A/N: I ended up splitting the Suicide Mission in two chapters because it was getting kind of lengthy. The next part will be posted on Thursday, I sincerely apologize if this results in some chewed nails from all the horrible anxiety. :P
Chapter 34 - Through the Relay of Doom
"Even though nobody has managed to return from a journey beyond the Omega-4 relay, the data obtained on the Collector ship has yielded some information about what we can expect on the other side," Commander Morgan Shepard addresses her crew, as the Normandy approaches its destination, gaining visual of the menacing looking relay, surrounded by warning beacons.
"The Collector homeworld is likely a massive space station, constructed by the Reapers. It is hidden near the galactic core, surrounded by black holes, protected by mass effect fields and radioactive shielding," she continues her grim recounting of facts. "Considering Omega-4 leads right into the galactic core, ships cannot survive passage through this relay using standard navigation protocols with long drift zones. It is estimated that there is only a small safe zone behind that relay. Joker... we're expecting you to work miracles, again."
"What would you do without me, Commander?" Joker asks flippantly, doing his best to mask his own nervousness.
"I probably wouldn't even be standing here, Joker," Shepard replies earnestly, watching him slowly and carefully guide the Normandy into a position for the relay jump. She folds her hands across her chest, as if staring down the deadly relay, as if to tell it she is not afraid. "Make it happen, little buddy," she finally gives the order.
At first it feels like any other relay jump, the familiar acceleration before emerging on the other side... and immediately deep into what at first looks like an asteroid field. "Shit! Shit, shit, shit!" Joker yells as the kinetic barriers take one hit after another, the helmsman doing his best to steer the ship through the deadly obstacles.
"That's no asteroid field," Miranda exclaims, grasping the railing so hard it looks as if she's about to twist the pieces of metal with her bare hands. "It's... a graveyard of ships!"
"All those poor bastards who have tried to make it through without any idea of what awaits them on the other side," Jacob remarks, appearing deceptively calm as Joker is still struggling to retain control of the Normandy. "Commander, some of those ships appear ancient, and I mean, really ancient."
Shepard sees it for herself, the strange, alien shapes of vessels of civilizations from millions years ago, some designs looking like something that she could never imagine even being space-worthy. Finally, Joker manages to pull the Normandy out of the field of debris, into the clear space. "Pfew... too close," he lets out a relieved sigh. "Too fucking close... let's not do that again, Commander?"
"Let's get this right and we won't have to," Shepard replies, her eyes scanning the visual before them, trying to see any signs of the Collectors or their hidden homeworld.
"I have detected an energy signature near the edge of the accretion disk," EDI informs them, at the same moment when they receive the visual that makes blood freeze in Shepard's veins. The ship graveyard spreads around them as far as her eyes can see, and in this sea of remains, she sees the Collector base, illuminated by the bright accretion disk of a nearby threateningly looming black hole. The base itself reminds her of the Collector vessel, it is of a similar elongated shape, only at least twenty times the size of the ship.
"So... that's where we're going, huh," Joker says.
Shepard swallows heavily before replying. "Yeah. That's exactly where we're going."
"You take us to the creepiest places, Commander," her pilot manages a brave chuckle. "I'm not sure even leather seats are worth this."
"Complain all you want, I know you're loving this," Shepard snaps back. "C'mon, take us in, nice and slow."
"Not sure that's going to be possible," Miranda points at something on the screens. The readings show several fast-moving ships approaching. The first red rays of particle weapon beams punch against the hull, prompting Joker to quickly attempt evasive maneuvers.
"C'mon baby," he gently speaks to the Normandy, his one true love. "Let's make good on all those upgrades..."
"Not one of your best landings, Joker," Tali comments, gingerly rising back up to her feet.
"Hey, you did say you wanted to get to the Collector base," Joker shrugs. "Well, here we are."
"I don't remember saying anything about wanting to crash into the Collector base, though..." Shepard corrects him.
"Well, we knew this was likely going to be a one way trip," Miranda states grimly, observing the damage reports of Normandy's systems.
"It's not a one way trip, Miranda," Morgan says, refusing to give up hope. "EDI and Joker will get this ship space-worthy again, while we're busy kicking the crap out of the Collectors."
"You all seem to forget one thing," Garrus reminds them, looking a little annoyed.
"What's that?" Shepard turns towards him.
"I just took out a Collector ship! Yes!" the turian exclaims animatedly, punching the air with his fist. "I don't want to hear another stupid, ignorant comment about calibrations ever again! Yeah! That felt good!"
"Uh, yeah, good job there Garrus," Shepard smiles, watching as Tali gently pats the excited Garrus on the shoulder. "Damn that Thanix cannon packs a helluva punch. Glad we have it. And glad we have you to get the most out of it."
"Thanks, Shepard," the turian replies, looking smug and satisfied.
"We should be looking for ways to get into the base, EDI," Shepard addresses the AI again. "I just hope it is safe to leave the ship out here."
"There is no internal security network that I can detect," EDI replies. "It is possible that the Collectors never expected anyone to reach this base."
"With damn good reason," Jacob mutters.
"Well, I guess they didn't count on the good old human ingenuity. Or stupidity, I'm still not sure which," Shepard tries cheerfully, hoping to inspire her team despite the slightly rough beginning, and possibly cut off escape route, if Normandy cannot be repaired. Better not dwell on that now, first things first.
"Let's get ready to disembark," she then says, addressing the team. "We all knew this wasn't a mission where we could have a solid plan from start to finish. This was always going to be making-it-up-as-we-go kind of job. Taking out that Collector ship was a good start, but the real work is still ahead of us. Let's get cracking! EDI, scans, please."
The image of the Collector base immediately appears before them, outlining all passages, all access shafts, painting a complete picture of the structure they are supposed to bring down.
After some studying of the schematics, it becomes clear that to take down the station, they must reach the control center and overload all critical systems, that would likely cause the station to be violently destroyed. The path there leads through the central chamber of the station, with a massive energy signature in the middle of it, but for now Shepard doesn't even want to spend time guessing what it could be. There are two main routes leading towards the central chamber, and they all agree that it would be most prudent to split up and send teams down each path to keep the Collectors off balance.
"However, both routes are currently blocked," Miranda suddenly notices a critical flaw in their plans, pointing at something in the schematics. "See those doors? The only way to get through them is to get someone to open them from the other side."
"If our two teams can keep the Collectors distracted, someone could sneak in through the ventilation system here..." Jacob points out, before drawing himself up proudly. "Practically a suicide mission. I volunteer," he offers.
"Your offer is appreciated, but you couldn't shut down the security systems in time!" Miranda shakes her head vehemently.
"I'm sure Jacob is professional enough not to volunteer for jobs he does not have the necessary expertise to complete," Shepard intervenes. "I refuse to believe someone like Jacob would let his ego get in the way, considering what is at stake here."
"I can do it," Jacob repeats stubbornly.
"Alright, then it is decided," Miranda shakes her head at Morgan's decision. "Jacob will-" but then she finds herself interrupted by Kasumi.
"No, Shepard, don't do that," she speaks, almost pleadingly. "Please, send me instead. I'm a tech expert, I will have much better chances at succeeding." She turns towards Jacob. "I am sorry, but I will not watch you throw your life away." Jacob nods and lowers his eyes.
"Okay... it's Kasumi for the ventilation shaft crawling then," Morgan blinks. Damn you, Jacob, what the hell were you thinking of? "Now, we need to form into two squads."
"You'll need a leader for the second squad, someone who can command loyalty through experience-" Miranda starts to speak, obviously suggesting herself, but earning a rude interruption from Jack.
"So not you, in other words," the psychotic-biotic laughs, enjoying the anger flashing up in Miranda's face.
"I was actually leaning towards Garrus," Shepard admits, looking at her turian friend. "He has a lot of experience leading mercenary and C-Sec teams."
"Fair enough," Miranda recovers quickly, swallowing her wounded pride. "I will have no difficulties in taking orders from Garrus."
"So, Garrus you take..." Shepard starts, seeing Tali subtly moving to the turian's side. "Tali, Miranda, Jacob, Thane and Legion. The others, you're with me. C'mon people, we know what's at stake here," she raises her voice again. "Such a team of specialists has never been put together before, and never will again. If we don't end this here today, nobody will. This is our one shot - don't make a mess of it now!"
"Well... that was surprisingly smooth," Garrus remarks, leading his team through the doors to reunite with Shepard's crew at the central chamber. Kasumi quickly seals the doors behind them, shutting out hordes of angry Collectors, just narrowly failing to overwhelm them before they had managed to reach the exit.
"Speak for yourself," Shepard winces, massaging her sore shoulder. "You probably didn't have that asshole of a Harbinger harassing you the whole time."
"You are arguing about who of you had it worse?" Kasumi gives them both stares full of incredulity. "Makes me want to toss you both in that ventilation shaft. I was suffocating and about to be roasted alive!"
"Yeah, top job, Kasumi. Sorry about forgetting you, you really saved our asses on this one," Shepard says gratefully. "If you had failed in getting those doors open... hell, they were really getting the message there at the end, starting to swarm us like crazy. Our guts would probably have become paintings on the other side of those doors, if not for you."
"I agree with the Commander," Jacob says, smiling at Kasumi. "That was amazing."
"Compare kill count later, Shepard?" Garrus asks, grinning.
"Yeah, yeah, we're not done here yet," Shepard brushes him off for now.
"Commander, I think you should see this," Miranda's voice alerts her, forcing Morgan to quickly turn around and refocus on the task ahead. They have reached the central chamber, but Shepard has not even yet explored their path ahead and now that she sees what lies in front of them, she almost wishes she could unsee it. There are those storage pods like on the Collector ship, but more, much more, and they are linked together with tubes, a disgusting brown-grey mass being pumped through them.
"What the hell... can you spot our crew anywhere?" Shepard asks, seeing that the others are now spreading out and looking for any pods that are still full.
"Over here, Shepard," Miranda calls out again, sounding distressed. She stands in front of the pod which contains a young woman wearing a Cerberus uniform. "Crewman Sarah Patel," Lawson speaks, pointing at the desperate, wild-eyed woman, banging on the pod's cover from the inside. "Let's get her... out?" she stops, realizing that something is wrong.
Together with Shepard, they both stare with mouths agape in shock and surprise as crewman Patel simply... melts before their eyes, her panicked screams muffled by the thick glass cover. Her body merely breaks down, starting with skin, soft tissue and followed by bones, reduced to a few bowls worth of disgusting reddish-brown mass. "Holy... fuck," Shepard exclaims, shouting out to everyone. "If you see anyone alive in those pods... get them out as fast as you can! Gods, just get them out!"
"Got Daniels here, alive," Jacob reports. "Working on Donnelly, looks safe."
Shepard herself is trying to smash through the lid of one of the pods, whacking it with the butt of her rifle. When she manages to break it, an already profusely bleeding Kelly Chambers slumps into her arms and she gently lowers the injured woman down on the ground before moving to the next pod, only able to watch on as crewman Hawthorne is reduced to pieces of brownish muck and his mortal remains quickly sucked out of the pod and pumped away through the tubes.
"Oh for the love of god!" Miranda cries, next to her. She has managed to break one of the pods, but a little too late. The process of disintegration has already been initiated and Miranda is covered from head to toes in blood and gore of a fellow teammate. "...I think I'm going to be sick," she moans, bending over and struggling not to vomit. "Mass Sergeant Gardner just... sloshed all over me..."
"Anyone's seen Zaeed?" Morgan asks on the comms, once her stomach has stopped heaving.
"Working on getting him out," Thane replies, and Shepard can see him and Samara frantically working on one of the pods, finally forcing it open. "He's alright," comes the much awaited report.
"Give that man a gun," Shepard orders. "He'll want to shoot the Collectors twice as much now. Anyone seen Chakwas... no, don't bother answering, I see her," she speaks, seeing her old friend's unmistakable mop of grey hair.
"C'mon Karin, hold on," Morgan tells herself, sprinting towards the pod, rifle raised. "Fuck... fuck, fuck, fuck," she repeats after every whack with her weapon. "Don't you die on me now... don't you die on me..." The glass shatters. She reaches inside the pod, taking Dr. Chakwas in her arms and pulling her out of the horrific prison.
"Do we have them all?" Garrus asks, sounding shaken.
"I haven't seen Hadley anywhere," Jacob remarks, leading Gabby and Ken back towards the main group.
"I, ah... think he just... rained on me," Kasumi says, before excusing herself as her stomach lurches and its contents demand to be violently expunged in reaction to the traumatizing sight.
Despite everything, Shepard manages a sigh of relief. Karin, Gabby, Ken, we got them at least. I will mourn the others, but at least I saved those closest to me... small comfort, but I must take what consolation I can.
Dr. Chakwas is slowly coming to, still resting on the ground. "Shepard..." she whispers faintly, attempting to rise. "You... came for us."
"I tried my best, but I was late for some of them," Morgan admits ruefully. "Our own crewmates were... I don't know, processed. And Chambers is in need of medical attention."
"If you hadn't come when you did... I was... I was minutes away from a gruesome death," Dr. Chakwas shakes in realization, before her professional instincts kick in and she crawls towards Kelly Chambers, starting to examine her wounds. "Those swarms of little robots, they... melted their bodies into liquid and pumped it through these tubes..."
"I saw that," Shepard nods. "And we're putting a stop to it. But first... Joker, can you get a fix on our position?" she tries to reach the Normandy on the comms. "We have survivors here and we need a pickup. Can you accommodate?"
"We should have enough systems online for that now," Joker responds. Finally, some good news. Looks like we can get the old girl in the air after all. "Sending coordinates for a safe landing zone nearby."
"And when you say safe, you mean..." Shepard starts to speak.
"Relatively few Collectors in the way between you and the LZ," he replies.
"Brilliant. We'll need to send someone back with the crew," Morgan addresses her team. "They'll never make it in this state."
"Shepard, I hate to say this, but we cannot afford to weaken our forces!" Miranda protests.
"I know, but Gabby and Ken could do a lot to help with Normandy's repairs," Morgan shakes off Miranda's concerns. "And Karin needs to get Chambers to the medbay. Who could we... Mordin! Can you get the crew back to the LZ safely? Ask Joker to broadcast his location."
"Will do, Shepard," Mordin nods, saluting. "Happy to serve in any capacity."
"Good luck to you," Morgan says to her salarian friend, escorting the surviving crew members, before turning back towards her team, facing her and awaiting their orders. "...and good luck to us..."