"Woooooo...!"
Tali felt her stomach roll into a knot as she gripped her seat tightly, head craning from her controls to stare at the sight before their windshield. Even though she really didn't want to...
It had looked so easy in the computer-simulation Joker had shown, the pilot showing that despite the small strip of open ground before the now opened tunnel he could get them in...
I hate Joker!
It wasn't helped by Garrus and Michael both enjoying the whole thing either!
Ahead the ground was rushing upwards and growing...and though Tali was used to that by now, she'd made many drops with the Mako after all...but this was just crazy!
Above the sky was replaced by earth...
"...hoooo!"
A crash, her body jerking in her harness...and the Mako bounced atop ancient cobbled stones, nearly hitting the ceiling, then bounced again as it came down...this time nearly striking the wall to their right before Michael's swivelling of the steering wheel jerked them to the left. The Mako listed, rising on its right side...then thumped back to the ground as their flight was turned into a drive.
"Nice drop, Joker!" Michael called out, arms still moving as he swivelled the steering wheel left and right, steadying the machine as they moved down the tunnel.
Keelah...
Tali's annoyance faded as she stared at the sight ahead. After their initial drop the tunnel was planing out into a high and wide space that far away faded into a pale white light, as if a star was waiting for them... All along the walls there were growths, giants roots of trees...pushing down to the ankle-deep water running down the tunnel...
It was...massive.
And unfortunately they weren't alone in it.
Tali's stomach lurched as Michael veered to the left, then right, dodging missiles fired from a couple of Geth rocket troopers even as the Mako's shields flared with the impacts of several pulse shots. Michael's voice was annoyingly calm: "Garrus, go for the rocket troops, we're not stopping."
"Got it." Ahead the Mako lurched left, Garrus' acknowledgement accompanied by an explosion of a fired grenade tearing apart two Geth rocket troops even as the Mako jumped with the impact as its wheels struck two other Geth, crushing them as it drove on
"Ahh...love the smell of crushed Geth in the morning." Michael mused, the man otherwise looking completely focused as he leant forth in his seat, driving left and right as he dodged missiles from the Geth they had passed by.
Atop his seat behind Tali Garrus turned his head from his screen momentarily. "You can't smell them in here...are you well?"
A small chuckle was the initial response: "It's another human thing Garrus...and I'm quite all right." A slight shift of his head, not really a glance, just a...turn towards her...and Tali smiled.
She turned her attention back to her own screen, the glow of her omni-tool making the screen glow orange. "Got an Armature ahead."
"I'll just move around it, Garrus, focus on our rear." Michael retorted even as they saw the large Geth machine appear up ahead...and Tali groaned inwardly.
Her hands closed around the dashboard...and not a minute too soon as Michael veered to the right, dodging a large bolt of energy, then to the left, dodging another...and then right again, the Mako lurching like mad as it skipped past the enemy machine.
Then the thrusters of the Mako fired, shooting the vehicle to the left and away from the wall it nearly crashed into...and bringing it back to the centre of the tunnel.
Tali swallowed, shooting Michael something between a stern look and a grimace. I hate your driving...
"Hey, at least we're making good time." Michael spoke, making Tali blink in surprise. I didn't say it out loud... "Hey Garrus, has Tali thrown up yet?"
"Nope, ten creds says it'll take five more minutes."
"You're on."
"I'm glad..." Tali shook her head, glaring at the two chuckling men. "...my discomfort pleases you...jackasses."
And the other two just chuckled.
Keelah...when I get out you'll bothpay... Tali grinned, despite her rolling stomach.
Ahead the glow seemed steady, despite them moving forward, making her wonder just how long the tunnel was...and what might be the cause of the light.
"Welcome."
Tali blinked, looking away from her screen she glanced up at the others, but neither seemed to have spoken, nor would they have said something so...weird...or so softly.
"I detected your presence some time ago, it is good that you have come."
Then Garrus coughed, the Turian sounding uneasy: "Is anyone else hearing that?"
Michael nodded even as he drew on, swerving away from a cluster of incoming missiles. "You mean that voice in your head? Whew, thought I had gone nuts...erm...I mean...nuttier."
"I am Vigil, the VI responsible for this facility, the keeper of the last of the Protheans..." The voice was still soft...and held a mote of sadness in it "...masters now gone."
Tali found a hand darting up to her helmet, uselessly pressing against it as she shuddered with revulsion. It was bad enough with her people long ago having created the Geth, but to have a computer's intelligence riffling around in her mind – never mind if it was a VI and not an AI – was disgusting.
The voice didn't seem to detect her disgust though, or perhaps it didn't care: "I am contacting you because that is what my masters wanted. They wanted those following them to live." There was...melancholy in the voice as it dutifully spoke: "They never knew of the Reapers until they appeared, a horde of great machines, all using the Citadel as their gateway..."
"The Citadel?" Garrus echoed, surprised.
Michael, still not taking his eyes off the road, nodded however. "Sovereign boasted that they made the Mass Relays and the Citadel, and the Citadel is a hub leading to all other systems..." Another nod. "...take out the heart of all communications and they can then attack any place at will."
Vigil continued, unheeding of their words: "Our leadership was concentrated to the Citadel and died in the first attack, as must have happened thousands of times before. There was chaos...all others cut off from one another, not knowing what to do, there were no instructions, no order, only death..."
It almost sounded...pained.
Tali shuddered.
"The Reapers harvested the galaxy...planets burnt...and the Protheans...were no more." A slight pause...then the VI spoke again: "Even when they left the Reapers had devastated the Protheans, what few survivors left couldn't find one another, our pleas via the beacons went unheeded, those that tried to leave...were taken by the servants left behind."
Servants? Left behind?
But Vigil didn't hear her thoughts, the tone soft as it continued: "Here on Ilos a few scientists survived...and knew their race would be no more, those following could be helped however. The Keepers of the Citadel had been the ones activating it, making it the gateway the Reapers needed, and they could be stopped."
"The Keepers?" Garrus echoed, the Turian shaking his head before his finger twitched on his controls blowing yet another Geth in their way apart. "And they made a law against studying them...tell me again why we're trying to save these morons?"
"Here on Ilos the Conduit had been completed just as the Reapers struck. The first Prothean Mass Relay...an experimental Relay connected to the interior of the Citadel. They did not know if they could succeed with blocking the signal ordering the Keepers to activate the Citadel, or even if they could reach the Citadel...but they went...because you are here I can now judge them to have been successful."
Before Tali...Michael's shoulders stiffened. "That's why Saren wants to find the Conduit...he'll go to activate the Citadel from the inside."
"The one proceeding you...I found the trace of indoctrination in him, he will go to the Conduit, travel to the Citadel with the machines in his charge..." Vigil went quiet. "He will undo what has been done...and the Reapers will once more set the galaxy aflame, my masters would not wish that." A pause, then: "Please, you must stop the Reapers."
"I intend to..." Michael retorted, voice a low growl.
"I have stalled your foe as far as my depleting energies has allowed...but he is now through the Conduit, his machines with him." Vigil's tone was almost...weary...yet found new strength as it called out: "My masters wishes are mine, please, stop him, make their deaths worthwhile."
Silence.
Then Michael veered past an enemy rocket as Garrus' retort blew the offending Geth apart...and Michael's voice, calm.
"Noted."
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Thanks to Abydos Jackson for glancing at this one.