"We need a little help here EDI!" Shepard shouted, the platform still rising steadily through the air. Roxanne was still gripping the console, panting and feeling sweat run down her neck. "Hey," Garrus said from next to her, "You alright?" He actually sounded concerned. Roxanne glanced at him, "No, I just said I don't like heights didn't I?" She snapped at him, wondering if he was just deaf or stupid. "Calm down, we're fine," Garrus told her. Roxanne didn't answer him, just gritted her teeth and tried to get a hold of herself. Yeah, they were fine. They were in an enemy ship, flying through the air to god knows where, and EDI just informed them it was some sort of a trap. But they were fine, just fine.
"I am having trouble maintaining a connection, there is some one else in the system," EDI informed them. Roxanne shut her eyes and clung to the console, memories darting across her mind. Shepard and Garrus were swaying with the rotation of the platform, also struggling to keep their footing. Suddenly the platform slammed to a halt and Shepard and Garrus went tumbling, even Roxanne went flying, landing on top of the Turian. "Merde!" She snarled, rolling off of him quickly, looking around, and getting to her feet. Garrus stood uneasily as well, shaking his head. "You alright?" Roxanne asked him. The Turian nodded, "Yeah, just... dizzy." Shepard was on his feet and looking around, "We've got company." Roxanne and Garrus looked up to see another platform flying towards them with what looked like Collectors on it.
"Connection reestablished," EDI chimed, "I need to finish the download before I can override any systems." "Better get it done fast, EDI," Shepard told her as he took cover behind one of the consoles, Roxanne and Garrus doing the same. "At least we're not flying around anymore," She muttered, wondering if it was strange that she'd rather be fighting than up in the air. The incoming platform stopped with a loud thud and the fire fight began. The three of them stayed behind cover, shooting the Collectors as they came at them, wave after wave as more and more platforms docked. Every time they cleared a platform they moved forward. They fell into a good groove, Shepard and Garrus handled Collectors that were further away, while Roxanne took down any that got past them. She'd missed this, the adrenaline, the thrill. She was a killer, and this was her element. The only thing that gave them trouble were the damn Scions.
"41% completed," EDI informed them. Roxanne hated how calm she sounded, she didn't care if she was an AI, couldn't she simulate being worried? "Hurry it up EDI!" Shepard shouted as he ducked behind cover. Roxanne ducked as well as a pulse stream of blue plasma went over head. "I hate these things!" She snarled as Garrus and Shepard popped out of cover to shoot at it. "That's it!" Roxanne snapped, jumping out of cover and starting to run towards the Scion. "Roxanne! Get back here!" She heard Shepard shout at her, but she ignored him, dodging Collectors, watching as their heads exploded from the cover fire Garrus and Shepard were providing. She rolled behind cover as the Scion unloaded another blast from the canon that was it's arm, it's deformed body shuffling and lurching. Roxanne took the moment to draw her sword and put away her pistol, pressing a button on the weapon's handle and hearing the satisfying zip of electricity. She jumped over the console she was hiding behind and ran towards the Scion, her sword over her head, and dodged to it's left side, jumping onto one of the consoles, agile and fast, before leaping onto the Scion's bulbous back.
She stabbed it, the blade penetrating deep into it's body, the horrendous creature letting out an inhuman shriek as it convulsed, miniature lightening bouncing over it's flesh. A spray of blue and black muck that Roxanne was pretty sure was supposed to be blood splashed against the visor of her helmet, coating her arms and front. "Die mother fucker!" She screamed, stabbing it again and again, it's arms flailing about, trying to grab her, but it's own body kept it from doing so. Finally it stumbled forward and fell, and then stopped moving. Roxanne got to her feet, panting, and wiped the muck off her visor just in time to see a Collector rushing her. "Merde!" She shouted, and brought her sword up, stabbing it through the neck and pushing it away. "Lachance! Get back here!" Shepard was shouting at her, shooting at Collectors that were now gunning for her. Roxanne ducked into cover and put away her sword, drawing her pistol. She shot her way back to Garrus and Shepard, panting, exhilarated. Shepard grabbed her by her arm and pulled her close, their helmets hitting one another. "Don't you ever run off like that again without my permission!" He snarled at her before he pushed her away and joined Garrus in shooting down more of the creatures that just seemed to keep coming. Roxanne glared at Shepard's back, but knew that killing these things was more important than arguing right now, so she hunkered down and helped out, though she thought it was a lot easier to do with that Scion dead.
"Assuming control of this form," came a loud, raspy voice that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. "What the hell?" Roxanne muttered, and all three of them peeked over the consoles to see one of the Collectors, it's body contorted and glowing, raising into the air. It dropped back down, and started advancing towards them, firing shot after shot, no longing ducking and dodging like the others. "What is that?" Roxanne asked incredulously. "That would be Harbinger," Garrus explained. "If I must tear you apart Shepard, I will," Came the voice again. "Uh, president of the Shepard fan club I take it?" Roxanne asked sarcastically. "Pretty much," Garrus laughed. "Focus you two!" Garrus and Roxanne got back to work, and every time they killed the Collector possessed by this 'Harbinger', it simply took over another one. "Jeez! This guy doesn't fight fair!" Roxanne growled, popping another heat sync.
"84% complete," EDI informed them again. "EDI! Get us out of here!" Shepard shouted as they advanced onto another platform. They'd been fighting forever, they didn't have an endless supply of ammo and heat syncs. "I am simultaneously fighting Collector fire walls in over 8000 nodes. I am tasked to capacity," She replied in a tone as close to annoyed as Roxanne had ever heard her get. The platforms that came the harder it was to fight, having to watch all side to make sure they didn't get surrounded.
Finally they seemed to reach the end of the platforms where a group of consoles was waiting, and no more Collectors were coming. "Shepard, you must manually reestablish my link to the command console," EDI instructed. Shepard advanced on the consoles, Roxanne and Garrus following, turning in circles as they walked, weapons up and ready. EDI's holographic image popped up out of the console, and Roxanne didn't think she'd ever be so happy to see that stupid AI. "I have regained control of the platform Shepard," She told them. "Knew you wouldn't let us down EDI," Shepard said, sounding relieved. "I always operate at maximum capacity," Oh, so she could be smug, but not concerned. "Oh no..." Roxanne muttered, grabbing the console, "Are we going for another ride?" "'Fraid so," Garrus laughed. The platform began to rise and Roxanne gritted her teeth, staring at the console instead of at the other platforms, which were getting smaller and smaller.
"Did you get what we needed?" Shepard asked EDI. "Yes, I found data that will help us successfully navigate the Omega 4 Relay," She confirmed. 'Well,' Roxanne thought, trying to ignore the pit in her stomach, 'At least this wasn't all a waste. Just gotta get out of here alive.' "There's something else," EDI told them, her tone sounded... hesitant, "I have found the distress signal sent out by the Turian patrol. The Collecter ship was the point of origin." Roxanne snorted, "I knew this was a trap." She muttered. Garrus nodded in agreement. "I'm not surprised they used the signal as bait," Shepard agreed. "It is... unusual," EDI added. Shepard and Garrus shared a look, "What do you mean?" "Turian emergency channels have a secondary encryption, it is corrupted in this signal," EDI ansered, "It is not possible the Illusive Man would have believed that the distress signal was genuine."
"Cet fils-putain..." Roxanne muttered, she would have spit but she was wearing her helmet. Shepard glanced at her, and didn't seem as convinced of the Illusive Man's guilt quite yet, "How are you so sure?" He asked EDI. "I found the anomaly using Cerberus detection protocols," She almost sounded insulted at Shepard's doubt, "He wrote them." "He knew it was a trap?" Came Joker's voice, "Why would he send us into a trap?" "Because he's a little cuillon," Roxanne growled. "What's a cool-yawn?" Garrus asked. Roxanne chuckled and went to reply, but was interrupted. "We don't have time to throw blame around," He said, looking pointedly at Roxanne, "We'll question him when we're on the Normandy." Roxanne held back a scoff. "This is a bad time to be an optimist, Shepard," Garrus said, putting Roxanne's own feelings into words, though far more eloquently than she would have.
"Uh Commander," Joker interrupted, "We've got another problem." Uh oh, Roxanne frowned and crossed her arms. "The Collecter ship is powering back up." "Fuck," Roxanne glanced around them, as if expecting more of those things to come pouring out at them. "You need to get out of there fast, before their weapons come back online," The pilot told them, "I'm not losing another Normandy!" They could hear a dull rumble somewhere deep in the ship, Roxanne assumed that was the engine powering back up. "I do not have full control over their systems but I will do what I can to help," EDI added, "Sending coordinates for shuttle pick up." "Come on, let's move!" Shepard commanded, all but running off down the hall. "Amen," Roxanne muttered before taking off after Shepard and Garrus.
They ran through more hallways than Roxanne cared to count, EDI guiding them, opening door ways and warning them of incoming Collectors. There were even more of them than before, and husks. They would be just around the corner, waiting for them, too close for proper fire power. Roxanne ended up using her fists and her sword more than she could ever really remember. She sent the blade through the head of one last husk with a satisfying crackle of electricity, smirking. "Agh," She said as she withdrew it, seeing that it was covered in that muck, "It's going to take forever to get this crap off my armor and weapons." Garrus walked past her, rifle ready, and she followed, the dodged to the side as something shot at her, bringing her shields down. But the Turian had her covered, and killed it with one shot to the head, "Scoped and dropped!" He laughed triumphantly. "Yeah yeah," Roxanne smirked, shoving his shoulder, "You big space turkey."
"Move it!" Shepard shouted and they hurried down the hall, continuing this seemingly never ending fire fight. It was when they reached a rather large room that Roxanne saw the most horrifying abomination yet. It looked like a giant, evil jelly fish composed of some thirty human bodies, and was glowing softly, advancing towards them with slow deliberation. "What in the great blue fuck is that?" Roxanne asked, staring at it. She ducked quickly as it started shooting blue lasers from it's eyes, blue lasers from it's eyes. She couldn't believe this was happening. They just kept shooting it and shooting it until it finally went down and they were able to rush across the room to the door that EDI had opened for them.
But just as they were reaching it, it closed. "EDI, we got a problem here," Shepard said, stopping for a moment, Roxanne and Garrus flanking him, keeping an eye out. "A temporary set back on Firewall 3127, rerouting commands through Firewall 7164," she assured them. Or well, Roxanne thought she was trying to be reassuring. They continued down the hall to a different door, this one stayed open. "Hey look," Garrus pointed, "I think that's where we came in." "We must be getting close to the end," Shepard said, but he didn't sound relieved. No wonder, Roxanne didn't doubt that something else would happen before then.
They went through another door, and found more Collectors waiting for them. "Assuming control," rasped through the air. "Great," Roxanne growled, "Your fan boy is back." Shepard ignored her as they just kept shooting and running from cover to cover, killing Harbinger over and over. "I am the harbinger of your ascendance." "Jeez, he really does sound like a crazy fan," Roxanne muttered, low enough that Shepard wouldn't hear, but Garrus huffed a laugh so he must have heard it instead.
They kept fighting through the scions, the husks, the Collectors, Roxanne was panting and cursing herself for not working out more over the last three years. "Uh, Commander, I hate to rush you," Joker said suddenly, "But those weapons are about to be online." All three of them started jogging faster. "Might want to double-time it before you know, they blast the Normandy in half." "Oh ye of little faith," Roxanne panted. They hurried around a corner and right into a pack of husks. Roxanne hadn't had time to pull out her sword so she just beat the things with her fists and her pistol, growling and snarling like an animal as she all but ripped them a part and beat them to a pulp. She stopped, thinking most of them were dead, until she felt one collide with her back, a rasping scream filling her ears. "Shit!" She cursed, trying to shake it off or hit it, but unable to thanks to it being behind her. She backed up fast, slamming it into a wall, but it still didn't come off. Finally she felt it's grip disappear and turned to see Shepard pounding it's head in with the butt of his rifle.
It stopped moving and Shepard looked at her, "Thanks," Roxanne offered and he nodded before walking past her. They all but ran through the hallways, only stopping to shoot enemies when they were an immediate threat, running past if they weren't. Finally they saw the shuttle waiting at the end of a long tunnel, and started sprinting like their lives depended on it, because it did. "We're out of time Commander!" Joker shouted at them, "We have to go! Hurry!" They got closer to the shuttle and Shepard stopped, motioning Roxanne and Garrus onward, "You heard the man!" He shouted, "Everyone onto the shuttle! Move!" One by one they jumped on board, with Shepard taking up the rear, and the shuttle took off so hard they were knocked around, grabbing onto anything at hand to keep from falling over. The shuttle landed in the cargo bay with a jolt and they piled off. "Strap in everyone!" Joker's voice came over the loud speakers, "I'm going to make them work for it this time!"
Shepard took off for the elevator, Roxanne and Garrus hurried up the stairs to engineering, which had the closest seats, and strapped themselves in per Joker's advice. They felt the ship accelerate, the engines roaring like some beast that had just been let out of it's cage. The Normandy jerked and shook as Joker evaded and dodged the attacks of the Collector ship then she felt her body being pulled and stretched as the mass effect core was activated. And then, everything was calm.