Chapter 17
Biological Intruder
Author's Note: I noticed that a couple of people reviewed saying that this was too much like the game Mass Effect, well the reason for that is that I need to go through to acquire the various plot points Ex: the Cipher, coordinates of the Mu relay. Rest assured I have an idea that will blow the Mass Effect plot out of proportion, I just need to be careful where I put it, I hope that you enjoy the story, regardless of your view on it.
In other news, I decided that I didn't want the rest of Feros being dragged out, so I decided that I would just finish it all in this and the next chapter chapter.
Shepard let out a small grunt as he hit the floor, the rest of the squad right following suit. "There's bound to be more Geth around here besides the ones that were guarding the front, keep your eyes peeled." The others nodded as the held out their weapons in front of them. As they began to walk forward, they walked through a doorway that led into what seemed to be a basement.
As they did, a shot rang out, as a bullet slammed into Shepard's shields. Wheeling around, pointing their weapons at the source of the shot. A scared looking woman holding a smoking magnum was standing there. "Oh God, I'm sorry," she said in a panicked voice. "I heard noises and panicked, I didn't know that you weren't..."
"It's all right," Shepard said as he lowered his rifle "Would your name happen to be Lizbeth would it?"
"How did you know that?" Lizbeth said said nervously, lowering her magnum.
"Your mother asked us to look for you," Taylor said "She's at an outpost in between here and Zhu's hope along with other refugees."
"She's still alive," Lizbeth sighed in relief, "Thank God. Listen I think I might know why the Geth are here."
"You do?" Ashley asked in a surprised voice "What?"
"Underneath Zhu's Hope there's an organism called the Thorian," Lizbeth said hurriedly "From what we've been able to learn from it, not only is it capable if intelligent thought, buy it's easily over 50,000 years old, it was alive during the time of the Protheans."
"What would Saren want with a 50,000 year old plant?" Tali asked in a confused voice.
"Whatever it is I doubt that it's good," Shepard said grimly "Lizbeth is there any way for you to get out?"
Lizbeth shook her head "The Geth put up some sort of energy field that's blocking all of the ways in and out. The power source is connected to their frigate, so if you can find a way to take it out, the fields should drop, and the jamming device that the Geth have up should go with it. It hooked up to building with claws through the shuttle bays you might be able to use that to your advantages. Here," she said, handing Shepard an ID card "The doors here are pretty sturdy so you'll need this to get through them."
"All right," Shepard said as he slipped the ID into his pocket "Stay here and stay out of sight, when the fields go down, make a run for it." Lizbeth nodded as the ground team continued deeper into the ExoGeni facility.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Tali said as the began to climb a staircase after moving forward for a couple of minutes "The last time the Sangheili encountered an eon old organism, it didn't exactly end well." Ashley and Taylor looked at Tali with startled look on their faces.
"The Quarians were informed of the Flood and the Halos after they were absorbed," Iasa explained "Just like every other person among the RSN they are not to reveal it to anyone outside of the RSN and the UNSC military unless there is an crisis. If the Council finds out it will become public knowledge and the chances of someone searching for the Flood for experimentation, which could lead to an outbreak."
"It's a little frightening ," Tali said, almost nervously "I mean to think that something with that much capabilities could still be on the loose."
"Can't blame you there," Taylor said "From what I've read of recordings of the Human Covenant War, the Flood are not to be taken...can anyone else hear that?"
There was a angry voice shouting from the top of the stairs. "Stupid machine! Access the damn files!"
"You lack proper access," a mechanical voice replied "This data is classified only to be shown to proper ExoGeni officials." As Shepard and the others reached the top of the stairs, they saw a Krogan smashing furiously on a console.
"You damn A.I.!" he roared "If you don't give me what I want, I'm going to rip out your motherboard and piss on it!"
"That is highly unlikely," the mechanical voice replied "My motherboard is located in a sealed room that can only be accessed by proper technicians. You would require military grade explosives to get through the door by force."
"Take him down," Shepard whispered to Tali "Quietly," Tali nodded as she drew her knife from her ankle holster and began to creep forward quietly. This was actually rather unnecessary, as the Krogan was making so much noise he probably wouldn't hear a gun going off. As Tali approached the Krogan, she jumped forward, reaching around and slicing the Krogan's neck wide open. The Krogan fell to the ground, gagging on it's own blood, as Tali brought her knife down again, silencing the Krogan. "Nice work Tali," Shepard said, as the Quarian nodded, and cleaned the blood off of her blade and sheathed it.
"So what do you reckon he was getting all pissed off about?" Ashley asked as they approached the console that the Krogan had been attacking.
"Welcome to ExoGeni, Feros branch, please present identification," the same mechanical voice said.
"Sounds like a Dumb A.I.," Taylor said "Probably was more concerned that he didn't have an ID instead of the fact that he was an angry Krogan that wanted to snap him in half."
While Taylor spoke, Shepard removed Lizbeth's ID and waved it over the machine, which beeped in response. "Welcome Lizbeth Baynham" the A.I. said "How can I be of service?"
"If these are supposed to be smarter than VIs, I think I'll lose my grip if I ever see one," Tali said to Taylor, who couldn't help but nod in agreement.
"The last person that tried to access this terminal," Shepard said "What did they attempt to access?"
"Information on Species 37, also known as the Thorian," the A.I. replied "He lacked proper identification and was denied access."
"Tell me everything that you know about the Thorian," Shepard said, the faintest hint of worry in his voice. 'Saren is here for the Thorian,' he thought.
"Certainly," the A.I. replied "Species 37 was discovered several months ago by an ExoGeni research team. As examinations began, it was learned that Species 37 produces spores that infest themselves in the nervous systems of other organisms. Species 37 is capable of using telepathy to control it's hosts, referred to as 'thralls,' by issuing them orders. If the host refused to obey, the spores cause them intense pain until they obey."
"Why would the Thorian infect people with spores?" Iasa asked in a tone that was somewhere between shock and disgust.
"Most theories point to self preservation and growth of mind," the A.I. replied. "Species 37 uses the thralls to protect itself, although it does not intentionally harm them, the same way a construction worker does not intentionally break his tools. This information was apparent from results taken from the control group."
"Control group?" Taylor asked, horror in his voice "What control group."
"Zhu's hope was intentionally positioned over Species 37 to experiment the affects of the spores," the A.I. replied "Since the first exposure, nearly 95% of Zhu's hope has been infested with spores. Is there anything else that you would like to access?"
"No," Shepard said grimly "Log out."
"Very well," the A.I. said, as it deactivated.
"Well that explains a lot," Ashley said bitterly "A little too much if you ask me."
"The entire colony was infected by the spores?" Tali asked in horror "That's why they were acting so strange, the Thorian was using them to protect itself."
"This isn't good," Shepard said as he put his hand to his COM unit. "Joker, can you read me Joker?" he asked, but all he heard was static. "Communications are out," he said bitterly as he took his hand away. "If we want to get anywhere, we need to take out that frigate."
Issac let out a sigh as he checked the ammo level on his assault rifle. It had been an hour or two since Commander Shepard and his forces had left for the ExoGeni HQ, and things were looking gray. Fai Dan had reassigned him to the entrance to the Skyway, due to the fact it was a likely place for the Geth to attack. "Issac," Fai Dan said, as he approached Issac, a magnum in hand.
"Yeah?" Issac asked looking at him in the eyes, and finding that they were eerily glassy.
"You're a good kid," he said oddly "That's why you need to get out of here."
"Pardon me?" Issac asked, raising his eyebrow. He wasn't really in the mood for more mindless bantering.
"You don't get it," Fai Dan said desperately, drawing a magnum from a holster, and pointing it as Issac, who hurriedly raised his rifle. "It knows that it doesn't control you, and it sees you as a threat. It want's me to kill you, but I can't. The others will be down here soon. Issac please...RUN!" he shouted, his voice bordering on agony as he fired a shot. His arm had jerked however and missed Issac by a long shot. Dashing forward, Issac slammed the butt of his rifle into Fai Dan's chest, who let out a grunt of pain as he fell to the ground.
Issac ran for his life, running out of Zhu's Hope and up the Skyway. He didm't care where he went, as long as he was far away from here. He didn't know how long he had been running, ten minutes twenty, half an hour, when he stopped, leaning against the wall, taking in huge deep breaths. "I...I need to rest," he panted weakly. Rubbing his brown hair out of his eyes looking around, he saw that he was nearby what looked like the remains of an old outpost. Sitting down with his back to the way, he grabbed his canteen from his belt and took deep, long gulps. 'Shepard,' he thought 'If you're going to do something, do it now.'
Glancing to his left, he saw the wreckage of a transportation Warthog, with a black handle sticking out from under the wreckage. "What the..." he said as he approached the Warthog grabbing the handle and pulling. He met little resistance and the pulled the handle out with ease, revealing it to be a end of a grenade launcher. "Hello," Issac said as he looked at the grenade launcher and saw a couple of spare grenades lying around. "Maybe this day isn't going to be so bad after all," he said as he began to pick them up.
"This looks like the shuttle bay," Taylor said as he and the rest of the ground team moved descended a set of stairs into a wide open area.
"Alright," Shepard said "One of the claws that the Geth frigate is using to cling to the building is in here. If we destroy it that it might to enough to cause to frigate to fall. All right move up." No sooner had they began to move, then Geth came into sight, their weapons aimed at them.
The ground team dove out of the path of the oncoming bullets, taking cover behind various walls and pillars throughout the room. Taylor leaned out of cover and fired his DMR at one of the Geth, taking it's shields down, then finishing it off with a Biotic Warp.
Iasa produced a plasma grenade, and angled it so that it landed behind a pillar where a Geth was hiding. The Geth scrambled away from the grenade, only to be gunned down by Ashley's assault rifle. Meanwhile, Tali had swapped her shotgun for her pistol and was shooting at a Geth Juggernaut that was charging at Shepard, taking it's shields down.
As the Juggernaut approached Shepard, the fired two bursts into each of it's legs, causing it to collapse. Catching it before it hit the ground, Shepard stuck a plasma grenade to the Geth, and then kicked it furiously, sending it flying towards the remaining Geth as the grenade exploded, destroying all of the Geth.
"Improvised tactics," Iasa said, looking at the smoldering Geth with an impressed look on her face "The best kind." As they moved forward, they saw one of the frigate's claws jutting through a shuttle bay door.
"Any idea on how we take that thing out?" Taylor asked "I seriously doubt we have anything heavy enough."
"Hold on," Ashley said, as she approached a terminal, picking up a note on it. "Warning," she read out load "There is a malfunction with with the bay doors, if it is set from anywhere between 31 PSI and 34 PSI, it closes like a bear trap. Can somebody fix it before we get an in an accident down here?" Ashley looked at the terminal thoughtfully. "Like a bear trap huh?" she said as she spun a knob on the terminal deliberately setting it so that the malfunction would occur. "Let's see," she said as she pushed a button.
With speed far above safety limits, the shuttle bay doors slammed shut, cutting through the claw like it was tin foil. The was a loud creaking noise as gravity began to take hold of the Geth frigate, the other claws beginning to snap under the strain. Then, with a deafening grinding noise the claws snapped and the frigate fell away, plummeting to the surface of the planet.
"Well that takes care of that," Taylor said, as a bright blue barrier that had been blocking a door not too far away from them vanished.
"Shepard can you hear me?" came Joker's voice through Shepard's COM unit.
"I read you Joker, what's the problem?" Shepard asked.
"The colonist have gone crazy," Joker said "They've been banging on the hull for the last ten minutes. Nothing serious has happened yet, but that could change real soon. You might want to fix this quick Shepard, Wrex is standing next to the airlock with his shotgun and he looks real hopeful that colonists will get in her."
"All right, sit tight Joker," Shepard said "Don't do anything rash, and if the colonists get in, get away from Wrex, you might get caught in his fire."
"You don't need to tell me twice," Joker replied "Joker out."
"Let's get a move on," Shepard said gesturing for the door "The Thorian is actively controlling the colonists now." The others nodded before dashing through, taking a shortcut back to the entrance, to wear the Warthogs where.
"Your alright, thank goodness," Lizbeth said, as she stood next to one of the Warthogs.
"I know that you didn't tell me the whole truth Lizbeth," Shepard said sternly as he approached her "Why didn't you tell me about the Thorian?"
"I...you...but..." Lizbeth stuttered "I was scared alright? I was already on probation for speaking out against the experiments and if I didn't keep my mouth shut I was going to end up as one of them." Shepard stared deep into Lizbeth's eyes, scanning for any signs of deceit, he found none.
"Alright," he said "Get in the Warthog, we'll take you to your mother."
"Really?" Lizbeth asked in a surprised voice. "Thank you," she said gratefully "I...thank you."
Issac had just finished loading his new weapon and had just holstered it over his back with a makeshift strap that was actually his spare belt when he heard something akin to shouting. Turning to face the origin of the sound, he saw that it had come from the abandoned outpost. Issac frowned, could someone still be in there? Gripping his rifle tightly, Issac raised it up to eye level as slowly approached the outpost.
"You can't just do this Jeong!" a voice shouted angrily.
"You don't get it do you?" another voice shouted "Communications are back up and ExoGeni wants this place purged!"
'Purged?' Issac thought 'What the fuck?' As he began to step down the stairs into the outpost, he saw a man and a woman arguing, the man holding a pistol.
"This is a Human colony Jeong, you can't just wipe it out!" the woman shouted.
"Get her out of here!" the man shouted, and two of the security guards present moved in to grab her.
"How about you don't?" Issac said, making his presence known.
"What the?"Jeong said, pointing his pistol at Issac, who in turn raised his assault rifle "Who the Hell are you?"
"Issac Morgan," Issac said coldly "I'm from Zhu's hope, the same colony your talking about wiping out apparently. Mind telling me what the fuck that's all about?"
"It's none of your business!" Jeong roared, as a security guard attempted to grab Issac from behind. Issac swung his rifle sideways, hitting the guard in the neck. He followed this up by grabbing him by the hair, and slamming him into the wall, knocking him out.
"I think it is my business," Issac said angrily "You can't just going around wiping out colonies for the fun of it."
"He's right Jeong," said a voice from behind Issac. Issac craned his neck and saw Shepard standing there, along with two ODSTs, weapons raised and the Warthogs parked outside.
"Look it isn't my call," Jeong said defensively as he raised his pistol "This came from the top of Exogeni, and nobody's going to miss a couple of colo..." but he was cut off as Issac fired his assault rifle, emptying the entire clip into Jeong's chest.
"No better than the Geth," he muttered, looking a Jeong's corpse. "All right," he said, looking at Shepard "Could someone please tell me what the fuck is going on?"
Author's Note: All right Feros has almost come to an end and then Cerberus and then Noveria. By the way, starting September 14th I'm taking an indefinite vacation, you get three reasons as to why.