Normandy-Bridge
"You sure you don't want to head back to Earth?" Ashley asked behind Abigail Shepard as she stood, in her N7 armor, behind Joker.
"Want to? Yes I want to, but we need to get to the bottom of this."
"Why? What is the rush on this?"
Abigail turned to the new Normandy CO and frowned, "I don't know. But after my life experiences, the war, all I have been through, I just have developed sensitivity…and all my instincts are screaming at me that something is wrong. And it's on that planet. The answer, I hope."
"Alright, we'll be there any minute."
"Thanks Ash."
After they had dropped the Batarian terrorist off with the Alliance Prison Ship, injuries and all, then set an immediate course towards the coordinates on his Omni-tool. Away from Earth, away from the Alliance, deep into the Terminus Systems at a recently discovered Star System off of a newly opened Mass Relay, opened just before the war. That was there destination, even though she was supposed to be at home and enjoying the comforts of hearth and office.
It had taken them nearly two full days to get here; they were truly on the rickety edge, away from any Government and any system that they knew.
"ETA about ten minutes Shepard." Joker reported.
"Good…and what do you think about this?" She asked the pilot.
He snorted, "You just seem to never catch a break do you? Of course maybe that is because you keep on throwing yourself at the big spikey monsters." Joker supplanted.
She scowled, "Yeah thanks for that." God he's right and I'm getting tired of it.
She craned her neck around watching the Bridge and watching Joker work his console. She still had a few seconds before she had to make a decision. But on the other hand I might as well get to work.
Toggling her Omni-tool she activated the link to James Vega, "James? Get your team ready. Meet me, Paul, and Cameron, at the airlock."
"Finally some more action, thanks Lola."
"You're welcome James." She smirked. "Ashley…don't break the ship while I am gone she is very expensive you know." She turned to the Commander and smiled wryly.
"Thank you, and will do Skipper, same with you, don't want to tell Admiral Jameson she has to find a new Special Operations head."
"Yeah I bet you'd hate that."
Airlock
It took James and his team six minutes to get to the airlock, just in time for Normandy to begin its run.
"Hey Lola." James greeted.
"James," She nodded.
She ran her eye over his squad, and though she had met it at various times she never really had the chance to just stand and observe it. Not on the current mission at least. Not with all the running around she was doing in the name of the Alliance. Not with the planning, the logistics, and then running her own op on the other side of the planet against the terrorists.
Following in James's wake was his second in command, a small petite blond woman who had a Valiant stapled to her back. Then a swarthy, dark skinned dark haired, with a thick beard of hair, he was carrying a Typhoon on his back and wore a Crescent Moon pendant. The last of the group was a small pale looking man, with a shotgun, who had the constancy of a Volus's environmental suit, small yet tough looking.
"Well Lola, you ready to begin?" James asked.
"Yeah, lead on." She nodded and so James did.
Planet Surface-Main Building
As soon as they arrived in orbit the Normandy's sensors detected a building in the middle of the sprawling planes of which the vast majority of the planet consisted. They were now in the middle of the mega structure, carefully making their way through the ramp to the other side.
It was dark; the only light was coming from the end of the path, a dull pulsating blue. Abigail led the squad over the ramp, carefully picking their way through the uneven surface, roots and barbs growing over the side. Her squad followed her, and then James and his group brought up the rear.
Her Valkyrie was out, to the side, as she kept her eyes narrowed searching for any threats, the blue light was growing steadily brighter as they approached, almost the direct center of the structure.
"Whoa, Lola, you feel that?" James asked from behind.
He's right, "Yeah my arms do feel kinda funny….tingly."
"Whatever the energy is must be causing this." Paul grunted.
"Yes…thanks for the technical description." Abby snapped back, and then toggled her Omni-tool. "EDI, can you analyze what we are facing down here?"
She waited for a response…longer than usual… "EDI?"
Nothing.
"Our Omni-tools are jammed?" Cameron asked incredously.
"Looks that way." Abby concurred grunting bring her Valkyrie to hand and aiming down it.
"What can block Omni-tool communication?" Cameron murmured.
"Well there is jamming…"
"Yeah, I know, but the link to EDI is pretty special, if someone can block that…" Cameron countered.
Abigail grunted, "Well only one way to find out, come on."
She picked up her pace slightly, her team followed her, she was more confident, more emboldened now that she hadn't fallen yet, haste was driving her, and the want to restore communication with the Normandy. But if I do misjudge my footing it's not like I'm going to suffer very long.
The squad got to the end in two groups, fanning out and securing the area. The place was a small misshapen…hut…looking thing with a door attached. The door was open…constantly. She entered, hugging the wall and the Valkyrie close, as they both jutted off at a sharp left, and then took another sharp turn to the right.
She entered, looked up, shocked, her Valkyrie pointing downwards.
"Hey Lola, why'd you…whoa." James said looking up.
"That's new." Cameron agreed.
The center of the room, the center of the structure, was long gout of white-blue energy arching ever skyward. The rest of the room was made of a transparent structure, the floor, the walls, and on the walls looked like displays and status reports, a standard GUI display…
"The whole room is a computer screen." Paul remarked, awe dripping from his voice.
"This is one giant command center for something." The Valkyrie agreed, whistling. "But come on we need to find this satchel he was talking about, spread out."
The squad did so.
It didn't take Abby long to find the Satchel, it was leaning against one of the communication panels, and she picked it up.
"Found it." She remarked leaning down to open it up, she ran her fingers on it and tried to slowly open it, she rummaged around for a few minutes and the screen popped open.
And in it was a single palm print type device.
Rats, Abigail thought…but tentively stuck her palm on the surface, face down.
The thing whirred beneath her, then glowed, her hand felt warm, quickly increasing to almost blazing hot, she felt the instinct to recoil rise in her, but fought it down. Then as fast as it happened, it stopped.
Abby thought she had done wrong, the board was still silent, nothing else happened, she stroked it slightly, and it looked sun burnt. She sighed, was about to get up…
And it chirped at her.
She hesitated for a second, but nothing else…then quickly the screen came to life, it showed a rapid fire scroll of text racing down the screen, a GUI keyboard resolved over the hand print.
Tentively she pressed down on some of the buttons, trying to slow the pace of the data racing down the screen. Finally, after hitting the back space and down arrow, she managed it. The screen paused, highlighted certain pieces of information, and brought them to the forefront.
Her eyes widened as she pressed down on another button. The name that popped up…my name? She highlighted more file folders, attempting to learn more, racing, hoping the information she was reading was not true.
"Oh my God…James!"
"Abby? I think you might want to see this!"
She glanced up towards James's voice, noticing where he was in relation to her. Should I go to him… She had something to tell him, something to tell them all, if the information in this satchel was legitimate then they were all in danger. But something in his voice…got to her…He called me Abby…he never does that… with that tone.
She got and went over to him.
"What?" She asked approaching him from behind.
"Take a look…" He said, gesturing and moving out of the way.
And she felt her stomach fall out from under her, felt her mouth join it, and felt her hairs rise up on her arm as if the object before her was really admitting some form of energy.
Below her feet was a sphere, a Leviathan sphere, glowing with its malicious and mysterious purpose. She hadn't seen one since she discovered the Leviathans…but there it was…sitting there, menacing, yet feeling oddly attractive…as if it were drawing her in.
Why am I so afraid of this? She wondered, because I know what it represents…along with the Satchel.
She was violently drawn out of her musings.
"Welcome." She heard a voice say.
She spun around ripping the Eagle from its holster and aiming down the sights, she heard the clicks and the buzzing of similar weapons being activated.
Before her was a pale looking man, peering back at her with narrow white eyes. His smile that was on his face mere seconds before turned into a puzzled frown.
"You aren't apart of the circle." He said confused.
"The circle?" Abigail asked.
"The Circle, the Darkness, the death of flesh." The man replied in a murmur.
"OK…"
The squad and the man stayed together, staring at each other, looking at one another, waiting for the other one to flinch. Both of the groups blinked.
"Uh…James…could you please take this…human…into custody…"
"Argh!" The man yelled diving for the console.
James's Harrier came up into his shoulder and he fired, hitting the man in the back and slamming him into the wall, but his hand fell, right, on the console.
"Oh crap."
A screeching noise rang through the facility; Abigail winced, and then yelled over the noise. "Come on, let's move, James grab the Satchel and let's get out of here, double time it people!"
Abigail grabbed up the Satchel and placed it on James's back port, he made sure it was stable before heading for the door, jogging there, Abigail and her squad held the back for a second, making sure they weren't ambushed immediately, before she too followed the Lieutenant out the door.
And the ramp was just as small as it was before, impeding their march to escape the facility, and Abby could just begin to make out more screeching and crawling. She paused, it was coming from all around them, from the ceiling, and from down the pit just over the side.
"Now what?" She wondered aloud starting to move again.
Abigail heard a scream, a female sounding scream, and ripped her eyes up just in time to see the female soldier of James's group be ripped into the sky by something, by two powerful arms and a black looking figure.
James stopped, firing up into the air after the thing with his Harrier.
"Abigail we need to keep moving." Cameron said behind her.
"James! Keep moving! Team fire on the run!"
Paul ripped his Eagle out just in front of her and began to fire it into the air, and then he began to move, swapping out Thermal Clips.
The Special Forces Captain felt something go around her ankle, and yank. She spilled forward face first into the ground hitting the damp, mossy, path. Her wind was knocked out from her and she grunted in response. The thing behind her screeches and sounded as though it was going to jump on her and rip her apart.
That is until Cameron's Revenant went to work behind her.
She scrambled to her feet ripping the Valkyrie from its weapons port and deploying it in her hand. The weapon came up as she pivoted on her knees swinging around, checking the area. The creatures which were attacking them seemed to be multiplying and gathering to eat them.
Cameron unleashed a shockwave in midair, picking off two of the creatures out of thin air. Paul fired off a Thermal Clip from his Valiant.
She began to move again heading for the entrance, she could just see it, James and his team was almost out.
A screech in her face drew her attention, a claw ripped at her face nearly knocking her down; she kept her Valkyrie out in front of her.
One of the Creatures came over the top of the ramp at her; she launched a Concussive Shot in its face, and then spun around, using pure adrenaline and instinct to direct her actions, bringing her Valkyrie almost into the face of a creature. She pressed the trigger, double tapping it, the four rounds exploded out of the barrel, the first burst caught it square in the chest and the second burst ripped through its head. The thing's lifeless body toppled over the side.
Cameron's Revenant was working behind her as he was firing down over the side.
She heard another scream and spun around the other way, and another one of James's squad, the Arab, was whacked over the head and slashed across the neck, killing him instantly.
"Come on!" James yelled.
Shepard broke out into a borderline jog run making her way down the path; James's final squad member was laying down fire with his shot gun, skeet shooting them out of the air.
But the cover didn't last long, one of the creatures climbed up his back, and ran a shard talon across his neck. The oddly collapsed dragging the thing with it. James drew a bead on it and fired with the Harrier, it was too late though.
He yelled frustrated as Abby shot past him out into the bright sun.
James followed her, backing out with his weapon covering the door, then Cameron came bringing up the rear, at a full run, Paul was already standing there.
The Valkyrie came up and fired into the room, as did James's Harrier. The two of them emptied into the path they just exited, but they were still coming, spilling over, threatening to rush their position.
"James!" She yelled. "Grenades!"
Husband and Wife tossed one set of grenades, then got another pair out and rolled it. The four ordinances exploded among the tightly packed assemblage.
But still they came.
"Cameron!" She yelled.
The Biotic leapt forward and launched his hand out, a blue burst exploded from it, and hit the forward facing creature lurking him back in Dark Channel. A shockwave burst from his hand, hitting the creature square in its chest, and the mingling of energies exploded dramatically. The Building lurched painfully, groaned, and then began a dramatic collapse.
The squad backed up but otherwise watched it go, collapsing and tearing in on itself.
"What the hell…was on this Satchel…that could justify that?"
Abigail shook him down and activated her com, "Steve, get down here, we are ready for evac, and double time it."
"Lola?" James demanded angrily stepping in front of her.
She sighed, "It's an assassination list, and my name is on it."
"What do you mean?" James blurted.
"The Leviathans, it all makes sense, they must be hiring out to private contractors and terrorist groups. They are launching a coup against the Council Governments and they need to assassinate anyone they can't control."
James whistled, "Whoa."
She nodded, "Yeah…Daniel's name is on the list…and so is…Garrus."
"Garrus?" James shouted as the Kodiak began to roar down.
"Yeah, let's go get him."
Normandy-CIC
Abigail Shepard and squad gathered around the Galaxy Map as she filled them in on her plan, and the details of the Satchel.
"We need to go get Hudson first." Ashley objected first.
"We may not have time to get either," Abigail pointed out, "this thing only goes down in 50 hours."
"Even more reason to go after the former Prime Minister, we have an obligation here." Ashley pointed out.
Abby sighed.
"He has his own security detail." James pointed out.
"Yeah…but if this information is right then anyone could be behind this, anyone can be a part of the assassination." Abigail countered shaking her head.
"Look Shepard…I know how much Garrus means to you…but we are Alliance officers…if we go after him and Daniel dies…"
"I know Ash, I know…"
"And I'm in command here…I'm taking us to save-"
"Cynthia," Paul exclaimed suddenly.
"What?" Shepard and the Commander asked together.
"She's on Earth, going to the academy. She could provide us with cover and go and make sure he is safe."
Abigail nodded, "If you think we can risk it Ashley, if you can't…I will back up your decision."
Ashley bit her lip, "Let's go get Garrus…Joker set a course."
"Aye aye."
"Traynor, get Cynthia's Omni-tool on the line," Abigail ordered.
"Yes ma'am."
It took nearly ten minutes but finally Cynthia's bright and distorted face finally appeared in the Galaxy Map hole.
"Shepard," She exclaimed, "is that you?"
"Yeah, no time for pleasantries, we are burning a lot of power reaching you…someone is going to try and assassinate the Former Prime Minister Hudson."
"OK…"
"Trust no one Cynthia," Abigail admonished, "but get there as fast as you can."
"Well if I am supposed to trust no one," Cynthia smirked, "Besides you do know I have class right?"
"This is top priority; we'll be there to evacuate him as soon as possible."
"Right on." She nodded, "Cynthia out."
"Joker, how long till we get to Palaven?"
"Fifty hours Shepard," Joker replied over the coms.
"Damn," Abigail grunted, "Just do your best."
"I usually do." Joker assured.
As the Normandy raced off into battle once again.