Shepard paced the CIC, one hand on her forehead in a vain attempt to repel her headache, and the other holding a datapad of information on both planets. Pressly merely stood by and looked at her, unimpressed.
"We need to make a decision now, Commander. We can't waste another minute out here when Saren's down there somewhere taking our objective from under our noses." Pressly stated firmly. "You need to make a decision. Now."
"It's not that easy, Pressly, if we commit right away we'll be spending at least a day scanning the planet before we have a shot anywhere else, and we've only been in Knossos for ten minutes. Let's just take a moment to think, alright?" Shepard asked, her skull feeling like it was about to implode. It had taken two days to get to the system, and her headaches were only getting worse. "Let's give the comms guys a chance to do their thing."
"They cannot do their 'thing' without proper intel and without knowing exactly what to look for, Shepard. We have precious little information right now." Pressly countered, only fueling the throbbing around her temples.
She tried to shake the pain away, but it was fruitless. She needed sleep, which she hadn't had much of since the beacon. Maybe one hour last night. Practically none before the council meeting, around three hours after the consort…that's not good. I need sleep…I can barely function like this, but…I guess I'll have to.
She heard footsteps approach behind her and turned to see Kaidan. "Commander, I think we should go to Therum first. Lots of new mines there, and maybe there was a prothean ruin found there during a dig? Worth checking out, ma'am."
She nodded her head and thought it over. Well, he has a point…if she's been looking at prothean stuff for a while, then she's probably seen all the old sites. She'd probably get quick access to any new ones…
"Gonna disagree with the Alenko here. That Armeni place is full of ruins. We know she searches ruins. That seems a lot more logical." Joker piped in over the comms. Shepard often wondered how often he listened in on other conversations. He could, you know, just come over and talk to us…meh. Maybe not his style. "Besides, what are the odds of a prothean ruin being found? They have a planet of ruins nearby, you'd think over the centuries that they would have, you know, checked other planets in the system. Just saying."
Shepard couldn't help but feel joker was also making a good point. This is too ridiculous. Seriously, why can't she just be somewhere easy to find? She thought, turning to face Pressly, but immediately distracted by Tali wandering aimlessly in the CIC. I need a distraction right now anyway…
"Tali, what's up?" Shepard asked, each word igniting a minor storm in her skull. Christ, this had better go away soon.
"Oh! Shepard…I…you're busy. I just…" Tali mumbled, looking around nervously between a stern looking Pressly and a confused looking Kaidan.
"Well, you came all the way up here, so you may as well say your piece." Shepard noted, leaning up against the wall near the comm room.
"I…well, Adams and I think we might have found a way to make the engines more efficient. Maybe...maybe by three or four percent." Tali said, sounding a little more confident.
"That sounds great! Just wait until we're out of a mission to run any tests or whatnot, but you've got a smart group down there. Good work." She said, offering the quarian a brief smile. "Is there anything else?"
"Have you found anything out about either planet yet?" Tali asked, looking at the holo screens detailing each possible destination.
"Not yet. It sucks, because the more time we spent trying to figure this out, or if we choose the wrong planet, the better the odds that Saren and his damned geth will sneak the Doctor out of the system under our noses. It's just a bad situation, no easy answer." Shepard stated, though her curiosity piqued as Tali brought her hand to her mouthpiece and began bouncing on her feet slightly. "Uh…Tali?"
"The geth! I….hrm. I think I can , but it's different hardware, and there could be synchronization problems, and it may require a different transmitter, or maybe different protocols, but…" Tali began rambling, her focus entirely elsewhere.
"Tali!" she exclaimed, placing a steadying hand on Tali's shoulder, drawing the quarian out of her rambling. "What's on your mind?"
"I used a series of algorithms and scanners to track the geth patrol last week. It might be a stretch, but I might be able to convert it to work on the Normandy's systems." Tali stated wringing her hands for a moment before becoming aware of it and dropping them to her sides. "I think it could work. With the Normandy's scanners being a lot more powerful, it might be able to detect system wide, or even just a very large range."
"And you used this to find geth patrols before? It works?" Pressly asked, seemingly suspicious. Tali just nodded her head.
"The ship I used needed to go into orbit first to do a planetary scan, but its systems were weak, the ship was nearly a century old. I think the Normandy would be more effective, but yes, it scans known geth frequencies." Tali explained quickly.
"Known geth frequencies? And how did you come across this information?" Pressly asked, continuing to press for details. Shepard kept an eye on him, wondering why he'd look a gift horse in the mouth.
"I'm a quarian. We may not live in the Veil anymore, but we usually keep an eye on the geth. They change their encryption here and there, but it's usually a form of the original frequencies we programmed them with, making it easier to detect and filter through." Tali stated, sounding a little defensive. "We need to know if the geth will attack us again, making that a top priority. Most quarians on any ship are made aware of it, especially upon leaving for Pilgrimage. If the geth were to infiltrate the flotilla, would it not be in our best interests to be able to detect their communications on approach in order to avoid an ambush?"
"The geth haven't staged an offensive against quarian people in centuries, there's no reason for a girl as young as you to have that knowledge." Pressly stated, crossing his arms. Shepard opened her mouth to object when Tali stepped up to the older officer.
"And if your human colony had even one quarian on it, they would have been able to save more lives instead of going through what they did." Tali stated firmly, her body tense with frustration. "Shepard, I want to help."
"Permission granted. Tali, check in with the comms team, specifically Lowe and Felawa. They should be able to help you patch whatever you have into the systems." Shepard stated, happy that they found a potential solution, but annoyed at Pressly's posturing.
As she walked slowly toward the stairs, she felt a hand on her shoulder and spun around.
"Shepard, I am not comfortable letting aliens have such direct access to the Normandy. I can assure you, no captain in the Alliance fleets would let a quarian infiltrate their vital systems." Pressly stated, his voice a low growl.
"I can assure you I'm not a captain. I'm a Commander, and this ship was placed under my command. I would choose your language very carefully, Pressly. Infiltrate isn't the correct term to use, as I gave her access willingly." Shepard warned, her tone steely. She decided for the purposes of discussion to ignore the potentially racist slip.
"You cannot simply pick and choose which Alliance protocols to follow, Shepard. It will undermine your authority, your respect…" Pressly continued, urging the Commander to reconsider.
"Look…I'm not just an Alliance solider now, I'm also a Spectre, and we need to stop Saren. If that means I let Tali tinker away with our comm systems… with our comms crew supervising… I don't see a problem. If I need to bring in some aliens to fill out our depleted crew and ground team, then so be it. This ship was built by more than humans, and this mission has to do with more than humans, so you're going to have to get used to the crew being more diverse than just being fully human. We've gotten as far as we have with the help of asari, quarian and turian individuals, Pressly." Shepard ranted, feeling the headache begin to recede for the moment. "So if you don't mind, I'm going to get the ground crew ready. Please make efforts to be accommodating. You're the XO now, it's your duty."
She strolled down the stairs away from the former navigator, wondering if she'd regret her decision to give the man the executive officer's position. Well, maybe he'll come around…I don't need more dissent on this ship.
Laughter echoed through the Mako as the vehicle soared through the air, small boosters preventing a rough landing at the last possible second, leaving it to hover forward for a second before bouncing lightly onto the ground. Shepard looked around the vehicle at the slightly paler, nauseous looking individuals and snorted with amusement. "Bunch of no fun grumps."
"Shepard can you please stop hurtling us into the air every time you see a lava pit? I'm starting to think you're more than a little suicidal." Garrus complained, tightly gripping the main cannon's controls.
"Yeah, skipper. Maybe you can ease up a little? Maybe not be so much of a lead foot?" Williams asked, sounding panicked.
"Look, I'm just going from point A to point B as fast as I can, and I'm being pretty gentle with this thing, come on guys." Shepard said exasperatedly. "Look, we know there's geth here on Therum, and they're all concentrated around some mining facility, which probably means they've found our target, which means we need to catch up. Am I making sense?"
"Shepard, we can't kill any geth if you drive us into a lake of molten death." Wrex grumbled. "You promised me geth."
Shepard let out a sigh and slowed the pace of the mako slightly, careening dangerously close to the edge of a pit as the mako burst up a twisty path.
"Shepard, where did you learn to drive?!" Murakami yelled out from the back. She thought he'd be more excited about being on a ground mission than her driving record.
"Drove an M-29 grizzly once about a year and a half ago. Was a good time." Shepard remarked, turning sharply around a corner, sending one of the back wheels spinning off the edge and over the gorge for a moment.
"I think he means before that, skipper." Williams stated uncertainly.
"Hrm? What do you mean?" Shepard asked, grinning ear to ear. Probably not the best time to joke, but they're giving me shit. "First thing I ever drove was that grizzly."
"WHAT?!" Alenko practically exploded, frantically trying to make his way past Wrex to the front seat. "Shepard you need to let me drive. You can't drive."
"Pshh. Come on LT, I think I'm doing a damn good job." She remarked, setting off the boosters to cross a small ravine, landing safely on the other side. Not that this crew could appreciate it. "I was kidding. Learned in N7 training. As a matter of fact, I finished with top of the class in it."
"Probably because you killed everyone." Alenko said, grimacing once he realized his words might be taken the wrong way. "…With your driving, I mean. Running them over or crashing into them or…"
"I get it Alenko. " She stated, slowing the mako's pace as a shiny white obstacle appeared in the distance. "Garrus, check ahead at eleven o'clock, Wrex and Ash, get on your turrets, we have company."
"Finally." Wrex said grumpily, turning to Garrus. "Though you should let me handle that cannon, whelp."
Shepard ignored their back and forth bickering as she sped the mako toward the armature, sliding and boosting the vehicle to avoid the plasma barrage it hailed toward them. It was only when they got within a kilometer that she noticed another white machine scamper over a ridge and toward them. She continued toward the machines full-tilt as an idea popped into her head and caused her to grin.
Garrus had been missing all of his shots as they'd sped down the hill, but once they hit a more level ground, his aim improved drastically, one burst hitting the closest geth armature in the chest. Excellent…soften it up for me.
"Brace for impact!" Shepard yelled out gleefully, careening around a plasma blast as the mako came within a hundred meters. "Focus fire on the far geth thingy!"
Shepard hit a small ridge near the armature and hit the anti-gravity boosters as they made contact, sending the mako flying into the air. She saw the armature's neck angle upward and vanish from her viewport before a tremendously loud explosion erupted beneath them, propelling them forward on their front most wheels only.
She could hear Wrex's deep, booming laughter above the shrill, panicked objections of the rest of her crew, swerving to the left around the remaining armature's fire as the mako recovered. They tell me I can't drive…pshh…let's see them avoid all incoming fire and crash land onto a big machine like that…especially with that kind of air…
Garrus, to his credit, had pinpoint accuracy despite being preoccupied with spewing out antagonizing remarks about her driving prowess, sending a shell exploding on the last armature's head, Wrex and Williams' turret fire finishing the job quickly.
Shepard slowed the pace of the mako back down, letting the crew catch a breather as they began to ascend a more uniformly sloped hill.
"Well, that was fun, eh guys?" she asked, breathless and exhilarated that her plan had worked. She turned her head slowly to see the crew and was met with stony expressions. "I'll…take that as a yes." She finished, slowly turning back to her dash. As they cleared the hill, she noticed a large platoon of geth assembled ahead of her, beside some shoddy steel barricades.
"So, what do any of you think about geth bowling?" she asked playfully, which was followed quickly by a chorus of groans.
Tali ducked behind the nearest boulder to let Chiktikka recharge, panting at the torrid pace the squad tore through the geth at. She'd never fought geth up this close before, or such a ludicrous amount, and it was an almost unnervingly frantic endeavour. Keelah, this is almost as crazy as Shepard driving that tank! Well…almost. Not quite…although it was fun when she ran over all of those geth! She thought with a small laugh, smiling as her recharge timer went off, letting her know she could re-deploy. She looked over to a boulder across from her where Garrus stood, picking shots carefully. The two of them had been trusted to carry the back end, to get the geth out of position and into line of fire, and she felt like they had been doing well.
She swiveled out of cover for a moment and sent her drone to a group of geth hiding behind cover on the hillside. "Good girl, Chiktikka! Bring them out to play!" she called out gleefully, proud that her drone had been effective thus far. It was only when she heard the crunching of rocks behind her that she turned around, narrowly avoiding a burst from a geth trooper's rifle as she dove into more appropriate cover.
"Shepard, we have hostiles coming up from the back, we could use some help!" she heard Garrus call out through their comms. He'd quickly pivoted to the other side of the pathway and behind some cover, using the sharp angle to keep him as safe as possible. Tali found herself in no such position, with geth in eyesight of her no matter where she hid. She swung her arm behind her and grabbed her new shotgun, marveling for a moment at how pristine it looked. Her hands shook as she removed the safety and scooted over to the edge of her cover, waiting for the eventual approach of the geth, nervous about using it for the first time. An image of her being sent flying backward by the recoil flashed through her mind before she dismissed it, shaking her head. She counted the quick, timed steps of the geth and readied herself, taking one last look at her drone, busy troubling a diminishing series of geth in the distance. Three…two…one…
Tali swung out of cover and pulled the trigger frantically, emptying five shots rapidly into the small group of geth before dropping back into cover, her shotgun's alarms informing her it was overheated. She peeked her head around the corner and felt a blast whizz by her, but noticed it wasn't from the group that had been approaching; those three were reduced to twitching debris beside her. She brought herself back behind the rock and smiled, understanding the excitement Shepard had expressed about the shotgun. This weapon is amazing!
She giggled under her breath as her weapon finished cooling down and noticed one of the human marines, Murakami had dropped back to support. Feeling confident, she snuck around her cover to the far side and crept further toward the entrenched geth that had caught them off-guard, noticing Garrus and Murakami's cover fire as an appropriate distraction.
Sliding up on the opposite side of the cover the geth were using, she pawed for one of her timed mines and tossed it over her shoulder. The reaction was immediate, the geth frantically moving away as the one second timer expired, the explosion sending the troopers flying in every direction. She took a quick shot at one flying over her and out of cover, then spun and emptied a round into another fallen geth. She saw Murakami and Garrus storm forward to finish the unit entirely as Chiktikka once again returned for recharging. I should probably get back to Shepard, she'll need us to help out. She thought, rushing back up toward the rest of the group, realizing the rest of the group had pushed deep into the geth defenses in her absence.
By the time she and the others finally caught up, the majority of the fighting seemed to be over. She couldn't help but celebrate a little once Chiktikka lured the final geth soldier out of its hiding spot to its doom. Tali wasn't surprised that they made it to the mining facility with only minor injuries. Everyone seemed to have at least another person watching over them, and everyone seemed to do what they do best…Keelah, tell me a year ago that I would be fighting geth alongside a human, a turian and a krogan, and I would have probably choked on my vocalize laughing…this is surreal…
She shifted her focus toward a distant noise, Shepard calling the group together. Right, we're not done yet.
Shepard could almost hear Wrex bickering through the closed doors of the sweltering mine shaft as she led Williams and Tali down the long tunnel. She'd decided it was best to split into two smaller squads; one to protect the mining facility and keep a clear exit, and another to venture into the depths of the ruins. She'd decided to replicate the success of their efforts getting to the mine in taking Williams and Tali with her, leaving another balanced force behind. Convincing Wrex that it was a sound tactical strategy had proved a fruitless endeavour, so she hadn't attempted to justify why she'd chosen Kaidan to lead the squad other than to simply state that he was in charge in her absence. Meh, he can whine about it later. I don't see the geth staying far away when we've broke their ranks like this…they'll send reinforcements.
"Real hot in here." Williams stated, her voice slightly strained. Shepard couldn't help but agree, it was as if she'd walked into a furnace; she was sure that if she wasn't wearing her helmet, the air would be much harder to breathe. She simply nodded.
"You…don't have environment controls in your armor?" Tali asked, confused. "I would have thought you would have those...are you telling me you're walking around in seventy Celsius heat?"
Shepard turned to the quarian and caught Williams glaring at Tali. She just grinned at the circumstances. "I've been in worse." Shepard noted. "Our armor has minor cooling in it, but nothing substantial. Especially in this heat."
"So what exactly are we expecting down there, Commander?" Williams asked as they traveled down the sloped tunnel.
Shepard shrugged, formulating an answer. "Not entirely sure, to be honest. I expect there will be some geth, but I think we've cleared most of them out above ground." She started, feeling a drop of sweat rolling down her forehead. "And I expect Doctor T'Soni to be down there somewhere, considering the geth are still here. Whether she's fighting back, or captured or…whatever…isn't something I'm about to spend time thinking about just yet."
"Just kind of sucks that she's our only lead, ma'am." Williams added, looking slightly worse for wear. "I mean, what makes her so important to Saren?"
"Well, she's an expert on prothean research. Did a little checking up on her on the extranet, she's done a few studies on prothean extinction. That ties in real well to the Reapers, I think. Maybe Saren thinks that too." Shepard noted, dancing around the other reason this asari was so important. Unfortunately for her, Tali picked up on it.
"But Shepard…there are many prothean researchers in the galaxy, I would think. Why her? Why now?" the quarian asked curiously.
Shepard's shoulders slumped a bit; in part from the direction of the conversation, and in part from the stifling heat. Christ it's like I'm walking into the depths of hell or something…
"Look, I picked you two because your styles compliment me and I think we'll be pretty effective in combat. But I also picked you because I trust you a little more than the rest." Shepard stated, stepping past an exhaust pipe. "What I say needs to be kept under wraps until I say otherwise, alright?"
She looked over at her squadmates who both gave crisp nods. "Doctor T'Soni's importance is directly tied to her being a prothean researcher…that's the main draw here for everyone involved, but she's also important in another way. Her mother is allied with Saren."
"What?!" Williams exclaimed, stumbling forward from surprise. "Her mom's with Saren?"
"It's apparently a lot more complicated than that. I have it under…good confidence that this Matriarch Benezia is not the type to get in bed with someone like Saren, so there's an idea that she's being coerced into helping him. She's incredibly powerful, and if we could win her over by keeping her daughter safe from Saren, maybe we could get her away from that bastard. That's the second part of why we're here."
"Shit." Ash remarked candidly, shaking her head. "This guy's probably been putting all the pieces in place for years. No telling what kind of dirt he might have on that Matriarch, or if he's set her daughter up as bait to sabotage us."
"Let's not jump the gun, Ash. Always innocent until proven guilty, alright? I doubt he would have set up a trap like this on short notice, considering he probably saw himself keeping Spectre status, and us not having the freedom to go after him. So let's assume she's innocent and just get her out of here. Then we'll ask questions." Shepard said firmly, slowing as they reached another set of doors. "Anyway, keep your eyes peeled, your voices quiet, and your fingers on the trigger. Ready?"
Shepard activated the door controls and the trio slipped into the next area, where it was noticeably warmer. They crept down a slope to a series of walkways and took cover behind nearby pillars, each scouting out what they could see. Shepard noticed that the walkways had seen heavy traffic, and seemed to be weakened by that. The area was large and cavernous, and it was deep. Staring through the grated flooring, she could tell the excavation went hundreds of meters deep. Well, it could be worse…but we're going to have to be careful.
A steady beat of metal on metal perked their heads up, geth footsteps echoing throughout the large chamber, getting louder as they approached the entrance behind the three. Shepard looked over at the opposite pillar where Williams and Tali hid and began making signals; for Williams to ready her assault rifle, and for Tali to prepare her omni-tool. She noticed the quarian's shoulders slump a little before seeing her nod. Hrm, wonder what that's about?
Shepard waited anxiously as the footsteps came closer, she was certain there were at least four scouts nearing them. Just as she spotted a geth rifle poke out beside her pillar, Williams popped out of cover and unleashed a hail of bullets on the surprised geth, allowing Shepard to twist around the opposite side of her cover and catch one of the retreating soldiers with her shotgun, as another stood prone, disabled by Tali's overload and hack. Shepard used her biotics to push that last geth off the platform and down into the pit as Williams and Tali dragged the three others away from the main path.
Shepard's head spun at a loud creak from their direction, where a geth foot had caught the edge of one of the walkways; she looked at a sheepish looking Williams and noted one of the geth she was pulling had become caught on a support and pulled it free, weakening one of the walkways significantly. Tali helped unhook the geth's limb from the support and the three quickly and gingerly made their way across the shifting, groaning walkway to the next stable one and down a few flights of stairs.
They traversed down the first few levels with little resistance, even as other geth patrols became more aware and vigilant. After a short time, they had reached the last accessible level by foot, and stood by an elevator that appeared less than sturdy. Williams casually made her way to a nearby rail, peering over at the tiled wall a few meters away.
"It's so hot in here! I swear, with this heat, and those…insets in the wall, this could have been a prison. Though I'm not sure where the doors are, or how they'd get prisoners into the cells in the first place…if this was done by the protheans, then they're just weird." Williams stated, sounding as short of breath as Shepard was at this point. The heat was stifling, and she couldn't wait to get back to the cool confines of the Normandy.
"Don't doubt that at all, Williams. Even wearing all this, it's brutal here. Can't imagine how bad it'd be if I were stuck here for days, having to breathe this air." Shepard said, gesturing Williams to the elevator. The marine comically froze and stepped further back away from the machine. "Oh, come on Ash, we have to get down there some way or another."
"I'm not going to die by elevator, Shepard. That would be too embarrassing." Williams insisted, hands on her hips.
"Fine, either me or Tali will shoot you if the elevator goes into freefall. I promise." Shepard quipped.
"You mean I can use my shotgun?" Tali asked, excitedly, drawing a glare from the marine. Shepard just looked at the quarian with confusion. "What? You've been telling me to use my omni, or Chiktikka this whole time and…well, I, um…I really like it."
Shepard could help but give a subtle fist-pump in mutual excitement, having hoped Tali would take to the shotgun well. "Nice! See, Williams? If we go freefall, you two can both get what you want. Now come on." Shepard finished, stepping into the rickety vessel, Tali quickly following.
Williams let out a sigh and begrudging dragged her feet over into the elevator, moping all the while.
The lift made its way down into the pit at a rapid rate, shaking all the while. Shepard swore she could hear Williams screaming as they plummeted toward the base of the pit, but it ceased as the elevator slowed and crept the last few meters to a halt. Shepard stepped out onto the walkway to find they were much closer to the ground level, but still a few levels up, the walkway nestled up beside the smoothly tiled wall. Well shit… she thought, looking around for a stairwell, but none were visible.
"How the hell do we get down there?" Shepard asked no one in particular. Ash stumbled out of the elevator, holding her stomach, and gripped onto a nearby rail. Tali uneasily made her way down the walkway, seemingly in search of a way down. Williams seemed to steady herself and looked back to Shepard, but her focus froze on something else.
"Uh, Shepard, I think there's a ladder over there, behind you." Williams noted, Shepard turning to find what Williams pointed to; her eyes quickly found the tip of a ladder, off at the very edge of the walkway. Oh you have got to be kidding me. Why does it have to be ladders?
Shepard called Tali back and made her way to the ladder, scoping the path to the bottom. Alright, so we're like, six floors up. Not bad I guess. Shouldn't take long.
Shepard started down first, checking around her for any signs of geth as she slowly descended to the next walkway. She waited for the rest to get down first and began moving to the opposite side of the walkway.
"So we're getting close to the ground level so keep your eyes pee-" Shepard started to say before a violently sharp snapping sound tore through the air from in front of them as both supports cut free. She barely had time to think before the walkway dipped forward, sending them tumbling across the floor of the walkway and through the air. Shepard tucked into a roll as another walkway a few levels beneath rushed up to greet her, causing her to bounce violently off the mound of debris below, sprawling her out onto the floor.
She laid there motionless for a few moments, catching her breath and making sure her body wasn't entirely broken. She moved her fingers, then her toes, and proceeded until she was confident nothing was too debilitating. Nothing broken…just a lot of pain…she thought, wincing as she worked herself to her feet dizzily, hearing something muffled off in the distance. She saw Williams prone on a fallen piece of walkway and Tali folded upside down against a rail. As she made her way over to them, the sound became clearer, but it was weak, and still muffled. A voice? I'll…get to that later. First, my squad…
She took Tali's hand and slowly pulled her from the rail, rousing the quarian back to consciousness. The two helped Williams up, who was struggling to her feet by that time.
"Ma'am, can I request that we never come back here again? Ever?" Williams groaned over comms. "I think I banged my leg up a bit in that fall. You okay, Shepard?"
"Fine, just hit my head on something. Probably a minor concussion, no big deal. Tali?" Shepard asked, looking to the third member of their squad.
"My back is sore. But I think I'm fine. We quarians don't tend to break bones easily." Tali explained wearily, rubbing her lower back. Shepard nodded and looked to where the sound was coming from.
"I think I hear something up there. Can you two help me grab that broken piece of walkway and lean it against the wall? I want to climb up there." She said, looking up at the floor above, where half of a longer walkway hung, seemingly supported. Well, if that one fails, at least it's a one level drop instead of three.
It took the three a few minutes to coordinate enough and to pry the fallen stretch of walkway free, but they managed to lean it up against the tiled wall, using the railing on their level to prop it up. Shepard began to ascend and placed her fingers in the flimsy holes to gain some traction. As she made her way higher, she heard the voice more clearly, off to her right. After a few minutes of steady, careful climbing, she was able to roll herself onto that level's remaining walkway, thankful that it seemed to be sturdy and able to hold her weight. Thank Christ! Could use some luck, for once.
She got up to her feet and gave the signal that she was fine to Tali and Williams before slowly stalking toward the next cell, which was wreathed in what seemed to be a blue barrier.
"Uh…hello? Is there anyone there?" A weak voice called out, pleading desperately. "Can somebody help me? Please?"
She stepped closer to the cell and lowered her weapon as the voice's owner came into view, seemingly caught in some form of stasis bubble, body outstretched.
"Can you hear me out there? I am trapped…I need help." The asari continued, her voice strained and panicked. She was pale and looked entirely exhausted, her lids half open and her breaths short and labored. How long has she been trapped in that thing? Christ…
"Can you, uh…tell me your name?" Shepard asked cautiously, unsure if this was who she was supposed to find.
"Are…are you real?" the asari asked, her eyes opening widely, before a look of disappointment fell across her face. "Oh no, don't be silly, Liara. Humans do not come here. You are hallucinating."
Shepard couldn't help but feel bad for her. She's definitely not all there right now, but she called herself Liara, so…no real chance she isn't who we're looking for. Let's get her out of here…somehow… Shepard thought to herself.
"And you're talking too yourself now as well. Ha!" Liara choked out a strained laugh, letting her head hang forward. "I am going to die in here." She finished weakly, sounding entirely defeated.
Shepard took a step forward and grazed her finger on the barrier, feeling no fluctuations in it. This is serious stuff…leave it to the protheans… she mused, bringing her focus up to Liara's face.
"Look, believe it or not, I'm real, and I'm going to get you out of here, alright?" she replied calmly.
The asari looked at her suspiciously. "You're oddly lucid for a hallucination. They do not usually claim to be real. Or…do they? I guess I cannot be sure, I don't usually hallucinate. At least, I don't think I do." She rambled, sounding more disoriented by the moment. Don't think I'd get anywhere asking how long she's been down here.
"Hey now, I know you're exhausted, but it's alright. My name is Shepard, Councilor Tevos sent me here to take you to her, to get you to safety." She said, hoping to reason with Liara and set her at ease. She felt the doctor's eyes focus squarely on the sigil her armor bore marking her as a member of the Spectres. Funny…I got into the Spectres real easily, yet people focus on that instead of the N7 it took years of pain and anguish to get. Lame.
"A spectre? Truly I must be going insane, there are no human Spectres, and certainly not a female of their species. What else would I conjure up? A protector figure. Yes, perfect. Comforting. And adding the mention of my favourite aunt, as well. Typical." Liara spoke wearily. "Well, I will play along anyway, to pass the time until my eventual death. As you can see, I am trapped. If you are as real as you claim, find a way to free me."
"Well, how'd you end up in there anyway? Might help to know before I start poking around for a solution." Shepard asked, looking into the cell Liara floated in for any clues. It has an open back and a terminal? Hrm…
"Ah yes. The figment of my imagination wants me to retrace my steps and relive my embarrassing mistake." Liara scoffed, lifting her eyes to meet Shepard's. She couldn't help but freeze under the asari's gaze. Christ, her eyes are such a vivid blue…like…wow. I mean I don't even like the colour blue, but…Christ. Not fair. Why do all asari have to be so painfully attractive?
"I was exploring the ruins as I had been for the past month and a half. One day, the geth showed up…at first, I was stunned. Geth beyond the veil! But they were accompanied by a krogan who was…aggressive. I managed to escape to here and activated the defenses, hoping the barrier systems would protect me." Liara continued, her breathing increasingly labored. "When I activated it, I must have made an error in my haste, and pressed something I was not supposed to. It trapped me in here instead. You…you must get me out of here. Please." She finished, her voice giving out in exhaustion.
"Look, just hang tight…" Shepard started, wanting to facepalm as the words left her mouth. Puns! And a terrible one at that! Smooth, Shepard. "…We'll get you out of there, I promise."
"Of course. What good is a hallucination…if it can't offer false hope?" Liara spoke, her words barely louder than her breaths. "Find some way…or leave me alone. I'm tired…of talking to myself."
Shepard nodded solemnly and stepped away from the barrier and the suspended prothean archaeologist. She made her way down to the other two quickly and gestured them toward a nearby set of stairs leading down to the rocky ground level.
"So? What was up there?" Williams asked, curious.
"Our doctor. But she's delirious from exhaustion and she doesn't think I'm real. She turned on a barrier from inside the cell, but it ended up trapping her in a stasis thing. There's an opening at the back of her cell, so maybe if we find a way around? I'm really not sure." Shepard explained as they walked down the stairs, and across the rocky ground.
"Any sign she's not on our side?" she heard the marine ask, causing her to roll her eyes in response.
"Williams, some geth and a krogan tried to kill her. I think that, chances are, Saren sees her as a loose end more than as a helpful potential employee." Shepard stated, a little tired of Williams' suspicion. "Suspect her all you like, but she's getting out of there and coming with us…somehow. Let's start looking."
The trio spread out over the ground level, wandering aimlessly in hopes of finding some magic answer to their prothean problem. A while later, Shepard hung back near the side of the room opposite the large wall, looking for other cells with open ends while Williams dug at a huge pile of rock and debris. A sound to their right drew them from their endeavour, and caught sight of Tali pushing a mammoth machine on a trolley of some sort, having come from further inside the caverns.
"What the heck is that?" Shepard asked, both amused and surprised at the large, boxy device. Tali kept pushing toward the nearest flat surface.
"I saw the mining paths down here and thought that they probably didn't do it by hand. And they didn't, they used a mining laser." She said with a strange amount of glee. Shepard got the impression that Tali might like explosions. Or was possibly imagining using a mining laser against the geth. Probably both, I figure.
"Good work. Maybe we can blast a hole in the wall or something." Shepard noted, before turning to the young marine. "Williams, come over here, we might need your help."
The three found a mechanism on the trolley to lock it in place, figuring it would be necessary, and then wheeled it toward the wall.
"Uh, Shepard? It might be a stretch, but I swear, there's some airflow coming from that mound of rock and debris I was digging in. Definitely an echo when I knocked some of the stuff around. I don't know, but maybe we should try?" Williams mentioned as they pulled the device closer.
"Or it could be another room. But that could also mean it could be a room with a back. Or it could just be a natural cavern. Either way, we can try that. Angle it so that it'll cut through the rubble and hit a wall if it's a regular cell. That way, it's a win-win." Shepard said, pleased with Williams' find. "Good work."
Shepard finished locking the device in place and angling the laser just so, while Tali hacked into its controls. Williams just hung off to the side and relaxed, having done her part already. The machine let out a large, steady rumble as it activated, the light of the control panel reflecting off Tali's visor.
"What power level should I use? It goes to…eleven? That's…strange. Why eleven?" Tali asked, confused at the odd range of values.
"How about an eight? Eight sounds fine." Shepard called out from the front, ensuring the laser was set properly and wouldn't be moving any time soon.
"Eight is off the recommended power range. It calls for anything from one to six as safe power levels." Tali stated nervously.
"What's the point in having all those power levels if you can't use them? Just run with seven, and I think we'll be fine. Just a smidgen over the top should do it." Shepard added playfully, moving over to where Tali stood.
"Oh…um, well…alright. I guess." Tali mumbled, before hovering her hand over the activation button. She paused momentarily, but pressed the controls as Shepard began to tap her foot impatiently. The laser exploded out of the barrel and into the pile of rocks and debris, sending all impacted material flying in every direction, though reducing much of it to dust and fine particles. As the rubble was cleared, they saw the laser landing on the tiled flooring of the deep cell, causing no damage.
Well, so much for that plan. Shepard thought, signaling Tali to turn the device off. Once clear, she walked over to the new hole in the ground and peered into the small entrance that was carved, leading into an open ended cell.
"Hey, it made it through, and there's an exit behind that…" Shepard called out, turning around and noticing an encroaching geth force from the caverns. "Shit."
Tali and Williams had hid by the front of the laser, using it as cover. Shepard was a few meters away with only a relatively minor boulder in sight for cover, so she scampered there quickly, grabbing her shotgun from her holster and readying it.
"Come out wherever you are, pyjaks." They heard, the signature low growl of a krogan echoing through the pit. "You've had your fun, but I'm in need of a nice meal before we take the doctor to Saren finally."
Shepard rolled her eyes at the statements. Krogan. Always thinking so highly of themselves. It's the geth I'm more worried about than him. There looked to be what…a dozen? Or ten? Something like that.
"So surrender." The krogan called out monotonously. "Or don't. That would be more fun."
Shepard pulled a grenade from her belt and, peeking out from the rock, tossed it toward the pack of geth. Tali seemed to have the same idea, tossing a mine over at the pack of geth. Williams fired through the dual explosions at the unseen foes as Shepard swung out of cover and fired a shot at the krogan charging at her, readying her stance. Charging at me, huh?
Shepard blipped in front of the krogan and knocked the brute backward a few feet; the warrior barely remaining balanced, unsteady on one foot. She fired off the rest of her clip at him before getting thrown into the air and across the room. She shook her head at her mistake and braced for her landing, crashing into a partially disintegrated walkway. Her back flared with pain as she struggled to her feet, but she was able to ignore it for long enough to dive out of the way of another biotic throw.
"It's exhilarating isn't it?" the krogan yelled out, sending another biotic blast at her. "It isn't every day I get to battle inside of a volcano!"
What? A volcano? Ugh…that's why it's so fucking hot here… she grumbled internally, moving to better cover, giving her enough time to focus on her barriers. As she heard him near, she flipped over her cover and fired a shot into the krogan's own barriers; she burst through them momentarily and got a clean shot in on the staggered krogan, but a swift backhand from him knocked her prone and propelled her shotgun from her reach.
Slightly dazed, she rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the brunt of his blast, and charged into him again. He'd readied himself this time and only slid back a foot or so. In a single fluid motion, he tossed his shotgun to the side and pounced at Shepard. She pivoted on her foot and intercepted him with a biotic punch to the side of his knee, buckling him momentarily as he spun and knocked Shepard off balance with an elbow. She regained footing quickly enough to knock a biotic push aside and lunge forward, dropping a grenade in front of him as she rolled between his legs.
The explosion went off just as he managed to grab hold of her leg, knocking the krogan on top of her, his weight knocking the air out of her lungs. Shepard tried to scramble free from the roaring krogan's clutches; fortunately, he was too busy roaring and attacking her to hold her down effectively, but unfortunately, he'd gone into a blood rage and was furiously pounding at her. She focused on her biotics while trying to defend herself and get free, but it was easier said than done. Some support fire from Williams tore across the krogan's scalp, drawing his attention long enough for her to scamper away and get to her feet. Gotta get some distance NOW!
She blindly charged toward a nearby group of geth and threw a lift at them, sending the trio of machines floating into the air. She heard the thunderous stamps of the krogan behind her and rolled to the side of the geth. The krogan rammed full speed into the machines, sending the geth flying violently into the walls behind her. She pivoted out of the way of the krogan again, but ate a biotic push for her efforts, sending her tumbling across the rocky ground.
She shook herself off and rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding a bellyflopping krogan. She kicked at him as she got up and threw a biotic kick at him as he rose, twisting his head around a few degrees, sending blood spurting out of his mouth. She readied herself for a punch or a throw, or for his whole body, but didn't expect the krogan to biotically charge into her, sending her violently tumbling across the ground again. Her ribs made it distinctly clear as she got to her feet that they were at least fractured. She took a painful breath and spotted her shotgun nearby. She ran to it as fast as she could, the krogan giving chase in turn.
Shepard pulled out her pistol and fired a few shots at the knee she'd attacked earlier, sending the krogan stumbling long enough for her to grab her shotgun and dive out of the brute's way as he sailed over her shoulders. She raced back toward the prothean wall and the debris, hoping to find cover she could use to delay the krogan and mill him down.
Shepard pounced up the staircase and over to the debris pile where they'd fallen, spinning around long enough to see the krogan bound up toward her. She unleashed her full clip at the raging krogan, keeping him at a distance momentarily. Noticing he was preparing to charge, she vaulted over the railing back to the rocky ground and heard a loud crash behind her almost immediately.
Shepard spun and for once in the past two or so minutes, didn't see the krogan. She scanned her field of view frantically, and couldn't find it. What? Shepard thought, half-panicked and half-relieved, but soon came to realize a large piece of debris was on the platform that wasn't there earlier. She raced back to the railway and spotted the krogan underneath a fallen walkway, dazed. She emptied another full set of shots into his face, leaving a crater where there was once a head.
Alright…Krogan battlemasters…don't fuck with them. Seriously. That was way too close…she thought, noticing for the first time that there wasn't any gunfire. She turned to see Tali and Williams approaching, looking no worse for wear.
"When I saw you were heading toward the wall, I sent Chiktikka to help you." Tali nervously stated as she got close, wringing her hands for a moment before willing herself to stop. "But then I saw a weak looking walkway and thought it might be a good thing to attack. She wouldn't hurt a krogan much, but she could damage a walkway's supports."
"I was wondering why you weren't firing at the geth." Williams remarked, before letting out a grin. "Though she saved your skin, Commander."
Shepard chuckled, wincing in pain all the while. "Yeah, well, I would have got him eventually. Krogans just take longer. Had it in the bag." She said playfully, turning to Tali. "But thanks. That was some smart decision making. Good work."
The trio walked across to the small entrance they'd made and one by one dropped themselves into the newly carved out hole. Shepard led them, slightly keeled over from the damage to her ribs, and found her way in a large elevator shaft as she crossed out the back of the cell.
"Huh. That must have been how they got some of the prisoners in their cells. And how they got up and down so easily." Shepard noted, walking over to a nearby terminal and pressing the top-most of the two available buttons. The elevator quickly made its way to the next floor. So there's some evidence the protheans are jerks. Build the citadel and equip it with the slowest friggin' elevators ever, but their crappy hidden jails have the fastest things imaginable. Lame. She pressed the button again, lifting them to Liara's level.
Shepard heard the asari cry out as she neared her and couldn't help but grin. I shouldn't be amused, but she's kind of funny when she thinks she's hallucinating…
"What…Oh Goddess, now I'm hallucinating that you are within the tower. I must be getting worse." The doctor said, sounding exasperated. "Earlier I imagined I heard thunder."
Shepard gave a regretful laugh at the remark, and bent over slightly to catch some air. Yep, definitely some broken ribs. Hard to breathe with that.
"Yeah, we used a mining laser to bore through to another entrance." Shepard explained lightheartedly.
"You bored through with a…you're real, aren't you?" Liara asked, a choked sob following soon after. "You're real!"
Shepard could almost feel the relief emanate from the Doctor, and made her way to the terminal to switch the device off.
"I…I am so sorry. I thought you were a hallucination, I thought I was going mad…I must have sounded so foolish." She apologized as Shepard looked over the controls carefully.
"It's alright, Doctor. With this heat, I don't blame you at all. Now how do I get you down?" Shepard asked, a finger hovering over the buttons.
"The top left panel should…" Liara started as Shepard complied, the stasis field dropping immediately, sending the asari unceremoniously to the ground. "Ooof! That…thank you."
Shepard made her way over to Liara and helped her up, as thankful as she could possibly be that the doctor was wearing clothes that covered everything but her face, and that she was touching some type of latex rather than skin. Last thing I need now is to touch her…I don't know if I could handle that… she thought, breathing a little heavier and her body warming even through the polite gesture.
"I'm just glad we could help." Shepard stated, hastily letting go of Liara as the asari got to her feet. "Any idea how to get out of here?"
"The elevator in the back of the tower should get us out of here…or at least near the top." Liara said distractedly. "Do you….hear that?" she asked, walking over to the edge of her cell where Shepard had met her. The other three followed and peered out. Shepard heard the rumbling first. Moments later she felt it, and saw the ground of the room they'd fought in beginning to crack and split violently. FUCK.
"Run!" It was all she needed to say, as the four dashed to the elevator; Tali held her hand on the top button, sending the elevator rocketing upward. It would have made Shepard feel better if it wasn't noticeably hotter, and if the rumbling and explosions weren't getting nearer.
"First time I'm on a decent elevator and it's not fast enough…what the hell!" Shepard yelled out in frustration. "We reach the top, everyone books it, alright? Just fucking run!"
Tali and Williams nodded, and Liara gave her a look of sheer confusion, but there wasn't enough time to respond before the elevator came to a halt. Williams and Tali took off down the corridor, Shepard and Liara close behind. The entire ruins were shaking at this point, rocks and stalactites falling into their path, kicking dust and dirt up at them. Shepard raced down the paths behind Tali, but soon noticed she couldn't hear footsteps behind her anymore. She turned and saw Liara on her hands and knees, gasping for air, and dashed back to her, cursing her rib injury as pain laced through her body. Shepard quickly scooped Liara onto her right shoulder and held her there firmly as she dodged a falling rock. Fuck, I can't fail now, I can't! Fuck my body! She thought, running as fast as she could, feeling the intense heat growing by the second from both the activity beneath her and within her. It's as if there's a god of misfortune out there and I have an alternate personality that worships it or something…honestly! This is seriously NOT the TIME for this shit!
Shepard ignored as much of the pain as she could as she hurtled herself along the pathways. She heard a loud crash ahead of her, and within a few seconds came across a dilemma. The unsteady walkway they had weakened earlier had collapsed and fell. Tali and Williams had darted off ahead in the distance, continuing to safety. Shepard groaned from the pain and exhaustion, but took a few steps back to give herself some room, hoping she could make it across to the next platform.
"I am so sorry, Spectre." She heard Liara cry out from over her shoulder. She shook her head and sprinted forward, activating her biotic charge at the lip of the remaining walkway. She breathed a sigh of relief as her left foot landed ¾ onto the platform, giving her enough balance and forward momentum to keep going. She kept running, Tali and Williams soon out of view as she headed up the sloped mine shaft, the exhaustion threatening to halt her at any moment, the heat licking at her heels, a variety of explosions behind her letting her know that there was no time to catch a breather. Fuck, I'm going to need a good meal after this!
Shepard closed her eyes, took a steadying breath, and biotically charged forward. She took a few steps after, catching her balance, and breathed again before continuing to charge, repeating the process until they found themselves at the entrance to the mine. Each time, she struggled harder to breathe, taking in less oxygen. Each step was slower, clumsier than the last.
Shepard kept her legs moving as quickly as she could, though she could barely breathe. She saw the Normandy hovering low, the cargo entrance open, Williams and Tali on the ramp along with the rest of the squad, yelling for everyone to get inside. As she sluggishly reached the ramp, she heard an enormous explosion behind her, and felt her body collapse onto the rough metal flooring, sending Liara once again tumbling to the ground unceremoniously. I can't feel my body…
Hands of all sorts dragged her further inside as the Normandy rose from the ground. She saw Kaidan and Murakami carry a panicked Liara away and let herself just relax for a moment. The whole world smelled of ash, but she didn't care. I've earned…a rest…
A/N: Welp, there's Therum! Wanted to do it in a single chapter. Figured it would flow better that way. I promise, there will be shorter chapters in the future(next one will be ~7k if my estimates are right), it's just been weird lately. I hope everything was to your liking. I drew some inspiration from Joker's little quip in the comms room, and thought "Why not actually show that danger?" Sure, it was a bit cinematic and a bit unrealistic, but whatever. At least, less unrealistic than them calmly catching their breath when they get outside, seemingly super fine. So yeah, decided it was appropriate. And it made the fight come first, which was good. Not sure I've got action scenes down pat, but I'm trying.
Long chapter. Hope you enjoyed it, I'll try to get another one out soon, but November will be a hell of a month. December should be a lot lighter(last class Dec 3rd, exams on the 12th and 17th...meaning my schedule will be light). Magnitudes lighter. I just need to get through this month. Here's hoping I can find time to write. It's going to be kind of crazy. I've outlined some scenes already, but with an estimated 80+ pages of writing between now and Dec 3rd, I'm going to be pressed for time.
Anywho, thank you everyone who's been reading my stories! Last chapter, I reached something absolutely insane, like 500+ views that day or something, which is unreal. Huge difference from the 20 I'd get when I started all of this back in May(which is still more than I could have hoped for, honestly). Your support just blows me away, and I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who's been reading. Everyone who favourited my stories, everyone who alerted them, everyone who's reviewed or sent PMs about my stories…you're awesome. FACT.
So yeah, see you next time…whenever that is. Hope you enjoy the next short/long while!