Shepard hit the boosters of the M-44 Hammerhead. He raced towards the hulking Geth Colossus with Garrus having his hand on the trigger of the mass accelerator cannon. Flying over the wreckage of the Quarian transport, Garrus opened fire as soon as he had clear shot. Two missiles impacted with the colossus; its shields flickered from the blasts before it returned fire; shooting several plasma bursts from its ocular cannon. The Hammerhead strafed side to side as it dodged the first two bolts, then counter attacked. The next missile broke through its shields before the next two finished it all together.
The Colosus exploded; its many limbs flying off in all directions, one landing a few meters from where Tali and Vel tried to awaken Reegar from his slumber. The Hammerhead hovered around and stopped 5 meters from where the unconscious Quarian marine lay.
Kal slowly stirred; the muffled voice of a female Quarian echoing through his head. Gently, he tried to open his eyes; blurry at first but a few blinks changed that as his hearing also came back to reality.
"Kal! Kal'Reegar!" Both Tali and Vel yelled simultaneously as they nudged him; trying to bring about a sign of life.
"Ughhh..." groaned Kal as his mind came into focus. His vitals displayed across his visor; minor concussion, no suit breaches, nothing serious.
"Kal! Are you alright?" asked Tali with great worry and concern as Reegar lifted up his torso.
"I...I'll live..." He suddenly remembered the reality of the situation; the recent events coming back to him. "Zenia...the transport!" Kal turned to look at the smoldering wreckage that was once their shuttle. The heap of metal still ablaze with smoke rising high into the sunset sky.
Kal averted his gaze and covered his visor with both hands. Were he a softer man, he felt he would have weaped over the death of his squad. Losing soldiers was never easy for any leader. No matter how many times you see it, it never gets any better.
Tali placed her hand gently on his shoulder and leaned in close. "There was nothing you could have done..." she said softly, trying to keep composure. Shepard and his Turian companion jumped out of the Hammerhead a moment later.
"Reegar!" the Spectre shouted. "You still in one piece?" Reegar slowly rose to his feet while keeping silent. He gazed at the transports wreckage for a moment. His eyes narrowed and he drew his assault rifle.
"Those Geth Son's a bitches are gonna wish we destroyed them centuries ago when I'm through with them..."
"I can't believe it" Vel inquired. "They tricked us?"
"I'm not so sure" Shepard interjected. "Geth don't lie. There must be more to this."
"There isn't any more to this!" Kal snapped; pointing aggressively at the Spectre "Those synthetic bastards planned this from the start! They won't stop until they kill all of us!"
"Kal! Calm down" said Tali; stepping in between the two. "Shepard's right, the Geth don't deceive. If they wanted to kill us they would have done it when we talked to them." She turned to Shepard. "Shepard, if I can retrieve a platform's memory core, I'm sure I can find out what happened."
"Good idea" Shepard replied. "It's anyone's guess, Sovereign has something to do with this."
"I don't care what their reasons are!" Reegar yelled. "One way or another, I'll have one of their heads for a desk-lamp..."
"Shepard, this area will be crawling with Geth soon or later, we need to find a way outta this barrier" said Garrus, gazing up at the towering barrier that encircled the 10 kilometer area.
"You're right" said Shepard as he proceeded to activate his communicator. "Shepard to Normandy, we need a pickup." Only static was heard over his earpiece. "Damn, the shield is messing with our-" he suddenly felt a wave of dizziness overwhelm him. He began to stumble forward, nearly falling over before Tali caught him.
"Shepard, what's wrong?" she asked, concerned for his well being. Shepard brought a hand to his forehead and looked her in the eyes.
"...Nothing...I just feel a little..." Shepard's eyes began to ring as a excruciating pain shot through his head. "ARGHH!" he yelled holding both sides of his head as he fell to the ground. Tali quickly knelt down next to him along with Garrus.
"Shepard!" the two yelled simultaneously. Shepard's eyes began to roll up inside his head. A moment later, he was unconscious; completely unresponsive.
Inside the tech lab of the Normandy, in the far corner of the room inside a glass case sitting on a metal desk was the Prothean relic Shepard had recovered in a previous mission. Unlike before the orb was now pulsing and emitting a strange noise. Mordin, who had been working at his desk took notice as the quiet echoing made its way to his ears. He turned his attention to it.
"Odd..." he said to himself as he made his way over to it. He didn't know what to think of this new activity from the strange device as he rested his hand under his chin.
"Hmm..." he carefully reached his into the leather glove attached to the glass casing that allowed the wearer to touch the contents. As his finger connected with the object, it passed straight through as if moving through liquid, and out the other side. He proceeded to wiggle his finger around inside the device but felt nothing. It was as if it was hollow. He removed his hand from the glove and pondered for a moment. Then, opening the case, took the device in hand letting it hover above the palm of his right hand. Coming to a conclusion, he decided to experiment by removing his own glove and then touched the device with his bare hand.
The pulsing increased along with the volume of the noise it emitted. Several holographic rings appeared around the orb displaying a language he did not recognize. The rings began to spin around the device until the symbols were a blur until finally a shock wave burst from the device and threw the professor to the floor; shattering the window that overlooked the drive-core in the process. Mordin caressed his forehead with his bare hand barely keeping conscious. Jacob stormed in a moment later and ran to the professor's aid.
"Professor Solus, you alright?" The former Cerberus soldier helped him to his feet. Once he was standing properly Mordin stared down at the relic hovering a few inches above the floor to see it had returned to its inactive and normal state.
"What happened Professor?" Mordin was silent for a moment as he recaptured the event that befell him before replying.
"Do not know..."
Hundreds of images blazed through his mind. Images of ancient technological cities, of beings he had no recollection of. The Protheans; he only knew their name. He could see the blurry images of them. The sky was blood red, the people fell to their knees, begging their gods to for salvation from the threat of the Reapers. One by one they were harvested like cattle. Flesh and bone replaced by wire and machinery.
The visage of the figures that were once Prothean changed to a familiar, defeated enemy; the Collectors. The Reapers changed them into tools of labor. The visions increased in pace. It was umbareable. Even in his coma he could feel his heart rate increase. The drum-like beat becoming louder and louder.
The vision became clear and vivid as a familiar world in the void of space could be seen; Ilos. As the planet grew closer into view and he descended into the dark clouds, a voice with an unrecognizable vocal pattern, yet familiar language spoke.
"Save us..." Several words followed shortly; barely audible but instructions with a clear purpose. They melded into the mind of the Spectre. He knew what it was he had to do.
"Incoming!" shouted Kal. The Hammerhead sped across the plains with two Geth dropships hot on their tail. Garrus strafed the vehicle left and right to avoid torpedo fire while Reegar sat on the missile turret controls. Unfortunately not a single shot could piece the heavy kinetic barriers of the Geth vessels.
Tali was knelt down in the back of the vehicle with Shepard layed across her lap. She jumped slightly when he shot up out of unconsciousness just as a torpedo impacted into the ground a few meters from the tail of the vehicle.
"Shepard!" yelled Tali, surprised by his sudden awakening.
"What's going on?" the Spectre asked though it sounded more like a demand. Garrus yelled from the pilots seat up from as he griped the controls tight.
"Geth dropships right on our ass! Our missiles aren't doing crap against their shields!" Another torpedo hit just off the port side or the vehicle causing it to tilt to the right slightly.
"Shit!" the Turian shouted. Shepard looked around the cab of the vehicle as if searching for something. His eyes locked on the M-920 Cain laid out on the weapon rack.
"Garrus, hold her steady!" Before the Turian could ask his commander what he was planning, Shepard pulled a lever, causing the hatch to fly off top of the Hammerhead. Lifting his upper torso out of the small opening, the Spectre lifted up the Cain and took careful aim at the dropship to the left. He squeezed the trigger. The plates of the weapon let out a spiraling glow before the powerful grenade was propelled from the weapon.
The shell only flew halfway before impacted with a torpedo fired from the dropship. The resulting explosion was catastrophic; nearly causing the Hammerhead to perform a front flip. The dropships however were unaffected and still in pursuit.
Garrus struggled to maintain control. "What the f—your really helping Shepard!" Shepard could not hear his comment over the blasts of wind that skid across his head. Instead he opened the back hatch of his weapon and tossed out the depleted power cell. Sticking his left hand back down into the vehicle he yelled.
"Power cell! Hurry!" several more torpedos rained down around them. When he felt an object in his hand, he lifted his hand back out and placed the fresh power cell into his weapon.
Now was the time. He couldn't miss again. He lifted the weapon, carefully letting the back end rest on his shoulder. He put a little pressure on the trigger; letting the weapon charge at a slow rate. He waited. Carefully eying the dropship he could see another torpedo loaded into its launcher.
"Just give me one inch..." he thought to himself. The torpedo fired. Shepard carefully calculated its trajectory and just as it passed from his line of sight, fired the tactical nuclear shell. The dropship was completely taken by surprise.
The shell hit the back end of the port side of the dropship; destroying its port thruster. Without it, the dropship's starboard thruster took over and caused it to turn sharply to right. As it did, Shepad's prediction came true. The dropship clipped the side of its twin; sending both hurling to ground with flaming debris rolling across the mossy fields.
Bending down back inside the Hammerhead, Shepard gave a blank stare at his Turian companion who's jaw had dropped.
"I take it back..." mumbled Garrus as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. Vel rapidly turned her head at everyone inside the vehicle
"What just happened?"
"Shepard happened" replied Kal with a smirk behind his visor.
The Spectre tossed his weapon to the side and made his way to the front of vehicle. "Move over" he said as he took Garrus' place in the pilots seat.
"Whoa, where are we going?" asked Garrus.
"Trust me..."
Sovereign walked amongst the Prothean ruins; his Geth pawns scavenging about. As he made his way through the courtyard of stone, he came to a large structure shaped like a Cathedral. He stepped inside as if knowing the place by heart. The room he found himself inside was very large. Four pillars made up the foundation with ancient, unlit torches placed around the walls. In the center of the room, illuminated by the sun rays which shone through the cracks in the ceiling, was a 20ft tall Prothean statue; chipped, cracked, and covered in a mossy growth. Carefully he observed the monument. After a moment of scanning he fired a bolt of lightning from his body's single optic. The magnitude of energy impacted with the statue. Stones flew all over the room as the it exploded. Several flew at Sovereign but only curved around his kinetic barrier. He stood and waited for the dust to clear. After a moment his prize could be seen...a Prothean beacon.
He walked within arms reach of the ancient device and threw his arms out causing it to activate. The beacon glowed a bright green as his Geth body was lifted off the ground. The information quickly fed into his mind. Were he purely organic, it would have had a devastating effect on him, but the power of a Reaper mind was something not even the galaxy's most brilliant scientists could explain. He levitated back onto the ground softly as he scrolled through the information in his mind and found exactly what he was looking for. He spun around when he heard the moving servos of a Geth infiltrator behind him. The platform approached him and adjusted its lens as it awaited its next order.
"HAVE ALL TROOPERS SEARCH THE NORTHERN CAVERNS FOR THE CHAMBER." The unit made a series of stuttering sounds; complying with his demand and then turned to leave the room. The Reaper turned slightly to peer over at the beacon one more time and then fired a beam from his finger. The beacon shattered into metal debris rendering it useless to others who would seek the knowledge it contained.