A/N: Regarding a certain subtle (or not so subtle) reference in this chapter... oh yeah. I went there.
Chapter 102 - Yet Another Damsel in Distress
"Funniest thing, Commander," Lieutenant Steve Cortez tells her, while bringing the ground team from the Mahavid mining facility back to the Normandy. "The entire Reaper forces just pulled out for no apparent reason couple of minutes ago. Any idea why?"
"Hmm... that's about the time when that indoctrinated miner destroyed the artifact, isn't it?" Tali asks, sounding thoughtful.
"Yeah, seems about right," Morgan nods. "Those Reapers really wanted to beat us to it, didn't they? Can't believe they brought in the banshees, that is so unfair! Those things seriously hurt..."
"The artifact does seem to be the key, yes," Liara agrees. "It appears that the Leviathan fears that we can use it to find them, and the Reapers also believe the same. This might merit further research."
"Makes sense that the Leviathan would want to destroy those artifacts," Garrus says, poking at some of the new deep scratches in his armor, testament of the fierce fighting just moments before. "Still makes you wonder what the hell is this thing? My bets are on some kind of rogue Reaper."
"You're probably right about that, Garrus," Shepard agrees. "Its indoctrination works a bit different from how the Reapers do it, though. I mean, as soon as the artifact was destroyed, those people were back to almost normal. There's no such recovery from the Reaper indoctrination that we have dealt with so far. If only it had worked that way..." she sighs, her gaze meeting Liara's eyes.
"I was thinking the same thing," the asari admits with sadness. "But it is pointless to dwell upon. As for your theory... the Leviathan is supposed to be millions of years old. It is quite possible that it has developed another way to affect human minds which is slightly different to how the Reapers do it. I suppose that not destroying the vessel in the process is a more gentle approach, but I do not think such a word can be used when talking about mind-control."
"I can't stop thinking about those poor people on the mining facility," Tali admits, sounding depressed. "To have ten years of their lives just erased like that. I hope that the Alliance can help them while they are still in the quarantine."
"Yeah, that was pretty rough, they were quite shaken up after I told them it was Year 2186," Shepard nods. "Hell, if they had managed to sleep over the whole Reaper War and wake up in a peaceful galaxy, then maybe I would envy them! Now... not so much."
"I'm still wondering what the hell they were researching there," Garrus shrugs, then shaking his head. "Someone's research was called 'Evolutionary Implications of Human Biotics' or something like that. I mean, why would the Leviathan care..."
"There is no satisfying answer that I can come up with, even if I have been thinking a lot about it," Liara admits. "Perhaps they were like... Leviathan's eyes to the galaxy? They were studying things that it found fascinating for one reason or another? That is the best I can think of..."
"I guess we won't find out the whole truth until we find the Leviathan itself," Morgan says. "If that's actually a smart idea. I haven't decided yet. It's certainly not very friendly to organics and doesn't mind enslaving us as its thralls, so..."
"Perhaps you should voice your concerns to Admiral Hackett, if he still believes this cause is worth pursuing," Liara says with a meaningful look, then turning towards Tali, the quarian poking over the omni-tool stripped from the body of the real Alex Garneau, found dead down in the mines, next to the now destroyed Leviathan artifact.
"Yeah, I'm getting something interesting here, Liara," Tali replies. "Over the past week, he has eight missed calls on his personal log... all from Dr. Ann Bryson..."
"Hey, that was her drawing that held the decryption key!" Shepard realizes. "Now we're getting somewhere. Bryson senior might have gotten her onboard for his Leviathan task force! As soon as we're back on the Normandy, I'm going to speak with Hackett and ask him to chase her down for us. No doubt she will know a great deal."
"You might want to inform the Admiral of something else as well," Liara remarks casually, sighing as Morgan looks at her with blank stare. "The artifact was capable of controlling the minds of this entire colony. We left an artifact exactly like that sitting in Bryson's lab, in the middle of the Citadel..."
"Oh crap, you're right!" Morgan slaps herself on the forehead. "As Mordin would have said... implications, unpleasant!"
Having made her report to Hackett, Morgan finds herself walking all around the Normandy, unable to find peace, expecting the two extremely important calls to come in any moment now, wondering who will be first, Hackett or Tevos. Liara is back in her quarters, silently praying for the councilor to respond first, barely restraining herself from begging Shepard to go to Thessia despite everything, and Morgan's heart is breaking at seeing her bondmate so torn. In her heart, she also hopes that Tevos would reply soon, confident that she would be able to come up with some sort of lame excuse for Hackett to delay his newest pet project for a day or two.
Unfortunately, her plans are rendered moot when Hackett checks in with the Normandy first, less than two hours after her initial report. Having received Traynor's message to head to the comm room, Shepard does not delay, heading there immediately to be confronted with the extremely excited and pleased looking Admiral Steven Hackett.
"Excellent job so far, Shepard, I had my concerns about this project, but you have cleared all of those doubts, my friend," Hackett lavishes more and more praise upon her. "If this thing has Reapers running scared, that means we're on the right track here!"
"Uh, sir, are you really writing off the Crucible after putting so much effort into it?" Shepard asks, a little incredulous.
"I am not writing it off, but we have hit a dead end with the Catalyst, you have to admit it, Commander," Hackett shakes his head. "Unless you have new and promising leads, we'll keep focusing on the Leviathan for now."
"I have a few leads on the Catalyst, and would like to investigate them. Liara thinks they are promising," Morgan tries.
"Very well, send me the locations and I'll have some squads check them out," Hackett replies, Morgan cringing and about to protest that they will check the sites out themselves, but the admiral cuts her off unceremoniously. "For now, the Leviathan remains your top priority, Shepard, is that clear?"
"...yes," Shepard grinds out reluctantly.
"And in that regard, I have new intel for you that I insist you follow up on immediately," Hackett says. "We have the location for Dr. Ann Bryson. You were correct, Shepard, she did work with her father. She is in the Pylos Nebula, working on something called Project Scarab."
"Project Scarab?"
"No idea, Shepard, but she has left a call to her father's office, telling that they have located another one of those Leviathan artifacts. She expresses suspicions that it might be affecting people's behavior."
"Well, that has been confirmed," Shepard sighs. "Did you take care of the artifact in Bryson's lab?"
"Yes, we have it shielded using the recommendations by Dr. Garneau," Hackett nods. "Thank you for sending that information, Commander. To think something like that was just lying here in the middle of the Citadel, it is astounding."
"Yeah. Uh, sir... are you sure you really want us to find this Leviathan?" Shepard asks. "What if it's something even more dangerous to us than the Reapers?"
"Can we afford not to look for it?" Hackett shrugs. "The fact that the Reapers are so desperate to get to it first shows that we are on the right track. And Ann Bryson reports that they are seeing Reaper scouts around their digsite, closing in on the artifact. That's why I need you to get there ASAP, Shepard! Tell your pilot to chart the course for the planet Namakli in the Zaherin System immediately!"
Shepard sighs inwardly. "Yes, sir." She then disconnects the call, ignoring Hackett's displeased stare at her lack of enthusiasm.
As she is on her way out of the War Room, wondering how to deliver the news of discouraging developments to Liara, Traynor's voice on the comms forces her to halt. "The asari councilor wishes to speak with you on the QEC, Commander. She claims it is urgent," Samantha reports.
"Of course it is," Shepard sighs in reply. "Thanks Sam, I'll get to it immediately."
The image of the councilor appears very tired and haggard before Shepard, the usually impeccable looking asari does not seem to care about her appearance, however, another indication that the news she is about to deliver are of grave importance. "Shepard... you must get to Thessia immediately... please," Tevos manages, leaning on the console before her for support, trying to avoid falling over from exhaustion.
"It looks as if things are as bad as the rumors suggest," Morgan shakes her head, feeling sympathetic to see Tevos like this, crumbling before her eyes. "Did you verify the Catalyst intel?"
"There is a Prothean artifact that has stored the Crucible blueprints. It is possible they contained the information about the Catalyst, but I did not know what to look for," Tevos confesses. "But it is promising, don't you agree, Shepard?"
"Yeah, it is," Morgan nods, agreeing. "How much time do we have? I am on a very important mission from Admiral Hackett that cannot be abandoned."
Tevos flinches at that, struggling to keep upright. "Not the... answer I was hoping for..." she admits quietly. "Shepard, you have a day... maybe two, before the Reapers claim Thessia. Our losses will become more and more catastrophic the longer our people remain on the ground, trying to buy more time for you to get in and reach the artifact..."
"Damnation!" Shepard swears angrily, clenching her fists. "I'll be there as soon as I can, I promise that, Councilor. Can you give us the location?"
"I don't want to send it over an unsecure channel, but QEC is as safe as it can get... just tell Liara to take you to the Temple of Athame, and she will know where to go," Tevos explains. "Also... tell Liara that her father is alive and fighting for the homeworld. If I know Aethyta, she will be the last one to enter the evac shuttles off Thessia..."
That's not exactly reassuring... Shepard sighs inwardly. I wonder if that was said as extra motivation to force me to get there faster. If Aethyta doesn't make it... fuck, Liara would never forgive me for these delays. Fuck... Tevos, your sodding guilt trip is damn effective.
"One more thing, Commander... as we were leaving the system, Aria spotted a Cerberus vessel heading for Thessia," Tevos warns her. "She seemed to think that it was important and told me to mention it to you."
Cerberus? What the fuck do they want there? Don't need them interfering now! "Yes, I think it was wise of Aria to mention that," Shepard agrees, once she has stopped fuming from the anger at the mere mention of Cerberus. "You two make a very good team, if I do say so myself, Madame Councilor."
The tired laugh escaping the councilor's mouth is not exactly the reaction Shepard has been expecting after her little well intentioned teasing. "Commander, I have seen the majestic cities of my homeworld reduced to smoldering rubble and my people slaughtered in millions... I no longer care whether my illicit affair with Aria becomes public knowledge or not..."
"Oh, you don't need to worry about that, Councilor," Morgan smiles. "That secret is safe with Liara and me, you can be sure of that."
"Thank you, Shepard. But that all is insignificant, compared to the necessity of getting to Thessia quickly," Tevos says, despair sinking in her eyes again. "I will be waiting, praying for the news, Commander. The Noverian rum will provide a small measure of comfort until I hear from you again..."
Shepard uses the shuttle flight down to the surface of Namakli to bring Liara up to date with the latest developments. While Tali and Garrus consult with Cortez about some strange readings coming from the digsite, she pulls her bondmate aside to the back of the shuttle for a quick chat.
"Tevos checked in a moment after Hackett did," she admits reluctantly. "She looked a bit hammered on the Noverian rum..."
"Aria shared? It must be love, then," Liara allows herself a small smile. "But what do you intend to do? Had she managed to learn something on Thessia?"
"Yes, we conclude our business here and then head to Thessia immediately, before I've even made a report to Hackett," Shepard says. "There's some kind of Prothean artifact at the Temple of Athame, and it had Crucible designs stored in it, so it's possible that they would have Catalyst intel, too."
"Temple of Athame? Goddess... yes, I agree, we should go as soon as possible, thank you, Morgan," Liara speaks, looking mortified and thankful at the same time, briefly brushing her trembling fingers against Shepard's cheek.
"I just hope we can get there before it's too late, Tevos mentioned that things are really rough..." Morgan sighs, turning back towards the others. "What's the situation here like?"
"Coming upon the digsite now, Shepard," Garrus reports as they join in to look through the windows of the shuttle. The red, arid planet somewhat reminds Shepard of Mars, a huge and deep canyon spreading below them, and looking ahead they can see the facilities of the digsite, built over many floors into the very side of the cliff.
"What are those huge birds circling around the digsite?" Tali wonders, peering ahead as they all notice the white smoke rising from all around the facility.
"Those are no birds, those are Reaper harvesters!" Cortez exclaims. "About two dozen on them!"
"Shit! This will be really dicey!" Shepard swears. "You probably won't have time for a nice, comfy landing, Steve, just find us a nice flat surface and we'll try to make the jump. Preferably close to Ann's location."
"Haven't been able to raise her on the comms," Steve replies. "Do you want to abort?"
"Damn, she could be dead..." Shepard muses. "Try to take us a little closer without attracting attention, see if we can maybe pick a visual or a signal through interference."
Morgan's intuition proves correct, as they come closer to the base, a crackling woman's voice can be heard on the comms, even if the words are difficult to make out, it would seem that Dr. Ann Bryson is alive and trying to broadcast an SOS signal, but she appears unable to hear their requests to fire an emergency flare to reveal her position.
Shortly enough, the harvesters take notice of the Kodiak, and a wild chase ensues, ending with Cortez pulling off some stomach-heaving moves before buying them several seconds of time to make the jump as the shuttle slowly drifts by a landing pad on one of the lower levels. Tali and Liara get out first, followed by Morgan and finally Garrus, but the gentlemanly turian ends up missing the pad by an inch and painfully lands amongst some scattered crates on the level below them.
They quickly scatter to safety of the interconnected prefab shelters of the digsite, hoping that the cover will hide them from the eyes of the countless harvesters flying above them, bombing the facilities into oblivion and unloading ground troops onto the crumbling walkways. Liara works hastily to establish a comm connection, while Shepard and Tali wait for Garrus to find the stairs and climb back up to unite with them, the lithe quarian watching his progress with some concern.
"So, Tali... now that you're alone here, I can finally ask you..." Shepard starts, a wicked expression on her face. "You and Garrus... with all those rumors flying about, I just have to know. You two gone all the way yet?"
"Shepard!" Tali gasps, her eyes behind the mask blinking in shock and surprise. "How... what kind of a question is that? And while there are dozens of Reapers trying to kill us!"
"Shepard has no shame or sense of timing," Liara chuckles, still fighting with the comms. "It is known."
"It is known," Tali adds with a nod.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" suddenly a voice shouts at them from the comms. "I'm coming down to you!"
"Dr. Bryson? This is Commander Shepard of the Alliance Navy," Morgan responds immediately. "I suggest you stay put and wait for us to reach you! What's your location?"
"Very well... we'll stay put," Ann Bryson accedes after a small pause. "We're a few levels above you, Commander. I'm sending the exact location to your omni-tool."
"Thanks, Doctor. Don't worry, help is on its way," Shepard finishes, just as Garrus finally climbs out from a narrow shaft directly in front of them. "Right, that's enough slacking around, Garrus," she says, pointing ahead to the ruined and unstable walkways, leading to the floors above. "Let's reenact the Therum mission and rescue yet another doctor damsel in distress..."
The mad chase through the ruined digsite, climbing through collapsing stairwells, jumping across the roofs of prefab shelters, dodging the enemy weapons fire while trying to hide from the harvester cannons amazingly does not end up in gruesome demise of Shepard and her crew. Despite several hair-rising moments during their travel, such as a banshee showing up while they were completely exposed in plain sight, operating the controls to lower a drawbridge, they manage to reach Dr. Ann Bryson while all in one piece.
The same cannot be said about Ann's fellow researchers, but the young brunette is holding herself together admirably well, despite clearly not being used to people succumbing to violent deaths all around her. She understands the clear and crisp orders Morgan barks at her, snapping back to attention, as they crawl towards the landing pad, where Cortez intends to pick them up, though how exactly he plans to do so is a mystery to Shepard, harvesters still swarming in the air.
"Shepard, look!" Tali suddenly exclaims, pointing at an ancient wall painting at the cliff side. They have seen many similar paintings while making their way to the upper floors, but this one is different. It depicts several indigenous people dancing, bowing and generally displaying worshipping reverence towards a large and easily recognizable shape looming over them. The Leviathan is a Reaper, a rogue Reaper, there is no longer any doubt about it in Morgan's mind after seeing this drawing.
"We believe it is the Leviathan, yes," Dr. Bryson speaks up, as if hearing her thoughts. "The natives are acting as if under its power. Clearly a Reaper, but acting alone. Not like any Reaper we've seen before."
"What about the artifact, Dr. Bryson?" Liara asks. "We understand you made the discovery just recently."
"Yes, that is correct," Bryson nods, pointing ahead. "It is near the landing pad, they were preparing it to be moved to my father's lab. It seems to be affecting people's minds, though we are not sure how. I'm sure it emanates some kind of energy, but we did not have the tools to analyze it here."
"That's odd, they were researching the artifact in your father's lab and found that the artifact was safe and completely inert, not giving off any energy readings," Shepard wonders.
"Shepard, remember that Hadley was studying it, and he likely amended his report to hide the truth about the artifact, once he had fallen prey to the indoctrination," Liara suggests. Shepard sees the confusion and worry on Dr. Bryson's face, but there is no time to stop and reveal everything right now, their sole goal is to reach the Kodiak and escape with their lives intact.
As they slowly navigate around the corner to come within the sight of the landing pad, Shepard and her crew stumble upon a very strange ceremony taking place. There are three Reaper marauders surrounding the Leviathan artifact, one of them channeling what looks like a blue ray of biotics into the artifact, or possibly vice versa. "What are they doing?" Tali wonders.
"It looks as if they have... activated it, somehow?" Liara makes a guess.
Shepard suddenly finds herself roughly shoved aside, falling on top of Liara, as Dr. Ann Bryson walks past them towards the artifact, speaking in a voice that is no longer hers. "They've learned too well," whoever is controlling her, likely the Leviathan, speaks. "The darkness must not be breached..."
"Crap! Shoot it, Garrus!" the turian reacts immediately, the marauder channeling into the artifact toppling to the ground lifeless. "I meant shoot the artifact, damn it!" Shepard yells, Garrus sighing deeply and taking another shot, this time shattering the artifact to millions of tiny pieces, immediately breaking its hold on Dr. Bryson, the young woman possessing the good sense to quickly dive for cover.
The resulting explosion of the artifact seems to have killed off the other marauders as well, and Shepard immediately calls in Cortez to make the pickup, sensing a break in action. Unfortunately, it doesn't last long enough for Cortez to arrive, another harvester bringing in a dozen of cannibals, dropping them nearly on their heads and then deciding to stick around to help out its buddies.
The battle for the landing pad is short, chaotic and painful. While trying to provide cover for Dr. Bryson, Tali is forced to expose herself dangerously to the enemy fire and just when they feel relieved to see that her tech barriers have endured, stray shots from somewhere take out Tali's legs from under her, blood spurting from her ruined shins as the quarian tries to pull herself to safety with her hands. Unable to just sit in cover and watch, Garrus heroically leaps to her defense, taking out several of the cannibals closing in on Tali, but then almost repeating his Omega experience of taking a rocket to the face, this time getting cut down by the harvester's cannons.
Fortunately, the harvester dies immediately afterwards, ripped apart by Liara's warp fields, and as Morgan is mopping up the last few cannibals in sight, Cortez brings in the Kodiak, Ann Bryson quickly running to get inside to safety. Liara scoops up the lighter quarian in her arms, Tali lingering on the edge of unconsciousness, whimpering from pain, while Shepard somehow manages to grab Garrus, groaning from the heavy weight of the armored turian.
"Not exactly a textbook rescue, sorry about that," Shepard looks at Dr. Bryson, before returning her attention to Garrus, relieved to find that his chest wounds are not as serious as they had appeared at first. As the medi-gel quickly takes effect, he turian opens his eyes, immediately making a lunge towards Tali, Shepard having to almost sit on him to keep Garrus down and resting. "She'll be fine... won't she, Liara?"
"Yes, I believe so," the asari agrees, having finished applying medi-gel to Tali's legs. "But I believe Dr. Michel will finally have her first two patients."
"Oh. Oh..." Garrus groans a little, understanding the implications. "...that won't be awkward at all..."
"By the way, sorry for ignoring you, Dr. Bryson," Morgan turns back towards their guest. "That must have been a really harrowing experience down there for you. I'm sorry about the loss of your colleagues."
"It was... I'm not sure I can find the words... but I thank you for coming to my aid, Commander," Ann Bryson manages. "But right now, I wish nothing else than to be reunited with my father and be comforted by his embrace. I hope you can deliver me to the Citadel soon, Commander."
"Oh... god," Shepard manages quietly, her eyes meeting Liara's sorrowful orbs, before turning back towards Ann. "Doctor... I don't really know how to say this, but... I have some... very bad news for you..."