A/N: To Fer-82: Yes, the Infinity carries it's separate 10 strident heavy frigates docked inside.
On the side note, Shepard also possess mass effect 3 exclusive armors. Normandy is fully upgraded (with all recruits present and no contribution from legion). I hope you are aware that Shepard is a vanguard.
Another thing, I have read many many fics that use the concept of human covenant alliance (mostly OSA). I won't do that in my story. Everyone will evolve and advance on their own, but still maintain their friendship. The reason Arbiter's fleet opted to help will be explained later in the story.
From this chapter on wards, events will be highly modified.
Disclaimer: I don't own Mass effect or Halo franchise.
Chapter 15: Unrelenting
Commander Shepard was in the CIC looking at his personal computer to check for any messages. He already learned from the IM about the existence of a reaper IFF in a dead reaper corpse. But he waited to recruit others and get upgrades to his ship.
Shepard had completed almost every mission that is necessary to fight the collectors. He recruited all the 9 people needed for this mission, whose dossiers were provided by the Illusive man (apart from Miranda and Jacob). He also helped them with their personal issues. He held up the crew morale in high regards by often conversing with them and helping with their problems. Now Shepard's one step closer in beating the collectors to their home world. All he need is the reaper IFF from the 37 million year old derelict reaper ship orbiting the brown dwarf Mnemosyne.
Shepard walked his way to his pilot in the cockpit. He's ready to get the reaper IFF from the derelict ship.
"What is it, commander?" asked Joker after noticing Shepard's presence.
"Joker, set a course for the thorne system. We are getting the IFF" said Shepard.
"Alright commander. But do we know where it is exactly?" asked Joker. Shepard after a slight pause, looked at him with a smirk. He knew he's not gonna like this answer.
"What? Did I ask you something wrong?" asked Joker raising his eyebrow.
"Near by the only brown dwarf and its moon...In a Derelict reaper ship" replied Shepard. Joker's face turned haunted after hearing this. He simply looked dead panned at him seeking an explanation.
"Ha ha, What's this commander? Twisted thrill ride? You know I'm not into this" asked Joker who was laughing and trying to hide his disgust.
"Sorry, Joker. But fact's a fact. Besides it's just a dead reaper corpse" grinned Shepard.
"You know? It gives me creeps in my nerves every time I hear the word reaper" said Joker tensed.
"Mr. Moreau, You are simply exaggerating the after effects" started EDI in the middle of this conversation. Joker was irritated.
"And what do you know about fear?" said Joker, his face choleric.
"You guyz ever gonna stop? We got a mission to concentrate" said Shepard folding his hands.
"Yeah, I was concentrating up my ass until you dropped down here saying, 'Hey, good news! we're gonna go roller coaster inside a reaper's gut'. Let me ask you something Shepard, How long it's been dead?" asked Joker his face serious.
"For about 37 million years" replied Shepard.
"Holy-...! 37 million years!? And no one found it yet?" asked Joker shockingly.
"No. Cerberus was the first to find the reaper ship. So a science team led by Dr. Chandana was sent to study" replied EDI.
"The Illusive man mentioned that the team went dark. But not before they found a reaper IFF module inside" said Shepard.
"You think the team slipped off the grid?" asked Joker.
"No. Even they did, I don't think that matters anymore. But what matters is that the IFF is still intact" said Shepard more focused.
"EDI, how much do you know about this mission we are heading to?" asked Shepard curiously.
"The information I have is that a science team was sent to study. Then their earlier reports were the reaper's status quo. But their discovery of IFF is a new information for me as of now" said EDI.
"Shit! What could have killed the reaper?" asked Joker who was surprised.
"An unknown race fired a powerful mass accelerator round at the reaper. It not only killed it in a single blow, but the round made it to the other system and caused an impact over the planet klendagon. The weapon is present even now, but it's nothing more than a space junk" replied EDI.
"It's true. Also Illusive man mentioned that the reaper's mass effect core was still intact" said Shepard. Joker was stunned with all these information. A weapon that killed a reaper in a single blow was boggling his head.
"Commander, this whole killing a reaper in a single blow thing sounds familiar" asked Joker turning to Shepard.
"What are you saying?" asked Shepard.
"That sound more like those 4 strange people called spartans and their ship. That UNSC. We saw what their ship did to the geth and that haestorm's surface" said Joker.
"That is irrelevant here, Joker. This reaper died 37 million years back. This has nothing to do with those UNSC" said Shepard.
"Well that's not my point commander. What I am saying is, we know what reapers are capable off. But look at those strange people. Their ship capable of wiping out a planet. Of course they don't belong to this place as they say, But may be there's still hope in fighting the reapers with the upper hand" said Joker.
Shepard smiled at that, but not because of what joker said. No one knew except him and tali, about the real reason behind those strange people's presence here. They were here to help this galaxy with the reapers. But Shepard's face slowly turned confused and discomfort. He never knew why they were interested in helping with the reaper problem by traveling from another universe, which even now he feels ridiculous, but curious and anxious. Still, one thing at a time, he needed to concentrate on the collector problem.
"Well, we'll see to that once we are done with the collectors. Let's focus on our current situation" replied Shepard to which he nodded and turned to his terminal.
"So, EDI?"
"Yes, Shepard?"
"Ask Jacob, Miranda, Garrus and Mordin to wait at the hanger. I am going to take them for this mission" said Shepard.
"On it Shepard and logging you out" said EDI, with that her hologram turning off.
"Joker, plot the course and we'll be ready" ordered Shepard.
"Aye aye Commander" replied Joker.
Then Shepard walked towards the elevator and rode in it to his cabin. There he opened his armor racks. he saw the different armors hanged up there. He chose to wear the cerberus Shade armor with the helmet in his hand. He then decided to go to armory to pick up the weapons of his choice.
He rode the same elevator back to the CIC and then turned left to go to the armory. There he didn't see Jacob so he assumed he already made it to the hanger. In the armory, he picked up and holstered M-76 revenant assault rifle, M-11 eviscerator shotgun and rocket launcher. He then rode in the elevator to the hanger bay.
He exited with the helmet in his hand walking towards the 4 members he asked for.
Garrus, Jacob, Miranda and Mordin were looking at Shepard.
"So Shepard? What can you tell us about this place where we're gonna find the IFF?" asked Garrus who loaded his mantis sniper which raised a crunching sound.
"It's a derelict reaper ship over the brown dwarf Mnemosyne" replied Shepard.
"Cerberus sent science team to study the ship but everyone lost contact with them" said Miranda.
"Hm, Intact power source indicates possible presence of indoctrinated subjects similar to your experience with sovereign, commander. Maybe the science team could have made contact with them" said Mordin after analyzing the possibilities. This caused quite a stir in Shepard's face.
"I don't like it one bit, but that's one fact we can't deny either" replied Shepard.
Ever since Cerberus brought him back from the scratch, he set aside all the differences with the IM and agreed to work with him to stop the collectors from abducting humans. But he never enjoyed the luxury of losing as it would cost a lot more than anyone could perceive.
"Reaper agents in a million year old dead reaper? Come on!..." said Garrus with a chuckle.
Shepard and Mordin had regular conversations and at one point, he mentioned about the sovereign mission. Though being a former STG agent, that wasn't something new to him.
"Dead or alive, It's a reaper, Garrus. Anything can be possible" said Jacob.
"Jacob's right. Perhaps, these reapers somehow control organic minds just like it did with Saren. One cannot be too careful" said Miranda.
Shepard didn't give much thought as he was quite aware how far cerberus prepared itself for the inevitable. It never mattered to him, Shepard is merely using cerberus's resources to stop the collectors. It's only a matter of time for him to turn his back on the IM as he still differs in his opinion. He was irritated with their experiments with the 'Thorian', death of several alliance soldiers and other innocent aliens, experimenting on kids at pragia, luring shepard and his team into a collector trap...the list goes on.
"Whatever...Team, we are about to enter the reaper ship. It doesn't matter if it's dead. I still expect a lot of nasty surprises in store for us. Trust me, I've faced a live one. I now what it's capable of" said Shepard.
"With reference to your previous encounters, we may be facing husks or any other indoctrinated beings. Should be nothing more than that" said Jacob. This time Shepard wore the helmet.
"Don't be so short sighted Jacob. It's 37 million years old. Anything might have happened in the mean time. At this time, It is better to stay prepared for anything at most to our strength" said Shepard, his voice showing seriousness. The other 4 team members wore their hard suit with complete protection helmet that can filter any bio-particles present in the air.
Garrus had his mantis sniper and mattock rifle. Both Miranda and Mordin have a phalanx and locust SMG. Jacob carries a claymore shotgun.
"I think you worry too much Shepard. We have already faced the worst before. I don't think anything we find there could surprise us" said Garrus calm and cool. Shepard sighed a bit.
"I hope you are right" replied Shepard. When Shepard faced Sovereign, he saw how far it could influence the organics. Saren was totally surrendered to the AI. Going inside a reaper still stirs his stomach but not out of fear, His very concern for his crew mates.
When they finished the conversation, Joker called Shepard over the radio.
"Commander, we are approaching the relay and our travel time to Hawking ETA 45 seconds" said Joker.
"Copy that Joker" replied Shepard.
"Alright people, Let's get ready" said Shepard.
The Normandy approached the relay in the hades gamma. After getting near the relay, the rings which contained the compressed eezo energy core glowed and charged the Normandy. In a second, the vessel vanished from the system. After 45 seconds, the Normandy exited the relay in the chandrasekhar system.
...
Thorne system, 50 kms from the derelict reaper ship...
From the relay system, they had to use the ship's FTL to jump into the thorne system. The journey took them one and a half hours.
"Commander, dropping out of FTL in 3...2...1" said Joker over the team's comm channel.
"Roger that Joker" replied Shepard.
Then the Normandy exited the FTL 50 kms from the derelict reaper ship. Joker was awestruck with the view in front.
"Whoa! Check this out!" muttered Joker in surprise. In front, EDI and Joker could see the burning planet and a dead reaper ship. But the reaper was gravitationally anchored to it's moon Lethe.
Back at the hanger, Shepard and his team were locked and loaded. Then Joker came over the comm.
"Commander, we have gotten near the reaper" said Joker which prompted Shepard and his team to look out through the window. Everyone managed to see the large enormous structure with lots of debris surrounding it. Those chunks were remains of the reaper's hull. Whatever did this to the reaper surely did one hell of a job.
"Huh! looks like it took a pretty hard hit" said Garrus.
Suddenly, the Normandy jerked a bit like sudden pull with a great force. Everyone grunted in response.
"Joker, what happened?" asked Shepard.
"We just entered the reaper's mass effect field. It's the only thing that's keeping it from falling into the moon's surface" replied Joker.
"Lieutenant, do you see any active docking site?" asked Miranda.
"Well, it looks like there are a lot of entry points. Severe hull damage" said Joker.
"Shepard, I'm reading a cerberus ship nearby the reaper. It's severely damaged and don't transmit any distress signal" said EDI.
"Well, that must be our science team" said Jacob. By this time, the Normandy was close enough to the reaper to see every detail of it. But something was odd. Joker saw something in and around the reaper and his face shrunk in confusion. It was visible
"What?...Where the hell does that come from!?" asked Joker, his eyes widened in a mix of displeasure and doubt.
"EDI, can you tell what's that sage colored cloud around the reaper?" asked Joker glaring at the reaper. There was a pause and Joker was waiting for her reply.
"Scanners show some sort of...biological contamination" replied EDI in a neutral tone.
"We never saw anything like this in sovereign or...did we miss something?" thought Joker.
Meanwhile Shepard and his team got to the see the reaper so clear. They too noticed the sage colored cloud in and around the reaper. They didn't understand what it was.
"What's that gas?" asked Garrus.
"That could be a possible containment breach" replied Mordin keeping his fingers at his chin.
"And what's contained inside?" asked Jacob.
"Commander, EDI said its some sort of biological contamination" replied Joker over the comm.
"Shit! We have never seen anything like this before. Still, it's good that we all carry high grade toxin filters in the helmet" said Shepard.
"What sort of contamination could it be, a bacterial cloud? asked Miranda with a doubt in her voice.
"We'll find it once we are inside" then contacted joker, "Joker, get us in through an airlock. We cannot risk any infection in open deployment" said Shepard.
"Besides, Tali's gonna freak out if she learns of a germ fog!" chuckled Garrus.
"Commander, there's an airlock at the hull's side. I about to dock there" said Joker and cut the channel.
"Alright team, get ready!" ordered Shepard. Shepard switched to this revenant with incendiary ammo, Garrus with mattock and disruptor ammo, Miranda and Mordin with locust and cryo ammo, Jacob with claymore shotgun and incendiary ammo. They stood with their weapons ready and the Normandy was brought near to the air lock door as close as possible with the hanger door facing it.
"Alright Joker, open the hanger doors" said Shepard. The hanger doors opened and the five jumped into the circular conduit in the reaper's hull that leads to the airlock door. After that, the door was immediately closed and the Normandy pulled away from the reaper to a safe distance.
"Joker, we're getting inside. Await further orders and keep the comm intact" said Shepard.
"Aye Aye commander. Over and out" replied Joker. Then the five watched from the conduit's edge at everything they could see. Shepard and waved his head to ask everyone to get inside. They all were suspiciously looking at the sage colored haze that were around them and the reaper where damage was great.
...
"They all walked inside the conduit towards the airlock door. At the door, Shepard used his omnitool to open the door. The Conduit exit door suddenly closed and pressurized the place. Then the main door opened. Everyone entered the first hall and there were the same haze in the air. They also managed to get a look at different terminals which he can access for information.
But what really stunned and turned their faces grim was what they saw in the floor and walls. There was this foul smell of death and fear in the air though they don't inhale them without filtering the contaminants.
"My god! What...happened...here?" asked Jacob horrified with the sight.
"What are these...bulk masses everywhere? They appear organic and just the same color as the haze" asked Miranda disgusted.
Mordin who was thoroughly analyzing the situation decided to investigate. Being a biological contaminant, Mordin's expertise in genetics and microbiology kicked in his curiosity to check those organic matter.
He went near one of those masses in the hall nearby them by a wall. He then used his omni-tool to scan the mass extensively. After that, the omni-tool showed him the results, but were vague to draw conclusions.
"What did you find Mordin?" asked Shepard. there was a pause as he was still analyzing the data.
"Hm...interesting. Never seen, even heard of these existence" said Mordin bluntly.
"Could you please get to the point doctor?" said Miranda who was impatient. He then looked at her and then everyone.
"These masses are organic. I see clusters of trillions of different genetic matter heavily mutated into something else, still with their gene identification marker quite intact. The scans also showed some faint metabolic activity" said Mordin surprised with the results.
"You mean to say?...These...things are alive?" asked Shepard who was equally surprised.
"Yes, but not the way we all perceive. The same matter is what is present in the air" replied Mordin.
"Do you know what it is?" asked Garrus.
"No. Myself or my people had never seen anything like this. But this is truly intriguing!" said Mordin again surprised.
"What is it?" asked Garrus.
"These individual genetic content's behavior is strange, analogous to a nervous system, some sort of communication...Just like what is seen in any living being" said Mordin.
"So now you are saying it's alive and thinking? How un-nerving!" said Jacob simply.
"You said these cloud and that organic mass contains genetic matter. Does that belong to any particular species we know?" asked Miranda curiously. Mordin took a moment to answer once again glancing at the omnitool data.
"I cannot say for sure. What ever it is, Its heavily mutated beyond recognition. Perhaps, I could take a sample for analysis. But I would ask you avoid direct physical contact just as a precaution" replied Mordin.
"Good thing we got ourselves completely covered. Alright guyz, looks like we are onto something new. I don't except the science team to have survived, but we need to look for the IFF they preserved. Let's stick to our mission, no change in that" said Shepard. He then turned to Jacob,
"Jacob, take point" said Shepard to which he nodded and moved front. The place might be hazy but there was enough light inside to see clearly. Others followed him slowly. Everyone looked 360 degrees around them, carefully taking each and every step.
Shepard walked after Mordin with Garrus following him at last. Shepard suddenly stopped slightly dropped his head down.
"What is it Shepard?" asked Garrus. Shepard took a second and then replied.
"No...nothing...let's move" said Shepard.
Everyone walked forward. Then their pathway intersected with a perpendicular bridge like path. To their left was a dead end after few steps. But they got to see a terminal.
"Wait, let's check that terminal" said Shepard as he and the others went near the terminal. The holo display was damaged.
"Hold on a second ..." said Shepard and then restored the circuitry using omni-gel. Then the terminal instantly popped up a video recording.
"There we go" said Garrus. Everyone then watched the recording.
START RECORDING...
("You know this is awfully strange. Never seen the air in this color" said the 1st agent.
"Also this place has lot of these shit everywhere. And to me, they look more alive. It's throughout the reaper" said the 2nd agent.
" has found a terminal with an intact reaper IFF" said the 1st agent.
"Aww man!...This air smells like shit! Looks like our breather helmets aren't good" said the 2nd agent.
"And I'm starting to feel strange. My body's itching..." said the 1st agent"
"Huh, our suit's not protecting us. We should have brought some classy equipment with us" said the 2nd agent)
END RECORDING...
With that the recording ended. Everyone looked at each other in confusion.
"Looks like this reaper's been like this even before the science team found it" said Miranda.
"Did you guyz listen to what those agents said?" asked Garrus to which others knew what did he referred to.
"Yes, This atmosphere had caused an allergy in their bodies. Too sad they weren't given top of the line equipment" said Jacob with mild regret.
"Then Mordin was right. We need to avoid contact with it" said Shepard. Mordin simply blinked at the others.
"Alright, let's keep moving" said Miranda and everyone turned to the opposite side and walked straight.
The reaper's inner wall had lots of cables and metallic hull. They walked straight towards the next medium sized area. They all walked one behind the other. After walking a few meters, they reached the next medium sized platform that had small stairs to their left. After the stairs, There was a large arena sized area with only one door to their right. But in front of the arena, there was a small barricade. They all walked into the arena. To their left was another terminal. Suddenly something became clearly visible beyond the barricade amidst the haze. They all walked to the arena's end saw bundles of cables leading somewhere front. There was something glowing at the end. But near by the squad, they all saw large spikes which Shepard and Garrus were familiar with.
"Holy shit! That's the dragon's teeth" said Garrus who got everyone's attention.
"You know what it is?" asked Jacob.
"Yes, I have seen them on Eden prime when Sovereign invaded. The geth used these large spikes to turn the humans into husks" replied Shepard.
"But this whole place is empty now" said Garrus warily.
"Something's not right here. That's one thing I'm sure of. This place is so grim than what you would feel in the presence of the reapers" said Shepard.
"We'll find the IFF and get the hell out of this place. We don't have to waste time here" said Miranda.
Shepard nodded and asked everyone to proceed through the other door. Jacob bypassed the locked door and it opened to reveal another hallway. They all carefully walked along the hallway. Everywhere they could see the biomass, some even at the edges of the ceiling. Some of the computer terminals were broken beyond repair.
Suddenly they all heard a leaf rustling sound.
"What the hell is that!?" asked Jacob in low voice. Everyone became tensed and started to aim their weapons around them rapidly in search for the sound's source.
But the sound abruptly stopped.
"It's gone. Could it be possible hostile forces?" asked Mordin.
"Not sure, but let's keep our eyes open and watch ourselves round the clock " replied Shepard.
Finally, they reached a platform like area where stairs went down to their left. The place was spacious enough to reveal the blown up hull in the distant front. The faint light in the far red spectral zone of the brown dwarf made it inside the reaper. To their surprise, even this place was filled with sage colored haze that extend outside the hull which the mass effect fields are holding together.
"Shepard, looks like in the bottom floor, we got another intact terminal" said Jacob who was in the lead.
"Right, let's check that out" said Shepard and everyone went down the stairs and reached another platform. To their right, there was a computer terminal and Jacob was already working on fixing the display.
"Fine. Playing the transmission" said Jacob. Everyone stood in a circular arc fashion around the display and lowered their guard and had their eyes centralized at the video feed.
(2 hours after the first entry...
"*Grunt*...*GRUNT*!...Doc! Wh...Why do i feel like burning?" asked a science officer who was restless and irritated.
"I dont know. Should be this strange bacteria in the air. It has caused an allergy in everyone. Even I feel the same. So far I couldn't deduct anything from the readings" replied .
"But why this allergen is messing with my mind?" asked another officer who too was restless.
"It must have something to do with the signal that comes from the reaper. Illusive man's another science team on Horizon used the salvaged sovereign parts to study the reaper indoctrination effects on test subjects and discovered this signal" replied who himself was slowly getting restless.
"Wha-...Whatever!...So what's that you found?" asked the 1st officer.
"A reaper IFF. This is what reapers use to identify themselves as friends and unknown as foes. Illusive man's gonna be happy"
"yeah, unles-..."
" *STATIC*...Sir, You need to come and check this out. We found something" another officer said over the comm.
"I'll be right there...**STATIC**...")
END RECORDING...
Everyone's face under the helmet turned serious after viewing the footage and once again there was a silence for quite some moment, processing all they saw to rough out a conclusion. This information was conspicuous to the five as they were slowly getting aware of the situation.
"So this...thing in the air? It's some kind of an infection and the science team started to react to it" said Jacob.
"Infection targeting both the cellular and neural system, forced immunity suppression leading to systematic body degradation. My scans of those bio mass clearly supports what the team had been through" said Mordin after a brief analysis.
"You mean this whole reaper atmosphere is infectious?" asked Garrus.
"It is. The footage clearly showed that the science team were infected. But their behavior was very strange" replied Miranda with a stint of confusion. But something was eating away her mind.
"This is not right!" said Miranda. Others looked at her.
"What is not right?" asked Shepard.
"Illusive man never mentioned anything about Cerberus study on the reapers at Horizon" she said feeling disregarded.
"Is it necessary to feel vehement for that?" asked Garrus.
"I am one of the select few cerberus operatives who have profound knowledge of all the cerberus cells. Ruling me out of this is...too odd" said Miranda which made Shepard's face burn.
"That's an open controversial statement! You feel bad because Illusive man left you outta this!? So how did you feel when they experimented with thorian creatures and kill alliance soldiers?"asked Shepard in slight anger. Others were blinking at him.
"Shepard, I know what cerberus did with the thorian creatures and that is why I never participated in that cell, but at least I had full knowledge of it. Experimenting on humans is something that even I am against...I may be working for Cerberus as a dedication to my skills and duties, but at the end of the day, I am still an ordinary human and thanks to you for your help with my sister, I learned the human moral values even more..." replied Miranda with honesty. Others especially Jacob were stunned at her response. They became speechless. There was silence for few seconds.
"That's one hell of a heart warming speech!...I never expected this from you" said Jacob surprised.
"Well then, I am sorry, I didn't mean-..." apologized Shepard who was shocked but happy to see that working with cerberus didn't rob her inner humanity.
"No need Shepard. But this intel's too important. If Illusive man's doing illegal experiment with the reapers and even concealing it from me, Then I just know that there's even more to this secrecy" said Miranda with indignance.
"You mean to say that experimenting the reaper tech with live subjects could not be the only one?" asked Garrus.
"Could be. But we cannot assume anything at this point. We will talk about this once we are done with the collectors" said Shepard.
"Agreed" replied Jacob. others simply nodded in acknowledgment. Then Shepard waved his team to move ahead.
They all used another set of stairs to go one more level down. There, they reached a similar platform area and a large bridge like portion with a giant pathway. To the left side of the bridge, they saw large pipelines stacked one above the other that runs along. Also there were computer terminals attached to the pipe structures. They also saw several supply crates with thermal clips and data pads.
"Hm, it looks like we arrived where the science team had been for the time being" said Mordin after seeing the supplies.
They went over the pipelines where there was a small separate pathway that had the terminals.
"No sign of their presence. It is as if nothing had been touched" said Garrus who along with others was observing the place slowly and carefully.
But then suddenly, they once again heard the same rustling sound and everyone were alarmed.
"Shit! It's the same sound" said Jacob. Again the team were searching for the source, but to no avail. The sound suddenly stopped just like before.
"Something's here and it's trying to scare us-..." said Shepard and was immediately interrupted by Jacob.
"Commander, Over there!" said Jacob pointing towards the front on the far side. He was at the lead.
"What is it?" asked Shepard. By the time Jacob hurried to the front over the bridge pathway aiming his weapon at nothing on the far side in this translucent atmosphere. The others also followed to check on him.
"Jacob, What did you see?" asked Miranda.
"I saw something moving. It wasn't clear in this air, but I managed to get the silhouette of it's movement" replied Jacob. Shepard was staring at the far side to see if he can see anything. But there was nothing.
"Alright, Let's move front. Stay sharp" said Shepard following Jacob who was leading them.
Suddenly after reaching a certain point, to their left, there was another pathway. They turned along that path and saw another big closed hall like area with supply crates and another computer terminal. They walked in and instantly noticed something.
3 to 4 Broken glass containers that looked like it was once filled with something, but was emptied accidentally. Strangely, the containers appeared to have been filled with something that resembled these mysterious organic biomass they saw all along their way. The remnants of the containers were oozing out.
"What are those containers? Looks like it's been holding these same things" asked Jacob.
"Only that it's not there now" said Mordin who then went near one of the containers and knelt down to take a close look.
"Look at the container's glass part. It appears to have been broken by accident. More precisely, some one shot the glass and whatever's inside oozed out" said Mordin.
"Any signs of fire fight?" asked Miranda.
"He's right, I got a gun over here" said Garrus who had already been examining the area and found a pistol. Others instantly turned to Garrus. Shepard and Jacob went near him.
"Look what I have. It's a carnifex. Someone must have used it and shot the containers" said Garrus.
"What could have happened here? What had caused them to fight?" asked Shepard in confusion.
"This terminal is intact, I'll start it up to see if we can get any additional footage" said Miranda who started working over the terminal near the supply crates. After few seconds, She managed to light it up.
"Here we go..." said Miranda and the others gathered around the then active terminal. But the video image was not clear due to display interference.
The video showed the footage of an incident that happened somewhere else.
(One and a half hour after the 2nd entry...
**GUNSHOTS**...What the fuck are these!?" yelled one agent. There were distorted roaring and screaming noise coming from those that were attacking the team.
"Like hell I know!...**GUNSHOTS**..." yelled another agent.
" **RUSTLE**...**SCREAMS**...**ROARS**..."
"Secure the IFF in the supply station...We need to-...AAAHHHHH!..." yelled the 1st agent who was instantly killed by a strange creature that pounced at him.
"STEVE!...**GUNSHOTS**... , this is-...SHIT!...NOOOOO!" yelled the 2nd agent who was killed next.
"..."
END RECORDING...)
Shepard and his team were startled with the footage. Everyone's face expressing shock and mild fear. They were exchanging looks for few seconds. They had seen and faced many horrors, but not anything like what they witnessed in the footage.
"What-...The-...hell were those things?" asked Jacob haunted, who spoke on behalf of everyone.
"Those things are not reaper indoctrinated agents" said Shepard who was equally disturbed.
"Even I can see that. These creatures are totally different from what we have seen before. Even this footage showed distinction between their appearances" said Miranda.
"But all have one similarity. They have the same body texture and color and that matches this haze and those jelly things spread everywhere" said Garrus.
"Then my hunch was right. This place is infected. Those creatures must have been biologically mutated by the infection in the air and those biomass or both are the leftovers of these creatures" said Mordin.
"Either way, We know what happened to the science team and its only a matter of time before it happens to us. But that man mentioned a supply station where the IFF was kept" said Shepard. Jacob who had been examining the place on his own found a sign. He then called his team.
"Commander, This place we are now is the supply station. Look, they have the sign here" said Jacob. Everyone got to see the sign and felt relieved. After a choppy tour, they were happy to learn that the place they were standing contains the IFF.
"Garrus, Check that terminal" said Shepard pointing out to another intact computer terminal a few meters to his back.
Others were thoroughly searching the room for any signs of fight or survivors.
"The whole place had been a bloody mess. But why are there no bodies?" thought Shepard. Until the moment he got in this reaper, he thought he was gonna face the standard foes he faced 2 years back. He weren't even surprised about a reaper corpse since he had already faced one. But the inside tells a different story. He started to wonder, if he had witnessed a new foe that the galaxy knew nothing about.
"The Reapers, Collectors and now this? Each and everyday, our mission's getting complicated" thought Shepard in frustration. Suddenly, Garrus called out Shepard.
"Shepard, over here" called Garrus. Shepard walked near him.
"What have you found?" asked Shepard.
"This" replied Garrus showing a wood colored rectangular plate with a joystick like extension.
"Is this the IFF?" asked Shepard his voice slightly exclaimed.
"Yes, and the software had been uploaded from this terminal to this module. It's active and ready to go" replied Garrus. Shepard was relieved to hear it and decided to call on his team.
"Team, we have found the IFF" said Shepard quite loud for everyone to hear. Others turned to look at shepard in surprise and went near him.
"That's great shepard. Mission accomplished. Now let's get the hell outta here-..." said Miranda but suddenly, something happened.
BOOM!... a loud sound came out that shook the entire place. The team staggered at the force. Everyone switched to their weapons ready.
"What was that!" asked Jacob loud.
"Shepard, we need to get out fast!" said Mordin. The whole team were tensed at the situation. Shepard took a second and then contacted the Normandy.
"Normandy? Joker? Do you read me?" asked Shepard through his comm.
...
Aboard the Normandy...
Joker was working in his terminal in the cockpit.
"Hm, the whole thing looks strange. EDI, did you manage to find anything about those strange germs?" asked Joker.
"No, The contaminants behave so strange. Its like its changing itself every second" replied EDI which made Joker to blink.
"Remind me never to ask you anything" muttered Joker. Then suddenly, something happened.
BOOM!...
Joker was stunned and jumped out of his seat to check what happened. Suddenly Tali called Joker over the comm.
"Joker, What happened? The drive core suffered a massive energy surge. Looks like it's super excited" said Tali loud in tense.
"I don't know. I am figuring it out"
"EDI! What was that?" asked Joker who started running his hands over the hologram terminal.
"The reaper's mass effect field unexpectedly strengthened up and has locked our ship's drive core with it" replied EDI.
"We are anchored? Shit!" Joker glowered.
But suddenly, Joker felt an acceleration. The force started to pound his chest and made him feel uncomfortable to breath.
"EDI, are we moving?" asked Joker who was trying to get the ship back under his control.
"Warning, The reaper is accelerating towards the moon's surface and pulling the Normandy with it" said EDI alarming.
"WHAT?! EDI do something!" yelled Joker.
"**STATIC**...Normandy? Joker? Do you read me?" came the commander's voice.
...
Shepard and him team suddenly felt the place coming alive. They were confused as what to do next. They all felt a certain inertia.
"Shepard, the door we came in through is locked!" said Garrus loud.
"Normandy? Joker? Do you read me?" asked Shepard.
"Commander, we got a problem!' yelled Joker.
"Joker, something just happened inside the reaper!" said Shepard.
"Commander, the reaper's mass effect field has locked Normandy's drive core like an anchor. And it's now pulling us all towards the moon's surface" replied Joker.
"Shepard! It means we are gonna crash at the surface along with the reaper!" yelled Miranda.
"Joker what do we do now?" asked Shepard. This time, EDI answered.
"Shepard, I know how to set this right. But It can only be done from your side" replied EDI.
"EDI, just tell us what to do!" yelled Jacob.
"You need to disable the reaper's mass effect core. Just follow the NAV point. But hurry up. You only have 15 minutes" replied EDI.
"Thanks EDI...Alright guyz, lets get to the mass effect core chamber" said Shepard to which others nodded.
Then everyone took the nearby door as pointed out by the NAV cursor. It led to another open space with a wide pathway.
They sprinted towards the pathway's end but suddenly they were stopped by a load screeching and roaring sounds. Everyone aimed their weapons around them in caution.
Suddenly, a giant quadped sage colored creature jumped behind Garrus. Garrus was stunned at the sight of the ugly horrific creature. It roared and was about attack him.
"What the-...!" yelped Garrus who raised his assault rifle and started shooting. But the creature knocked garrus off and punched him. The force threw Garrus far to his left.
"GARRUS!" yelled Shepard who started shooting at the big creature. The creature roared in pain.
But suddenly another kind of those same creatures jumped near Shepard roaring and was about to attack him.
"Shepard watch out!" yelled Jacob, who was shooting at the creature. Shepard instantly used a biotic shockwave to repel the creature back and managed to stagger it.
Then small creepy things started to swarm their position along with arthropod like looking creatures leapt over and charged towards them. Garrus who was repelled by the big creature was blasted down with a concussive shot.
"Holy crap! Are those same things that took down the science team?" asked Garrus who switched to his assault rifle again and started shooting the creepy things with incinerator ammo. He then managed to get near his team. So far the five didn't die only because they all had top of the line hard suits and equipment.
The other arthropod like creatures and little swarm things sprinted towards Shepard. He saw that their guns are taking quite a time to kill them, so he decided to use other tactics.
"Miranda, I need your help in raising a biotic shield. We are completely overwhelmed" said Shepard and turned to his squad, "Team! stay close!" yelled Shepard. Everyone stood close to one another and fired their weapons at the unknown creatures. But still only managed to kill few at a time.
Immediately Shepard and Miranda used their combined biotic powers to raise a biotic shield. Shepard being a vanguard, a powerful combat biotic class and Miranda's genetic ability helped them to create a powerful shield. But when the creatures closed the gap, they hit the shield and caused a stress enough to give a physical effect on both.
"*GRUNT*...Shit! These things are powerful. I don't think we can handle the stress for a longtime!" said Shepard who was grunting under those creatures momentum.
"Then we better hurry! We only have 10 more minutes! we need to get to the drive core!" said Miranda who too struggled in maintaining the field.
"Guyz, switch to phasic rounds. You can kill them through this field. And also we'll move along with the barrier until we reach the drive core chamber. Garrus, Mordin, Jacob, It's up to you three in killing them" said Shepard. They nodded and switched to phasic rounds that can pass through the barrier and hit the targets.
"Ready?" asked Shepard. By this time, the three nodded aimed their weapons at those creatures.
"NOW!" yelled Shepard. He and Miranda slowly walked as they forced their towards the drive core room pushing those beasts with the barrier.
Garrus, Mordin and Jacob were doing their best in shooting and killing the creatures though they were still swarmed by them in overwhelming numbers. These creatures roared and screamed in an invidious and obnoxious way that the five started to feel a slight mental breakdown.
"DD..Dammit!...The blare these thing raise is eating my brain" said Garrus shooting a biped creature, feeling uncomfortable. The team were moving carefully within the barrier and made sure not exposing even a part of their body out accidentally. These creatures were heavily beating and scratching the barrier.
"Just hold tight for few more minutes. We are half way near the room" said Miranda.
"Where the hell these things come from!? Surely they are not reapers. There are so many different creatures but with same skin and appearance. Even their color is same as the air and those jelly things on the floor and ceiling" said Jacob who was shooting at a small group of creepy things which had bulbous body and bundles of filaments as their equivalent of legs and 2 protruding antennae like thing. They simply exploded after being shot. The other large creatures bled with sage colored blood.
"Surely these must be some sentient beings infected by this atmosphere. Whatever it is, It has caused a serious level of mutation on them" said Mordin who was firing his SMG.
"Like a mindless zombies" said Garrus.
Shepard's respiration started to become rapid and violent. Miranda from her helmet's HUD noticed a change in Shepard's vital signs and she became disturbed.
"Oh no! Shepard, you are showing signs of increased nervous stress and blood pressure" said Miranda.
"I know. But I can manage. We need to move on" said Shepard ignoring the fact.
There's a good reason for Miranda to fear. Shepard was brought back alive after being rebuild completely from scratch. Though, he's still himself, no longer he's the true organic he used to be. Most of the parts that keeping him alive was the cybernetic implants. He cannot subject himself to such a level of trauma. But all that was in his mind was survival.
...
Aboard the Normandy...
"EDI, are we safe once Shepard disables the mass effect field?" asked Joker.
"Yes, But still the Normandy will not be back to normal" said EDI. Joker was clearly not pleased to hear that.
"What do you mean?" asked Joker non-amused.
"Once the reaper's mass effect core is offline, our drive core will still need a manual start up" said EDI.
"I hope the engineers and Tali can manage that" said Joker.
"You don't understand. The tantalus drive core needs enormous amount of starting power. The entire power supply unit has been forced shutdown by the reaper. Even the engineers need my help in restarting the systems" replied EDI.
"You mean to say that once shepard release the anchor, we are doomed!?" asked Joker despondently.
"Not necessarily. I can divert 90% my entire processing power to restart the systems" said EDI. Joker's face expressed a glimpse of hope.
"Well, seems you too have a trick up your sleeve" said Joker.
"But my system core needs full access to the blue box in order achieve that" said EDI which made Joker's face to turn crestfallen and surprised. Joker knew exactly what EDI referred to.
"You...You want me to release your shackles. Isn't that what you meant?" asked Joker who got the clear picture.
"I am sorry, but the situation entails such a risk" said EDI.
"You know? Cerberus would have us hung for this" said Joker.
"At this point, it's the only option I have. Cerberus protocols prevent me from doing this. But what I suggest is based on the my assessment of the situational emergency" replied EDI. Joker was hesitant but couldn't deny EDI's logic. So he reluctantly accepted.
"Fine dammit! Tell me what to do" said Joker.
"Go to the AI core room at the med bay" said EDI.
Joker then slowly got out of his chair due to his vrolik's syndrome. Then he slowly limped his way towards his left. There were other officers in the CIC who were stumbling out of balance due to high 'g' acceleration the Normandy's subjected to by the reaper. The lights and Holograms were flickering due to power fluctuations.
"I already got a glassy bone. Now this high 'g' is gonna pulverize me" said Joker who felt highly stressed with the uncontrollable ship movement with his already present disease. He used the side walls for support.
"Jesus! Joker, what's happening? systems not responding" said one officer.
"Nothing, a temporary setback. I'm heading to the AI core" replied Joker who then carried on.
"Joker, the elevator's lost power. You need to use the maintenance shaft in the lab" said EDI. He slowly walked into the lab and found the maintenance access way. The lab was totally messed with all the equipment damaged upon falling to the floor. He used the ladder to get down to the deck where Thane resided, but he wasn't there.
He then came out of that room and found Thane, Samara, Jack helping out the people who were struggling in this chaos. Jack watched Joker coming out of Thane's room and moving past the elevator.
"Joker! What's happening here?" asked Jack who was helping out someone to get up.
"The ship's power is down. Everyone get to safety. I'm gonna set things right from the AI room" replied Joker who was about to fall down. But then Thane grabbed him by his shoulder.
"Joker, I'll help you get to the AI room" said Thane.
"Thanks, you two help the others. Things are about to get nasty" said Joker. The two nodded and proceeded as follows.
Thane helped joker towards the med bay.
"Joker, you need to hurry! We only have eight minutes" said EDI
"Joker, is this something about that dead reaper?" asked Thane.
"Yes, Normandy's anchored to the reaper and both are gonna crash over the moon surface" said Joker.
"Too bad" said Thane who with Joker finally reached the AI core room. Joker pressed the console and the door opened. Then both entered the room and stood by a computer terminal.
"Alright EDI, what now?" asked Joker. EDI's hologram then materialized to his left.
"We have to wait till the commander finish his job" said EDI. Joker and Thane shared a tiresome and tensed gaze hoping for something good.
...
On board the reaper, 6 more minutes to crash...
Shepard and Miranda along with the others used the shield and managed to get near the mass effect core room.
But that didn't stop those mysterious mutated beasts from trying to kill them. Slowly Shepard and Miranda were reaching the threshold and only minutes away from being rendered unconscious. The biotic amps can only tolerate the stress to a certain point. Shepard already started to bleed via his nose.
Garrus, Miranda and Mordin were storming their ammo against those creatures. Even if they die, many take its place.
Finally the team reached the door to the core room.
"Gu-...Guyz...This is the door to the core chamber. I need you to continue what you were doing, I have a plan" said Shepard and then turned to Garrus and spoke, "Garrus, open this door" said Shepard. Garrus immediately used his omni-tool to override the door controls. The console lit green and the door opened.
They all entered the core chamber. It was big, spacious for good maneuverability and had single big glowing ball at the centre protected by a hard metallic retractable barrier.
The pressure on the biotic shield reduced significantly because those creatures spread among the free space.
"This is it! Miranda, Let's blast these bastards!" yelled Shepard. Miranda nodded.
Then both charged the biotic barrier to maximum level and unleashed the energy at full force. The result was a biotic explosion that shook the entire core room and incinerated most of the creatures. Still bigger ones survived the impact, but they were all thrown far away from their position. The team was free of the creatures and even though the bigger ones are alive, they were staggering to get to their feet or whatever accounts for their feet.
Shepard and Miranda were tired but shepard started to feel dizzy. He knelt down letting out heavy breathing.
"Shepard? You all right?" asked Garrus loading a fresh thermal clip. Shepard turned around to see the glowing ball supported by several cables and metal shield.
"So...So this is the mass effect core" said Shepard.
"**ROARS**...**SCREAMS**..."
"Shit! The are back!" grunted Jacob.
"Mordin, I need you to disable the core. We'll cover you. And better hurry up, we barely have five minutes" said Shepard reloading a new thermal clip.
"I'll do that" replied Mordin who ran towards the computer terminal to disable the shields that protect the core.
Then immediately to their left and right, those creatures broke in through the door and stormed towards their position. There were bigger biped, quadped, arthropod and small creepy swarms.
"Kill them all!" yelled Garrus. Then everyone fired their weapons that killed the creatures one by one. The bigger monsters needed more ammo to kill them. So the others get near them. Jacob used his biotics to create a mass effect lift field that abruptly stooped their movement. Shepard used this chance to use his rocket launcher and shoot at them. The explosion made a good kill count.
"One thing is for sure, These things just dont die!" gritted Jacob.
"To hell with this! We only have 3 and a half minutes"..."Mordin! Did you disable it?" yelled Shepard.
"I need to manually bypass the security protocols...Yes! I did it!" said Mordin letting out a smile. Suddenly the barrier and the power supply went down leaving the mass effect core vulnerable.
"**STATIC**...Shep...Shepard! We are running out of time! did you disable the core?" came a voice through the comm. It was Joker. Shepard knowing that the shields were down, let out a sigh of relief. He knew all that it takes is one shot t destroy this reaper"
"In 20 seconds" said Shepard who then ran towards the core. Mordin took his place and started shooting at those monsters. Shepard took his rocket launcher and loaded it with a rocket and aimed at the blue colored core. He then pulled the trigger. the rocket flew into the mass effect drive and exploded. The explosion scrambled the power supply conduits and and the core collapsed on itself.
Once it was done, the reaper started to tremble violently and everywhere it started to explode.
"It's done. Let's get back to the Normandy" said Miranda.
"EDI, The mass effect core is disabled but things are a lot shaky here. We need a ride back to the Normandy" said Shepard.
Aboard the Normandy...
"EDI, The mass effect core is disabled but things are a lot shaky here. We need a ride back to the Normandy" said Shepard over the comm.
"Great! EDI what now?" asked Joker.
"Use the terminal to connect me with the Normandy" said EDI.
Joker used the computer to transfer her system through out the ship. Suddenly EDI's hologram vanished and the lights started to flicker. Joker and Thane were looking all the room in confusion.
"Jeff, I'm in control of the Normandy. Initiating startup sequence for the drive core activation" said EDI.
It was only seconds, and the Normandy stopped trembling. Joker and Thane were surprised.
"Drive core and fusion power system at full capacity. Initiating thrusters. I have Shepard and his team's exact location. I am taking the ship near their position" said EDI.
"YEAH!" exclaimed Joker in joy. Then he contacted Shepard over the comm.
"Commander, EDI's got your location. Normandy's closing in your position" said Joker.
"Thank you Joker. We will hold our position" replied Shepard.
"EDI you need to hurry up. There's only 90 seconds left" said Joker.
...
"Alright people, Our ride's coming. Let's hold our position" said Shepard.
Everyone assembled and held themselves against those beasts. Sage colored blood splattering everywhere. Bigger monsters were strong enough to sustain the attacks and managed to get close to the team and biotic were the only option to repel them. Suddenly the team's comm line came to life.
"Shepard, the Normandy is here and getting close to the hull fracture to your left. But I can only bring it 5 meters far from the opening. You need to jump in" said EDI.
"Alright guyz lets go!" yelled shepard and everyone sprinted towards the hull opening to their left and also fired upon the enemies to prevent them from following. but they did either way. Normandy was hovering 5mts away from the entrance. The Air lock door opened.
"Hurry up commander, 30 more seconds" yelled Joker.
Mordin first jumped into the Normandy. Others were firing at the creatures to prevent them from following. Then Jacob jumped into the Ship followed by Miranda.
When Garrus and Shepard tried to jump, a quadped creature gave a heavy blow to the Garrus's hard suit.
"AAHH..." yelped Garrus.
"GARRUS!" Shepard yelled and immediately used a biotic shockwave to repel the creature back. He then carried Garrus by his shoulder and both jumped at the same time.
They both were caught by Mordin and Jacob who pulled them in and the airlock door was closed. Now they have only 10 seconds for impact.
"Joker! Get us the hell outta here!" yelled Jacob.
Joker who had reached the cockpit by then, took his seat and took control of the consoles.
"Thruster capacity and drive output at 200%" said Joker. The Normandy's thrusters ejected the exhaust at high speed and countered the high 'g' force and flew away from the reaper. Just in time, the ship reached the safe distance from the reaper and was only 1500 mts away from the ground.
But the Normandy suffered a severe inertial force due to the field anchor. The counter thrust was not enough such that when the Normandy flew away from reaper, it was subjected to an equivalent slingshot effect. This effect caused the Normandy to be thrown away uncontrollably spinning in the mid air.
The reaper finally met it's end by crashing above the ground with great force that caused an impact crater. As the mass effect field was shutdown, the reaper never exploded. Instead, it shattered to pieces under the 'g' force.
"What the hell? The ship's maneuvering out of proportion" said Joker who was trying hard to bring the Normandy to control.
Back in the airlock, Garrus was injured by those creatures.
"Ah! Dammit it hurts" grunted Garrus. Jacob, Mordin and Shepard managed to take a look. The hard suit was punctured in the upper back along the left lateral side of the torso.
"Shepard, He has sustained a torn cartilage over the ribs" said Mordin.
"We'll take him to the med bay. can help him" said Jacob. Shepard nodded and helped Garrus to stand.
Miranda went to the cockpit to learn what has happened.
"Joker, What's happening? Why the ship's still turbulent?" asked Miranda.
"The inertial effect is overwhelming. I will check on the gyro stabilizers" said EDI who then proceeded to use her program to control the gyro stabilizers and inertial dampeners to higher efficiency. The Normandy began to slow down and the gryo stabilizers slowly stopped the ship from pitch and yaw.
Miranda was shocked and confused to see EDI taking control of the Normandy. She knew that EDI's function were severely limited and the only way for her achieve this. By the time, the ship slowly returned to normalcy.
The holograms lit up bright, the lights stopped flickering everywhere. After struggling for minutes, Joker took back control of the Normandy.
"*SIGH*...That was one hell of a screw up. I'm gonna need a vacation" said Joker with a smile.
"How did EDI gained control of the ship? That's beyond her capabilities" asked Miranda her face serious. Joker knew that he had to face the music. His face turned wry.
"Actually-..."
"I asked Joker to release my shackles" replied EDI. Joker turned to look at EDI's hologram with his eyebrows raised.
"You know the consequences?" asked Miranda folding her hands.
"Listen, if not for that, we would have ended up dead. Normandy lost power to drive core and power plant was shutdown. Only her processing power was capable of restarting it" replied Joker. Miranda's still hesitant but Joker was right. EDI saved everyone. The least thing she can do is not to have Illusive man know of this.
Miranda reluctantly nodded her head. "Fine, let this be a good little secret. I'm afraid if the Illusive man will take this good" said Miranda.
"Don't worry. I am still functioning at optimal capacity and bound to protocols" said EDI. Miranda then left the place.
"Alright, let's get the hell outta this piece of rock" said Joker who then proceeded to accelerate the Normandy out of the Lethe.
...
After 1 hour...
The Normandy left the thorne system and entered the interstellar space. After a rough ride, the ship was performing well. The crew worked hard to bring the place back to how it were first. Due to uncurbed use of the mass effect drive, they had to give it time for proper cool down.
At the med bay, Garrus was given treatment by. Garrus suffered a torn cartilage in the rib. He needed complete 48 hours rest. Every crew member were at the medbay to check on their turian friend.
"Consider you have 48 hours shore leave Garrus" said Shepard giving a smirk.
"Except that leave has nothing but sour medicines and 48 hours of literally nothing to do...ouch!" said Garrus who kept his right arm to his left lateral section.
"Take care" said Shepard and then everyone proceeded to leave the medbay. After getting outside, his other team members (Samara, Thane, Tali, Jack, Grunt, Zaeed, Kasumi) asked Shepard a lot of questions about the incident.
"Shepard, we almost got killed. What really happened out there?" asked Kasumi.
"Some crew technicians sustained minor injuries, but they are doing good" said Thane.
"But the Normandy was not. It shook like an earthquake" said Zaeed.
"Shepard, for a moment, I lost control in the engineering. But then, the drive core output reached double the capacity. What really happened?" asked Tali.
Shepard was listening to their queries with patience and then took a moment to answer.
"Guyz, The reaper trapped us when me and my strike team retrieved the IFF. It's mass effect field locked our ship and dragged us into the atmosphere". Others were listening to him.
"But EDI used her abilities to bring our ship back online once we disabled the reaper's mass effect core" replied Shepard.
"But that's not the official story. We heard you were being attacked inside. So pansy you didn't bring me in" said Grunt with a smirk.
"You are right. The reaper was holding something worse, deadly for a long time hidden" said Shepard.
"Any new weird aliens?" asked Zaeed. Shepard looked down soaking in the horrors.
"Yes. But they were simply mindless monsters. The atmosphere had a biological contamination, something more like a virus that cause mutations. There were also these...organic leftover matter spread throughout the ship. Mordin has the scanned data. He might tell us what it is once he's done analyzing"
"Keelah! What kind of infection could it be?" asked Tali in distress.
"I don't know. But..." Shepard dragged his words and his face was dead panned.
"What is it commander?" asked Samara seeing his facial expression.
"Those things looked familiar. I don't know, but they were slightly familiar. Somewhere somehow I had seen a glimpse of those things" said Shepard who was confused trying to remind himself. But he decided to let that slide as he got some other thing to tend to. He need to talk to Miranda, Jacob and EDI at the comm room.
"Alright, we'll discuss this later. Go back to your places and await further orders" said Shepard. Others nodded and left the place disbanding the group. He then proceeded to the comm room.
...
Miranda lawson was already in the comm room. She decided to talk to the Illusive man about what they learned in this mission. She activated the QEC. The table shifted and the 3D scanner scanned her and then the room went dark. In the front after few seconds appeared the Illusive man with his usual cigar and wine.
" , good to see that you have successively retrieved the IFF from the derelict reaper" said the IM.
"We did, But we also found some truth that you kept from me" said Miranda folding her hands.
"What do you mean?" asked IM without raising suspicion.
"You had been experimenting with the reaper tech on horizon with live subjects. You concealed it from me, being one of your closest top tier operative" said Miranda.
The Illusive man took a sip of wine with no expression. There was an absolute silence for the time being. He then looked at her.
"Horizon is even classified to you. And I don't have to answer your questions" said IM shoveling the insult in her face.
"Classified? I helped you right from the beginning in all your cut throat operations, even helped you getting the intel about those mysterious spartans of the UNSC who appeared here out of nowhere and you are telling me about classified?" asked Miranda in indignance. Illusive man was staring at her, His bionic eyes glowing in the dark.
"Enough of that. You are out of the line. Is there anything you wish to say?" asked the IM without any hint of anger or hesitation in his face. Miranda was totally shocked by the IM's response. She was surprised and began to suspect his behavior. She never experienced such an animosity towards her especially from him. She was his top and trustful operative. But this conversation alone had Miranda to doubt the Illusive man's motives. But she never expressed it in her face.
"Also within the dead reaper, we faced strange new monsters that we had never seen or even heard before" said Miranda.
"Monsters?"
"The air inside the reaper was contaminated by a strange microbe and there were lots of organic biomass scattered everywhere"
"Do you have any footage or any evidence for that?" asked IM.
"Yes, here it is" said Miranda sending him the copy of one footage. Before she could say anything further, the IM interrupted.
"You may leave" said the IM and cut the QEC channel. Miranda raised her eyebrows in confusion. One thing's for sure, She knew that something's wrong with the Illusive man and she realized that this allegiance might not last longer.
Miranda lawson is cerberus to the core and had involved herself in several conspiracy acts. But she too respects certain moral values like she fully approved Shepard's decision to hand over David archer to alliance academy. She reprimanded subjecting humans into rachni and thorian experiments. This might be because of the ambivalent feelings about her own heritage. She's not a naturally born human. Her father used a modified version of his own genome, engineered it to human perfection. That idea had always been a thorn on her side. Over time, she grew repentant with this perfectionism. She might be a human, but the thought that she is just her father's mere experiment will not fade. Maybe that's the reason why she's been living with compunction.
But if that's the case, She shouldn't have joined the cerberus...
It was a perfect timing that Jacob and Shepard entered the comm room. They were surprised to see her.
"Miranda? What are you doing here?" asked Shepard.
"Shepard, My hunch seems to be right" replied Miranda which confused them both.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Jacob.
"Illusive man's acting suspiciously. He just shoved me when I mentioned the experiments on horizon, said it's classified" said Miranda.
"Even he hid it from you?" asked Shepard.
"Yes. And the way he spoke? He looks like he'd been up to something for a long time and didn't wish us to learn about that" said Miranda.
"Well then?...It's as almost saying that he's no longer a liability. We have to keep an eye on him. I am not surprised if he screw us up in the mission or turn it sideways" said Shepard his face wary.
"Once this mission is over, I am gonna secretly investigate their activities" said Miranda.
"Well at least we are at the end of the road. Mordin's doing his research on the sample we obtained within the reaper" said Jacob.
"I have sent the reports to the Illusive man" said Miranda.
"So that's it folks. All we gotta do is use the IFF and kick the collector's ass" said Jacob with an avid smile.
"EDI, what can you tell us about the IFF?" asked Shepard. EDI's blue hologram came to life.
"The IFF has special reaper codes that are compiled during identification procedure. This is done in the form of a signal. A reaper will identify it's kin using the friendly signal. I will run a decryption program to learn the nature of these codes so that I can replicate it and install it in the Normandy's systems" replied EDI.
"But EDI, it's a dangerous reaper technology. Will it be safe?" asked Shepard with concern.
"Shepard, My core programming itself is based on the reaper AI. I had been given significant anti-reaper algorithms for higher level cyber defense, even against a reaper" said EDI.
"That's good to hear. But how much time do you need to install the IFF?" asked Shepard.
"I cannot say for sure. But it won't be surprising if it takes a week" said EDI. Shepard frowned a little after what EDI said.
"*SIGH*...That's a long time. But this needs careful planning. So we'll wait till we are 100% ready said Jacob.
"Jacob's right commander. We can wait" said Miranda. Shepard gave a slight approval nod.
"EDI, notify me when it's ready" said Shepard.
"I will finish it up both effectively and as fast as I can" said EDI. With that, her hologram disappeared.
"Alright, I am going to my cabin. If anyone need my help, call me over" said Shepard. Miranda nodded and left the briefing room. Jacob saluted Shepard and left the place. Shepard was standing there for a moment soaking in thoughts about what happened that whole day.
"Damn, I need some shut eye" thought Shepard and left the room.
...
Cerberus HQ, Cronos station.
The Illusive man was watching the a 5 minute footage. The footage had only the recordings of the fight and their assessment of the reaper, not much information. But little did the Normandy crew know about what Illusive man's been to. But these strange monsters they faced inside were horrifying. He was surprised to see these beasts instead of the reaper indoctrinated agents. These creatures were violent and brutal in nature.
"Surely, these creatures are somehow related to the strange virus present in the reaper atmosphere"
It is true. Chandana's team already sent samples of these virus and the organic mass in containers to the place where Illusive man designated in a mini cruiser. Wherever it's been transported, the science team there were already studying the virus in an undisclosed location. The Illusive man already got a picture of the nature of this virus. But he was wondering what these strange creature were doing inside a reaper.
"Maybe we can get additional samples"
Kai leng, the cerberus operative and Illusive man's proxy came inside the room where the IM was seated.
"Sir, you called me" said leng.
"Yes I did. I need you to take a team to go to Lethe in the thorne system...At this specific coordinates" said the Illusive man handing over the data pad. He took it and viewed the information regarding his destination.
"What are we digging this time?" asked Leng.
"A derelict reaper crashed over the surface. There's a strange virus with in the reaper atmosphere. But even amidst the debris, the virus is still intact. You are to take a team and retrieve more samples and deliver it to the designated place. A science team already delivered some samples from the reaper but it's not enough" replied the IM.
"Then I'll be on my way" said Leng.
"Leng" called the IM. He turned to look at him.
"Be careful. Avoid prolonged exposure to the contamination. It's causing strange reactions to who ever is exposed to. Take top tier equipment and toxin filters with you" said the IM.
"Yes sir" saluted Leng and left the room. Then the Illusive man took a sip of his wine.
"Looks like we are facing another threat apart from the reapers" said the Illusive man who closed the footage.
...
Citadel Embassy...
Councilor Udina and Admiral Anderson were talking about those spartans who had been here for more than a month.
"The spartans should have joined the alliance. You know how much it would have tipped the balance in our favor?" said Udina who was furious even after it had been a month. Anderson was annoyed with him.
"Councilor, how much do we know about them. They are complete unknowns and they claim to be from another universe, that sort of thing. The look weird and and everything they have is weird. To make matters worse, they revealed themselves to be humans. You know what that means? We get our throats slit by the other councilors even if didn't know them" said Anderson keeping his face irate.
"You clearly prove that you are a soldier. But politicians like me turn even the lies as truth" said Udina. Anderson was stunned with his reply.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Anderson. Anderson wanted to divert Udina from talking about the spartans, but he too knew that those spartans are the hot news everyday.
"The other councilors still think those mysterious travelers were lying and that they are alliance splinter group" said Udina.
"Does that bother you?" asked Anderson.
"No, but let them say that. We can turn it to our advantage" said Udina with a smirk. Anderson grew restless but couldn't speak as he was confused with what Udina was implying.
"Let them be alliance splinter group. When the other councilors grab our neck, those spartans will have no choice but to side with us because if they don't answer the council, they will be in serious trouble. The turian military is enough to suppress them" said Udina.
Anderson was shocked and nodded dismissively.
"This guy's turned into a desperate wannabe!" thought Anderson, his face turning disgustful and then spoke,
"I've got a 2 syllable word for you...BULLSHIT!" yelled Anderson. But before Anderson could reply, Councilor Sparatus entered the human embassy hall.
Anderson noticed a frustration or anger in his face even though it's difficult to read his turian face expression.
"Sparatus, What a surprise! Is there anything you wished to discuss?" asked Udina calm and cool.
"Udina, You lied to me!" said Sparatus in gritted tone. Udina and Anderson were confused at his accusation.
"I don't understand" said udina.
"You said that those spartans of the UNSC don't belong to the alliance" growled Sparatus.
"That's true. They don't even belong to this place" said Udina.
"Then what's the meaning of this!" yelled Sparatus and showed him the data pad. It had information and a mini footage. Udina shot a look at Sparatus and then proceeded to look at the information.
Udina and Anderson got to see the infos regarding the arrival of 15 new ships of nowhere through a portal that was reminiscent of what the spartan's ship does. There were 2 different groups. One group had ships with sharp edges and human touch. Other group had ships that were weird looking with the bow having a shape of a whale. They were shocked to see that 3 out of 15 ships were so big like those spartans ship. Udina and Anderson shared a look of confusion.
Then they watched the footage of those ships attacking pirate ships and decimating them in a blink of an eye. Both were shocked to see that. From the way they arrived here, they can easily say that those mysterious groups were somehow associated with the spartans.
"My goodness! These people use the same technology what those spartans use" said Udina in shock.
"But what are those other ships? They don't look human" said Anderson confused.
"I will tell you. Those groups are none other than the Alliance splinter group" said Sparatus giving a grim look.
"Sparatus, that's enough!" said Udina gritting his teeth.
"You get enough with your lies!" Sparatus fired back. Udina and Anderson's face tensed.
"Those spartans and their one big ship came out of nowhere with their strange technologies. Even then it was unbelievable when they said they came from another universe, but sound logical" said Sapratus. He then turned to face the two and continued.
"But this time, a group of ships have shown itself he same way the spartans did and I am not a fool to assume them to be from the same another universe and I don't think there is anyone powerful enough to travel between universe except God. This's not a coincidence" finished Sparatus.
"What's your point Sparatus?" asked Udina raising his tone in anger.
"My point is, these people from your military somehow found an undiscovered advanced technology and build themselves in numbers and hide in the uncharted galactic region"
"That's a damning accusation!" yelled Anderson.
"No. You lied to us. If this is a display of power to threaten the council, you humans should know that we turians can annihilate you before sun dawns your sky" said Sparatus in a threatening tone.
"And what if they are an alliance splinter group?" asked Udina giving an unsymmetrical smile. Anderson's face turned stunned.
"Udina! What the hell are you doing?!" whispered Anderson in tense. Sparatus was glaring at him in anger.
"Then listen to me very carefully. I am giving you five days time to bring those newcomers and have them appear at the citadel for the trial. If you fail...Then I'll have the citadel race declare war upon the humans" said Sparatus with his face dark. Udina and Anderson were terrified with what he said.
"Councilor Sparatus, What you say is atrocious! You cannot accuse us for these unknown people. Is this a reflection of your hatred towards humans since the first contact war" asked Anderson.
"When your race joined the citadel, you signed to follow every rule to the paper. Everyone knows thse spartans are humans. Surely these new people should be humans too. We cannot let anyone roam the galaxy and do what ever they want" said Sparatus.
Udina and Anderson felt that they are in a deadlock situation. What Udina hoped for simply backfired and now he reproached himself.
"Think about that and act wisely" said Sparatus and left the embassy. Udina and Anderson became speechless. Anderson chastised the way Udina handled the situation.
"So much for your political intelligence" said Anderson to which Udina didn't answer anything.
"Now we have no choice but to send a message to those spartans. Only they can help us" said Anderson in a regretful tone. Udina was staring at Anderson with his face deadpanned.
...
A/N: That's it. I assume you guyz know what shepard's team might have faced and why he said it's familiar. Well it looks like the Alliance is in new trouble. Next chapter will feature the UNSC and covenants.
