Shepard never eased off the throttle. Wherever he was taking them, he wanted to get their fast. The group was weary as to their new heading, though no one said anything. From what they could tell, it seemed he had a plan, yet was piloting the Hammerhead straight toward the edge of the Geth barrier. Garrus would look back and forth from the co-pilot controls to Shepard.
"So...where are we going, exactly?"
"We're almost there" was the Spectre's simple reply.
"Almost where?" Tali inquired further. Shepard remained silent. They Hammerhead made a couple of slight turns around a few mossy trees before they came to the foot of a mountain in the clearing.
"Here" Shepard said as he let off the boosters and brought the vehicle to a halt. He flipped a single switch setting the vehicle in hover and then made his way out the hatch.
"Why are we stopping here?" Kal said but Shepard was already outside the vehicle. He turned to Garrus who only shrugged and followed his commander. Soon they were all outside the vehicle following behind Shepard who was pacing back and forth against the side of the mountain; moving his hands along the rocks as if searching for something. His hands finally found a hollow spot in between two boulders.
"This is it" he said turning to the Turian. "Garrus, make a hole" Acting on his order, Garrus ran back to the Hammerhead and jumped inside taking position in the gunner's seat. Everyone else took cover behind a tree a good distance from the wall. A simple pull of the trigger and a guided missile flew from the M-44's cannon and exploded as it connected with the rocks. The group peaked out of cover to see a dust cloud envelope where the missile had struck. As they walked out of cover, the dust cleared to reveal a large cave entrance.
"How did you know?" said the Turian leaning out of the Hammerhead's top hatch.
"They'll be time for that later" the Spectre replied. "We need to keep moving" The team all took their places back inside the Hammerhead as Shepard carefully flew it into the narrow cave. It was dark at first, but a few dozen meters inside and the cave cleared, revealing a constructed tunnel at the end. He increased the vehicle to cruising speed as they entered the wider tunnel which descended down a ramp and lead into an underground canal with shallow water flowing on the tunnel floor.
The deeper they went, the more familiar the tunnel looked. The metal walls went up hundreds of feet and were filled with empty stasis pods. It looked just like the tunnels that lead to them to the conduit during their previous visit to the planet two years earlier. Garrus and Tali began to reminisce while Shepard continued to glance left and right as the Hammerhead hovered through the long canal.
"What is this place?" Vel asked curiously; awestruck by the pod-filled walls that ran along the tunnel as far as the eye could see. Persistent in his search, Shepard relieved her of her question while still scanning the walls.
"This is where the Protheans retreated when they realized they couldn't beat the Reapers"
"Keelah..." she mumbled as the Spectre continued to explain.
"Yes, they hid in tunnels like this and put themselves in stasis. Waiting, hoping that the Reapers would retreat and they could rebuild their civilization.
"What happened to them?" asked Kal, also taking interest in the topic.
"Their plan was in vain, the Reapers remained in the galaxy for centuries. By the time they withdrew back into dark-space, only a handful of Protheans remained. Their AI, Virgil, had to shut down hundreds of stasis pods to conserve power and remain online to warn the next civilization of the threat of the Reapers"
"This could happen us someday..." whispered Tali depressingly.
"We're gonna make sure it doesn't Tali" interjected the ever enthusiastic Garrus from the co-pilot seat. Shepard turned to Garrus and nodded in agreement as he spoke.
"That's right. As long I as draw breath, I plan to give the Reapers the fight of their so called 'Eternal' lives" The Hammerhead finally came to a fork in the tunnel. Shepard took the tunnel to the right without hesitation.
"You sure you know where we're going?" asked Garrus with much less enthusiasm than before. Shepard gave the Turian a single pat on the shoulder as he continued to navigate through the tunnel.
"I know exactly where we're going. Like I said, just trust me"
"If you say so Shepard. As long as we don't run in to any-" The beeping of the Hammerhead's ladar caused him to hold his words and notice two energy signatures displaying on screen. "Oh crap...Geth armatures dead ahead!"
Shepard pressed a single button which magnified the HUD on the front view screen. A pair of armatures were slowly moving straight toward them with their ocular cannons charging.
"Easy pickings..." Kal whispered with a smirk beneath his visor. The Geth armatures were instantly highlighted on his targeting computer. "Switching to cluster missiles!" Kal pulled the sticks trigger and a single warhead launched from the cannon. The armatures opened fire as the missile flew toward them. The energy blasts caused the M-44's shields to flicker as they impacted. Meanwhile the missile, just before reaching its target, burst open to reveal half a dozen smaller missiles. Three of the six warheads hit each unit; obliterating them and leaving behind very little wreckage.
"That's how a real gunner does it" said Kal who peaked around his computer and smirked at Garrus.
"Guess I should be taking notes" Garrus commented back causing Kal to chuckle.
"Must have been scouts" Shepard concluded. "No doubt they managed to inform their buddies before being destroyed. We need to hurry" The Hammerhead increased in speed and zoomed over the burning wreckage of the armatures. A moment later, a single Geth hunter de-cloaked and made a stuttering sound; reporting the position of it's enemies to the rest of the collective.
Minutes later they came to a dead-end with a waterfall; the only other way to go being another tunnel 10 meters up from their position.
"Hang on" the Spectre hit the Hammerheads altitude thrusters which allowed the vehicle to climb and softly land on the upper level. "Not far now..." he whispered.
Three Geth juggernauts were next to attempt an attack on the Hammerhead. Kal quickly dispatched them a couple of cluster warheads. They moved on until coming to a halt in front of a large force-field that blocked their way.
"I assume you were expecting this?" The Turian said sarcastically turning to Shepard. The Spectre rolled his eyes without saying a word then quickly made his way out the hatch. Sliding off the side of the vehicle and landing in the ankle high water, he walked as close as he could get to the force-field. He observed the wall of energy for a second then proceeded to remove his glove, leaving his right hand bare. He wiggled his fingers and looked over his palm then slowly, reached out. As soon as his hand connected with the barrier, a ripple spread out from his hand and flowed through the entire force-field. A second later is faded from existence.
"Garrus saw the entire event from the view screen of the Hammerhead. "I'm officially impressed" he whispered to himself with a smile at the end. Shepard turned and motioned with his head for the team to follow as he began to his brisk walk. The rest of the group exited the vehicle and followed him to a pair of blast doors. They opened when they sensed Shepard's movement and they all stepped inside what they knew to be an elevator. As soon as they were all inside the doors slid shut and the platform began its angled descent.
A minute later and the elevator still showed no signs of an end. The bored Turian decided to break the silence. He turned to Tali who stood between him and Shepard.
"So about your immune system..."
"I WILL make you eat my shotgun" Tali hissed, annoyed by his teasing.
"Please?" said the Turian in a coy tone, trying to agitate her further. Shepard's eyes peered over at the two as he tried to hold back a chuckle, knowing full well what was coming next.
"No" Tali retorted, giving the Turian the a narrowed-eyed expression.
"Not even a little-" Garrus suddenly felt the barrel of Tali's shotgun rub against the side of his face. "Another time then..." he finished smirking.
The elevator finally came to a stop when they reached the bottom. The doors slid open and the group stepped out; surprised to find that the only thing Shepard had led them to, was a dead end at the end of a short corridor.
"It's a dead end?" Vel questioned nervously. Everyone turned to look at Shepard who kept silent and then walked forward and passed straight through the wall which rippled from contact with his body. The entire group gasped from the shock of the event. A moment later Shepard's head peered out of the wall.
"You all coming or not?" The four shared a glance at each other. Garrus shrugged and then followed Shepard through with the Tali, Kal, and Vel all in toe.
"A hologram...clever" Kal said to himself as they arrived on the other side. They came to a door at the end of the next corridor which opened at the push of button on the wall. Stepping through, they found themselves in a large temple-like room with a shrine at the end overlooking a cliff shining in the sunset. The four stared in awe at the brilliantly designed room as Shepard walked over to the shrine. In the center was a small pyramid shaped object.
When they all approached a flickering hologram emerged from the object. "Greetings Shepard, I've been expecting you"
"Hello Virgil, it's been a while" Shepard replied.
"Virgil?" Tali interrupted. "But we were told it was damaged beyond repair"
"I am programmed to only respond to those who have acquired the information of the Prothean beacons" The ancient AI continued. "It is I who led you here Shepard, so that you may learn the secrets of the Protheans, their extensive knowledge on the Reapers"
"So it was you who spoke to me in my vision"
"Yes, you succeeded in destroying a Reaper. You have earned the knowledge the Protheans hid here many millennia ago"
"What can you tell about the Reapers?" the Spectre asked sternly.
"It is not what I can tell you Shepard, but what I can give you. The identity of the item you shall receive was not programmed into my databases. All I can tell you is that is will be significant in your battle to save the galaxy from total annihilation. Go now Shepard, go and take what is rightfully yours" Virgils hologram disappeared completely and the group stood in silence for a few moments.
"...That's it?" said the Turian. As if to answer his question, bolts of energy emerged from the walls and behind the shrine, a portal emerged. They gazed at its brilliance for a moment before Shepard proceeded to walk towards it. Garrus stopped him by grabbing him by the shoulder.
"Whoa, whoa...are you sure this is safe?"
"We didn't come all this way just to turn back now Garrus. There's something on the other side of that wormhole and I'm going to get it" Shepard turned toward the portal and walked forward, letting the Turian's hand slide off his shoulder as he leaped into the portal. The rest of the group followed suite.
Garrus came flying through the portal; rolling as he hit the ground. The rest came through shortly after with Tali landing on her back on top of Garrus who yelped in pain as she hit. The Turian looked up from where he lay on his chest to see Shepard standing over him.
"You gonna help me up or what?" The Turian said with an annoyed tone. Shepard grabbed onto to Tali's hand and helped her to her feet then did the same with Garrus a second later. Kal mimicked Shepard's action with Vel.
They all found themselves inside a large dome-shaped room. It was dark with the portal being the only source of light. There were no windows, no sunlight coming in from anywhere in the room. Aligning the walls were ancient looking computers, offline from age. In the center of the room was a single, wide, metal pillar. Shepard proceeded over to it while his companions followed close behind. When he was within arms reach, his used his hand to brush off some of the dust that covered a glass screen with an outline of the hand of a species he did not recognize; mostly likely Prothean.
"What is it Shepard?" Tali asked. Shepard ignored her question and placed his hand over the screen. It glowed brightly which caused Shepard to recoil and retract his hand quickly. The metal pillar began to lower into the floor to reveal that it was hollow. When it was fully descended into the floor, only a small pedestal remained with a tube-shaped, 6 inch long container. Shepard carefully and slowly reached out and grabbed it; holding it close to his face to examine it closer.
"That's what's going to help us stop the Reapers?" Garrus commented.
"Thought you would have learned by now that big things do come in small packages Garrus" replied the Spectre with a smirk as he turned to his Turian companion. "Come on, those tunnels may lead take us under the Geth barrier. Then we can contact the Normandy and get off this rock"
They proceeded back through the portal to the shrine room, this time without a rough landing on the floor. They proceeded to walk toward the door when a stuttering sound stopped them.
"What was that?" Vel said nervously. Suddenly, half a dozen Geth crawlers emerged from each wall. The synthetics locked targeting lasers on each of them before they could think to draw their weapons. Garrus watched as one of the tag lasers pointed at his forehead.
"Oh...crap..."