Sulfur Caves: Ryder
Pathfinder, are you awake?
Ryder groaned and turned her head. Dizziness swept through her. Her stomach cramped with nauseous. SAM, what happened?
You were rendered unconscious by some type of sonic pulse. It seems the pulse temporary overloaded your biotic amplifiers. Cora's too.
What about Liam?
Liam was taken captive while still conscious. There were too many for him to take by himself.
SAM, see what you can do to get my amp working again. Or at least to where I can perform minor biotics.
I'll see what I can do, Pathfinder, but it is not a grantee. I will have to try and stabilize the amplifier first and then it will take a moment to reset it.
Do what you can.
Several moments passed as Ryder tried to puzzle out what had happened and if she wanted to attempt opening her eyes, or even sitting up. But another thought nagged at the back of her head. One that she couldn't let go.
SAM, who has us?
Pathfinder, it seems these people are exiles, but rebelling against the Collective having control over Kadara Port and aiding in the Intiviate outpost. They seem to be a collection of what is left of Sloane's people. I have been monitoring their communications.
And?
It seems that they are bringing in someone of high importance. The messages have been vague and specifically coded.
Coded? Ryder didn't ask SAM. But she was pretty certain he could still hear her. They were connected. After the incident on the Archon's ship, she knew exactly how connected they were. SAM was keeping her alive. The thought at first had scared her, but now she had settled into the idea. Did it still terrify? Yes and no. It wasn't any different in her mind than putting your trust in someone to have your back in a firefight. She trusted SAM. It is why Ryder let him stop her heart.
This important person, can you gather anything on who it might be.
No, they are keeping everything very hushed. They seem worried that this person might discover what they are doing. Pathfinder, there is only two people on Kadara at the moment who might fit the description of important people.
Let me guess, myself and the Charlatan.
Correct.
Great. But if they had Reyes that meant whoever was in charge knew, who Reyes really was. Not many people knew that. A few of his trusted Collective members, Keema, herself and her crew. That was it that she knew of. Reyes didn't trust many people with his biggest secret. A thought occurred to her, suddenly and sharply along with a jab of pain in her head. Her implant was still functioning, but trying to realign itself.
SAM, the dead Collective members, who were they?
I sense you don't want an actual list of names, but more about their rankings within the Collective?
Yes.
They were all part of Reyes inner circle. One, Aaron Cassidy, was the sniper who shot Sloane.
People that knew Reyes identity?
Not all, Pathfinder, just the one of the most recent bodies was inner circle. The others….
Led someone to an inner circle member. Ryder concluded. She exhaled. There was the connection. This had all been a trap. An elaborate one. Not to get to just her, but to Reyes as well.
Ryder opened her eyes. Blinking, she gave her eyes a moment to adjust. All she saw was gray rock. And the smell in the place was of faint rotten eggs. Her nose crinkled in disgust. She was laying on her back, stripped of armor and weapons. Her implant was still in place, but overloaded. Useless until it realigned even then she would need to get it checked by Dr. T'Perro before being able to use it in the field again. Cora would be in similar shape.
Gingerly, she sat up. A wave of dizziness accompanied the movement. She was in a cell, of sorts, a primitive cell. No electronic locking mechanism. Ryder frowned. Instead just a good old fashion key hole.
"Oh, good you're awake. I was starting to worry," Liam said across from her. He sat across from her in a different cell. Gently, she turned her head examining the small cell. Bars built right into the stone or at least welded into place. Primitive, but not sloppy.
"Cora?" Ryder asked.
Liam shook his head. "Don't know, haven't seen her in the past hour. Group of them came in here and took her. She was unconscious too, though she doesn't quite have SAM to help her." He looked around, making certain they were alone. Ryder glanced around as well. No cameras in sight. "Far as I can tell, no cameras in the holding area, and no guards."
"No guards? That seems unlikely,"
"Or no guards I can see, mixture of people though. See at least two krogans, three turians, two asari and a handful of humans. Whoever is running this operation has their hands in a lot of pockets." Liam supplied. "Or at least the ears of many of the people here. I thought the Charlatan took care of most of the exiles?"
"He did." A new voice answered. A gravelly voice Ryder vaguely recognized. "But when our people got word that the Collective was after them, they had the common sense to get out."
A turian stepped into view. A turian Ryder identified immediately. Kaetus—Sloane's former right hand.