Chapter 13
Missing Marines
Author's Note: I decided to start working on one of the side quests. BTW if anyone spots anything that could possible qualify as a spoiler, I'm begging you, keep it to yourself.
Liara relaxed into the chair that she was sitting in. She was in a room located behind the infirmary. Dr. Chakwas had allowed her to use it after she had examined her, reporting that apart from exhaustion she was completely fine. Liara was typing on a computer in front of her when she heard a knock on the door. Turning around, she saw Rebecca enter the room, a warm smile on her face. "Can I help you?" Liara asked, uncertain as to what the ODST wanted.
"Relax," Rebecca said in a comforting voice, sitting down "I just wanted to talk to you. If we're running around the galaxy trying to stop a psychotic Turian, we might as well get to know each other. How are you holding up?"
"I am fine," Liara answered, a little taken aback by Rebecca's kindness "Dr. Chakwas determined that I was completely healthy aside from a minor case of exaustion. I never thanked you for saving me down there, if the Geth had gotten to me," she shook her head "I don't want to think about it."
"You would've done the same thing if you were in my boots," Rebecca said kindly. Liara turned a slightly darker shade of blue as Rebecca said this.
"I know that the Commander took a large risk when he brought me aboard," Liara said "Some of the crew has looked at me with distrust in their eyes, but I am not like my mother, and I will do whatever I can to help top Saren."
"I believe you," Rebecca said "I've heard a bit about Benezia and I've yet to find a single detail about her that you share."
"It means a lot to me to hear that," Liara said, nodding her head "Thank you."
"Would you mind telling me little bit more about yourself?" Rebecca asked.
"Really?" Liara asked, clearly taken aback. She was surprised, after all they had just met.
"If it'll make you feel more comfortable, I'll tell you a little bit about myself first. Would that make things a little better?" Liara nodded. "Ok," Rebecca said as she crossed her legs "Where to begin? I'm like most ODSTs signed up the second I turned 18 and started off as a Marine, nobody starts off as an ODST, you only become one after you have some experience under your belt."
"Surprisingly enough my parents weren't in the military, because let me tell you something, you'll get that story nine out of ten times if you ask a Marine." At this point Rebecca's smile faded and was replaced by a sad frown. "Unfortunately they're both dead. Dad had a heart attack, and my Mom got in a car crash when some drunken asshole slammed into her car head on."
"Do you miss them?" Liara asked curiously.
Rebecca looked at Liara sadly "All the time," she said, her voice choking a little. "But when someone dies, you get used to it, after all it is a part of life, and it's normal for a child to bury his parents one day, even if it is sad."
"How did you end up on the Normandy?" Liara asked, trying to change the subject.
"Well," Rebecca said, forgetting her momentary sadness as she thought about her past "I was stationed on Eden Prime when the Geth invaded it. Taylor and I managed to fight our way through towards where the beacon used to be. After that we headed up to the spaceport and Taylor saved Nihlus' life believe it or not. After Shepard got that vision of his, we helped Demas hunt down for evidence of Saren's guilt. After a firefight in Chora's Den, we got the info we needed, Shepard was made a Spectre and here we are, hunting down Saren. Alright your turn."
"What?" Liara asked, looking startled "Oh, I am not very interesting, I've spent half of my half digging through the remains of the Protheans ruins."
"You call that boring?" Rebecca said "One of the greatest wonders of the UNSC is the remains of the ancient alien civilization that we study."
"Yes, I think I heard about them," Liara said hesitantly "They were called the Forerunners, right?" Rebecca nodded. "I have a theory concerning ancient civilizations. The Protheans had a massive empire that extended to the far reaches of the galaxy, much like the Forerunners. Yet both of them completely disappeared, with all but faint traces of them wiped away. I've theorized that there is a cycle of extinction in this galaxy. Every civilization builds upon the remains of the previous race, until they are destroyed and the cycle repeats itself."
"That's a groundbreaking theory," Rebecca said plainly "Do you think it has anything to do with the Reapers?"
"Maybe," Liara said, looking thoughtful as she scratched her chin thoughtfully.
"Hey what's that over there?" Rebecca asked, pointing at a pile of pitch black armor lying in the corner of the room.
"Oh, Ashley gave me a some ODST armor," Liara said "She said that I would be needing it where we're going. It was awfully nice of her, considering that I have no armor of my own."
Rebecca was about to reply, when Shepard spoke through the ship's intercom "Rebecca, Iasa, Wrex, Tali and Liara, I need you to gear up and meet me in the hanger bay. While we were heading towards the Mass Effect relay in the Sparta system, we picked up a distress signal coming from the planet Edolus, and I intend on responding to it. The planet's atmosphere is not breathable so equip yourselves for that."
"What do you think happened down there?" Rebecca asked, as she toke her helmet off of her back and slid it over her head.
"Whatever it is, it can't be any good," Liara said as she picked up a wristguard from her pile of armor and slapped it on.
Half an hour later, two Pelicans flew down to the surface of Edolus, each one carrying a Warthog. Shepard sat in one Pelican with Iasa and Wrex, while Rebecca Liara and Tali sat in the other. "Due to extreme dust storms I'll have to drop you a klick away from the distress signal," Richard said "You'll have to take the Warthogs to get there," he continued as the Pelicans landed and the back doors opened and the Warthogs were detached from the dropships. "Be careful down there, not a whole lot is is known about this planet, you have no idea what you're walking into."
Tali jumped onto the gun of the first Warthog, while Liara climbed into the passenger's seat, while Rebecca climbed into the drivers seat. "Just point it at whatever I don't like and pull the trigger?" Tali asked as she gripped the turret tightly.
"Pretty much, it's very accurate," Rebecca said as she pressed down on the acceleration, following the other Warthog, which had Shepard driving, Wrex on the gun, and Iasa in the passenger's seat with a carbine. The two Warthogs tore across the rocky planet, heading towards the source of the distress signal.
"Who would even come to a planet like this?" Liara asked, as the Warthog began to descend into what looked like a basin, some sort of structure visible at the bottom.
"You never know," Rebecca said as they began to approach the bottom of the basin "Maybe it would be a good place for mining."
"We're coming up on the origin of the distress signal," Shepard said through the COM lines "Keep your eyes peeled, remember someone sent that distress that signal for a reason." No sooner had Shepard spoken than the earth began to shake, and a massive form emerged from the ground easily 30 meters high.
"THRESHER MAW!" Rebecca shouted as she slammed on the brakes and put the Warthog in reverse, and Tali opened fire at the Thresher Maw. Shepard swerved violently as Wrex fired his own turret at the Thresher Maw. The bullets from both turrets tore into the armor of the Thresher Maw, causing damage although it was minor. It would take a good deal of fire to kill it.
"Keep your distance from it!" Shepard shouted over the COM lines "If you get to close that thing will tear your Warthog in half!"
"How are we supposed to kill this thing?" Tali shouted in frustration, as Rebecca swerved and began to circle the Thresher Maw, Shepard doing the same thing.
"We need to wear it down," Iasa shouted, as she fired she carbine at the Thresher Maw "In Humanity's past, Chinese Triads killed their enemies by cutting their enemies a thousand times until they bled to death. The wounds our weapons are creating are merely cuts to it, we need to keep wounding it until it dies from blood loss."
"She is right!" Wrex roared as he fired the turret at the Thresher Maw "I killed one of these things during my Rite of Passage using the same methods!"
"Yeah, that's a good idea!" Tali shouted "Just one problem, we need to actually stay alive long enough to actually kill it, and by the looks of it this Bosh'tet will take a lot of ammunition to kill!
"She has a point!" Rebecca shouted, as she swerved to avoid a glob of acid that the Thresher Maw had spat at them, narrowly avoid it. "One false move and we're screwed!"
The Thresher Maw spat another glob of acid at Rebecca's Warthog, who barley avoid it. "This isn't going well!" Tali shouted as she continued to fire at Thresher Maw, as it spat another glob of acid at them. The monstrosity spat a third glob at the Warthog, this one was much more accurate, heading directly towards the Warthog. Liara threw her hands up, conjuring up a Biotic Barrier. The glob of acid slammed into the barrier, causing to the shattered, although the Warthog remained unharmed.
Liara let out a cry of pain as she clutched at her chest. "Are you alright?" Rebecca asked as she desperately avoid another glob of acid.
"Yes," Liara said, painting heavily "But I don't think I can make another Barrier that can protect us from that," she said as she threw a Warp at the Thresher Maw tearing a fist sized hole in it's side.
"Hopefully it won't come to that," Rebecca said, "But if we get hit by just one of those things, even indirectly, we're fucked!"
"Hold on!" Shepard shouted through his COM unit, as his Warthog drove towards the Thresher Maw, turret blazing. The Thresher Maw's attention was drawn away from Rebecca's Warthog, as it swung it's claws at Shepard's Warthog, only missing narrowly. As both Warthogs fired at the beast, it swung it's claws again, aiming for Shepard's Warthog. It missed however, as it's movements were starting to becoming sluggish.
"It is weakening!" Wrex shouted, as both he and Tali concentrated their fire on the Thresher Maw's mouth as it opened in a frustrated roar. It began to shake, as if it was dizzy. As bullets from the turrets continued to slam into it, the Thresher Maw fell to the ground, with an earsplitting crash.
"Is it dead?" Liara asked relaxing into her seat, as Rebecca began to drive, once again, towards the origin of the distress signal.
"I think so," Rebecca said, keeping a firm grip on the steering wheel to keep her hands from shaking. Something felt awfully familiar about this whole situation, but she couldn't put her finger on it, and part of her felt that that might be a good thing. As they approached the center of of the basin they realized that they structure was actually a series of overturned and burning Warthogs.
"Oh Keelah," Tali said, as she Rebecca brought the Warthog to a stop, right beside the burning LRVs. "What happened here?" she asked, activating omni-tool, as all three of them disembarked from the Warthog. "The distress signal is coming from over there," she said, pointing towards a UNSC made beacon.
"Oh Goddess," Liara said "There's no way that whoever used these vehicle lasted long enough to set up that beacon. They must have been lured here, this whole thing is a trap."
"Well then" Tali said, unholstering her shotgun and firing a burst at the beacon, which exploded as a result. "We can't just let the next group that comes through here meet the same fate."
Rebecca glanced around, looking for any survivors. As she did so, she saw a Marine half buried under a Warthog, one of his eyes had burst open, and it didn't look like he was breathing.
That's when it all came back, Rebecca knew what this place was as memories, unbidden and unwelcome, burst to the forefront of her mind.
Panting heavily, Rebecca crouched down, firing her rifle at where she last saw the creature, but it was so dark it was hard to tell. How the Hell had she lost her helmet? Now she was blind. She threw herself out of the way as it spat another glob of acid. As it hit the ground where she once was, it splashed and a good deal landed on her right arm. Rebecca's mouth opened in a cry of agony as white hot pain shot through her arm. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a Warthog's blazing gun as it tried to kill the creature, but it swiped at it with it's claws, sending the Warthog flying. Rebecca let out a scream of terror as she realized that the Warthog was about to land directly on top of her.
"We can't get them all of the dead on the dropships," Tali said, looking at another pair of dead Marines "We'll have to contact the UNSC, they'll see to it that they get proper burials."
"Yes," Liara said as she nodded. "We better get out of here, there's nothing else that we can do here. Right Rebecca?" Rebecca did not answer. "Rebecca?" Liara said, turning around just in time to see Rebecca's legs give out, causing her to fall face first onto the ground, unconscious.
Author's Note: How's that for originality and drama? I told you that I would get the next chapter up today, and I delivered. I gotta say, I'm pretty happy with the way this one ended up. We, please tell me what you think.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that I have started putting Codex entries for this story on my profile, if you are interested go check it out.