Disclaimer: BioWare owns Mass Effect. 20th Century Fox owns the Alien franchise. EA owns Dark Space.
Hades Nexus Cluster, February 22, 2177
"We've got access!" Corporal-Technician Bill Hudson called out, working the door panel next to an access hatch that was labeled above its frame, marking it the 'Arrival/Departure Lounge'. "Damn thing's got some sort of emergency override on it that will let me peek inside before we go in. Pulling it up now." The squad technician connected his Omnitool to the door's access panel as twenty-four people held their positions around him, most of them keeping an eye on the perimeter with weapons out. "Looks like the interior's empty, El-Tee. But there's something wrong with the camera inside; it's eschewed and it won't let me pan. Looks clear, but hard to tell."
"Then we clear it the old-fashion way." 1st Lieutenant Jane Shepard replied, looking to Master Chief Stacy Valentino, giving her the nod. "Team Cowboy, if you would be so kind?"
"My kind of party." Valentino smiled, snapping her fingers at her team that she had picked out a few minutes before, each person identified who their team leader was, and who would be in their squad. "Vasquez, Drang? You two got point. Get those radars up, people, and weapons hot in five." Corporal Jeanette Vasquez and Kya Drang both nodded as both females stood on either side of the door readying their weapons; Vasquez with her heavily-modified M56 Marshal Light Machine Gun with its upgraded VI-driven Smart Tracking System, and the female Drell with her Armax Arsenal Punisher Sniper Rifle, both aiming at the door as Valentino gave Hudson the nod, indicating for him to open the door.
"Here we go." Hudson crossed his fingers before opening the door, the metal portal sliding open upward. Vasquez and Drang moved forward a few feet, their respective weapons aimed forward, sweeping the room quickly. Shepard watched as both Human and Drell moved patently through the room, clearing corners and dark spots. It took them perhaps fifteen seconds to do so.
"Jefe, we're clear, but this place is a mess." Vasquez called out over her radio. "Like a massacre happened."
"Okay, let's follow them in and secure the room." Shepard called out, pointing to Stacy and signaling the rest of her Team Cowboy to push in. Sergeant Rita Vrataski went in with her N7 Saber in her hands, followed by Daeporn Norban and Ellen Ripley, both Salarian Specter and Human pilot holding Sub Machine Guns in their hands at the ready. Shepard winced at the sight of her grandmother wearing light armor and armed with a M9 Tempest in her hands, but with no other safe locations, Ripley was going have to work alongside with them, much like she had during LV 426. Vrataski, too, was another point against her, the woman still in early pregnancy. If anything happened to T.J., Shepard wouldn't know what to do with herself. Bringing Full Metal Bitch had been a mistake, but it was too late to do anything about it now.
"Janey, we got a few doors and lockers in here, and a Goddamn waiting room." Master Chief Valentino called out, her voice steady and calm. "It's secured for now, but this place has got too many vents and accesses to be used. Ain't making this a CCF." Shepard mutely nodded, the tactic of making the first secured location a Command and Control Front a necessity when in hostile territory. If they could just find a room they could completely control without having to watch their backs, Shepard could have those not suitable for a fight left in the CCF, controlling information and keeping the location secure in case things got dicy. "You're good to come in."
"Teams? Move forward." Shepard pointed to Captain Royce Mason, waving her finger towards the door as he, Naor the Bull, Cur Dileed, Porol Lamal, Ulla D'veora, and Sergeant Dwayne Hicks went into the lounge. Team Dingo was an interesting one with an Elcor Bull moving about, yet Naor always seemed to be mindful of where he was going, careful with his four tree-trunk legs, never getting close to stepping on anyone, to include the Volus Cur Dileed. Shepard had to admit that Dileed looked pretty badass in his armored pressure suit, almost like a walking miniature tank, his Elkoss Combine M-4 Shuriken looking more like a hand cannon in his stubby arms as oppose to being a machine pistol. Thankfully, the Volus could wield a pair of them, and he was a fair shot with them, too. Watching the Volus waddling behind the long-limbed Elcor was a sight, yet Cur kept up without any issues. Perhaps he would only work Specter Investigations Division, but he hadn't uttered one word of complaint about the situation he was in. Volus had some guts.
Shepard gave a nod to the next team leader, Specter Instructor Cavius Raminion leading Team Ghost. The Turian Specter took the lead as Tibevius Victonius, Elias Korvan, Vona Shatari, Asha T'vara, and Hudson followed, their weapons up and ready. The heavily-Turian team moved well, Hudson being the only one who wasn't quite in sync with the Turian team, Asha T'vara having served alongside Blackwatch teams in the past. Tibevius Victonius, carrying the Turian standard M-15 Vindicator, looked decently in place among the Specter recruits, though his light Agent armor meant that he had little in the way of protection against attacks. Still, for a Team thrown together, they looked well enough.
"Alright, Team Valkyrie, move in." Shepard cued in her team, taking up the rear since they were civilian-heavy, Dr. Liara T'soni and Bastila Shan being in the middle of the formation, with Garrus Vakarian taking the rear position for overwatch and rear guard. Shepard led them in with her Specter Gear Mark VII Assault Rifle in her hands, her Kuwashii visor set on a light opaque HUD with its radar on, marking her team members in blue and the other team members in green on her display. They entered into the lounge, and Shepard immediately saw what Vasquez had pointed out; the place did look like the host of a massacre. As soon as Garrus stepped inside the room, he shut the door behind him, working on the interior door panel to set a locking mechanism that any one of them would be able to open remotely if needed, locking it behind them. Shepard looked around the large lounge, scanning with her eyes. Several bucket-seat benches were available to sit in, complete with end tables, with a few energy drink cans sitting on them. Along the upper portions of the walls were several entertainment monitors that were obviously meant to display news, shows, and other forms of entertainment for those who occupied the lounge, though for now they were all showing static. Yet it was obvious that something had happened, as the room was trashed, luggage spilled and trash littering the floor. One of the benches was eschewed from its normal place, and there were several bloody streaks that were dragged across the ground, heading from somewhere in the center of the room to one of the ducts in the wall, the grating punched outward.
"I see… eight pieces of luggage." Shepard announced, calling out what she saw. "Usually a two bag limit for such places. But I only see three streaks."
"Shit, good call." Royce admitted, looking at the floor. "Someone got away either at the beginning, middle, or end of it." There were only two doors leading out of the Lounge; one port and one starboard, Shepard noticed. One led to a security station to the starboard side of the room, while the other led towards a bank of elevators that was labeled 'To Tram Station'. Hopefully, the Trams were working on the Ishimura, otherwise they would all be doing a lot of walking. Gods knew if the sections of the ship were even interconnected with restricted accesses between the workers and those in command of the ship. There wasn't even any guarantee that the Specter Access Level Omnitools they possessed would even let them through secured locations; CEC wasn't known to being friendly to aliens. Shepard eyeballed the security station that was behind a wall of ceramic glass, the door leading inside powered and accessible. The work station might give them an idea what had happened to the Ishimura, or at least the Lounge.
"Valkyrie, we're going to the security station. Reminion? Take your team to the Tram Station, see if the Tram's even functional." Shepard ordered, getting a nod from the Turian Specter. "Val? Back them up. Perhaps we can trip over an explanation why this place is empty and looks like a murder scene. Mason, have your men hold fast and prepare to react accordingly." Orders given, Shepard led her team towards the security station door, punching the holographic haptic button, the door mechanism unlocking slowly as the station scanned her, much to her surprise. Whatever it was looking for, it seemed to satisfy the VI because the door opened a few seconds later. Shepard led through the door first, her Mark VII Assault Rifle easy in her hand as she was followed by Tela Vasir, Rahe'Tarram nar Sofis, Dr. Liara T'soni, Bastila Shan, Jondum Bau and Garrus Vakarian. The security station was thankfully large enough for all of them as Jondum and Garrus immediately put guns onto the door leading to an elevator partitioned away from the security station, while Rahe'Tarram kept her Quarian Carbine Shotgun in her three-fingered hands, her orange-tinted face plate scanning an air duct. The Protheanologists stuck with Tela Vasir, who moved close to Shepard while the Marine went straight for the security station's work station, powering on the system and turning on its haptic keyboard and holographic monitor. The system booted up slowly, much slower than it should have, making Shepard frown for a moment. Either CEC had gotten cheap with its equipment, the VIOS was seriously out-of-date… or someone had corrupted the system. None of those options were good, and she hoped that the station was the only one acting on the fritz. It finally powered on, and the VIOS immediately began displaying alerts.
"Here we go." Shepard said to herself, seeing that the alerts all dealt with the status of the ship. She read… holy shit, seventy-four separate alerts? Nineteen marked critical failures? What the hell had happened? There was an overlay of the ship on the haptic monitor, giving a rough outline of the Ishimura and its various compartments. Shepard felt her heart drop when practically every portion of the ship was flashing red for alerts, pinpointing areas of the alerts, and whole sections were highlighted for critical failures. Gods… the ship was practically dead if the read out was true. Engines, life support, power, the ship's Asteroid Defense System… everything was pretty much borderline fucked. If they wanted to leave the ship, they were going to have to get the Ishimura out of the debris field while investigating the fate of the ship and its crew. Shepard looked at some of the issues… life support critical, engines at critical, ADS at critical, communications array at critical… was nothing working on the damn ship? Sadly, the security station provided no details save for what was wrong, not how or offering the ability to fix it right there. "Son of a bitch. Royce? Our work isn't cut out for us. Damn near everything is broken on this ship."
"Tram's a bust." Stacy put out, obviously having reached the Tram Station. "Seems like that one is stuck on the tracks at the junction on your end, Janey, which we can't reach from here. Station also says the circuit board is fried Should be able to fix it on your end."
"Oh boy, I always wanted to operate a choo-choo." Shepard replied with a chuckle, shutting off the security station. "Alright, people. Let's take that door. Station said that it would lead us to the Tram Repair Station. Rahe? If you would be so kind?"
"Introduce a Quarian into the group, and somehow every electrical problem is my responsibility." The Pilgrim complained good-naturedly, moving to the door that Garrus and Jondum were covering. "Oh, Rahe, the coffee-maker isn't working properly! My suit is acting up! My Omnitool is downloading slowly!"
"Rahe! My Quarian teammate's vocal synthesizer is acting up, it might need to be shut down for repairs." Shepard returned, teasing her Quarian friend.
"Bosh'tet." The Quarian giggled as she tapped at the door's console, asking for an access code. Rahe tried her Specter Access Code, but to no avail; it was as Shepard feared, CEC didn't proscribe to Citadel regulations which would allow C-Sec or Special Tactics access in case of emergencies. This didn't stop the Quarian from pulling the access open, looking at the hardware underneath. "Ha! Simple human encryption protocols, easily bypassed with a switch! Your race is really paranoid, Jane."
"Can you blame us?" Shepard asked, the orange-tinted face mask of Rahe'Tarram turning to her, and then to her work, her six fingers pulling down at a toggle that would give them access to the door, realizing that she was the very reason she was having to physically work the door's opening mechanism.
"I guess not." The Quarian keyed the toggle, and the holographic lock turned from red to white, the door now unlocked. "One Quarian patch job, success!" The Quarian stood up and brushed off her hands, unshipping her Quarian Carbine Shotgun from her back and readying it. "Ready when you are, Jane."
"Toul'gan." Shepard replied to Rahe, using a Quarian epitaph that she had taught Shepard, meaning 'buckethead'. Shepard stood ready by the door as she saw Jondum Bau take the other side of the door, his M-12 Locust Sub-Machine Gun at the ready. The Salarian nodded to her ones as she hit the open button with her elbow, both human and Salarian able to slide into the door quickly and without banging into one another due to their smaller statures as oppose to a Turian, clearing the immediate hallway that they found themselves in. The hallway was a simple corridor, ill-lit and trashed, only going about ten meters before turning to the left. Jondum took the left side of the hallway as Shepard went to the right, her Mark VII Assault Rifle touching everything as she switched on her taclight, shining it on grating, ducts, corners, and everything else in between.
"Clear." Jondum called out, informing the rest of Team Valkyrie while Shepard walked further into her hallway, seeing that it led further in.
"Got a turn up ahead." Shepard called out. "Tela? Rear guard. Garrus and Rahe, you've got babysitting duties."
"Now I feel like I'm five." Bastila Shan grumped, though she said nothing else. Shepard didn't want to deal with a pouty researcher, so she leveled a glance at Dr. Liara T'soni behind her, her glare giving the good Doctor an idea what she was thinking. Liara, much to her credit, understood and looked to the human researcher, who was undoubtedly feeling some sort of disapproval through their bond. Bastila, thankfully, remained silent as Rahe'Tarram stuck to her side, the Quarian nudging the human woman and using a hand signal; pointing at her own silvery eyes with both of her fingers, and then pointing right at the human, indicating I'll be watching you. Shepard had to smile at that. She and Jondum took point, her Serrice Counsel armor's radar still tracking the movements of Team Valkyrie as she and the Salarian moved down the hallway, seeing it terminate into another access hatch, a helpful icon identifying it as an elevator. Thankfully, it was an all-access elevator that needed no tampering with in order to operate. Raising her rifle to the ready, she nodded to Bau to have him punch the 'open' button, and the doors slid to each side, revealing an empty elevator. Shepard stood to one side, putting a hand in the elevator to keep the doors open, letting her team enter the elevator before getting in herself.
"Royce? We're in the elevator that should take us to the Tram Control Room." Shepard called up on her radio, informing the leader of Team Dingo as the elevator began to move downward. "I haven't seen anything to indicate what happened here. Have you?"
"Nothin' so far, Janey." Royce replied, his voice a little distorted, making Shepard frown. Omnitool communications should have been fine for ten kilometers, even in a spaceship. Something must be interfering with the signal, which perplexed her. They were all using Specter-level Omnitools, encryption, and frequencies; no one should even be aware how to interrupt their comms. Humans had learned a few nasty tricks over their various wars; signal interruptors, relay broadcasters, local EMP pulses, quantum interference devices and the such. Yet those were active measures that were on all the time, and usually used quite a bit of power. The Ishimura was a mining vessel; they wouldn't have tech like that. Not to mention with all the problems on the vessel as well. "Stacy and Cavius haven't seen anythin', either. You pickin' them up on comms?"
"Nothing. Not even static." Sheaprd bit her lip a little, trying to think what would cause such a disruption, especially with military communications. She would have thought that with such high-tech equipment that Specter could get their hands on, a couple hundred meters or so of metal and space wouldn't make a difference. "We should hear them soon if they're in the Tram Station, too. Head down their way and meet up with them there. If we can get the Trams rolling, we can use it as a mobile headquarters. Bring the cases of food with you, too. Tram Station may not be the best hold-out, but it's better than being in some lockdown. Perhaps the corridor will be easier with the interference."
"We c—n hop—-." Royce's voice sputtered over the line, and Shepard heard herself curse. Damn, nothing was ever easy, was it. As a thought, she opened up her Omnitool and sent Royce a short text message, just asking for an acknowledgement. To her surprise, he answered quickly, with no corruption. Shepard then tried with Stacy and Cavius. They replied back in less than a minute.
"Radios don't work, but we can text on Omnitools." Shepard said to her team, informing them. "Ideas? All I can think of is frequency interference, but that shouldn't be possible, right?"
"A text is basically a short pulse of information, bytes of information sent as a packet." Rahe'Tarram explained, thinking it over. "A radio communication is constant, sending much larger caches of data in a stream. It would be much easier to interrupt a signal that it would be a packet of data."
"So, we could possibly send a data text to the Spirit?" Shepard asked, sensing a hope coming their way. She knew she should know better, an Omnitool didn't have that kind of range, but the Ishimura might if they located the Communications Room, or even just found some antenna.
"With an antenna and a boost in power… yes, it's possible." The Quarian replied, her voice getting excited. "We'll need a dish of sufficient size to make a short-range communications burst, and perhaps a power cell to amplify its broadcasting power. But we'll also need the Spirit's position, and be within a few degrees of it. Without any kind of radar, ladar, or spotting equipment, it will be shooting in the dark."
"That's still better than what we had before." Tela replied, her tone hopeful. "We could find the source of the interruption, but we would need an idea where to start, too. I suggest that we send word-to-text communications through our Omnitools to the other teams, making it a priority alarm to the user when the word starts with 'priority', that way we can communicate in emergencies without having a member of the team constantly reading their Omnitool for useless updates."
"I like it." Shepard replied, her bond pulsing with content; did the Asari Specter just feel joy from such a simple compliment? Perhaps she should do it more often. "I'll text the others so we can set up our Omnitool's VI's to do just that. And how long is this damn elevator? Are we back on the Citadel?"
1st Lieutenant Jane Shepard moved through the corridor with Jondum Bau at her side, the Salarian Specter holding onto his M-12 Locust Sub-Machine Gun close to his chest, his amphibian-like eyes scanning everything as they walked into the Tram Control Room. The room was of fair size, complete with a Tram Control Station, two dispensaries filled with sodas and energy drinks, and windows that let them see Teams Cowboy and Ghost, twelve beings guarding the room, which had what looked to be a short Tram car that appeared not to be operational.
"Stacy, you read me now?" Shepard called out to Master Chief Stacy Valentino, the N7 in charge of Team Cowboy. She saw through the ceramic glass the older blonde woman turn and smile at her.
"Shit, thought I was going to have to hold your hand." Her Auntie Val said, making Balista Shan snicker a little, earning herself a glare from both Shepard and Tela. "Whatever's wrong with the buggy is on your end, Janey. Be a dear and fix Momma Bear's ride. Can't pimp out Bitch without a ride to hustle her in."
"Charming." Shepard shook her head, smiling all the while. Stacy would never change. "While we do all the hard work, why don't you tell Cavius why you're called the Organ Splitter? I'm sure that'll give you something to talk about."
"Organ Splitter? Do I even want to know?" Team Ghost's Cavius Reminion asked, looking at Shepard through the glass. "I've noticed that humans tend to have a rather poor form of humor involving sexual acts and parts."
"That's half the fun." Corporal-Technician Bill Hudson pointed out with a sarcastic tone.
"Alright, children. We're off to find Stacy's doohickey." Shepard announced, looking over to the door marked 'Cargo Hallway'. She felt Tela push her feelings through the bond, and Shepard reciprocated as she headed towards the door, mashing the button with her fist, once more, she and Jondum Bau cleared the door, seeing an immediate T-junction that went left and right. The Salarian went to the left while Shepard went right, clearing the immiedate hallway as Tela Vasir went to the left of her while Rahe'Tarram went to the right of Jondum. "Clear corridor, stop at any doors." Shepard ordered, getting simple acknowledgements from the Specters. Together, Shepard and Tela moved as one, their bond humming in sync, moving as one. They moved down the hall, and Tela thought door to left, which Shepard returned bathrooms, the Asari moving in and doing a quick sweep of both the male and female bathrooms, exiting a few moments later while Shepard held her position, her Mark VII aimed down the corridor. As soon as the Thessian returned, the continued down the way, stepping over fallen luggage and debris on the floor. Something by her foot caught her eye, and she found what looked to be an Audio Recording Device, meant for those who couldn't transmit through Omnitool. Curious, Shepard picked it up, and pressed the 'play' button.
"This is Benson." A man's voice came over the device, breathing hard with a definite tone of panic come from his voice, causing Shepard and Tela to look at one another. "Everybody listen up! They're using the vents! That's how they're getting around the ship! Stay away from the vents…" Another man's voice came from the background of the recording, crying Look out!, accompanied by the sound of something metal breaking. "Get back! Get back!" Benson's voice shouted through the device, ending with a painful scream before cutting off.
"Well, I guess it is safe to assume that they use vents." Tela snorted, seeing one at the end of the corridor, busted open as if something went through it. "It would have helped if the human had given us a description."
"Can't win them all, 'gel." Shepard shrugged, pocketing the ARD into a spare hard pouch on her Serrice Counsel armor. "Let's clear this area." The Thessian nodded to her, giving her both a smile with her lips and a gentle nudge with her bond, and together the continued to move down the last fifteen meters of the corridor. The corridor took a left at the end, and Shepard saw that it immediately terminated into a door, identified as 'Tram Tunnel Door'. "Here we go. Jondum? Rahe? You find anything on your end? We got the Tram this way."
"The Maintenance Bay, but the door is locked, and the control panel is busted." Rahe'Tarram replied over her radio, her synthesized voice frustrated. "I think we can unlock it from a computer node or if we had some sort of access pass, for the scanner still works. We just won't be able to bypass it."
"Something else to keep an eye open for." Shepard sighed. "Move to my position. Garrus? Bring the scientists." She got acknowledgements all around and only had to wait a few minutes for the Quarian, Salarian, Turian, Asari, and human to move towards the door in which she and the Thessian waited beside. Tela moved to press the open function on the door's panel, the holographic lock indicting that the door would be opening as Shepard aimed her assault rifle at the door, ready to clear it as the door slide open to both sides, revealing a corridor that lead downward, a ramp that went perhaps fifteen meters, narrower than the previous hallway. Shepard took the lead, hardly being enough room for two people to walk side-by-side comfortably. Her taclight illuminated the downward corridor as her eyes scanned everything. Her visor's HUD displaying no other movement on its radar other than her team as she walked down the ramp, approaching a door that was too labeled 'Tram Tunnel Door'. Jondum Bau, the slightest of them, seemed to have read her mind as he slid beside her, intending to help Shepard cover the door as she went to open it.
They found the Tram Tunnel.
"Gods, what a mess." Shepard muttered as she slowly pie'ed the door, finding herself in a large tunnel, debris clogging the floor as vents from the ground released steam and some unknown gas into the tunnel, giving the floor a haze upon its darkened surface. Everyone had slowly filled into the Tram Tunnel, the vast corridors going to either end farther than the eye could see. The Tunnel itself was some twenty meters wide, and probably thirty meters tall, a cavernous tube made of metal that burrowed its way through the Ishimura. Each of them scanned the Tunnel's dimensions slowly, even the Protheanologists, taking their time to illuminate and check every corner and crevice of the Tunnel. The darkness of the Tunnel made it to were they could barely see the ceiling from where they stood, and not much further than thirty meters in either direction. Shepard 'snicked' her tongue against her clenched teeth; a place like this was an ambush waiting to happen if there were hostile forces.
"Visor? Night vision." Shepard called out, her Kuwaskii visor going to low luminosity vision, enhancing the Tunnel in shades of black and green, the image giving her a bit better of a view. She saw that the Tram Tunnel was divided into partitions, ribs that encircled the interior that prevented them from walking much further than a hundred meter section of the Tunnel. On the ceiling was the Tram's track, a single monorail that ran the length of the Tunnel, a thick beam held in place by magnetics. Up ahead, near the partition, Shepard could see a door on the opposite wall that seemed to go towards their destination. "Everyone? I've got a possible route. Keep together in single file, and don't walk on any grating. Enough has gone wrong on this ship to trust some damn air vent not to collapse." She got a round of acknowledgments from her team as she led them along the far right wall of the Tunnel, doing her best to avoid kicking the debris on the floor around to minimize their presence. The sound of a glass bottle being kicked across the ground, spinning about as it rolled across the metal surface had everyone stop, guns pointed in all directions as the bottle finally stopped rolling and spinning about, Shepard putting her taclight's beam on the bottle, seeing it to be a brand of Lightspeed energy beverage. She looked back to her team, and saw that Dr. Liara T'soni looked very sheepishly back.
"I'm sorry. I can't see what we're walking on." The Protheanologist apologized in a whisper, getting a snort from Rahe'Tarram. "I'm not a soldier, but I'm trying my best not to be completely worthless."
"Just try summoning your inner-Commando, Doctor; light steps, small profile, and not playing 'kick the can' in creepy corridors." Shepard replied dryly, eliciting a chuckle from Garrus Vakarian. She continued towards where she had seen the door, taking few moments to reach it. Shepard saw an immediate problem; the door was malfunctioning, Shepard looking at the distastefully as it opened and shut on itself quickly, faster than she'd care to time it and try to rush through it. By the way it snapped closed every second or so, she was pretty sure that it would easily crush a limb… or perhaps her chest. Taking such a risk was needless, and creating casualties in such a way over something as silly as an uncooperative door was pointless. "Okay. Options?"
"Agent Shepard, if I may?" Dr. Liara T'soni spoke up, glowing blue with biotic energy. She looked to Tela, who merely shrugged, and took a step back as the Protheanologist raised a hand towards the malfunctioning door, and shot forth a spew of biotic energy towards it as it slammed open… and stayed open. "Please go forth, I will not be able to hold this forever." The Doctor grunted, her face strained.
"You heard the Thessian, hustle ass!" Shepard commanded as everyone pushed through the opening, Shepard and Tela clearing the corridor immedately as they passed through the biotically-opened door, pushing forward to let the rest of Team Valkyrie through. As soon as Garrus had finished getting through ,everyone on the other side, Dr. T'soni dropped her hand, and the door slammed shut, opening again, and closing as it had before. "Nice one, Indy." Shepard complimented the Asari. "What was that, exactly?"
"A stasis bolt." The Thessian replied, her voice a little exhausted. "We use it to slow things down. It can be taxing though; I am not as well-versed in biotica as, say, your Specters who train with them constantly."
"Every little bit helps, Doctor." Shepard replied honestly, looking to Tela, who nodded. "I gotta admit; biotics make me jealous. I wish I could do something like that." She told her lover, making Tela smirk at her. Shepard looked up the upward slope of the corridor that would hopefully lead them towards the Tram Repair Room sooner or later. Raising her rifle, she clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth to indicate that it was time to move on.
It took them another fifteen minutes to make it to the Tram Repair Room, and Shepard was full and ready to get the transportation device ready. She couldn't understand the layout of the USG Ishimura; was nothing close or even in a location that made sense? It seemed that she had to walk through at least fifteen doors just to reach the room that was shaped like a 'U'. The catwalk that she found herself on was damaged and scorched in certain places, several air ducts smashed inward from the walls of the ships' interior. Shepard stepped a few meters inside the room, inspecting everything with taclight, her Mark VII Assault Rifle, and her eyes, observing all. She paid particular attention to the scorch marks on the grating of the catwalks, and one particular section had her gasp a little bit.
It looked melted.
"What's wrong?" Tela asked, her own Mark VII pointed at the same thing that Shepard was. "It looks like acid burned through it… oh." The Thessian had seen some of her memories of LV 426, especially her nightmares. She knew what that would mean. Shepard looked back at her team, seeing Jondum, Garrus, and Rahe'Tarram all exchanging glances. They had all seen the reports of her actions on LV 426, and even the combat footage. The Counsel had taken the threat seriously, and even recruits were being made aware of what she and her Marines had faced on that moon. They knew without being told what acid damage where none was expected meant.
"Are we missing something?" Dr. Liara T'soni asked, looking towards the spot that was large enough for a man to fall through had been melted through the catwalks' grating. "Is this significant."
"It is." Shepard replied, sighing. "It's what I've feared to be; I just got solid confirmation of my fears; them."
"Um, giant radioactive ants?" Bastila Shan asked, confused.
"I wish."
"Holy… shit!" 1st Lieutenant Jane Shepard swore as Team Valkyrie made their way to the USG Ishimura's Maintenance Bay, a cavernous room filled with catwalks, a broken joist crane cradling what looked to be a skid, and the eerie presence of something gone wrong. The door had split apart to reveal the maze of grating, metal handrails, emergency lighting, and confusing layout as Shepard took three steps forward, Garrus Vakarian now at her side with his M92 Mantis sniper rifle in his talons, probing everything through his scope while Rahe'Tarram nar Sofis occupied the left-hand side of their triangular position, sweeping a catwalk with her Quarian Carbine Shotgun. The walkway spite into two directions, one heading straight and to the right, and the other to the left, meandering to what appeared to be an elevator somewhere passed the broken crane. The Maintenance Bay, unfortunately, was huge and filled with all sorts of locations for something to hide in. Tactically, it was a mess. "Are we literally going to trapeze through this entire fucking ship for some dumb circuit board? What's next? Dirty laundry runs?"
Calm yourself, Jane. Tela Vasir's thoughts sifted through their bond, gentle and warm. It does seem we are running in circles, but we do need that Tram running if we are to repair this ship and discover what transpired here.
I know what transpired here; the same fucking thing that transpired on LV 426. Shepard lamented, her thoughts seething. They had walked by two more acid splashes from the Tram Repair Room to the Maintenance Bay after replacing the damaged Tram with a good one. They had yet to encounter a living soul, having checked every accessible room they passed, including offices, bathrooms, supply closets, and even maintenance ducts. Thankfully, they hadn't encountered any Xenomorphs, either, but Shepard knew that would only be a matter of time. How long have they been here, has everyone been dragged off? Those thoughts colored her mind and her emotions as she pointed out Garrus, Rahe, Jondum Bau, and the Protheanologist Dr. Liara T'soni to head towards the straight direction to check it out while she, Tela Vasir, and Bastila Shan would sweep to the right. The Turian Specter nodded once with her hand signals, and the team split itself into two, checking both routes at the same time. Is there a Queen in here? Eggs? Will we stumble across a colony or a hive? Shepard sadly had no answers as her anger and her despair swelled with in her, memories of LV 426 surfacing uglily. Shepard and Tela swept down their catwalk, finding the catwalk bridge that lead towards the cargo elevator to be stable enough while Bastila Shan stayed behind them, her hands gripping her A-33 Ardat Sub-Machine Gun tightly to her chest as the researcher dutifully kept close, her eyes nervously looking around. Gods, I am so stupid, bringing a bunch of people will little combat training, and no experience with such things. Clearing ships? Being stranded? Half of us are ineffective towards such things, making the other half watch over them!
This is not so different from what normal Specter missions are like, Jane. Tela told her as they began walking down the catwalk bridge, the barrels of their Mark VII Assault Rifles pointing down the catwalk, sweeping left and right, scanning everything with each step they took, both of their senses on overdrive. We often go in knowing little, and try to bring as much of the necessary firepower we think we need, while supplementing as much skills we normally don't possess to compensate for our weakness. Sometimes, that means walking into a situation with the worst possible people for it. Sometimes, that person is you. Remind me to tell you about Pharye Myraria, the Ardat Yakshi that somehow managed to beat me and my team no less than four times… and lost to a bullheaded human Maiden. That had Shepard snort, but she realized that Tela had never really told her about the creature the Marine had mistakenly thought as Tela Vasir, believing she had killed a Specter by choking her to death, and finishing the job with the corner edge of a desk lamp and the back of a Thessian skull. All she knew was that Ardat Yakski's scared the living piss out of the Asari in general, especially Matriarchs. What the hell scared thousand-year old women who possessed the strongest biotics in the galaxy? And how was she able to win in a simple fistfight? They reached the elevator, Shepard's weapon scanning where the catwalk lead passed the elevator, looping over towards where Garrus and his team had split off, her eyes following up where the elevator went, another catwalk above their heads some thirty meters up.
"Garrus? We're going to check out the upper floor. See if there's anything there." Shepard called out on her radio to the Turian.
"Good. We found a locked door for the Bay Office, but we need an actual access card to get in." The Turian Specter replied, his duel-tone voice dry. "Between a Quarian, a Salarian, and even my skills, we can't seem to get through this door. It looks like someone activated the magnetic lock and shut down the release mechanism on the other side. The only way we're getting in is with an access card or some breaching explosives."
"What, a Turian without a grenade? That's like… as useful as a Batarian rape counselor!" Shepard teased, getting Tela chuckle and Jondum to snort over the radio. "We'll check upstairs for one. Maintenance Bays tend to have a lot of work stations, and its entirely plausible that a few exist, and one might just be lying about." She punched the access button for the lift labeled 'To Crane Control'. She waited as the elevator slowly descended from the second level, and it made her think that it could be possible someone might still be alive up there; if the elevator had been used to evacuate people, it would have remained on the level they were on! The thought obviously transferred over to Tela, who nodded as they stood to either side of the elevators' doors, their weapons ready as it reach their level, the doors sliding open to reveal an empty cargo elevator. Tela boarded first, and then the researcher Bastila after she was told to, Shepard getting on last as she hit the 'up' arrow, the doors of the elevator closing behind her, the lift rising to take them to the second level of the Maintenance Bay.
The doors opened to reveal a creature of shadows and darkness.
"Hey!" Shepard hollered, catching the attention of the obviously alien creature, shrieking in surprised as it turned to look at her. Once more, Shepard was struck by the alienness of the thing; something that resembled nothing like anything anyone had ever seen in the galaxy, no similarities having ever been encountered before. It stood there on four limbs, a barely humanoid creature with rubbery-looking skin and a chitinous look to its sleek body. As soon as she got its attention, the creatures' long, curved head twitched over towards her, 'looking' at her with its eyeless head, its strange jaw dropping open as it let off a kiss of warning, its spine-like tail raising up in defense behind and above it, its spade-like tail aiming towards them. Unfortunately for the creature, it was fifteen meters away, across the second level's catwalk bridge, and Shepard was in no mood to fuck around. With years of reflex and practice behind her, drilled by OCS instructors and her own adopted family of N's, Shepard raised her Specter Gear Mark VII Assault Rifle, set to a double-tap burst of armor-piercing penetration with incendiary effect, her finger caressing the trigger of her rifle, speaking death twice in succession. The pair of rounds immediately slapped into the chest of the crouched creature, practically folding it in half from the force as it tumbled to the ground, the rounds immediately putting it down without exiting the back of the creature, containing its highly-acidic blood inside its own body.
"Fucking bugs." Shepard exhaled, her assault rifle scanning, looking for more, as well as using her ears. "Omnitool? Priority message, tag Royce, Stacy, and Cavius. Encountered Xenomorph, second level of Maintenance Bay, single drone. Armor-piercing, Incendiary very effective. End message."
"The picture didn't do it justice." Tela Vasir commented quietly as Shepard stepped off the elevator, seeing that her visor's radar hadn't picked up the Xeno; it hadn't been moving, after all. Both human and Asari swept and clear the second level, seeing that it was really just a straight walk towards a platform where a couple of work stations were located, as well as the corpse of the Xenomorph. They scanned everything as they approached the work stations, Shepard keeping an eye on the dark nooks and crannies of the area, anything that could fit a bug. She couldn't understand why this one lone drone was by itself, standing there in a location where there was no one else. Was it perhaps without its Queens' instructions? She remembered what she had done in Hadley's Hope, testing the drones while closing the North Gate door, figuring out that a drone without a Queen was pretty much useless. Was there no Queen? Had something happened to the hive or nest? It would make sense to see a drone merely react to a threat, as oppose to working. If there was no Queen, then perhaps there were survivors. The Ishimura was easily a ship containing a thousand or more personnel; Shepard didn't enjoy the thought that every single one of them might be a host to chestbursters and drones. If a Queen had laid that many eggs, then she would have no choice but to destroy the ship to ensure none of them escaped. If the Queen was dead or partitioned off from the rest of her drones, then their job would be a little bit easier.
"Hey, found what looks to be an access card." Tela announced, walking by one of the work stations and spotting a card that had a magnetic strip on one side. "Says Bay Office. That's what Garrus says he needs."
"Well, I guess we can deliver it to him." Shepard replied, nodding, looking to Bastila Shan, who was gazing over and down towards the door that the others waited at. The researchers' face looked sour. "Something wrong, Jedi?"
"Li is… quite nervous." Bastila replied, looking back to the human Specter. "I can't tell why, though."
"Garrus? Come in?" Shepard called up on her radio, but found only static in response. "Damn this comm situation! We're only like… a hundred meters away! I could shout at them if I thought it was a good idea!" Tela snorted, though none of the women raised their voices; it was as Shepard said, it wasn't a good idea, especially if there were bugs nearby. "Fuck it. We're moving back to their position. If we're going to have to run around like a bunch of headless chickens to fix every single problem on this ship, this is going to be one long mission." Shepard grumped, shaking her head. The Ishimura was close to two and a half kilometers long, but once one factored in all the routes, catwalks, maintenance tunnels, and hallways, the ship could easily have as much thirty to forty kilometers of paths inside of it, just begging for ambushes and choke points to be cleared. A ship this size would logistically need a battalion to clear if one didn't mind missing certain locations and possibly losing half of their forces. Two battalions would be better, yet she was having to do it with a platoon-sized element, and a good number of her people weren't even combat rated! Shepard seethed on the inside, the situation that they found themselves in one she found herself truly afraid to be in. She had dragged Ripley into this mess, her last remaining family member, and Newt's only other guardian. Several of her classmates weren't military or even close to it, and now they were in a completely hostile situation much like LV 426. At least at Hadley's Hope, almost everyone was trained in marksmanship and teamwork. In the Ishimura most everyone was working together for the first time with the exception of her Marines, as well as Garrus Vakarian and Asha T'vara, who had been involved in some incident with Separatists and some invisible hunter on the Turian colony of Taetarus. Her decisions could get them killed.
Broken ship undoubtedly stuffed filled with bugs, and she carted all of them right into the middle of it with no clear way out.
Your class knew what they may have been walking into when they agreed to join the mission, Jane. Tela told her through their bond, trying to calm the Marine. Your grandmother knew, too. Plans go astray all the time; the true measure of a leader is making the best out of a bad situation. And you haven't been doing bad.
Say that when you're looking at a horde of these things, or you see a facehugger attached to someone. Jane thought back, her mind resisting the calmness that the Thessian was trying to share. This ship either needs to be quarantined or to be scuttled; if Xenomorphs are here, then it is likely that everyone is infected, or they are being hunted for that purpose. We got lucky that this is a human ship, Tela; I saw the imagery of what the other forms of Xenos make when it is a Turian host, or an Asari one. We haven't faced them… and I'm not looking forward to the thought of facing one, either.
Come, let us regroup with Garrus. Tela thought, her patience with Shepard still amazing the Marine at times. At least if we are all together, the possibility of us solving any issues that arise will be that much greater.
The elevator ride down to the first floor was thankfully uneventful as Shepard and Tela Vasir cleared the walkways towards the Bay Office, finding Garrus, Rahe'Tarram, Jondum, and Dr. Liara T'soni standing by the locked door in a holding pattern, weapons at the ready, though the Protheanologists' M9 Tempest was merely cradled in her hands as oppose to the more ready lowered barrels of her Turian, Quarian, and Salarian counterparts. Shepard could easily tell that the Doctor seemed spooked about something by the way she looked around the Maintenance Bay, her eyes darting about. Though she was still learning alien facial expressions from her fellow Specters, Shepard could see that Garrus' mandibles were clamped tight to his jaw; a clear sign that a Turian was aggitated about something.
"We found the card key." Shepard announced quietly, approaching Garrus as she had her Specter Gear Mark VII Assault Rifle at the ready. "Anything to report?"
"We've been hearing what sounds like movement in the vents behind the walls." The Turian replied softly, his flanged voice clearly focused, Shepard recalling that Garrus Vakarian was a Blackwatch Talon Leader who had lost his entire squad killing some sentient being that hunted them all down before joining the Office of Special Tactics. Bastila Shan had rejoined Dr. Liara T'soni, and Shepard noted that the human researcher was fretting over her bondmate, trying to comfort her. That was good. "Sounds like talons on metal, like a revka scurrying."
"We saw a Xenomorph on the second floor, human drone-type, by itself." Shepard told the Turian Specter, watching his mandibles drop slightly. "Shot and killed it, but I think it wasn't receiving anything; it was merely standing there as oppose to searching or working. Either it couldn't smell a Queen, or there's no Queen to smell. Perhaps someone got lucky and cut it off from the rest of its brood, turning the drones into no more than dumb beasts. Or perhaps it got killed or ejected off the ship. Either way, one bug means we have an idea what happened to the crew of this ship; captured and taken for those unarmed, and whoever fought back was probably killed, perhaps captured and taken."
"Spirits. I saw the footage of that colony of yours." Garrus replied, shaking his fringed head. "Attrition tactic will work best as long as we have the space to retreat by fire. They pin us in a dead end…"
"I've got grenades. I'm not waking up with something on my face, and neither will anyone else." Shepard replied, her tone cold and filled with steel. The Turian, thankfully, merely nodded and took her at her word. "They strike from shadows and love ambushes. Unfortunately, that's about ever fifth step on this ship. Let's get this damn circuit board and get the Tram running. I want all my people the fuck off this ship as soon as possible. Dohn ma?"
"All except that last bit." The Turian replied, amused.
They got the Tram running in good order.
1st Lieutenant Jane Shepard sighed as she sat down on one of the seats of the Tram Train of the USG Ishimura, the stress taking its toll on her as the monorail car ambled its way towards the Bridge of the planet-fracking vessel. Everyone had gotten on board with ease, the car meant to service the thousand or so people that worked on the mining vessel, so the twenty-five Specters, Marines, and civilians of various species were able to fit in the one-hundred person car with ease, even Naor the Bull had no issues, the Elcor Specter taking his place at one of the ends so as to avoid clogging up the car in case of an emergency.
"Janey, you doin' okay?" Captain Royce Mason asked quietly, sitting next to her, the Australian-born N7 looking at her with concerned eyes. "You lookin' thin, 'gel."
"Stress." Shepard admitted, wincing as she rotated her neck, having spent the past three hours getting the Tram up-and-running, clearing every hallways and room along the way. Such operations took its toll even on those trained for such activities, and even N's had their limits. The fact that they were badly underpowered and in the middle of a worse case scenario wasn't improving her mood. "Clearing this boat's gonna take time, Uncle. I don't even know if we actually can considering its size and the numbers we've got. The fact that I saw a Xeno throws a big ole monkey wrench in the shit sandwich."
"Not your first rodeo with the bugs, Janey." The older man replied, his tone reassuring. "We ain't blind and dumb this time, and you made a good call makin' sure we had the best possible equipment. Hell, even the Specter recruits know what we're facin', so no one's gonna be surprised if it comes time to do a bug hunt save for our nerds." Shepard merely grunted, and found herself looking at Ellen Ripley, her grandmother standing with Sergeant Dwayne Hicks, talking to the Marine about something.
"Something else is bothering me, Royce. Probably the same thing that's on your mind." Shepard admitted, feeling a little overwhelmed by it all. "I'm doing my best to focus on this mission, but… Earth. I keep thinking about Earth."
"Me too, 'gel." The N7 admitted as well, her voice sounding tired. "Janey, me and Val were talkin', and you're probably not gonna like what I have to say." She looked to her adopted Uncle, a feeling of wariness coming over her. "If there's gonna be a war on Earth, and the Counsel is gonna help… Janey, you're gonna have to sit this fight out."
"What?" Her voice was a little too loud, garnering everyone's attention for a moment, making Shepard's cheeks go hot momentarily. As soon as everyone returned to their own conversations and thoughts, Shepard returned her attention to Royce. "You're going to sit me out?" Her voice seethed with anger and confusion, feeling like a child in time-out.
" 'Gel, you got somethin' more important t'do than run around a damn ship like some fool wombat wit' its head cut off." The N7 replied, his tone gentle. "This isn't me sittin' you out 'cuz you've done somethin' wrong or I think I can do better. I'm sittin' you out because you need to arrive on Arcturus alive, Janey. The fate of Earth probably jus' got dumped on your shoulders, and we can't afford to have the one human being the Counsel gives a damn about gettin' herself killed over somethin' trivial. Think the Counsel will hand the Citadel Fleets to the likes of me? Val? Anderson? Grissom?" The Australian-born man asked, and Shepard felt cold logic cutting through her emotions; Royce was making a point. "If you're not there, Janey, then it will be a Turian at the head o' that Fleet, and how do you think the Alliance is goin' to like that? Or the people of Earth? That happens, and there will be no rescuin' Earth. We need you alive and well, 'gel. Earth needs you."
"Gods… what am I suppose to say to that?" Shepard murmured, shaking her head. "I know that you're right, Uncle, I just… I just don't like being forced to the back of things while watching my friends and family go into danger while I'm tucked in, snugged as a bug." She went quiet, closing her eyes, thinking of the last day her mother was alive, Commander Amanda 'Ripper' Shepard tucking her only child into a lifepod as action station alarms rang throughout the SSV Iwo Jima. None of the other four children on-board had been put into a lifepod, having dutifully gone to whatever quarters they were assigned to. For Amanda and Jane Shepard, merely hitching a ride on the Iwo Jima to her mother's new position as XO of the SSV Shasta, they had no berths, and her mother had put Jane in the one place she would most likely remain safe during an attack.
Less than ten seconds later, Shepard watched the gun deck of the Iwo Jima explode with a hull breach, sucking out Navy and Marine personnel… including her mother.
"Look, Janey, we ain't shuntin' ya out or nothin'; we're lookin' big picture here." The N7 explained gently, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Yeah, I don't like the thought of ya runnin' about, puttin' you in danger, but you're a big sheila, and I know you can kick some ass. But Earth… Earth's more important, and she needs you, Janey; humanity needs you. We're headin' to the bridge to fix this damn comms issue, and then me, Val, and Cavius are gonna lead the better blokes through the ship to fix it up and get us outta this jam while you lead us through with the ships' schematics and what-not."
"Fine." Shepard couldn't argue against it. She knew she would lose. "I'll watch the kids while you and Aunt Val go booze and whore your way through town."
"See? Knew you was a good kid." Royce smiled. "Looks like we're makin' our stop up here."
"Welcome to… Bridge Deck." The Tram's helpful VI voice announced as the Tram slowed to a stop, reaching the Tram platform that was eerily empty. Captain Royce Mason and Master Chief Stacy Valentino were the first through the opening doors, scanning the platform for hostiles as Cavius Reminion stood in between them, doing the same thing, scanning the ceiling. Clearing the platform, everyone else on the Tram exited the vehicle as the two N7's began to move their way to the platform's only door, helpfully marked 'To Bridge' above it on its electronic marquee. Shepard stood alongside Tela Vasir near the back, closing the door to the Tram first so nothing could go in, and keeping an eye on the rear, her Serrice Counsel armor's radar still pinging only twenty-five signals on her Kuwashii visor's HUD, all blue icons to denote friendlies. The door to the bridge opened, and Specters and Marines entered into the Bridge Deck, seeing one door leading to the Command portion of the Bridge, while the other door lead to the Helm. Royce checked the door to the Helm to see if it was unlocked, and activated the door, both N7's clearing what appeared to be a chamber with several lifepods connected to it, leading to another door. Royce and Stacy went into that room too while Shepard stayed on the Tram platform with Tela and Naor the Bull, covering their rear, hating the fact that she was shunted back in the rear like some POG.
"Janey, we got ourselves a beachhead." Royce's thick Australian accent came over the radio, alerting her to the news. "Have everyone file in."
"Let's go make ourselves at home." Shepard told everyone who was still on the platform, having held back in a defensive pattern while the two N7's and the Specter Instructor cleared ahead. Everyone filed into the Helm, and Shepard was the last one in, closing and locking the pressure door behind her to find herself in a fairly large room with a bank of ceramic glass in the front for a front view of the planet Aegis VII looming, as well as the asteroid belt that prevented them from leaving. Thankfully, the Helm was large enough for all twenty-five of them, even if there weren't enough seats for everyone. It was as Royce said; it was a beachfront. "Royce, you go through the teams and see who you want." Shepard told the N7 as she stood next to him. "I'll see if we can get the Helm up and running, see if we can fix the comms and the computers. Hopefully, we can get an updated status on what happened to this ship and its crew in terms of time and information."
"Sounds like a plan." The Australian-born man nodded as Shepard moved to the Helm itself, where a pilot's workstation was located. Turning on the workstation, the VIOS clicked on as the haptic monitor chimed to life, and the green-tinted face of a human woman with orange eyes came onto the screen.
"W-w-welCOME, u-u-user." The synthetic voice came, the face on the screen miming the words. "This is This is-is-issssszzzzzzz…. *Crackle* System Hyper-Optimized Data Access Network (Network). The c-crew refers (refers) to me-e-e as SHODAN. How may-may-may-may *Warble* I assist (may I assist)?"
A/N: Sorry about the long delay. Being sick and not to mention I did about 150,000 words in three weeks on this and Hadley's Hope, I think I needed the Brain Break!
Originally, this was going to be a walkthrough of Dead Space, and the original chapter ended up pegging some 20,000 words. It was dry and not at all engaging. So I trashed it and rewrote it, learning a thing or two from Bethesda Studios about Fast Traveling. Don't worry, Shepard isn't sitting out the whole fight. Just a lot less running around the Ishimura like hamsters on wheels.
T.J. is the tentative name of Rita Vrataski and Tip Crowe's child. Short for Tip Junior.
Ardat Yakshi's, for their reputation, weren't displayed as great as they could have been in the Mass Effect Universe. I've seen a lot of ideas on the Demons of the Nightwind, but a biotically strong sex vampire just doesn't seem quite as terrifying as they could have been. The ability to drain biotics and use it against an Asari was an idea of mine to make them more frightening… and also to explain why Jane Shepard could survive one, and defeat on in a simple fistfight.
Synthetic Hyper-Optimized Data Access Network, or SHODAN of System Shock fame, may induce panic into some of you. Sadly, trying to type her words is a lot harder than listening to that synthetic garble garbage she spoke. For an idea of how she speaks, YouTube 'SHODAN Speaks'.