some missing men," Elena noted. She jerked around and fired on an incoming geth destroyer.
"These must them." Tali hacked a geth trooper to take care of another geth destroyer that came at them. "But they seem...different somehow."
"They must be indoctrinated. After all, this is Saren's research facility."
They swept the room for enemies, which now included the indoctrinated salarians. When they were done, they passed through a doorway with a bride leading to the other side. They suddenly heard a voice while making their way across. Elena stopped to search for the voice. She saw figures standing in holding cells.
What the hell is Saren doing here, she thought.
The far side of bridge led to a room that contained an elevator, but also indoctrinated salarians. Wrex used warp on one to weaken him. Then Tali finished him off with her shotgun. Elena pumped plasma into the second until he fell. After the salarain fell, the comm. came to life with explosions, gunfire, and Kaidan's voice.
"Okay, hold them!" he said. "Fill those holes. Come on, Shepard, make it soon."
Keep up the pressure, Kaidan, she thought.
They got into the elevator, which took them up to what appeared to be some kind of lab. A husk stood in a stasis machine. Elena fired on it. That, unfortunately, alerted the krogan scientist and his asari assistant as well as releasing all the husks.
"Damn it!" she cursed.
Elena fired on the husks that came running at them while Tali engaged the asari assistant. Wrex took care of the krogan scientist, which surprised Elena since Wrex had strongly defended his position on not destroying the base and the cure. Once they were finished, they headed out the door. They were back outside, but only for a short time. Tali spotted two geth troopers. She softened them up by using her damping ability. Elena switched her rifle for her pistol and shot the first one in the head. Wrex used throw to knock the second one over the edge.
She had to laugh at that one. "Good one, Wrex."
When they went through the door, they saw an asari crouching under a table.
"Don't shoot!" the asari said, coming out from under the table. "Please, I just want to get out of here before it is too late."
"It's all right, I'm not going to hurt you. Who are you?" Elena asked.
"Rana Thanoptis, neurospecialist, but this job isn't worth dying over. Or worse. You think the indoctrination only affects prisoners? Sooner or later, Saren will want to dissect my brains as well."
Elena became very suspicious, yet confused when she heard that Rana was a neurospecialist. She remembered the captain saying that Saren was breeding an army of krogan. Something told her that there was a lot more going on than anyone realized. She voiced only her suspicions about the breeding krogan to Rana. The asari explained the work she and the rest of science team had worked on.
As she explained, Elena noticed that Sovereign, the ship that Matriarch Benezia mentioned on Noveria, came up frequently. If she heard it right, it also appeared that Saren might not entirely be running the show. She absorbed every detail she possibly could to try and make sense of it, but she had little success. To her, this seemed like a sickening experiment on innocent beings. That gave her more motivation to destroy the facility and take down Saren.
She returned to the present when Rana said something about helping her and her team gain access to all of Saren's files.
"Are we good? Can I go?" she asked.
"I'm going to blow this place to hell and gone. If you want to make it alive, you better start running."
"What?! You can't...but I'll never..." Rana sprinted out of the room.
"You enjoyed that, didn't you," Tali said.
Elena simply laughed. "Maybe."
They headed out of the room and across a small bridge to yet another elevator. When the elevator door opened, Elena's heart beat fast. The door in front of them would contain all of Saren's files, maybe even his plans on what he has been up to lately. However, when they went through the doorway, all there was in the room was a balcony that was connected to two ramps.
"Look, Commander, it's another beacon. Like the one on Eden Prime," Tali said when they walked down the closest ramp.
Elena carefully approached the beacon's panel. She typed on it a few times and then- the recognizable images flashed through her head. At first it was painful, but then it began to subside and the images were clearer than ever before. She suddenly fell on the floor. She breathed heavily and held her head. She waited until her body and mind relaxed before she got back on her feet.
She stood up and stared at the beacon for a minute. She walked back up the ramp with her team trailing behind her. When she did, she noticed that the empty space beyond the balcony now had some kind of red console near it. The red console grew, turning into some kind of strange figure as Elena and her team got close.
"I get the feeling something bad is about to happen," Wrex said.
"You are not Saren," said the hologram.
"What is that?" Tali wondered. "Some kind of V.I. interface?"
"Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh. You touched my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding."
"I don't think this is V.I..."
"There is a realm of existence so far beyond your own you cannot even imagine it. I am beyond your comprehension. I am Sovereign!"
The realization hit Elena instantly. "Sovereign isn't just some Reaper ship Saren found. It's a an actual Reaper!"
Elena, Tali, and Wrex couldn't believe what they were seeing and hearing. A real Reaper was actually speaking to them. Elena wasn't surprised that it acted superior to the rest of them as well as putting all organics down. However, she was shocked when it told them that the Reapers built the mass relays and the Citadel. Apparently, the Protheans simply used them as well as all organic life after them. A horrific realization hit all of them. They realized that by using the technology the Reapers built, they were set on a path that the Reapers could follow and then-they would all be wiped out when all organic civilization was at its pinnacle.
Elena knew, at that very moment, that she would do whatever it took to stop the Reapers from killing all organic life in the galaxy. "You are even alive. Not really. You're just a machine. And machines can be broken and torn apart."
Even though the Reaper in front of her didn't have eyes, she felt its intense, red glare. "You words are as empty as your future. I am the vanguard your destruction. This exchange is over."
Suddenly, a thunderous explosion broke the windows. Then the comm. came to life.
"Commander?" Joker said. "We've got trouble!"
"Hit me, Joker," Elena said.
"That ship, Sovereign? It's moving. I don't know what you did down there, but that thing just pulled a turn that would shear any of our ships in half. It's coming your way, and it's coming hard! You need to wrap up things in there-fast!"
"This console is disabled," Tali said. "Orders, Commander?"
"We'll head for the breeding facility. Time to blow this pace to hell!"
"Hell yeah," Wrex said.
They all got their weapons out and headed to the breeding facility.