Chapter 3: The Beacon

As the team move closer to finding the beacon and the culprit responsible for bring the Geth to Eden Prime, they must also find and disarm the bombs set to destroy the colony.

1437

Kalameu Bridge

Cmdr. Dominikk Shepard

As we made the hike up the hill, I stopped everyone as I heard what sounded like a gunshot from the distance.

"What the hell was that?!" Kaidan said raising his rifle. "A gunshot, sounded like a heavy pistol." Williams concluded.

"That was probably Nihlus' pistol. Let's pick up the pace!" I ordered and we ran across the bridge and were shocked by what we saw over the tram station; the same alien spaceship from the message. We all stopped at the end of the bridge in awe.

"Holy shit..! Look at the size of that thing!" Kaidan said shocked although I could understand since he didn't see the video message. I heard Williams whispering what sounded like a prayer. Funny since I never took her as the religious type.

As the ship flew off we walked down the slope to a cabin to the west. I knocked and held my rifle up in case of trouble.

"Don't shoot! We're unarmed," A farmer said walking out with two more closely behind.

"Civilians sir," Kaidan said lowering his rifle.

"No shit. Name's Cole and this is Blake and Elise, we're the resident farmers in this area." The farmer said.

"We didn't know there were more soldiers here," Blake said clutching his side. "You alright?" I asked him and he nodded saying it was just a scratch.

"What happened here?" Kaidan asked him. "We were on the fields minding our own business doing our jobs when the attack started. That uh… 'mothership' came down and dropped those synthetics into the fields. We were lucky enough to make it into our cabin…" Cole explained looking at the station.

"Tell them about that noise Cole. That awful noise…" Elise told him, she seemed the most skittish of the three and she was obviously going through PTSD. "Noise?" I asked them.

"There was this shrieking sound… like the shriek of the damned. It just felt like it was… coming from inside our skulls. Made it damn near impossible to think straight. But after a while it just stopped."

It was the same sound I heard in the video message. I could hardly imagine the way it sounded in reality and felt a sense of empathy for the farmers. "Alright head back in and we'll take care of this." I instructed as we began to leave.

"Cole, they seem like they wanna help. Maybe we should give the soldiers the stuff."

"Jesus Blake, you have gotta learn to keep your mouth shut!" Cole glared, making us turn back. "Something you're not saying, Cole?" Kaidan asked with a raised brow.

He turned his attention to us. "We have a small smuggling ring on the station… we buy and sell weapons and supplies that may have belonged to the military…" He said.

"Those weapons could've helped the squad!" Williams glared moving forward. Cole held his hands up. "Hey we weren't hurting anyone."

"Who is your smuggler, Cole?" I asked him. "Hey he is a good man, wouldn't harm a fly. Besides I am not a snitch."

"Cole he may have been the cause of this whole attack." I told him glaring.

"I guess… his name was Powell. He should be at the tram station." He told me and the farmers handed us they're supplies, mostly mods.

We then continued down the hill with Kaidan at point. "Commander, I found Nihlus sir." He said and lowered his weapon. "Status?"

"Dead…" Williams said shocked. I ran up and stared blankly. Nihlus' body was crumpled on the ground, a gaping hole out the left side of his forehead.

"Dammit…" I knelt down upset inside and closed his eye lids. We heard something fall and raised our weapons.

"Nonono, don't shoot! I don't have any weapons!" The worker said walking out, hands raised. "The hell were you doing back there?" Kaidan asked not lowering his weapon.

"I-I was just hiding, please I'm not a soldier. I saw what happened to your friend." He said looking down at Nihlus' corpse. "Wouldn't say he is a friend per se," I said and put away my rifle. "You said you saw what happened?"

"Y-yeah, he came here with his rifle raised. He saw someone, called him Saren, I… I think they knew eachother…" He said scratching his head before continuing.

"Your friend dropped his guard, and then Saren aimed his pistol behind his head and just… shot him. Right through the back of the head in cold blood. He then went on the Tram to the Portside Station." He said nodding to the tramway.

"Thanks for the information, um…"

"Powell," The worker said and a pausing silence came. "Powell, a farmer named Cole said that you have been smuggling weapons off from Alliance teams." I said.

"W-what?! Wait… so what if I am a smuggler… We just took a few grenades. No one was harmed from it." He pleaded afraid.

"Until now that is," Kaidan commented as Williams glared enraged.

"YOU SONUVABITCH! WE'RE OUT HERE DEFENDING YOUR SCUMBAG ASSES, AND YOU ARE TRYING TO RIP US OFF?!" She shouted moving toward him as I held her back with an arm.

"We weren't hurting anyone. I mean we never thought we would be attacked, how was I suppose to know?!" He asked on the verge of breaking down and crying. I could sympathize there.

There had been moments in my childhood back when I was with the Reds where I made a bad choice in smuggling and stealing weapons. Had a friend not told me to enlist and get out of the business, I'd probably in Powell's shoes.

"That's enough, Chief. I think he's suffered enough." I said and she gave an incredulous look. "But sir-"

"THAT'S AN ORDER!" I said glaring at her making her stop and sigh before glaring at Powell. "You are damn lucky Powell. Hand over the grenades."

He nodded and handed them over no questions asked. "You should try and make amends Powell." I told him and he nodded.

"Thank you, Commander." He said and ran off.

"Should we have let him go?" Kaidan asked as he moved to my side.

"The only one he can hurt is himself." I said and we continued on the tram.

1445

Tram-Starport Station Two

Saren Arterius

As I walked down the ramp to the Prothean beacon, I had to admit to myself, I took no pleasure in killing Nihlus.

I was the one who saw the spark inside the rebellious young teen. He had a promising record and his only drawback was that he didn't like following orders from his commanding officers. But he was respectful, cunning and tenacious for an upcoming turian in the Hierarchy. And when I took him under my wing, he became something of a brother to me.

Humph. Hell of a way to treat your siblings, may as well treat them like those that stand in your way…

Inside my thoughts were at war with my conscience. It was no secret how ruthless I could get, even when I wasn't agitated. Fear is a great motivator after all. That thought put a grin on my face since fear is the only motivator.

"Deploy the explosives for charge. We're leaving this colony." I instructed the geth and with a few clicks and squawks, they left.

As I walked over to the beacon, I grinned as it lifted me in the air and showed me what I needed to know.

1450

Tram-Starport Station Two

Cmdr. Dominic Shepard

We reached the portside station in no time at all and was welcomed by a squad of geth along the way.

"Sir, I see some geth priming explosives for detonation!" Kaidan shouted as he blind fired against the synthetics. I looked and sure enough two were already set to detonate and one was being set.

"Williams," I looked at the Chief and smirked she unleashed hell as she mowed every standing geth down. "Kaidan, move up and disarm the bombs. We'll give you cover fire."

He nodded and ran in ducking for cover every five seconds as we gunned each geth down and moved up from behind. "How many?" He asked.

"About four or five more troopers give or take." I answered and he nodded firing his own weapon.

After the geth were dealt with, we then started to disarm each of the six bombs. "Crafty tin cans. Blowing this colony would leave no evidence they were here." Kaidan said grimly.

"I don't think the geth were the true brains behind this attack." I said earning a frown from my XO and the Chief. "Think it was that guy Powell mentioned."

"Yeah… Saren." I looked down wondering why the name sounded so familiar. I quickly withdrew the thoughts and saw a geth dropship fly off into the sky. "The beacon,"

We all ran down and sighed when we found the beacon intact. "I'll contact the Normandy and tell her to pick us up." I smirked getting on the comm.

"Commander, do you hear a humming sound?" Kaidan asked looking at me and I shook my head. "No why?"

"It looks good for being over thousands of years-"Williams didn't finish her sentence as the beacon drew her in. "Williams!"

I ran and caught the gunnery chief and tossed her away taking her place as I was lifted into the air. I was soon hit by a painful shock throughout my body. "Commander!"

"No Williams don't, you'll get dragged in!" I heard Kaidan shout and held her back, though I couldn't see.

Soon a screeching and stabbing pain came crashing on my skull and I shouted in pain as scratchy images flashed in and out of my head. Before I knew it, the Prothean beacon sparked and blew up in my face, blacking everything out in my mind…

1515

Unknown Class Ship

Matriarch Benezia

The corridor of the ship always seemed strange to me. Huge, open, vacant… may as well have no one onboard at all. And there was this pressure, that seemed to crush you under its weight...

Goddess pity whoever comes onto this ship…

I shrugged these thoughts aside as I reached what we all believed to be the bridge, with our captain sitting in the chair facing away from me.

"Saren, the bombs have been disarmed. We believe it was a team of Alliance humans who were sent in to investigate with the turian Spectre, Nihlus-"

"And the beacon?" The raspy voice asked coldly.

"The beacon was destroyed but… not before a human came into contact with the visions it held." I said slowly. Soon a growling sound was heard and shouting replaced it as Saren stood tossing everything he could hold around the room before he reached my head snarling as his hands held it in place.

Soon, he was calm again with a smirk on his face. "Head to the world of Noveria, Benezia. I shall make sure this nuisance is… dealt with." He grinned coldly and I nodded heading towards my shuttle, hearing his laughter as I did.