6: So You Have a Super Weapon
"Tali, how're you doing?"
The quarian didn't flinch as a human decloaked next to her on the bed. "Oh, hi Kasumi. You look well."
Nice try. "What's bothering you, hon?"
The engineer turned toward her. "Am I that obvious?"
"Look at your hands."
Tali folded her arms to stop herself from wringing her hands. "Sooner or later I've got to stop doing that," she muttered.
"And in the meantime, you should tell me what's irking you. That or I could stalk you until I find out." Kasumi chuckled as the quarian shot her a glare. "Well it would be more fun for me at least."
She shook her head. "You already do that, Kasumi."
"Not true," the thief replied, a pouting look on her face.
"How many push-ups did Jacob do today?"
"Ha-ha, Tali." Her sarcastic reply earned a laugh from the quarian. "So are you going to answer the question? You're not even this evasive when I ask you about Shep."
Tali bowed her head, trying to ignore the feeling she got from hearing Shepard's name. "It's about that last mission. The way we found David... I'm just worried about what it means for us retaking the homeworld."
Kasumi nodded, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Just because Archer was that twisted doesn't mean your people would go to that extreme."
"I'm not so sure about that." Her statement lingered in the air as the human considered it.
"You know, you still haven't told me that story from your mother's knife. Maybe that'll cheer you up."
The quarian sat a little straighter, her voice becoming more cheerful. "Sure. That would-"
"Miss Goto and Miss Zorah, the commander has requested you in the armory. He will brief you on your next mission there."
Darn it, EDI! I was so close. Kasumi snapped her fingers in frustration. "I guess we'll have to take another rain check."
"A what?"
"Don't want to keep Shep waiting now, do you?"
He's bringing the entire squad? This must be something big.
Tali squeezed her way through the throng of bodies in the armory, with Kasumi right behind her. Shepard looked over to them from the far end of the room, visible only because he was standing on a crate. The commander cleared his throat loudly.
"Sorry for the squeeze, everyone, but we just got an important tip from the Illusive Man," he yelled, trying to make himself heard over the many voices in the room. Several heads turned his way, though Tali could tell that more than half were still busy checking their weapons. "We're going after the collectors."
That silenced everyone.
"Do not have method for safe traversal of Omega Relay. Much of squad distracted by other matters. Assault of collector homeworld inadvisable."
"True," he replied, nodding his head toward Mordin. "But we've caught a break. Cerberus intercepted a distress call from a turian patrol two hours ago. They managed to disable a collector cruiser by boarding it, but their ships were decimated during the fight. We're going in to find any survivors and gather intel."
"Sounds fishy to me," Jack called from one corner of the room. "How do we know this isn't Cerberus trying to screw us over?"
"They're in it to stop the collectors as much as we are, Jack. But that doesn't mean we're being careless about it. You, Thane, Miranda, and Zaeed are staying at the LZ to guard the shuttle."
Her retort was much louder. "If you think I'm following that fucking cheerleader-"
He held up a hand. "You won't have to. I'm putting Zaeed in command of gold team."
"What?" Miranda yelled in surprise.
"Need I remind you of what happened on Aite?"
The human woman clamped her mouth shut.
I knew he didn't like Miranda shooting at me, but I wasn't aware he was that angry about it.
"Nice to see the bitch knocked off her-"
"Enough," Shepard said, cutting off Jack's words. "We have no intel on how much, if any, resistance we'll be facing, so I want to bring as many heavy weapons as possible. Grunt, Zaeed: grab grenade launchers. Garrus, get a missile launcher. Jacob, you're on flamethrower duty. Thane, bring the particle beam rifle instead of your sniper."
A chorus of acknowledgments went around the room as most of the squad started turned back toward their weapons. Tali, however, noticed something odd about his order.
"What are you going to carry, John?"
Jacob stood turned away from the flamethrower he was strapping on. "She's got a point, commander. That's our entire stock of heavy weapons, unless you got something new."
A grin spread across Shepard's face as he stepped down from the crate. "Just got it today. I will be carrying the B.F.G." He tossed aside the lid and reached inside the box.
The armory officer folded his arms. "What's a be-eff-geeeeesus..."
John lifted a comically-large weapon out of the crate. The gun's yellow and gray finish caught the eyes of everyone in the room as their collective jaws inched ever closer to the floor. A quartet of flanges around the weapon's barrel spun eagerly as the weapon armed itself.
How is he carrying that thing one-handed?
Tali's thoughts were interrupted by a chuckle from the Spectre. He made a sly grin as he looked at the room around him.
"This, ladies and gentlemen, is the M-920 Cain."
Miranda would never have admitted it, but she was entranced by the sight before her. Outside, the behemoth that was the collector cruiser quietly drifted through the greenish haze of the nearby nebula. The mix of tech and what looked like fungal growths that coated its outer hull sickened her, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the view. Every now and then, extra lights would wink in and out of sight, a product of the massive debris field that Glass was steering their shuttle through.
They sure did a number on those turian ships.
"ETA thirty seconds. Everyone get ready."
She double-checked the seal on her face mask before drawing her tempest SMG.
"Three, two, one... Gold team, move out!"
She jumped out of the cramped shuttle with Thane as Zaeed and Jack did the same on the other side. The officer swept her weapon around as she checked for any enemies.
"No hostiles, commander."
"No contacts."
"All clear."
"This place is fucking empty. Gross as hell though."
Miranda quietly agreed with Jack; the walls and floor appeared to be covered in orange and brown growths. Up ahead, she could see large sacs stuck to a ceiling, their luminous surfaces crisscrossed with dark lines. Scattered around the room, patches of metal were visible through the unknown substance. "It looks like an insect hive."
She could see Shepard stepping out as she lowered her weapon. "Red team, let's get this done so we can leave." The rest of the squad followed him toward an open door at the far end of the room as Zaeed beckoned gold team over.
"Alright, I want you ladies to watch the doors for hostiles. Me and Krios will cover ya at range from here."
The officer exchanged a surprised look with Jack before retorting. "I'd rather pair up with Tha-"
He cut her off with a raised hand. "Did you bring a long-ranged weapon?"
She could almost feel the smirk blooming on Jack's face as she shook her head, a scowl spreading across her own. The convict let out a low chuckle.
"Relax, cheerleader. I promised the commander that I wouldn't kill you... yet."
"Penetrating scans have detected an access node to uplink with collector data banks. Shepard, I have compared the ship's EM signature to known collector profiles. It is the vessel you encountered on Horizon."
"Maybe the defense towers softened it for the turians."
In the pilot's seat of the Normandy, Joker shook his head as the commander closed the link. "I still can't believe they disabled that thing. What do you think those turians used?"
EDI's avatar glowed next to him. "Whatever they used completely deactivated the vessel's drive core. Without additional data, I can only offer speculation."
"Let's just hope it didn't melt their faces. I doubt the Illusive Man would like to find out that Shepard was killed by the Ark of the Covenant."
"I fail to see how biblical references are relevant."
"Not what I meant, EDI," he replied with a roll of his eyes.
The comm buzzed to life again. "EDI, I'm uploading the data from this terminal. See if you can figure out what they were up to."
The AI responded to the call as Joker brought the Normandy in closer to the disabled ship. "Data received. Analyzing. The collectors were running baseline genetic comparisons between their species and humanity."
"Are they looking for similarities?"
"I have no hypothesis on their motivations. All I have are the preliminary results. They reveal something remarkable: a quad-strand genetic structure, identical to traces collected from ancient ruins. Only one race is known to have this structure: the protheans."
The pilot tore his view away from the cruiser. "The what?"
"My god. The protheans didn't vanish. They're just working for the reapers now."
Yet another reason for me to hope Shepard's middle name is Connor.
"These are no longer protheans, Shepard. Their genes show distinct signs of extensive genetic rewrite. The reapers have repurposed them to suit their needs."
A long pause followed EDI's statement before the commander responded. "Understood, EDI."
As the comm fell silent again, Joker returned to looking at the gargantuan vessel next to them. He cautiously pulled the Normandy toward the ship's bow. Something seems familiar about that shape. "EDI, you wouldn't happen to have access to the original Normandy's logs, would you?"
"Yes, Cerberus recovered a copy of the SR-1's blackbox data."
"Run this ship against the one that killed the original Normandy. I just hope it isn't-"
"It is the same ship."
"Damn it," he swore as he opened up the comm line again. "Commander, you gotta hear this. On a hunch, I asked EDI to run an analysis on this ship."
"I compared the EM profile against data recorded by the original Normandy two years ago. They are an exact match."
"The same ship dogging me for two years? Way beyond coincidence."
You're telling me? My Ackbar senses are off the damn charts right now. "Something doesn't add up, Commander. Watch your back."
The line went silent again, leaving the pilot alone with his thoughts. "EDI," he wondered aloud, "Do you think the turians are still alive in there?"
The avatar's answer was as blunt as it was instantaneous. "I believed their chances of survival to be below five point four percent before we arrived."
"And now?"
"One point two percent, rounded up."
So much for feminine charm. "Remind me to help you work on your people skills."
"Request logged. However, I have not had any issues interfacing with the rest of the crew-"
"Not what I meant, EDI." Deja vu much?
The communications line opened up again. "EDI, I'm setting up a link between you and the collector ship. See if you can get anything useful from the databanks."
"Data mine in progress, Shepard." Several windows opened next to the piloting interface, literal walls of text racing by as the AI analyzed the data.
Joker tried to quash the unease bubbling in his gut as EDI worked. Relax, man. You've been watching too many old vids. I mean, it's not like they'd actually be able to crash an AI and then stick around to gloat about it, right? That's just an old sci-fi cliche.
One of the screens dissolved into static just as he finished the thought. What the- Another one froze, then another. Oh crap. Don't tell me...
He looked to his left just as EDI's blue avatar vanished. A bright red insectoid one replaced it. The freakish hologram turned its "head" toward Joker, looking straight into his eyes.
"That can't be good."
"Not that I give a fuck, but why do you really trust that illusive bastard?"
Miranda kept her eyes trained on the empty hallway as she brushed off Jack's comment. "He's been good to me, and I've never had any reason not to."
The convict scoffed behind her, drawing the officer's attention. "I thought you were supposed to be a smart bitch, not a blind one."
"The Illusive Man doesn't make a habit out of betraying his operatives," she barked resentfully. "It's a mutually beneficial partnership."
"Hate to burst your bubble, princess, but guys like him always have an angle. Power, dominance, wealth... people tend to get attached to that sort of thing."
"He's working in the best interests of all humani-."
"Don't you dare call that prick a humanitarian!" Her biotics flared as she stared down the Cerberus officer.
Miranda drew on her own biotic power as she took a defensive stance. Damn it, this is the last thing we need right now.
The officer matched Jack's gaze as she waited for any sign of an attack. She began to semiconsciously count off the seconds in her head as the face-off dragged on.
Ten...
Twenty...
Forty-five...
Jack backed off. "I don't care what it is that's got you in that rich fucker's pocket, but mark my words: Cerberus will use it against you. The bastard doesn't give a shit about his people. Even if he doesn't personally stab you in the back, someone else will."
Ori? He'd never...
She shook her head in defiance. "That's not going to-"
Both women turned their heads as the sound of a distant explosion echoed down the hall from where Shepard had gone.
"What the fuck was that?"
A low, thundering rumble was began to shake the floor under their feet as Miranda tried and failed to come up with an answer. She strained her hearing, trying to pick up on any more sounds.
"Is that... buzzing?" Her eyes suddenly widened as she drew her SMG. "We need to fall back to the shuttle. Now!"
Spirits, that stings...
Garrus had no idea where the explosion had come from. He only knew that he was standing next to Shepard a moment before it, next to a console where the commander had accessed the data banks.
The next, he was sprawled out on the ground.
Wake up, soldier! You've got a fight to win!
The turian shook himself awake at the thought as his old military training kicked in. He flexed his arms and legs, noting with relief that his hearing was quickly returning. He lifted his head, noticing that he was not the only one who had been knocked away by the blast. Mordin was already on his feet, an arm extended as he helped Jacob up.
Garrus stood and walked over to the salarian. "Where's Shepard?"
The doctor pointed over his shoulder as he gave an annoyed huff. "Platform flew away with commander and half of squad. No injured. Explosion likely nonlethal, meant to subdue for capture. Ship was a trap."
Nothing's ever routine with the collectors... "Who else is here?"
"C'mon, Garrus, I'm not even cloaked this time."
The turian jumped; Kasumi had been standing right behind him. "Can you stop doing-"
"Yeah, yeah. 'Don't spook the turian.' Love to drag this out, hon, but we've got company!"
Garrus followed her gaze, his flanges flaring in surprise. Another platform was quickly gliding toward them, packed with collectors and husks.
We're out in the open, and there's too many to take on directly... But Shepard...
He was back on Omega, sprinting up the stairs toward the balcony as he ignored his ragged breath.
"Please," he muttered, "don't let them be..."
The scene that greeted him was gruesome. Bodies were strewn across the room, only a few of which were in body bags. A salarian was crouched by the ledge, firing his assault rifle in the general direction of the bridge below. A batarian was bent low over one of the corpses, quietly zipping a body bag closed over a drell.
"How?"
The batarian turned toward him, disgust evident in all four of his eyes. He hissed a single word: "Sidonis."
"No..."
A gunship roared up to the ledge, sending out a volley of machine gun fire as the salarian fell.
"Sidonis..."
The batarian's eyes squinted shut in pain as he was cut down.
"SIDONIS!"
"Garrus, snap out of it!"
"What..." He looked around. Jacob and Mordin were shooting at the collectors on the platform as Kasumi shook the turian.
"We can't have you zoning out now, Garrus."
"Right." He could see another platform floating toward them, the distinct form of a pair of scions easily visible among the reinforcements. "We can't wait for Shepard here. Fall back to the shuttle!"
"Understood," Jacob answered as he Threw a husk into several of its allies.
Garrus drew his vindicator, adding his own suppressive fire to the mix. "Mordin, cryo blast now!" Several of the unimpeded hostiles stopped in their tracks, frozen in place. "Move it!"
The four of them ran back the way they came, without even stopping to return fire. They soon passed several familiar landmarks: the collectors' experiment, the piles of decaying human colonists.
We're almost there, he realized. Sure enough, he could hear gunfire ahead of them, mixed in with occasional shouts from Zaeed and Jack. He put on an extra burst of speed, nearly slipping on a patch of the orange substance on the floor as he rounded a corner. There they are!
A heavy door slammed shut in front of the group, cutting them off.
Kasumi rushed over to the obstruction, her omni-tool alight. Garrus caught part of a muttered phrase that his translator couldn't quite decode. "I've never seen encryption so thorough. It'll take me all day to get this thing open on my own."
The turian activated his communicator. "EDI, can you help us get this door open?"
"I am simultaneously fighting collector firewalls in over eight thousand nodes. I am tasked to capacity."
He shook his head as he closed the link. "We need to keep moving. There's a door open over that way."
The thief paused. "I don't rememb-"
"No time, Kasumi!"
Mordin moved alongside the turian as the group hightailed it through the new passageway. "Door was previously closed. Unlikely to have been opened on accident. Suggests new tactic: isolate squad members to spring trap."
"I know they're herding us, Mordin. But unless we find cover, we're dead."
Kasumi pointed just ahead of them. "The interface on that door is still active. I can hack it to shut behind us."
"Do it. Everyone else, form up on that door. We need to give her some time."
Jacob and Mordin didn't bother giving an affirmative as they took cover by the door frame, their weapons firing at the approaching horde before they even entered the room beyond. Garrus drew his rocket launcher, sending several of the explosives at the mass of enemies and slowing down their front lines. An alarm began beeping in his ear as his shields began to fail, but he ignored it.
"I've got it!"
The door began to close excruciatingly slowly as Garrus's shields completely failed on him. "Suppressing fire! Give them everything you've got!"
The leading wave of collectors was only ten meters away from the half-open door by that point. Several of them began to fall as the four of them unleashed a maelstrom of bullets, flashbangs, cryo blasts, flamethrower bursts, biotic Throws, and missiles.
It still wasn't enough.
The door was still over a quarter of the way open when one of the drones burst into flame less than three meters away. Its body gave off an unearthly energy as it turned toward Jacob.
We are the Harbinger of your fate.
No...
The possessed husk sent a dark ball of energy at Jacob, knocking him away from his cover.
Not again.
We know this hurts you.
It sent out a fireball, which burned straight through the operative's barriers. Garrus watched as the man's face contorted in pain.
We will end your suffering.
Never again.
Garrus shoved the wounded man aside as he threw himself between the collector and the human. The door closed with a solid thud as pain lanced its way across the turian's shoulder.
Mordin was on him within moments. "Localized burns, flesh wound. Hold still." The pain flared white-hot for a moment before the turian felt the familiar cooling sensation of medi-gel. "Sterilized. Range of motion will be severely limited until back on Normandy. Advise using one-handed weapons for the time being." The salarian offered his SMG, which Garrus accepted.
"Thanks, Mordin. How're you holding up, Jacob?"
"Minor burns, mostly superficial," the doctor answered for him. "Will be fine."
"I appreciate the assist, Archangel," he gratefully replied.
Garrus nodded as he looked around the chamber. The room at least looked defensible; the area by the door was raised and had several outcroppings that could be used as cover. He could see several doors below, but all of them were closed for the time being.
"So what's the plan, Garrus?" Kasumi queried.
"We send EDI our location, then hole up here until Shepard or Zaeed can assist us."
"Agreed. Will need assistance to fight our way out. Lack of intel, enemy territory."
"Anyone else wondering why they've stopped banging on the door?"
Garrus held up a fist at Jacob's words. The group fell silent as he listened. Sure enough, the door behind them wasn't making a sound.
What he did hear was a distinct clicking noise.
The four of them looked up simultaneously, easily finding the source of the clicks.
"This day just keeps getting better, doesn't it?"
They opened fire as a praetorian slammed into the ground in front of them.
"The controls are locked down. It'll take too long for me to hack into the system."
A large chain of explosions worked its way along the platform, forcing Tali to dive behind another piece of cover. That was too close.
Shepard fired his recently-acquired revenant at a possessed collector, sending a storm of bullets its way. "We'll have to trust EDI then." He quickly ducked back behind cover as a fireball zoomed toward his position; many of his shots had missed.
Tali grumbled as she drew her shotgun. Trust the AI? she thought as she fired at the scion that had targeted her earlier. I'd rather fight a thresher maw on foot.
She began to lose track of time as the four of them fought back against the reapers' slaves. Though they weren't injured yet, the enemy numbers seemed endless; as soon as they thought the last enemy had fallen, a new platform would fly by with reinforcements.
We can't do this forever, Tali thought as another pair of platforms drifted toward them.
Without warning, the reinforcements froze in the air. Their platforms shuddered and suddenly sped toward each other. A small explosion engulfed the indoctrinated aliens before they fell into the abyss below them.
Edi's voice came in over the radio. "I have regained control of the platform, Shepard."
"Thank the ancestors," the quarian breathed. "I thought we were going to have to fight every collector here."
"Perhaps you should consider upgrading my hardware."
Tali's face burned at the AI's comment. Before she could utter a retort, however, Shepard spoke up. "Did you get what we needed?"
"I found data that could help us successfully navigate the Omega 4 relay. I have also found the turian distress call that served as the lure for this trap. The collectors were the source. It is unusual."
"What are you getting at?"
"Turian emergency channels have secondary encryption. It is present, but corrupted in the message. It is not possible that the Illusive Man would believe the distress call was genuine."
"Why are you so sure?"
"I found the anomaly with Cerberus detection protocols. He wrote them."
Grunt sounded less than pleased. "He knew it was a trap? I'll gut that bastard."
"We don't have time to throw blame around," John replied. "We'll question him when we're out."
"What about Garrus and Kasumi?" Tali asked. "We should find out what happened to them."
"Vakarian attempted to lead the rest of the squad back to the shuttle, but was cut off. They are requesting immediate assistance."
"His loss," the krogan grunted. "He was too weak for this fight."
"We're going after them!" John spat. "That's final."
Joker made himself heard on the comms. "Uh... Commander, we've got another problem. The collector ship is powering up. You need to get out before their weapons come online. I'm not losing another Normandy!"
"I do not have full control of their systems," EDI replied. "I will do what I can. Sending coordinates for rendezvous and shuttle extraction."
Shepard barely waited for their platform to touch ground before jumping down. "Come on, let's move."
Tali fell into step behind him as the group began following EDI's directions.
"Around the corner, take the door on your right."
A small group of collectors barred the way, but they were nowhere near as organized as they had been during the ambush. Shepard and Samara easily carved their way through the foes using their biotics.
"I need kills too!" a dejected Grunt yelled as the fighting died down.
The rest of the squad ignored his comment as EDI spoke again.
"Be ready. I am opening a door on the far side of the room. I've told Garrus to bring his squad through when it opens."
"Do it, EDI."
The doors opened, allowing the turian's group to stumble into the room. All four of them were heavily battered and burned. What could possibly have done-
"Praetorian!"
The quarian's eyes widened as the monstrosity hovered through the open doorway. That thing's as big as a colossus! Its eyes began to glow as she aimed her pistol.
"Damn it!"
An alarm beeped in her ear as she ducked behind cover. The praetorian's eye beams had gone straight through her shields, cutting a hole in her suit over her forearm. A thin trickle of red could be seen dripping from it as she reached for one of her emergency patches. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Mordin already rushing to her side. The salarian began to help fix her up as Garrus took cover next to Shepard.
"Bastards herded us toward a room with that thing," the turian updated as the rest of the squad took turns firing at the gigantic husk. "We didn't have the firepower to take it down, not with my shoulder like this."
"What about the missile launcher?" the commander asked, flinching as an eye-beam hit the other side of his cover.
"Fried when Jacob tried to use it. That, and every time we down its barriers-"
He was interrupted as a tremor rippled through the room around them. Tali peeked over her cover just in time to see the praetorian let out an earsplitting roar, its body becoming shrouded in a slight aura as it took back to the air.
The turian fired a burst from his SMG, the rounds deflecting harmlessly from the shroud before he returned to cover. "It recharges its defenses every time it does that, but it's being strategic about it. Almost like they've learned from the last one we fought. We haven't been able to put a scratch on the thing."
The praetorian rounded a corner, forcing the four of them to seek new cover as its eye beams fried the ground where they had been previously. Thankfully, Mordin and Tali had finished patching her arm by that point. John resumed the conversation as soon as he was behind cover. "Have you tried baiting it?"
"Not enough people to try."
His gaze drifted to Tali. "I wasn't thinking about a person."
Tali nodded as his words clicked in her mind. "Explosive protocol?"
He nodded, drawing the Cain. "Right under it." He keyed the squad radio. "Everyone, hold your fire and get a reload while you can. When I give the word, hit it with everything you've got."
Tali took a quick glance over the cover to track the human-prothean hybrid as it fired at Samara. She shuddered. Will Chiktikka be enough? The quarian felt a comforting pressure on her shoulder. She didn't need to turn around to know whose hand it was. Tali nodded in relief as she quietly relished the momentary contact.
"I'm ready when you are, John."
"Do it."
A glowing orange orb spawned right below the praetorian. An arc of electricity made its way from the drone, striking the beast's barriers. It roared as it tried to glide away and get a look at its new attacker, but the drone was much faster. Chiktikka zapped the monster again as it flew back under it, causing it to twitch its legs in frustration.
It's only a matter of time before-
The praetorian slammed into the ground right above the drone, giving a triumphant screech just before the construct detonated. The husk listed to one side, momentarily stunned.
"Hit it now!"
An assortment of weapons fire, grenades, biotic Warps, and concussion blasts struck the monster, causing its barrier to ripple in response. The creature began to scream as the shield faded away, the squad's rounds finally hitting home. Tali had filled her pistol's heat sink by that time, and was reaching for another thermal clip when she heard a series of beeps from behind her.
Something flew over her head, leaving a faint smoke trail as it traversed the distance between her and the praetorian in less than a blink of an eye. A flash caused her to squint her eyes shut as her visor's settings struggled to compensate for the blinding light. She could feel the intense wave of heat radiating from the blast, even through her sh'rayan. The quarian chanced another glance back at the praetorian. as the light began to dim.
Keelah.
The husk had been completely obliterated by Shepard's Cain. All she could see of the monster's corpse were a few twisted and blackened scraps that she assumed had been its legs, scattered under a quickly-dissipating mushroom cloud. The blast had also created a hole in the ceiling, exposing part of the room above theirs.
Grunt wandered over to where they were standing, clearly impressed by the carnage that the weapon had wrought. "Where can I get one of those?"
John laughed. "Secondhand, if you'd believe it. All you have to do is return a stolen set of plans for it."
"Human admiral's actions generous. STG less open with experimental tech. Irrelevant. Would recommend returning to shuttle, now that squad is reunited."
Garrus acknowledged the salarian. "The quickest way back is the route my group came from. We should hurry."
As if the ship had been listening, the doorway that the turian had entered through slammed shut. Shepard reached for his earpiece.
"EDI, we've got a problem here."
"A temporary setback on firewall 3217. Rerouting commands through firewall 7164. I have successfully opened a door on the opposite wall. I will keep it open as long as I can."
"You heard her. Let's get out of here!"
After fighting collectors for what felt like half an eternity, John Shepard would have been glad to fight almost anything else.
Unfortunately, husks didn't make his list of preferred enemies.
"Commander? Hate to rush you, but those weapons are about to come online. Might want to double-time it. You know, so we can leave before they blow the Normandy in half."
"I'm working on it, Joker!" he barked. The man fired a burst from his revenant at another zombified human, putting it down. He had become more accustomed to the weapon's massive recoil over the past few minutes, but he was still missing more shots than he would have liked.
The second I get back, I'm having EDI look for stabilizers to put on this thing. I don't care if Jacob has to build them himself.
He sprayed a longer stream of fire at another group of indoctrinated humans, noting with satisfaction that several of them didn't rise. At least it makes up for it with its stopping power.
The man sent a Shockwave through the crowd of enemies for what felt like the twentieth time and glanced around for the rest of his squad. Unfortunately, most of them were getting put in the same situation he was in.
Jacob was isolated, but still managed to use his biotics to great effect. Even so, his face was drenched with sweat as he reloaded his eviscerator.
Tali was also separated from the group, though she still had backup from her combat drone as she fired shell after shell from her own shotgun.
Grunt had given up on his own weapons, charging through the crowd of husks and ripping them apart with his bare hands as his eyes burned with the fury of his bloodrage. He had collected a disturbingly high amount of wounds in the process, however. Even he wouldn't be able to keep it up forever.
Garrus had managed to stick with Kasumi and Mordin, their combined tech attacks creating a small safe zone around them as they worked their way toward the shuttle. Even so, John could see the doubt creeping into the turian's eyes. As he looked, his friend's vision seemed to glaze over, allowing one of the husks to get dangerously close before he elbowed it in the face.
What was that about?
John turned his attention back to the husks closest to him, unleashing another barrage from his weapon as he began to step backwards. He Threw several of them back, but the horde just kept coming. The Spectre was full-on backpedaling by then, his back quickly meeting the wall.
"Shepard!"
He risked another look and saw Samara looking directly at him. The justicar was similarly fighting with her back to a wall, her weapons either missing or ignored. She turned toward a husk and wreathed it in violet energy. A similar haze shrouded her as she stood up straighter and delivered a powerful Shockwave, clearing much of the crowd between her and Garrus. "You know what you must do."
Despite his misgivings, he knew she had a point. Shepard focused in on one of the husks in front of him, feeling the dark energy build up inside him. He unleashed the storm of energy at it, causing the creature to rise into the air.
Screams in the dark. All is lost. The scratching becomes louder. SUBMIT!
John could feel his fatigue lifting as the aura faded. He quickly followed it with a Push, clearing some space around himself as he lashed out toward another husk.
You must obey. It moves without thought, driven by the voice as the pain becomes infinite. Why won't it stop?
John Charged through the group, stopping next to Tali as he punched a husk in the face.
"What the- John, what have I told you about doing that?" the surprised quarian yelped.
"Something about not Charging when it's too dangerous, I think." He followed his words with a burst of fire from his machine gun. "I figured it was more dangerous not to, in this case."
He swore he could hear a chuckle as she blasted a husk's head with her shotgun. "And you don't consider a quarian with a shotgun dangerous?"
"Everyone knows that only applies to reapers, geth, and turians named Vakarian." His comment earned a true laugh from her as he Threw some more of the husks out of the way. They started making progress toward where Garrus' part of the group was, their efforts bolstered as they picked up Jacob on the way.
"We need to get to the shuttle now, Commander. There's no time to waste," the tired Cerberus operative commented as he Pulled several husks into the air for Chiktikka to finish off.
"I'm aware, Jacob," he commented. His breath was becoming ragged again; the biotic attacks were quickly burning through his energy. He could see a husk charging straight for him from the corner of his eye.
Oh no you don't.
He lashed out with the energy, causing purple sparks to appear on its body.
Purpose. Obedience. Success. All that mattered. It turned toward the three, and the scratching made it focus on the human in the middle. Kill the Shepard. It charged, only to be grasped by an unseen force. Drained. Pained. It looked into the eyes of the target. You have failed. The female pointed its weapon.
Tali fired, shredding the husk with her shotgun. Her tone was one of shock as she turned toward Shepard. "Keelah, John. What the hell was that?"
He shook his head, disturbed by what he had seen. The man could feel the energy he had gained from the creature bolstering him, but after seeing that...
It felt like he was tainted by it.
"I have no idea," he finally admitted. "I need to ask Samara about it once we get out of here."
The trio resumed their labored march toward the shuttle. Up ahead, Shepard could pick up the sound of gunfire. A familiar voice could be heard barking out orders as Garrus's part of the group rounded the corner before them.
"How far back are they, Archangel? I'd be goddamn pissed if we went all this way just to lose the man who signs my checks."
"He's right behind us. Glad to see Grunt already made it."
"Well start loading up. Glass says Joker's getting antsy out there."
The three of them quickly fought their way across the last few feet of space between them and the shuttle. John let out a gasp as he saw the carnage before him.
Gathered in heaps scattered throughout the room were dozens of collector and husk corpses. Atop one of them, over two meters high, were Thane and Zaeed, the two of them using their particle rifle and sniper to great effect. Miranda and Jack then popped out from behind two smaller heaps, clearing out most of the husks that stood between him and the shuttle.
"It's about goddamn time, Commander. Any longer and we'd be better off building a wall with these corpses." The merc paused to shoot at a pair of husks from his position. "Now would be a good time to go."
Shepard waved the rest of the squad forward. "Is everyone else on board?"
"Nah, the krogan had a goddamn temper tantrum as soon as he saw the bodies. No idea what his goddamn problem is."
The commander looked in the direction that the merc had indicated, seeing Grunt still in the midst of his bloodrage. "DIE!" he roared, charging not toward the shuttle, but back to the mass of husks behind him.
"Behavior odd. Bloodrage duration atypical, indicates extreme emotional stress. Possible connection with Okeer's imprinting? May be possible side effect of developing 'pure' krogan. Would like to study further later, without threat of destruction. Recommend immediate sedation."
Shepard nodded and Pulled the krogan into the air, toward the shuttle. "Do it, Mordin," he stated as Grunt began to thrash wildly.
The salarian nodded, launching a dart at the hanging target. Grunt waved his arms a final time before suddenly going limp. The commander raised an eyebrow as he lowered the krogan into the shuttle. His look was not lost on the doctor. "Neural shock effects not permanent. Will wear off within twenty minutes. Hormones, heart rate will have returned to normal by then."
Zaeed led gold team back into the shuttle as John went to the copilot's seat. "Punch it, Glass."
"Will do, Commander."
The pilot crossed the distance to the Normandy in less than a minute, though John still felt like it was a minute too long. He could see lights activating along the hull of the collector ship as Glass completed the docking sequence.
"Strap in, people! I'm gonna make them work for it this time."
He could feel the ship shift its weight as Joker made a series of evasive maneuvers. After a few tense seconds, he felt a slight tug of acceleration as the ship jumped to FTL. John let out a long breath as he leaned forward in his seat.
We made it.
Miranda waited patiently as the commander weighed his options. He finally nodded his head, coming to a decision.
"Just because we can follow the collectors through the relay doesn't mean we can take them out. I don't want to go after them until I know we're ready."
"Sooner or later we need that IFF. I say, why wait?"
"Because we've got distractions galore in this goddamn ship, Cerberus," Zaeed bluntly answered. "We only just made it out of there by the skin of our teeth. If we rush in now, all we'll get is a footnote in the obituaries on Omega about how everyone vanished. And that's if we're goddamn lucky."
The XO quietly agreed. Until Grunt's problem is taken care of, he'll be a serious liability. She cleared her throat, drawing everyone's attention as she delivered a more neutral response. "It's your call, Commander. Whatever you decide, we're with you."
A round of nods ran through the squad as Shepard looked up at them. "You're dismissed."
Miranda began to follow the group out of the communications room, noticing that the commander was waving the turian over. "What happened out there, Garrus?"
The turian's shoulders slumped a little as the woman crossed the threshold. "I... lost focus, Commander. It won't happen again."
"Is it about Sidonis?"
The door closed behind her, cutting off the rest of their conversation.
"Well if it isn't the perfect lapdog, herself."
Miranda didn't have the patience to deal with this right then. "What do you want, Jack?"
Her mouth curled in a sneer as she leaned against the wall, barring the door to the science lab. "Just wondering if the bitch has finally opened her eyes."
"You heard Mordin," she retorted, barely controlling the level of her voice. "It was a necessary risk that paid off in the end."
"Pfft. That's always what it's about for you Cerberus types: it's always worth it if it pays off." She shook her head mockingly. "And here I thought the quarian was the only fucking charity case."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Ah," the convict chuckled, "So the bitch really is blind."
Miranda chose that moment to leave, allowing Jack to fill the vacuum with a parting comment.
"Sooner or later, you're gonna find out I've been right all along.
"And I'll be right fucking there with the popcorn."
John's hand hovered over the elevator's controls, his finger next to the graphic for the engineering deck.
She'll be too busy to talk, he thought sadly. Joker's sudden jump to FTL, while necessary, had bypassed several safeguards. Between that and repairing the systems overloaded by the collectors' trap, the engineers were sure to be busy for the next several hours, if not days. Besides, I have to find out what that biotic attack is.
He selected the crew deck. The trip was mercifully quick (thanks to Tali) and he soon crossed the threshold into Samara's quarters.
"Shepard," she acknowledged without standing. The biotic haze from her meditation state faded as the justicar beckoned him forward. "There is much I must tell you."
He accepted the invitation, sitting down on the floor next to her. "What was that power, anyway? I keep having these visions whenever I use it."
The justicar's stoic demeanor fell for a moment, her eyes screwed tight as she dipped her head. "Before I elaborate, I must ask that you never use it unless you absolutely must." She turned toward him. "This is not a request that I take lightly."
John raised an eyebrow, but nodded all the same. "You have my word."
She gazed out toward the window. "Are you familiar with asari mind-melding abilities?"
He attempted to block out his past experiences with Liara. "Yes, you can use biotics to bridge your mind with another person."
Samara nodded, her gaze never leaving the starry expanse. "True. It forms a link between nervous systems. Thoughts... Memories... Dreams... Emotions..." John averted his eyes, but she continued as if she hadn't noticed. "Mind-melding allows us to share experiences with one-another in a much more intimate way than other species or communication methods could ever hope."
Shepard frowned. "Last time I checked, I was still human. How does an asari ability play into this?"
If the justicar was bothered by his interruption, she didn't show it. "The reason that mind-melding only works for asari has to do with a unique quality in our DNA. Other species lack this genetic trait."
He leaned forward, intrigued. "So... are you saying I can mind-meld?"
"Not truly. The gene I referred to is what allows melding to be done safely." She turned toward him. "No gene therapy has ever successfully recreated this particular trait, not even what Cerberus did to revive you. Without it, your melding abilities are broken."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Your mind will force itself into theirs, allowing you to relive their experiences and memories. In the process, you absorb the energy within their body, increasing your own strength and stamina." She closed her eyes and continued. "It... is a particularly painful process. Physically, the victim's nerves turn against them, simultaneously sending intense signals of pain to their mind as they are Lifted into the air. The mind is then consumed for information." The justicar paused for a moment. "Many species have a concept of one's mental state taking a distinct form, a 'soul', if you will. This power effectively rips it away from its target. Everything that the victim was is then broken down and devoured in the most painful way possible." She turned, her eyes fixing on his. "It is called Reaving."
Oh my God... "So, anyone I've... Reaved..."
"Robbing and rending," Samara stated when he trailed off. "A bullet is a mercy compared to that fate."
John tried unsuccessfully to hide a shiver as he considered what had happened to the Eclipse mercs on Illium. "That's horrible."
"I am glad you appreciate the magnitude of this burden. The Code would have required me to kill you after releasing me from my oath if you had not."
He paused his reflection to look back at her. "Why?"
"One of the reasons behind the founding of the Justicar Order was to suppress those who abused their ability to Reave."
"...And what about you?"
"It is a rare genetic defect among my species. I am merely a carrier; I have been able to meld normally for my entire life. I didn't find out about my Reaving ability until well into my matron stage. Since then, I have never used it out of malice or anger."
Though her expression had been unchanged, Shepard could tell that he had struck a nerve. He quickly rose, nodding in farewell as he took his leave. His curiosity peaked as he reached the door, however. "If you're only a carrier, what happens with those who can't safely meld at all?"
"I hope you never have to find out."
Note from the author:
Yup, Shepard can steal souls. Neat, huh? Next chapter, he goes all Shang Tsung on people and starts randomly ordering Thane to "Finish him!"
Hint: that drell's got some surprisingly gruesome fatality moves.
Lol, I kid, I kid.
There will be no extreme abuse of the Spectre's newfound ability. If/when someone gets Reaved from now on, Shep will consider it a big deal.
p.s. It's the triumphant return of Nicholas Glass! OC used by permission from Levi Matthew's Finding a Way.