So...grand...
Liara found her head craning left and right until it started to hurt as she with wide eyes stared at everything around them, trying to take it all in at once. Back when she had studied the Protheans, Ilos had only been mentioned here and there, almost as if it was some sort of secret, taboo...a holy place. And any archaeologist worth their salt dreamt of nothing but such a find.
She had never dared dreaming it to become a reality though...
Yet here they were walking, down an ancient causeway, cobbled stones covered in moss, stones that the ancient Protheans had once walked upon...
Everywhere vegetation had grown, lichen, green vines and little tufts of grass...discolouring the pale stones and turning them yellow and brown. Yet there was a...serenity to it, as if the complex of buildings was just in a deep sleep. It was peaceful, like a temple or a secluded lake.
Or a tomb...
She shuddered at the thought, she was used to digging through the remains of an ancient civilisation, yet nothing ever so vast...and not to mention with a weapon in hand. It felt...sacrilegious.
Once we're done with this I simply must come here to-
A thwack to the back of her head and Liara blinked in surprise, looking to the right she found Wrex glowering down on her with a shotgun resting on his shoulder: "Get your head in the game girl, I asked you where to next."
Oh yes...focus is required. Liara looked away, not answering the Krogan as she looked over the buildings, giving them a pale smile as she reluctantly forced herself to focus. Next time.
"I'm waiting..."
Ignoring the impatient growl Liara looked around. To the untrained eye there was just the causeway and a crossing ahead, nothing more...but she could see the carvings in the walls, almost hidden under the lichen, and though most of it was just decorations there was Prothean text there. It was part of the decorations...but could easily be seen by those with the right knowledge. Of course Liara didn't know their entire language, it had yet to be deciphered after all...but she knew enough to read a direction...
"Left." She shot Wrex a glance. "And remember, you'd be lost without me."
"Yeah, yeah..." Wrex rumbled with a small chuckle as he plodded forth, letting Liara act the rearguard as they slowly moved through the deserted complex.
Except that it wasn't deserted.
Even in space it had been obvious a selected part of Ilos was literally swarming with Geth, unfortunately they had arrived just in time to find Saren deploying from a Geth gunship – where Sovereign itself was Liara didn't even want to think about – and had entered some sort of underground tunnel...before sealing it.
So rather then risk a direct drop – and have those hundreds of Geth pour over them like startled ants while they tried to talk the massive door into opening as Michael as put it – they had made a diverging drop near to where Liara had guessed the Prothean power plant to be.
So she and Wrex had been dropped stealthily among the near perfectly preserved buildings while the rest waited above, Mako at the ready.
Liara felt a jab of bitterness at that, confusing herself. Why would she want to go with Michael into the unknown in the hunt for a Turian that had nearly killed her with a casual flick of his claw? Yet Liara knew the answer, or thought she at least understood part of it, she wasn't just a scientist now, she fought...and she wanted to fight with the one who led her, who...was part of her.
Yet she couldn't fault Michael for his choice, the Mako could only fit three people unless you stripped away the turret and ammunition...and in the end, who else was there to find and interact with Prothean machinery? And she couldn't well go alone, and Wrex had had the toughness and the experience to keep her covered, the Krogan a powerhouse of brutality that no Asari could match.
It was logical, sensible...yet it still left Michael with Tali and Garrus. His comrade in arms and...Liara wasn't actually sure what Tali was to the man any more.
No, he didn't choose to make it so. Tali's an excellent support against the hordes of Geth and Garrus adds some extra bite to the group...
It was a useless thought, Liara wanted to be there, and Wrex probably too, but they did what Michael ordered, which they always would.
Still...Liara had been useful in the place of Tali...Liara found her hands wound tighter around her gun. It wasn't that she disliked Tali, no, quite the opposite, the woman was friendlier then most on the ship. Nor was it some sort of rivalry over Michael...
Michael. She shook her head, following Wrex's plodding steps as he turned at the crossing, ancient stairs bringing them upwards. She wasn't sure what she felt about the man any longer, before it had been something scary...he had been frightening and fascinating in equal measure. Then she had seen the pain...and felt nothing but sympathy, sharing his pain in a way most others couldn't comprehend.
She...had come to care for him. Not love, she was pretty sure of that, it would have felt more...primal then, or so she liked to believe, she wouldn't know after all... No, this was on a different level, something...almost spiritual, a deep need for him...as if he was a part of her like an arm or a leg. She'd tried to picture him gone...and felt panic rise in her chest at the though.
Perhaps that's why I feel aggravated towards Tali? Liara cocked her head at the thought, pondering it even as she felt herself become convinced of the grain of truth in it.
Liara had seen Michael's memories, had felt them...was connected to him via her mind. Yet she had shied away from Michael's pain, had felt it and shirked from it, herself feeling an echo of it. But Tali...she had shown a remarkable ability to understand Michael, even beyond Liara's...and had confronted it all...changed it... Or perhaps it had never been a case of changing...but of understanding...which only made things worse in Liara's mind.
A bruised ego...how droll. Liara nearly snorted at the thought, yet smiled, remembering Michael when he had come out of his cabin.
He had been...different...yet the same. Smiling, joking, but calmer...less...eager...at ease. The crew had felt it too...and most of their tension had just eased away. Their most important operation, a galaxy at stake...and the crew had since Michael's reappearance been calm...
Whatever Tali had said or done..it had worked...and in the end...that was all Liara cared about.
I really must thank her for doing what I couldn't-
He thoughts were interrupted by the thump of her face hitting Wrex's back, making her take a step back even as the Krogan without even noticing her misstep leant forward to peak around a corner.
They had ascended a set of ancient stairs leading up to a platform largely stretching out to their left, opposite them another set of stairs begun, those ones taking going down, no doubt back down to the main-street. Beyond the platform to their left a pyramid-shaped building rose up high, the moss covering it turning it into a dark green colour.
Between them – hiding behind a wide pillar that had a sister by the other set of stairs – and the pyramid there were a wide set of stairs that in the middle sported a somewhat thick statue that had been too worn down by time for them to tell what it is.
And atop the stairs...Liara ducked back behind Wrex's broad back, having seen enough. The Geth were there in force, more then a dozen Geth of various configuration behind the curved sheets of steel they used as barricades.
"Let me guess...there's the power-plant." Wrex rumbled, calm as ever as he lowered his shotgun, large red eyes checking it with the casualness of centuries of experience. "Good that they put a security force there, that way we can be sure it's where we want to go."
"Good...?" Liara echoed, staring at the Krogan. "That is quite a lot of Geth, and there's only two of us, the maths is...troubling."
Wrex just shrugged at her. "They're just advanced security mechs, I'm a Krogan warlord and you have the power of an Asari Matriarch in you, we can take them."
Liara felt compelled to bow her head in agreement even as she felt her cheeks flush. It was true she had a lot of biotic power...but it was not something she liked to flaunt, or even think about. "Very well, you're right, but we can't just attack them head on, we need a plan."
"No going around, no time for anything fancy." Wrex glowered at the floor, face contorting as he thought it over.
I miss Michael...he'd have a plan already. And I...I am no tactician.
It felt like an eternity before Wrex nodded to himself. "I'll get out there, head for cover and draw their fire, you...can you somehow knock all those Geth over? If only for a moment?"
Liara frowned and looked past Wrex and their cover at the Geth, the machines still as statues as they stood behind their barricades. It was a daunting task, there were over a dozen of them...spread out along the thirty meter wide set of stairs...and that was before one took their shields into consideration.
Liara shuddered, remembering Saren's words all too well. With their shields intact...most Geth wouldn't care the least about whatever she did to them, they'd be impervious to her power.
Her eyes narrowed.They are...
A smile...and she moved back behind cover as she nodded to Wrex: "Yes, I do believe I can do it."
"Good." Wrex raised his shotgun, Liara mirroring the move with her pistol.
The final push...
They shared a smile...and the grips of their weapons met with a little click.
Then Wrex came out of cover, roaring as only a Krogan could as his shotgun sent a wide spray of fire up to the Geth, there was an answer of static as the Geth instantly moved to fire back, a storm of white pulse shots throwing flashes of light across the ancient cobblestones, impacts leaving sizzling holes in the floor where they struck.
Keeping close to the cover Liara risked a glance over the edge, watching as Wrex moved across the open space before the stairs, the defending Geth pouring a literal hail of fire around him, many shots striking his armour with smoking hisses. The Krogan grunted in pain...but kept going for the pillar at the base of the stairs, blasting shotgun tearing into the barricade of one of the Geth.
My turn, this better work...it should work... Liara holstered her pistol, lips becoming a thin line. It will work.
Her biotics flared up to her mental command...
It turned into a roaring fire within her, pulsing with its own heartbeat even as she stepped out of cover, arms stretched out to her sides, fingertips upwards as purple fire massed atop them as they fired off excess energy of what she was massing up for.
Ahead Wrex finally got into cover, his armour smoking from multiple impacts, orange blood staining it, but smiling even as his cover began to be chipped away by dozens of impacts as the Geth focused into a storm upon it.
Liara barely saw it however, her vision swimming as the power of her biotic build-up made them flicker as the fire consumed them. Her skin was tingling, heating up...shivering...
She could feel it...the steel, as if it was under her very fingers...fingers curling into claws...as the fire turned into icy coldness.
A beep of a warning...and the Geth turned their cold eyes to look down at her, over a dozen eyes glaring down at her, over a dozen guns turning towards her...and Liara bared her teeth in a defiant snarl.
Embrace...this!
As one the barricades atop the stairs rose...and flew into the Geth behind them. Tons of steel lifting, and smashing into the machines thinking it a bulwark of defence.
The loud crash was swiftly followed by Wrex's thundering footsteps as the Krogan charged out of cover, this time silent as he rushed up the steps, shotgun blasting apart the first Geth struggling to its feet.
Liara rushed forth, her pistol suddenly in her hand, the gun jerking in her hand as she stitched a line up a second Geth, making it drop with a electronic wail even as two others were torn open by Wrex's close-ranged shot.
Another one tried to get up...only for Wrex to sever its spine with a stomping foot even as his clawed hand gripped another Geth's head, crushing it as his other squeezed of round into the neck of a third.
Jumping up the stairs Liara let the fire build for a brief moment...then sent a jolt of power into a knocked over barricade, sending it hurtling into a rising Geth and crushing it against the wall behind it.
A final boom of a shotgun...and it all went quiet.
"When I said 'knock them over'..." Wrex rumbled, making Liara turn and find the Krogan grinning at her. "...I didn't mean 'smash them to pieces'." He gestured at a few of the Geth that had never even tried to get up, their bodies mangled by the steel sheets still wedged inside them.
The blush was almost painful. "I...might have overdone it."
Wrex's grin turned into a smirk. "Not complaining...now let's go." He nodded towards the entrance the Geth had guarded...and they ran through it.
Inside there was little to find, Liara had expected no less.
There were most likely thousands of pieces of machinery below their feet, all parts of a massive plant...but the room they were in was almost small. Bereft of anything but a single console in the middle of the room that still had pieces of lichen stuck to the bottom it was still active, glowing a pale blue.
Wrex turned, shotgun levelled at the doorway to cover her...as Liara moved forth to the console, feeling strangely calm as she moved to do a difficult task with a timetable. We have tested our limits again and again...I can do this.
Her hands moved forth...and scrolls of texts appeared before her as the console sensed her inane command. Prothean text, even sharing Michael's understanding it's...difficult to follow. Menu makes no sense unless...it's non-linear...
"This is team one." Wrex rumbled behind her. "We're in position, Liara's working on it, begin your descent."
Liara smiled. No pressure...
Michael's voice in her ear, calm and cheerful. "Roger that, this is team 'ram it down his throat'..coming in for a hot deployment."
"Good, how is the computer stuff going Liara?"
"I can't well activate all of the power, this is old machinery Wrex, I'm trying to find a specific door to open in a power-plant controlling the activity of machinery in an entire city...in a foreign language I might add...let me work."
A snort. "As you say."
Shaking her head Liara's fingers moved across the controls, testing out ideas...and then figuring how the system worked...probing...enquiring...finding...
It was...invigorating. So much information at her fingertips...all waiting to be used...and her holding off, just letting the slightest nudge alter the history of the galaxy...
There was no beep, no specific glow...but Liara smiled, knowing the command had been entered correctly. Her hand moved to her helmet, activating the outgoing com: "Finished, the door's open."
Michael chuckled. "Of course it is, knew you could do it."
Liara smiled at the compliment, such an...unforced thing...
"Now to see if I can get Saren's other mandible!"
Wrex chuckled, gesturing for Liara to follow as they moved out, heading for their rendezvous point...even as Liara smile grew wider.
I'm sure you will Michael...I'm sure you will...
8
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8
Thanks to Abydos Jackson for being so patient with me.