Mass Effect: Going Dark

by TheSev

(1/4/15 UPDATE: SEE PROFILE) An original Mass Effect story with original characters. See my profile for a full 'back of the book' synopsis. Kevin Folner, human, heads into deep space to investigate a long thought 'dead' mass relay apparently reactivated by the geth.

37. Chapter 36

Chapter 36

By the time the Skimmer had been parked just outside the loading ramp, a furious storm started to roll across the region, approaching fast. Kevin had a hunch that they had that giant ship – that 'reaper' – to thank for that. Tosh and Ralik ran up the ramp in front of him to go prep the med bay, and he could see Riik and Tyr making sure the tent was secure enough to withstand the increasing winds from the incoming storm. He had Arla in his arms just as before, and he was tasked with bringing her to the med bay to be checked for injuries. Once there, he laid her on one of the beds and stepped back to let Tosh begin his diagnosis. He was no medically trained professional, but it was clear he had enough understanding of quarian physiology to accurately detect anomalies. Soon Tyr showed up and joined Tosh, kicking Kevin out for the simple sake of not having any distractions. Outside the med bay, everyone else gathered. Even Kar.

"What happened?" Ralik fervently asked.

"We connected a terminal to some ancient conduit to see if there was any information. It still seemed to be powered, so we plugged in and started an inquiry for any recognizable data structure. It was hardly going for a minute or two before the terminal freaked out, and the quaking mountain followed shortly after that. The cave we used to get out was collapsing on us and we got separated. When I found her, she was out cold."

"All of this because you tapped into an ancient network?" Kar asked, surprised. "Either that's one overkill countermeasure, or something else is going on."

Tosh and Tyr walked out to join the rest of the group at this point. Tyr took the liberty of informing everyone of Arla's status. "She looks like she's going to be okay. No serious damage, but she took a hit to the helmet. The jarring impact knocked her out, but she'll recover."

"Thank God," Kevin said, interrupting Tyr.

Tosh continued with the rest. "There's one fairly significant anomaly, though." Kevin tensed. He knew what Tosh was about to say. "Arla is running a high fever due to an infection."

"How did that happen?" Riik asked, concerned. "I'm fairly certain she didn't have to perform any modular suit maintenance, and I know she hasn't taken any hits in any of our recent battles."

Kevin remained silent, hoping that the matter would pass. To his chagrin, it did not. He had forgotten how seriously quarians treated infections.

"I don't know," Tosh said, bring a hand to his chin.

"I think Kevin might know something about that," Bela said, flicking her head in his direction, her arms crossed.

"What? Why would I know why she has an infection?" He played it off pretty well. He thought his feigned ignorance would absolve him. Again, it did not.

Riik, all too eager to roll with this accusation, pressed the issue. "Kevin, if you have something to tell us, now's a good time to do it. We're all here." The last statement had emphasis, as if trying to box Kevin into a corner.

All eyes were on him now, and he knew he wasn't going to be walking away from this. Cursing the circumstances, he decided it was important to tell his squadmates some of what happened. He sighed heavily in preparation. "Alright, I'll tell you, since we're all in this together. Arla and I. . . Might have gotten a little. . . Intimate."

Riik stepped violently towards Kevin. "What? How intimate?" he growled.

"None of your freaking business, Votis," Kevin said defensively with a poke to his adversary's chest.

Tyr placed a hand on Kevin's shoulder, doing his best to keep his posture in check. "Kevin, please. It's important. For Arla's sake."

Kevin looked back and forth between Tyr and Riik, torn between whether or not to say. This was the very thing he and Arla were hoping to avoid altogether. The brief moment of silence allowed the sound torrential rains pounding against the hull and frequent thunder to reign. Riik aside, he did have a responsibility to keep secrets to a minimum amongst squadmembers. "Very," Kevin finally said amongst a long held breath. "Intercourse."

Ralik's response was the first to be heard. "Ho-ho! Kevin, I didn't think you had the stones!"

"You tepka bosh'tet!" Riik shouted as he lunged at Kevin and threw him against the wall. Kevin, surprisingly, did not fight back. Tyr, Bela, and Ralik pulled Riik back by his arms. "Are you trying to kill our commanding officer, human? Don't you have any respect for any of us? I should shoot you down you where you stand!"

"Votis!" Tyr called out. "Stand down!"

"Why? This bosh'tet. . . He. . . He. . ." Riik's fists were trembling with rage.

"Kevin, explain yourself," was Tyr's calm, yet dire demand.

"How exactly am I supposed to 'explain' this? It's not like I took her aside and ripped her suit off!"

"We have no way of knowing that right now, do we?" Riik said, seething.

"Keep up the accusations, Riik. I may lose my patience," Kevin warned.

"I bet you'd just love to rip my suit off and toss me out the airlock, huh?"

"I'm starting to consider it!" Kevin yelled, clenching a fist. He had to actively resist the temptation to plaster the angry quarian against a nearby wall with biotics.

"Enough!" Arla yelled from the med bay doorway. "Don't I get a say in this?" Bela went to Arla's side to support her in her weakened state.

"Arla, tell us the truth about what happened," Riik demanded, expecting accusation against Kevin.

She coughed and leaned against the support Bela provided. "It was a mutual decision. It was my idea, but we both wanted to do it."

Riik took a step back, seemingly disarmed through shock. "What? You. . . You wanted this?"

Arla nodded. "It was a personal decision for both of us, and I'd like you to respect that."

Kevin continued to keep his distance, but he nodded. The situation was still a bit volatile, and he wasn't in the mood for dealing with uncontrollably irate squadmates. One thing was bothering him, though; how did Bela so confidently guess what had happened? "Sorry, Arla. I had no intention of bringing it up, but it couldn't be avoided."

"I understand, Kevin. How did this conversation come about?" Arla wondered, looking to Kevin for his side of the story.

Kevin's gaze slowly, but heavily fell upon Bela."Bela, that was an awfully confident inference you made just now. Do you have something to say? How did you know?"

Bela suddenly resorted to nervously twiddling with her fingers. "Err. Lucky guess? You two were getting kind of close. . ." A nervous half-laugh more than sealed the assumption of lies.

"Bela." Tyr said in tone that demanded truth.

She placed a hand on the forehead of her visor. "Argh, okay, okay. I had to grab some medi-gel from the med bay because Ralik's lab blew up in his face again, and when I went in-"

"Oh God." Kevin knew what was coming.

"Well, there you two were, fogged out in the decon chamber, making all that. . . Hermh. . . Noise."

"Bela!" Arla shouted, staring at her. "You. . . You were in the room?"

". . . Maybe?"

Kevin threw his hands up in the air, utterly embarrassed. "I can't believe. . . Oh man, I feel sick." He felt like he had just been punched in the gut. He almost threw up.

Arla's reaction was similar. "Keelah, Bela! I— I can't believe you!" She had to hide her face, nearly walking away into the med bay, suffering from a mild stress-driven coughing fit after she turned.

Bela, on the other side of the fence now, tried to defend herself. "Just so you know, I had gone almost two months without activating my neural stimulator! Two whole months, until you two ruined my efforts.!"

That only made Kevin and Arla reel even more.

"Bela!" Ralik called out, swiping a flattened hand back and forth in front of his neck while shaking his head.

Bela shut up right quick, fists on the sides of her helmet, growling at herself for her own hasty stupidity. Riik, between Arla and Kevin's admission and Bela's subsequent action, was too stunned to say anything.

Kar was getting a little uncomfortable with where the conversation had already gone, so he made a direct attempt to switch gears. "Okay! Um, so what's up with that thing in the sky over there?" he asked as he flicked a thumb in the direction of the mountain range.

Those involved in the mortifying conversation more or less ignored him, still trying to deal with what had just gone on. He looked at Tyr and put hands up in front of him at a loss. Tyr had his visor buried in one hand, head shaking. It looked as if the squad had devolved into elder teenage nonsense. How awkward.

Kevin took in a deep breath, letting his thoughts be distracted by the thunder roaring outside. "Okay. Okay, this whole debacle is a little messed up, but we kind of have bigger problems right now." The team quieted down, and the seriousness of the situation came up a couple notches. "Anyone know what a reaper is?"

Most of the squad looked at each other for answers. Tosh fell still, a pale color washing over him that could practically be seen through the suit. "Oh no. That's what that is out there?"

"What do you know?" Kevin asked, looking for information he didn't already have.

"Only what Tali'Zorah vas Neema told me once she returned to the Migrant Fleet after her pilgrimage, but even that is scary enough."

"Let's take this to the briefing room and out of the hall," Tyr said, seeing Kar get weary from standing for so long. The others agreed and they all filed through around the table. For now, the messy situation was put on the back burner, though Riik gave Kevin quite the shove as he walked by.

"They're a race of sentient synthetics, impossibly advanced compared to the geth," Tosh ominously started. "She spoke of a conversation her party on the Normandy had with that giant ship that attacked the citadel, called Sovereign."

"They have names?" Kevin asked, most curious.

"Apparently so, or at least that's what it called itself. You all saw the vids of the citadel attack – that thing ripped clean though multiple cruisers in seconds. That looks to be what's up in the sky over the mountains now."

"So a couple hyperadvanced synthetic beings are bent on wrecking the citadel?" Arla asked. "Why?"

"From what Tali'Zorah told me, there's millions upon millions of them waiting in dark space, trying to get to the galaxy to wipe everything out. Sovereign's mission, apparently, was to use the citadel as an enormous mass relay to let the reapers in from there."

"Good God," Kevin said aloud. "Dark space? You mean. . ."

Everyone slowly looked to the ceiling, knowing that dark space was just beyond their atmosphere. A deafening chill swept the entire room. The silence was only broken by thunder and coughs.

"But what is one doing buried under a mountain?" Tyr wondered. "What good does sitting there do for their objective?"

"I'm not sure," Tosh replied, his voice calm, "but whatever it's doing here, it's not good for us or the galaxy at large. In fact. . ." Tosh looked down in concentration. "Keelah. I think I know why the geth in this system are so. . . different."

"The reaper?" Kevin asked, beginning to make the connection.

Tosh slowly looked to Kevin. ". . . Yes. It makes sense. The network of geth consciousness could easily be heavily influenced by something supposedly as advanced as a reaper."

"But the geth only found this place recently," Arla pointed out. "Our scans of it pointed the materials to be millions of years old. It couldn't have planned for the geth to arrive."

"Right," Tyr agreed. "There has to be some other purpose for it to be here."

Just as Tyr finished his statement, a loud, deep, mechanical 'roar' of sorts reverberated over the entire field the Kellius sat on. Broken from their conversation, everyone made their way to the bridge to look at the machine through the viewports. It was upright now, with its metal, jointed tendrils held tightly below and its long, double pointed top high in the sky. The thing had to be two kilometers, easy.

"Something tells me we're just about to find out," Kevin ominously stated.

As if on spoken cue, a massive arc of red-hued lightning coursed all around the hull of the mechanized beast before making its way down the many tendrils. The blast of strange electricity shot downward into the center of the void in the mountain it rose up from, illuminating the crater from the inside. Each body in the Kellius tensed uncomfortably – something was clearly being put into motion.

The ground beneath the Kellius began to shake again, but this time, it wasn't the violent shaking the reaper caused when freeing itself from rock and ground. It was higher in frequency and more mechanical in nature – almost like a hum too deep to be heard that originated from the very heart of the planet. That was when the most awe-inspiring and fear-inducing event began to take place.

Out of the side viewports, Kevin and the others could see pieces of the mountain ranges – no, the entire mountain range shifting. It seemed to be sliding on rails, moving parallel to the ground, away from the central mountain the reaper came from. Extremely loud and deep mechanical clanks filled the air around them, and other parts of the surface of the planet in the deep distance were doing similar things. Pieces of the planet's crust rose straight up out of the ground with confounding speed, twisting at mechanical joints with purpose. The squad, each one with mouths agape, watched in horror as the planet itself was changing shape before their very eyes.

Kevin left the bridge to head to the cargo bay – most of what was happening to the mountain range beside them was behind the Kellius now, out of sight. He had to get out of the ship to get a full view of what was happening. Anyone who was able followed him with utmost haste. Once outside, while being battered by wind and rain, Kevin was able to take in what the transformation was building towards. Over the horizon to the west, the moving pieces had shed their mountainous facade just as the reaper had, and now shot out perpendicular to the surface. It punched a sizable hole in the storm clouds to the point where it seemed the clouds just couldn't exist near the protrusion. Strange as that was, it did open the sky enough to see out to the dark of space. Though the base was still connected to the planet, it was long enough so that the tip was well outside the atmosphere. Kevin twitched as he watched a second tip that mirrored the first come to rest parallel to it originating from the other side of the planet. When both pieces settled, they looked frighteningly similar to the long fins of a well-used piece of technology. . .

A mass relay.

Kevin felt his innards sink. He remembered the unbelievably absurd amount of pure eezo sitting at the core of the planet. That was why they couldn't scan the planet – it wasn't even a planet. It was a mass relay in disguise. The next thing Kevin noticed was the direction the fins were pointed in. They were pointed directly at the heart of the galaxy, which was now visible due the dark nebula having faded away at some point. That deafening chill Kevin felt in the briefing room not too long ago returned, shooting up his spine. There was a red flag shooting through his mind that dwarfed all the others he had felt throughout his entire life. With all of these extreme cosmological and geological changes, he figured that there was direct intention behind this. The reaper was setting things into motion.

"Keelah," Kar said, hobbling towards the group of onlookers. "That reaper just opened up a way into the galaxy from dark space. . ."

Tyr could hardly contain his alarm. "It's going to try to get there and do what Sovereign failed to accomplish – only this time there's no big geth army to alert the citadel's fleets first. Even if it doesn't make it, this backdoor will still be open for all its buddies to use."

"Not to mention that now the geth have a way of getting to the Migrant Fleet," Arla pointed out, hand up to block some of the wind-swept rain from coating her visor. That statement got everyone's attention just as much as the doomsday machine.

"I wonder where it drops you off," Kevin said through his state of awe.

"Everyone back into the Kellius!" Tyr shouted as a bolt of lightning struck one of the lightning rods set up on the top of the tent only meters away. Everyone's compliance was swift.

In the cargo bay, the team gathered in a circle. Arla slowly trudged in behind everyone else, unable to keep up in her condition. A slight thunk was heard as she fell sideways against a half-empty crate, using it to stay upright. Kevin broke formation to help her, as did Riik. The quarian soldier violently grabbed Kevin's arm with intent to twist it backwards and prevent Kevin from going to her. Kevin's response was quick and direct – he spun to loosen Riik's grip on his arm and grabbed Riik's grasping wrist with his opposite hand. He slammed the attached arm back into Riik's chest, thrusting him flat against a solid crate opposite the one Arla rested on. He clenched his fist, but simply shook his head at Riik instead. "Riik, now's not the time, and I'm not in the mood!" Kevin saw some of the others take a step towards the two in case there needed to be intervention, but they stopped their approach when Kevin left Riik standing against the crate to see to Arla.

Kevin steadied her and wrapped one of her arms around his neck for support. He looked back to Riik who was angrily making his way back to the group. "This is my fault. My responsibility." Riik didn't respond.

Kevin looked to his omni-tool for Arla's vitals, worried due to her heavy breathing. Her fever had hit one hundred and four point five. "Good God, you're burning up. Bela, can you please see if there are any collapsible beds in these crates?"

Bela nodded and went to search. Tyr, knowing what was where in the inventory, called after her to make her search much easier. "Bela! Crate C-12."

Within moments, Bela popped out from behind a cluster of crates wheeling an unfolded cot-like bed towards them. She stopped just shy of Kevin and Arla's current path and turned it sideways to make it easier for Arla to get on. Kevin could tell that Arla was hardly aware of her surroundings at this point, so he hoisted her up and gently laid her down on the bed. Bela turned the bed and wheeled it to the group. Tosh took a couple steps toward Arla with omni-tool at the ready, but stopped himself and looked to Kevin.

"Kevin. A small dose of medi-gel won't stop the infection, but it should help with the fever."

Kevin nodded and used his omni-tool to activate a mild dose of the stuff in Arla's suit. After the medicine coursed through her body enough, her heavy breathing subsided a bit. She seemed to fall asleep.

Kevin remained there, hovering over her, for a while after he had administered the dose. She nearly died in the cave because the infection kept her from keeping up. The infection that he directly caused. Blaming himself wasn't normally his cup of tea, but he couldn't help but feel wholly responsible for her current, miserable state.

"Kevin!" Ralik called, tugging at his arm.

Surprised, Kevin snapped his vision to the salarian.

"Look, I know you're concerned for her well being, but at this current moment we have a much more significant threat to be focusing on."

Kevin stared at Ralik for a moment, coming to grips with this unfortunate truth. He looked back to Arla and nodded. "Okay." He sighed. "Alright." He knew, just by proxy, that the reaper situation needed a quick response. Something had to be done right now.

"You got your head right? Both of you?" Tyr asked to Kevin and Riik. Both looked at each other and nodded. "Right. We all know that the reaper needs to be stopped. The major problem is figuring out how to do it."

"Yeah," Bela said, perplexed, "how do we disable a massive sentient dreadnought bent on enabling galactic extinction?"

"Well, let's run through what we know," Tosh suggested, fishing for ideas.

"It can be boarded," Kevin said, eager to put that monstrous thing down. "Arla and I were able to navigate inside it, even to the eezo drive core. There's no pathing, though. We'd have to blaze our own trail."

Tosh mentally noted the details. "So we know that it has an eezo core. We know it has space enough to move around inside it. Don't we also know it has exposed data conduits?"

"Yeah, but I wouldn't bother trying to hack it, though," Kevin mentioned through a long exhale. "When Arla and I plugged into it, it just screwed our terminal up and woke the freakin' thing."

"What about a bomb?" Tyr asked.

"No can do, chief," Bela said with a shake of her head. "All of our heavy ordinance is exhausted. I'm already tapping into makeshift explosives just to keep my launcher useful."

"There's got to be some way we can disable that thing," Tosh said, knocking knuckles against the top of his visor.

"Is there some way we can sabotage it?" Kevin wondered, thinking back to some old alliance operations. "Rig the eezo core or something?"

"Aha! Perhaps!" Ralik shouted in excitement. "It's an STG elimination and coverup tactic. We'd rig an eezo core to destabilize catastrophically the very moment it's fed the monumental amounts of energy from the mass relay. The result is a devastating explosion that looks an awful lot like an accident."

"And since this beastie needs to use an unthinkably large mass relay to do what it needs to do. . ." Bela thought aloud.

". . . Then we can count on it using the relay to charge its core. Sounds like we have our attack vector," Kevin noted.

Ralik nodded. "I still have the material manifest on my omni-tool. Hopefully we have all of the necessary components somewhere."

"So it looks like we're using the "Infiltration and Package Delivery" strategy once again," Tyr mused. "How do we get aboard? It's already airborne, and I doubt it it'll simply let us dock the Kellius to it."

"That's a tough one," Tosh admitted. "It'll probably have solid kinetic barriers as well."

"There has to be a way," Kevin said as he racked his brain for ideas. There were a few minutes lacking in conversation as everyone tried to come up with a viable solution. "It's bigger than a dreadnought, right?" Everyone nodded, and Kevin continued. "I'm no expert on ship propulsion and design theory, but something tells me it can't just hang around in this gravitational field without putting a crapload of power towards lowering its mass enough to hover like that. That's why our dreadnoughts can't enter planetary atmospheres, because the gravitational pulls are too strong and they can't put out enough power to keep the ship from crashing."

"I think I see where you're heading," Tosh said, hand on his chin. "Clearly the reaper can put out power enough to do so, but it's more than possible it's diverting power from kinetic barriers to avoid an overwhelming electrical draw. Let me check the bridge terminals to see if such is the case."

"I'll come with you," Kar said, raising an arm for Tosh to duck under to support him. They left for the upper decks immediately.

"Where is this train of thought going, Folner?" Tyr wondered.

"We may have to pull off an old human military insertion tactic. A strategic air drop."

This got Ralik's attention. "Interesting option, Folner. How are we going to account for the lack of air resistance-based descent control?"

"You mean parachutes? I can create a mass effect field big enough to encase a number of people as long as they're all grouped tightly together. I'll lower our mass enough so that I can use a secondary field to manipulate our flight speed. It'll be. . . challenging, but I think I can do it."

"Ah, the benefits of having a talented biotic on our squad," Ralik said, impressed with the idea. "And when we approach the kinetic barriers, the rest of us use our omni-tools to create a phasic distortion field around us to destabilize the barriers as we hit them. If Kevin's theory about diverting power to the mass effect core proves true, we should be able to punch a hole in the barriers."

"Like a disruptor torpedo!" Bela shouted, finally grasping the plan. "Instead of using mass effect fields to increase our mass, we'll just destabilize a small area of the field enough to get through!"

"Tosh here, I heard the disruptor torpedo idea. Impressive. The scans of the reaper are sketchy at best, so I can only get limited data. Fortunately, kinetic barriers are external to the thing, so I can see enough to verify feasibility. While I can't tell if it has indeed diverted power away from kinetic barriers, I can definitely gather that we should be able to penetrate them with the combined power of several linked omni-tools. At least three."

"Well done, team!" Tyr said, genuinely proud of the plan they just hatched. "Our next step is to verify if we have the materials to build that payload Dolannus suggested."

"I'll get right on it," Ralik said, punching some buttons on his omni-tool. "I've uploaded the manifest to your omni-tools as well. I'll need some help finding the materials."

Riik, Bela, and Ralik all split in various directions to find the components to Ralik's device. Tyr and Kevin remained to keep an eye on Arla, who was stirring. "Urgh, count me in, guys. I want at this synthetic bosh'tet."

"Out of the question," Tyr and Kevin said simultaneously. They turned to look at each other in pause before Tyr continued. "You're combat ineffective, Tavval. You're staying here on the surface."

"What?" she said, irritated and trying to sit up. "Why can't I at least stay on the Kellius?"

"Because anyone on the ship will be attacking the reaper, and Kar can't afford the distraction of making sure you're stabilized. If something goes sideways, he needs his head in it completely."

"If someone's staying behind to keep an eye on her, I'll do it," Kevin volunteered.

"Also out of the question," Tyr said immediately. "You are the only biotic in the squad Kevin, they need you to control the approach."

Kevin grit his teeth, but didn't argue. He knew full well that Tyr was right. "Who will then? Riik?"

"No. Riik's combat expertise will be needed once you board the reaper. I'm counting on more of those husk things you described getting in your way. I'll be staying behind, dedicating my time to helping her get over this infection."

"There's something else to consider," Ralik mentioned as he stepped up to the trio. "Those geth in the valley next door. If the reaper is controlling them, I highly doubt they're going to sit still while we make our move on their marionette. It'll make staying on the surface potentially just as dangerous."

"Then I'll bring a gun," Tyr said, shrugging it off.

"I have a better idea: how about I stay to cover you guys? The team making the drop can't afford to be worried about those that stayed behind."

"That effectively cuts the commando team in half," Tyr warned, shaking his head. "That's pushing it."

"A necessary evil. I'm sure Kevin here would agree." Ralik looked to Kevin for a response.

Kevin was a bit torn. Having two men down would definitely make the assault more risky, especially if there were going to be lots more keeper husks. That wasn't including anything else the reaper might have up its sleeve as a countermeasure. But if it meant safety for Arla, he went against his better judgment to agree. He gave Ralik a nod.

Tyr grunted and shook his head. This was not the best strategic solution in his mind, but he had to have confidence that the team of four could get the job done. Frustrated with this change in plan but aware he was unable to change their minds, Tyr decided to drop the subject in favor of something more important. "How goes the search?"

"We're missing a few materials, but Bela, Tosh, and I are looking into sacrificing some of the Kellius's components to serve as adequate replacements. Bela will also be using the shell of the bomb she rigged for the last package drop mission to serve as the housing. Compact and accessible."

"Good work," Tyr congratulated. After Ralik ran off to finish his work, Tyr turned to Kevin, dire seriousness in his body language. "Kevin, I have no reason to believe things up there will go as smoothly as they have in past operations, and they haven't gone very smooth to begin with."

"I know," Kevin said, acknowledging his deepest concerns. "Everyone's excited about this plan, but the truth is, we have even less an idea of what we're up against than when we hit the geth sphere."

"Indeed. That said, I need you to do something for me."

"What's that?"

Tyr placed a firm hand on Kevin's left pauldron. "Use that impressive situational awareness of yours to its full advantage, and don't hold back with your biotics. With Ralik sacrificing his position on the commando team to ensure our safety here on the surface, you will need to ensure the safety of your team as you face against the unknowns of that reaper. If this one is anything like the one that hit the Citadel those years back. . ."

Kevin raised his left hand to grip Tyr's arm in agreement. "As long as Kar doesn't take it head on, he'll be safe. I'll make sure he knows he's only to enter the same airspace as the reaper for deployment and extraction – nothing more."

"Kevin," Arla called out.

"Yes, Arla?" he replied, turning to face her fully.

"No heroics up there. You're effectively in command of that team until you return, and I'll be expecting everyone to come back in one piece." She paused to cough a bit. "Everyone."

"Yes ma'am," Kevin said with a salute.

"Come back to me, okay?" she said in a lowered tone. A heartfelt request more than an order.

Kevin nodded slowly, then turned to Tyr. "I accept full responsibility for her current situation, and recognize that our slimmed team is a direct result. Anything that goes wrong up there as well."

"We'll worry about that when this is all over," Tyr said, waving his hand dismissively.

"Take care of her for me, chief."

"Keelah se'lai, Kevin. Get it done right like proper Xelvas'taersh do."

"Keelah se'lai," Kevin said in return to the both of them before turning to gather his gear. While working, he remembered that captain Siri'Kortel made the very same request to him before she died. He swallowed hard. As he left, Tyr alerted the rest of the crew to Kevin's position of authority over the commando team, as given by the commanding officer.

Not more than a few minutes later, Riik, Tosh, Bela, and Ralik emerged from the upper decks with a device that looked vaguely similar the bomb from the last major mission strapped to Bela's suit. Ralik joined Tyr and Arla and they wheeled her bed out of the cargo bay and into the sturdy, rain-soaked tent. Meanwhile, Riik, Bela, and Tosh all gathered their armaments and all of the remaining thermal clips. Kevin and the others then all went up to the bridge to talk to Kar and inform him of the plan and exactly what was needed of him as a pilot.

The plan was simple enough – bring the Kellius about and give enough space for the team to get a running start before jumping out of the cargo bay. Once the team was considered clear, Kar was to vacate the airspace immediately until needed. There was an understanding that communications might get cut off, or something very unexpected might happen. In such a case, Kevin gave Kar authority to do what he felt was necessary. Extraction was a trickier deal, though. The situation could change quite a bit in a number of ways. Again, Kevin deferred to Kar's situational judgment on this. With as many angles covered as they could manage, the commando team headed back down to the cargo bay. On the way, Riik called to Kevin.

"Folner!"

"Can't this wait, Riik?" Kevin responded, preempting the quarian's next move on the whole Arla issue. "We're just about to launch our mission."

"No, it can't. It's about the mission."

Kevin waved Bela and Tosh on ahead of them and he stopped in the middle of deck one's hallway to hear Riik out for a moment.

"Alright, let's hear it."

"I know we don't see eye to eye over what happened to the lieutenant," he started. Kevin rolled his eyes, having known that this was coming. Nevertheless, Riik continued. "I just want to make sure you know that my service as a soldier to the Migrant Fleet is not based on personal squabbles with squadmates. While we're up there dealing with Keelah-knows-what on that thing, I want you to know I have your back one hundred percent."

Kevin, pleasantly surprised, loosened up a bit. "I'd still feel much better if this were resolved before we left."

"That's. . . Not likely to happen. Not for a while, anyways."

"Because you have feelings for the lieutenant, don't you?"

There was no point in trying to hide it anymore, so the quarian soldier laid it out straight after a heavy sigh. "Yes. I did. I do. To think that all the time I spent silently fawning over her was swept aside for a human is. . ."

"Enraging?"

"Humbling, more the word. Anywho, the wounds are still fresh, so I can't just push it aside as far as personal matters go. Just know that it won't get in the way of our mission, alright?"

"Fair enough," Kevin said as he offered a hand. After a brief pause, Riik accepted. "That wasn't an easy thing to admit, Riik. I know. If it matters at all, I think you a better quarian for telling me this."

"Yes, well. . . Let's just catch up to the others before we miss the drop." Riik broke the handshake and quickly headed down the stairs with Kevin following closely behind.

Down in the cargo bay, the commando team gathered together in preparation. The Kellius had lifted off and was en route to make the approach for the drop. Kevin wasn't much for making speeches, since that was an attention grabber and thus counter to his norm, but he felt he needed to say something to the group he was suddenly in command of. He wanted to unify their thought processes so that he could be sure that they were all in the right frame of mind. Thank God Ralik had stayed on the planet.

"Commandos!" Kevin announced, making it known he was about to speak as their leader. "We've uncovered a galaxy-shaker, here. What we're about to go face-to-face with had the most important members of galactic society wetting their suits over two years ago. The last one decimated entire fleets by itself in a matter of seconds! We've awoken a threat not just to the Migrant Fleet, but to all of the denizens of the galaxy as we know it. We might be throwing ourselves against a wall here, fighting futilely for an outcome we simply can't achieve as a single squad of commandos." Kevin paused a moment as the loading ramp started to open and a turbulent wind rocked the entire bay.

"But we are Xelvas'taersh, and we are going to blow that tepka bosh'tet right out of the sky over what we've come to know as a home. Let's get it done right, the way proper Xelvas'taersh do! Admiral Han'Gerrel wouldn't want it any other way!"

"Indeed!" Tosh blurted enthusiastically. "For the Migrant Fleet!"

"For the Migrant Fleet!" The rest shouted.

By now, the loading ramp was fully lowered and they could see the horizon of the. . . mass relay. The enormous black synthetic continued to hover over the ruined mountain it originated from, a dark and menacing blemish on an otherwise picturesque view.

"Kar to commando team. Standby for the drop point at minus ten seconds!"

"Remember, cling as tightly to one another as possible!" Kevin shouted over the rush of the wind. "The smaller a physical footprint we have, the less I'll have to worry about making sure we're all covered!"

"Switching to secure comms channel thirteen dash four point five!" Tosh announced as he adjusted his comms signal with his omni-tool. Everyone followed suit.

"Drop point is go! Good luck, guys! I'll see you on the other side!" Kar said.

Hearts pounding, the team sprinted for the edge of the loading ramp and hurdled themselves off of it without a second thought. The Kellius immediately pulled away, quickly shrinking into the distance as Kar made himself scarce. Kevin could feel his stomach lift into his throat as the vertigo from the free-fall kicked in. The lateral momentum that the ship gave the free-falling individuals kept them heading towards the reaper rather than the ground, but they knew that gravity would soon have its way. Using their limbs to correct their trajectory, the four of them intentionally collided and held fast, forming a large bundle of bodies with Kevin at the center. So far, their momentum continued to hold the path at the reaper. So far so good.

Riik, Bela, Tosh, and Kevin all linked omni-tools for the phasic distortion that would allow them to bypass the hopefully weakened kinetic barriers they were rapidly encroaching on. Tosh was going to be the one running that show. Meanwhile, Kevin had already started gathering quite a bit of dark energy in preparation for their controlled approach. This was one of the harder parts of this phase, as he had to mentally figure out the perfect amount of energy to draw. Too much energy would decrease their mass too much, and even the smallest adjustment could stop them dead in the air. Too little would not allow him to adjust their speed or path at all, and could very well just splatter them all against the hull of the metal beast. It had to be just right. . .

With the shining metallic black surface now filling their vision, Kevin created the negative mass distortion field. Their velocity remained unaffected, but that's what the second phase of his biotic maneuver was for. With a second build of energy not unlike curving a biotic throw's direction, he created a second distortion field juxtaposed to the first one. This one was a high mass field, and Kevin planned on using it as both a deceleration tool as well as a means to shove them around and correct their trajectory. Focusing hard enough to lose some amount of awareness of his surroundings, he applied his adjustments with the extra field, making darn sure that they didn't stop moving. He spotted a series of openings under a lip in the hull that were the same shape as the ones he and Arla entered through under the mountain. He manipulated his biotic rudder and lightly shoved the team that direction, hoping to use that to get inside.

Tosh activated his omni-tool and everyone's lit up as a result. With their omni-tools linked in function, Tosh drew power and frequency modulation from each to create a phasic distortion field directly between them and the reaper, just barely outside Kevin's biotic influence. Just as the mass of flesh and suits came within around five meters of the hull, a bright white-red aura split open with the crackling sound of energy forcing other energy aside. The team had successfully passed through the kinetic barriers of the vessel. Kevin then took the final steps to slow their approach down and guide them as best as he could into the intended aperture.

They fell into the large, rounded rectangle threshold, and Kevin immediately sent them towards the closest area they could actually stand on. They hadn't quite stopped, so when everyone finally let go of each the collective crashed to metal floor in a mess of limbs. Understanding the potential danger of the situation, they spared no time in getting themselves upright and combat ready. They all breathed a long sigh of relief, glad to still be alive after such a tense and risky maneuver.

"I can't believe that worked!" Bela said to the others as she checked to make sure her launcher and many attached pieces were still intact. No one replied, but the sense of relief was present nonetheless.

With weapons drawn, the team finally stepped inward from the gateway and got their first real look at what they'd be dealing with. It was an awe-inspiring, yet frightening sight to behold. The massive room they first saw was similar to the large room Kevin and Arla had first entered into, but there were a few significant differences. The first was the orientation; Kevin and Arla had walked into the reaper while it was laying horizontally, and right now it was upright. The second major difference was ambient lighting. There seemed to be a dim, reddish-white hue over the entire inside of the reaper. Kevin found it strange that it had internal lighting at all, but there it was. The third was the activity. The place had 'come alive' compared to when he and Arla had first ventured in. Huge pieces of machinery, electrical devices, and gigantic servos made the walls fluctuate with motion. Various immense cables, full of energy, glowed a distinctly different blue-white and stood out in the distance. Here and there, familiar arcs of red-hued electricity bounced and flowed across the open space of the room. There was a constant, deep hum that permeated the entire monster, almost broadcasting the notion that it was awake, and it was ready to get to business.

"Wow. Amazing," Tosh commented.

"Let's move, team. We're not here to admire the scenery," Kevin ordered, looking for a place to jump down. From here, he could see a gap where several glowing cables fed into, similar to before. He deduced that they had entered from the opposite side that he originally explored, and while the inside was hardly symmetrical, it had enough similarities for him to be able to figure out where they needed to go. A path across several high-running cables had been carved out, using them as catwalks to get across the open room. After his encounter with the keeper husks, he figured it best to take this way, as it was much harder to get overwhelmed by numbers should something happen.

The team hopped their way to the collection point of several cables from which they would access their 'catwalk'. When they got there, they were stopped dead in their tracks by a deep and thundering noise that was so powerful, everyone nearly jumped out of their suits. Kevin could feel his visor vibrating from the sonic bombardment. It had the same mechanized features of the roar the reaper let loose just before the planet shifted into the mass relay, but something was startlingly different: it formed words.

"Vestigial beings. You tread on that which you cannot comprehend. Your very existence here is a transgression."

"Keelah! What is that?" Bela cried, recoiling from the intensity.

"Is it the. . . No way!" Tosh shouted, looking up.

"Curious. You, in your infinitesimal knowledge and absence of understanding, have dared beyond your boundaries."

"Beyond our boundaries?" Riik wondered aloud.

The reaper continued, ignoring their subtle requests for more information. "Yet, it is of no consequence. The cycle must continue."

"We know what you are!" Kevin shouted, pointing at the distant wall. "You're a reaper!"

"Reaper," the machine repeated as though to mock Kevin. "An identity constructed to give voice to an inevitable demise. Your civilizations still identify us as 'Reapers', yet they refute the coming extinction out of self-delusion. They will crumble like pillars of detritus." Though the voice was mechanical in nature, it still held a tone – a tone of absolute and everlasting superiority.

"Why are you doing this?" Tosh questioned. "Why the extinction? What do you want from us?"

"The cycle has repeated itself more times than you can fathom. This cycle is no different. Your civilizations will be extinguished, as is our will."

"Our? What are you, exactly?" Kevin asked.

"Your finite existence has no meaning before us. You cannot hope to comprehend that which we are. Our very being transcends your very concept of the word."

"Freakin' thing is good at dodging questions," Kevin said. "Well, it doesn't matter what you think you are. We're not just going to sit by and watch you try to destroy everything we know."

"An infinitely ignorant desire and perspective. You are but dust to be swept aside amidst our return."

"It sure doesn't lack for confidence," Riik said to the others.

"This is a waste of time," Tosh commented. "This god-complex isn't going to tell us anything."

"At least tell us what you are!" Bela yelled at the far wall.

"I am the Gatekeeper to your annihilation. The path to your final hours has been opened, though you will not bear witness to the inevitable destruction of your kind."

"It'll be a cold day in Hell when we agree to that!" Kevin spat angrily. His fist clenched tightly around his weapon's handle.

"This exchange is over."

"Good! We were done talking anyways!" Kevin shouted back. Just as he did, the entire vessel began to vibrate, and the feeling of motion indicated that the reaper was heading somewhere. "Crap. Looks like we're on a timer, guys. Let's move!"

Echoing roars of keeper husks reverberated fervently all around them. As they started across the two person-wide catwalk, they could notice the walls in the distance crawling and shifting. It was quickly apparent, however, that it was not the wall.

"It's about to get real crowded in here!" Bela shouted. As a result, they picked up their pace.

"These things use beam weapons as their main armament!" Kevin informed over the shrieking ambiance. "Shields will only do so much, we'll mostly be relying on our ablative armor once we come under fire!"

"That's wonderful!" Riik yelled sarcastically. "And to think, we're entirely without cover right now!"

"Then might I suggest we focus on reaching the other side rather than wasting breath on talking about our circumstances?" Tosh said, panting from the sprint.

Sure enough that shut everyone up. Unfortunately, their progress was quickly halted when some of the husks started dropping from the ceiling above into their path along the conduit. Some failed to hold a good grip when they fell too close to the edge and slid off, but more than five remained in their way.

"Firing line!" Riik ordered, his combat experience beginning to show for the first time proper. "Two down in front, two standing behind! Go!"

They immediately stopped their mad dash for the far side and took up positions. Bela and Tosh, both sporting shotguns, were the two that knelt down in front while Kevin and Riik stood right behind them and took aim with their assault rifles. Within a matter of three seconds they opened fire, nearly taking a beam shot that ended up filing down right between the shoulders of Riik and Kevin. The keepers had shielding now, though neither the shield nor its host lasted long under a concentrated volley of high end weapons. Two more beams were fired, but these were more in response to their host's legs being shot out from underneath them. The bright orange lines shot out on opposite sides as those particular husks fell down to the distant floor below from a complete loss of grip on the conduit casing.

Without waiting a single second, the commandos were moving again. Their full tilt run brought them all the way to the last few meters of the super-exposed catwalk before more husks got in the way. Again they fell into the firing line formation as more beams lit up around them. One of them actually landed a hit on Bela, but she had the sense to duck into the beam so that her left pauldron caught it before her head did. A layer of superheated ablative plating vaporized, diffusing the beam to the point of uselessness. This second group of husks could not get a second volley out before they, too, were gunned to bits.

Finally on the distant side of the large room, the team paused just long enough to find their next direction. With some hand signals from Kevin, they proceeded at a more controlled pace, fully aware that they could be flanked from nearly any direction at any time. As they trekked into an opening to a corridor of sorts, the team could feel the disorienting nausea hit them as the gravity quickly disappeared, replaced by a low gravity from the mass effect field generated by the drive core. The reaper had left the planet's atmosphere, likely in preparation for activating the huge mass relay and beginning its assault on the citadel.

Magne-boots activated, the team of commandos unflinchingly continued. They had to stop every half minute or so to fight off increasingly organized waves of keeper husks, but they never even gave themselves a moment to breathe. They had very little time to get this mission done, and their urgency could not be expressed any more than with their brutal efficiency in killing off the husks and moving on. The only major difference was that they now no longer had an atmosphere to let their heat sinks cool down in – they had to rely entirely on their thermal clips. They had to be careful to leave themselves enough to blast their way back out of the reaper.

Finally, their objective had been reached – the drive core room. Riik, Tosh, and Kevin took to securing a perimeter as best as they could while Bela set to work getting the "Drive Core Disablement Equipment" assembled and in working order. The attacks on the room were mixed up between waves of grouped enemies and the occasional one or two stragglers entering from random directions. It seemed they were trying to catch the commandos lacking in guard somewhere. Fortunately, the team had killed off enough to take note of weak points in the husks and utilizing them at every turn. It got to the point where they simply couldn't press an attack hard enough to break the stiff perimeter the team had set up.

"Alright! It's good to go!" Bela shouted, tapping the top of the device twice before brandishing her favorite shotgun once again.

Tosh stepped over to Bela. "Ralik filled me in on the delivery in detail. I'll have to take this to the drive core itself and find a way to connect it."

That sparked a quick look around from all four team members. Kevin, knowing where to look, spotted the central chamber where the core itself was resting. He pointed it out to Tosh and he approached the edge of the cable-laden trench that separated him from the core. Just then, the metal sphere that was the core opened, revealing the true blue-white eezo drive core within. A pulse of energy shot out from the core and ran through a large number of the thick cables connecting to it before the shell closed back around it again.

"Why don't we just shoot it?" Riik asked, gesturing towards Bela's launcher.

"There's very little guarantee we'll be able to even hit it with that shutter on there," Kevin pointed out.

"And I only have one decent shot left," Bela added, patting her favorite weapon as it sat collapsed on her back. "The reaper doesn't seem fully aware of our presence here, why risk making things worse by poking it in the balls?"

Tosh turned to Kevin. "This is going to. . . complicate things. It will take time for me to make the necessary countermeasures to that shell and the energy pulse. Either could destroy the disablement device."

"Make it quick, Tosh," Kevin said as he flicked his head towards the core. "But do it right. We won't get a second shot at this."

"Understood," Tosh replied as he shut off his magnetic hold and kicked away to the cold pedestal the core sat upon.

"Looks like we're pulling guard duty, you two," Kevin said to Bela and Riik.

"We'll make all the noise," Riik said, "so you won't have to worry about pulling attention from the husks, Rolush. If you get in danger let us know, but focus on your job." A nod from the busy quarian was all Riik received.

Bela cocked her shotgun to set up a fresh clip. "Bring it! My shoulder has a good six hits left in it, and I've still got another pauldron!"

As expected, the waves returned much the way they had since they started their trek. Bela and Riik released their combat drones to improve their defensive capability, and they fluttered about in search of targets. And oh, there were many targets to be had. Husks started pouring in from various crevices scattered about the room, firing their beams haphazardly towards the three defending commandos. This room had enough protrusions for all three to have decent cover, but they had to be on the move at all times. Each time one of them got all nestled and comfy behind a bulky pipe, they were fished out by a flanking husk.

The trio took up a steady rotation of providing cover fire and shifting to an area freshly cleared of hostiles. Their minds were focused and their teamwork was smooth and well integrated – a stark contrast to the ferocious chaos constantly unfolding throughout the room. The dim red hue was almost always washed out by the quick and bright illumination provided by muzzle flashes, beam weapons, and sparks from missed shots on both sides.

"Bela!" Kevin shouted over his comms. Things were getting intense, and he needed a conversation to help him keep cool.

"Yeah?"

"Why in the world would you hang around the med bay?"

"Kevin! Now? Seriously?" She paused to shift her position due to husk approaching her open side.

"You could have left," Kevin said, taking the moment after his point was made to duck under criss-crossing beams aiming for his head.

Bela fired off a few blasts at a group of husks trying to catch Riik's open flank. "I. . . Don't know!"

"I think you do know!" Kevin ejected another heat sink and ran for a more secure position.

"Don't answer him, Bela!" Riik interjected. He had to sidestep a falling, perforated husk before continuing. "He's just trying to justify himself!"

Kevin saw that Bela was momentarily pinned, and she had a pair of husks about to round an upper level corner overlooking her exposed side. He curved a concentrated biotic throw at their side, aiming to do to them what he did to the biotic-enabled geth a while back. When it connected, the initial victim was launched hard against the second one, causing them both to fall over upside-down behind Bela. "Bela, two down but not quite dead on your six!"

The short commando looked over her shoulder and popped each one straight in the head before they could get up. "It's alright, Riik, it's a legit question I guess. I'd certainly wonder the same thing."

"So what's your-" Interrupted, Kevin ducked again, barely dodging another beam. It's host was quickly taken out by Bela. "So what's your reasoning? I have to know!"

Riik had to relocate this time. "Seriously Kevin, I don't think now is the best time!"

"Now may be the only time!" Kevin took out two more husks trying to flank Bela, unphased by the shower of sparks rolling off of his suit and gun from a terribly aimed beam landing somewhere up high.

"Alright, alright!" Bela shouted as she tossed a small incendiary explosive at an incoming wave. "Maybe I was. . . Jealous. . ."

"Jealous of. . .?"

"Jealous of both of you! I've never had the chance to link with anyone, much less-" She hurdled over her cover and sprinted towards the spot she held down not more than a couple minutes ago in order to avoid getting lit up. "-Much less even consider what you two pulled!" She paused to eject a heat sink and take some more shots at some husks flanking Kevin. "And hey, it was pretty hot. There I said it, okay? Now stop grilling me on my weaknesses!"

"Fair enough!" Kevin said, this time having to relocate as well. "Tosh! What's the hold up? We're getting smothered out here!"

"Just a few more minutes, everyone! I apologize, this setup had to be modified in order to work correctly!"

"Just get it done, Rolush, or none of us are getting out of here!" Riik shouted.

Suddenly, the reaper performed its deafening roar, causing all four of them to curl down and instinctively bring their hands to their head. It coursed right through them, almost strong enough to rupture organs with its sheer magnitude. Interestingly, the husks stopped coming. More than that, any remaining in the room turned around and left in casual retreat.

"Tosh?" Kevin said, his tone rising. "Better get those finishing touches on that right quick. I think our time has just about run out."

The three defenders each switched out their thermal clips for fresh ones and stepped out into the center of the room. They were worried that the walls would come alive, or something just as seemingly implausible. Back-to-back-to-back, they aimed their sights at as many of the usual entrances as their omnidirectional formation allowed, also expecting a grouped wave to rush in. Instead, they heard a thud as a single husk jumped down from the ceiling.

Out of pure reaction, all three of them took aim and shot a full volley at the husk, expecting it to fall helplessly to the ground in a broken ball of synthetic materials. When they let up, their jaws dropped. This husk's shields were still active, having repelled all of their shots. All of them. It's innumerable cybernetics glowed red instead of blue, and it started to. . . expand. Each of its eight limbs had mechanically elongated along with its neck, as though they were just folded and scrunched together. It's wide abdomen also stretched out vertically, revealing a disgusting network of cables, servos, and metal support beams. The three useless claws on the ends of each limb seemed to grow sharpened blades over top, and had separated from the middle enough to reveal projectile-based weapons centered at the 'palm'. Though it continued to stand on four of the eight weaponized extremities, the four it didn't were a serious problem. When all was said and done, the synthetic monstrosity had more than tripled its size, if thinning out in the process, and small arcs of red electricity occasionally flowed over its features.

Kevin, Bela, and Riik were wide-eyed with awe and stomach churning fear.

"Your worthless clamoring and struggles against inevitability serve no purpose. You will perish as the cycle demands."

Before anyone even had the chance to retort, the trio had to roll in separate directions to avoid an immediate beam shot out of the mouth of the beast. It didn't even give them a chance to gain their bearings before it lunged forth after Kevin, firing its hand-canons and preparing to swipe at him with its bladed claws. Kevin's shields took two of the four shots and subsequently went down. The other two shots fell just wide of him as he rolled. He spotted his attacker lunging at him and he lashed out with his biotics, executing a mild throw. The throw did little more than cause the possessed husk to halt its approach in a short stumble, but it was just enough to give Kevin enough time to back away while the others concentrated their combat drones on it and showered it in suppressing fire.

Kevin got back on his feet from the roll and coated himself in a biotic barrier. He couldn't afford to stay out of this fight long enough for his shields to recharge. He was disappointed that his throw barely even caused the beast to flinch, but he was glad to see that the maneuver caused it to focus its attacks elsewhere. The super-husk swiped at one of the harassing combat drones, cleaving it in two before it fired a beam at Bela. By now, she was familiar with the half-second glow in the mouth that always precluded the assaulting beam shot, and ducked into cover as the stream of destructive energy slammed against a metal protrusion.

Kevin and Riik brought volleys of automatic fire down on the synthetic, but all that served to do was irritate it. It's kinetic barriers were still holding impossibly strong, batting all of their shots away from the host. The thing grasped the metal blockade that served as Bela's cover with one of its claws and began to hurdle itself over the top, getting in way too close to the little quarian. It's upper claws were poised to strike downward were she sat, but Bela wasn't stupid and she was already on her way out of cover. Swift as she was, she was still going to get shot up if there was no intervention. Kevin tossed another concentrated biotic throw out at the set of claws grasping the protrusion, and it had just enough force to knock it free. With such low gravity, the super-husk had to use a number of the claws it was originally going to use to shoot Bela with to grab at the nearby wall and floor for stabilization. Bela got away, and the synthetic was once again under fire from all three commandos.

Kevin could see the kinetic barriers of the husk starting to waver under the obscene torment it was handling. This proved to Kevin that while the barriers were incredibly strong, they certainly were not invulnerable. If the barriers could fall, then so could this foe. This solidified his resolve, as it did the others. They pressed their attack until the husk came back at them with guns blazing. Kevin's previously set up barrier and shields went down, clearly being the focus of the assault, but all four of the husk's shots had been nullified. Kevin had half a mind to step back and let his shields recharge, but they spotted the kinetic barriers on the synthetic finally start to show signs of failure. Staggering their heat sink ejections to keep the pressure on, the got as many shots in as they could while the enemy staggered backwards from the force of their combined volley. Kevin figured that they had this thing tagged and bagged, but the super-husk had other plans Shortly after it staggered, the husk fired a long beam shot swiped horizontally at the three intruders, forcing all three of them to dive to the floor. With the suppressing fire briefly halted, it launched itself to the ceiling and disappeared amongst the many holes and tunnels above.

"Balls," Kevin cursed as his shields recharged. They all ejected a heat sink, the near white-hot ceramic cylinders flying unhindered away from the battle. "We need a new strategy. It'll just keep running away and recharging its shields until we run out of thermal clips and wear out. We need to do lots of damage real quick."

"I have an idea," Riik announced as they once again backed up to each other, searching for hints of their adversary. "Bela, we're going to need that last shot of yours. We won't have the time to whittle down its shields again, so you'll need to break 'em real quick with a well-placed shot. Kevin, I'll give you a leg-up and you'll have to pull some sort of biotic miracle out of your back pocket."

"I like this plan," Kevin said, as they circled in search of a target. He preemptively started gathering himself some dark energy, as well.

"It's risky. If I miss. . ." Bela said, admitting worry.

Riik gave Bela a reassuring, firm slap on her damaged pauldron."Then aim at its feet. The trick is to break its shields, not take its head off, right?"

"I can do that," she said, shaking off her anxiety.

"We just have to survive long enough to-" Kevin spotted the husk speedily crawling out of a tunnel above and off to the side, its top four arms already taking aim. He spun around, shoved Bela aside, and threw out whatever dark energy he had since stored up in a flat biotic wall as the husk lunged from its hiding place. The four shots were absorbed and the barrier shattered as Riik and Bela rolled out of the way, leaving Kevin open and right in the lunge path of their toughest enemy. The prospect of trying to fight the possessed machine was outright suicide, as far as he was concerned. The immediate danger of the situation caused Kevin to go into his much needed hyper-processing mode. The husk's descent slowed and the dim blurriness of the battle-swept room gave way to clarity.

Its trajectory will come up short, a step back is all I need. It'll want to swipe at me. It's favored horizontal slashes in the past. A collection of metallic thunks sound off – it's landed. Its unnatural enslaved eyes are the angriest red I have ever seen. Two arms are slashing at me, one from the left and one from the right. Their path should leave enough space for me to pass between them if I can manage one of those horizontal spin jumps. I hate spinning jumps. I kick off of the floor and lean out to perform the maneuver. The room spins, but none of it is a blur. I've kicked too hard, my momentum will cause me to brush with the higher slash. An opportunity arises! I tug at my blade mid-spin just in time. The blade, barely out of its sheath, connects with the obstructing arm. Vermillion sparks fly and the arm is pushed aside, almost severed. My path is cleared and my momentum is shifted towards the ground. I just have to stick this magnetized landing. . . Got it. I put my blade back before I lose it. I look up; a third, unflinching arm is coming down to cut me in two. Can't back up, I'll get cut. I duck towards the synthetic to get inside and beyond its blades. I use both hands to hold my rifle up at an angle to direct the crushing blow to my side. It works, but my rifle is visibly damaged. Balls. I spot one of its legs to my right. Its pivoting on two legs to spin and use its other two legs as swinging weapons. Not enough time. . . I kick upwards again, maybe I can get out of this mess with another spinning jump. Not enough time! My kicking leg is caught in the calf. I spiral out of control. The second leg comes around and hits me. I hear a crack as my right pauldron comes apart from the impact. My shoulder nearly dislocates. My rifle flies from my hand. I fly away from the beast a spinning mess and smack into the wall. It pursues, but is cut off by Bela and Riik as they rain fire down on it. I use my magne-boots to get solid footing on the wall, then floor. I grip my shoulder – it burns, but it's in one piece. I feel my head cool, the effect is already fading. . .

Kevin stood to his feet and took a deep breath, unable to believe he just survived that encounter. Meanwhile, Riik and Bela were doing everything they could to give the husk a hard time, going as far as to separate to catch it in a crossfire. Kevin saw an opportunity for him to unleash a shot of biotics on the husk, but he couldn't just hit it from the side. All that served to do in the past was stagger it, not damage it. Running up behind Riik and pulling his modified pistol for a change, Kevin called out to his teammates as he took some pot shots at their enemy.

"Bela! Hit it now!" Kevin yelled while gathering dark energy

The increased firepower caused the super-husk to focus its attention on them for just a moment, but turned back to Bela as she was separated and vulnerable. By the time it turned back to the short quarian, though, she had already pulled out her huge launcher and was priming a shot. It lunged for her in a gambit to stop the shot, but it was just a bit too late. The explosive left Bela's weapon and careened straight into the oncoming chest of the husk. The resulting blast, a mere meter and a half from Bela, shattered the shields of both the husk and Bela herself. The quarian was thrown backwards across the room and the somewhat damaged husk fell backwards several steps, using its multiple limbs to keep from falling down.

Meanwhile, Riik had done what he initially suggested and gave Kevin a leg up, sending him airborne. Kevin's projected path would normally arc high and land him just shy of the husk, but it expectantly stumbled backwards right underneath him. Kevin, eyes beginning to glow from the biotic feat he was about to pull, reeled his right arm back. Just as he was right on top of the beast, Kevin pushed forth one of the most powerful biotic throws he had ever managed – straight down onto its head. The biotic force was far too strong for the husk to simply shrug off, and being anchored to the floor meant that it had nowhere to be pushed. The possessed husk was brutally crushed into a small crater in the floor, barely able to twitch its last as the red glow from the cybernetics quickly faded. Kevin landed atop the crumpled heap, fists still clenched and teeth still grit. He let go of a long breath just before he was suddenly tackled by Bela in celebration of having beat the incredible foe.

"Keelah, that was a nasty fight," Riik admitted, offering Kevin a fist.

Kevin stumbled around from having to unexpectedly bear Bela's weight, but was able to return a fist pound. "Good God, I hope we never have to fight one of those again."

"That's one for the storybooks, fellas," Bela announced, letting go of Kevin.

Kevin went over to pick up his nonfunctional assault rifle. He shook his head at the irreversible damage, took out the still usable thermal clip, and looked over towards the eezo drive core. "Tosh! We need to go, now!"

"All set to go," Tosh said, walking towards Kevin from an unexpected angle. "I apologize for the delay."

"Took your sweet time," Bela commented as affixed the empty launcher on her back. "We could have used your help against that thing!" She stepped aside to pick up the shotgun she set down prior firing her launcher.

"What did I miss?" Tosh asked, pulling his own shotgun out and handing Bela a thermal clip to boost her reserves.

"Later," Kevin ordered. He nodded towards the corridor they entered through, indicating it was time to leave. Just then, a pair of thunks behind the team caused them to spin around, guns at the ready. Much to their great dismay, two more red husks started to expand much the same way the first did. "Aw, come on!" Kevin shouted in his distress. He knew full well that this was not a fight they could win – they barely survived the fight against just one.

"Orders?" Riik nervously asked. The four of them were lined up, facing the husks, slowly backing away while keeping weapons trained on their targets.

"Run! Effing run!" Kevin shouted, and the threw his useless rifle at the husks. Without a moment's hesitation, the commandos broke into a sprinting retreat. By the time the super-husks were done their grisly transformation, the invaders had already made it into the corridor. Kevin created a barrier right at the mouth of the hall, hoping to slow down their imminent pursuit.

To make things worse, the lesser husks they fought en masse had returned in force, trying to hinder their escape by blocking their path and shooting wildly. The four of them had no time to stop and make a firing line like last time, so they concentrated on killing just enough of them to open their path and prevent being torn apart by beam weapons. This was a trial by fire for Kevin's pistol, as he hadn't had any real chance to test it out in combat situations yet. This was not how he liked testing weapons, especially ones modded with dangerous parts. Luckily, the pros outweighed the cons. The pistol had more than enough firepower to down a husk in a single shot – barriers and all – but the recoil was fierce. Even with two hands he had to limit his firing rate to make sure his shots were accurate. This, of course, was not conducive to running in long strides. Fortunately, they were able to keep out of the line of sight of the super-husks that were no doubt angrily clawing their way up the corridor to catch them.

When they reached the open room with the familiar, now sideways catwalk, Kevin felt a bit relieved. The husks were much less of a threat out on that catwalk due to how constricted and open the walkway was, and their long-range accuracy was pretty terrible. The feeling of relief fell apart when a bright beam of energy shot from behind them, catching Riik in his left thigh armor. Riik was thrown into a spiral, saved from floating away only by the fact that he caught Kevin's hand just before the drop-off.

"This isn't the time to be playing spaceman, Votis!" Kevin shouted, barely audible over the chaotic ambiance. He hefted the quarian back so that his boots could magnetically grip the conduit.

Riik checked his thigh. His ablative plating there had all but vaporized, even to the point of burning off his clan colors there. "But low-grav combat is exhilarating, Folner. You should try it some time!"

Kevin slapped Riik on the back once he was on solid ground again. "Go on, I'll take up the rear!" The person in back had to be in charge of distracting the two super-husks hot on their trail. Kevin figured he could buy some time if he played his cards right.

"Negative! I'll follow you three out!"

"Not up for debate, Votis, move!"

"Who's the one with the assault rifle, here?"

Kevin paused for a split second. He had a point. "Piss 'em off good for me, then! Just not with your thigh, alright? We've all seen enough of that already!"
Riik shoved Kevin to go. "You're slowing me down! Get a move on!"

Kevin tossed an emergency barrier on Riik and resumed his sprint, climbing up onto the conduit that served as their lifeline to the exit. Through the large rounded rectangle holes in the side, they could see the edge of the planet. This was good, as it gave them a direction they could relay to Kar. Up ahead, Tosh and Bela were gunning down a group of husks that were in the way, ducking to avoid the beams.

"Tosh, any word from Kar yet?" Kevin asked.

"Just got him on the comms! He's on his way around!" Tosh informed.

"Be sure to let him know we have a pair of very upset synthetics trying to follow us out!" Bela added.

"He's aware! Let's just make it out of here!"

As they continued to run, Kevin heard Riik grunt loudly behind him. He came to a stop and turned around, only to be rammed by a floating Riik. Kevin stumbled, but he kept his footing for fear of falling off of the bridge. Worried that Riik took a fatal hit, he looked over the soldier's suit for damage, but found that he only lost a pauldron. Satisfied, Kevin set the quarian down and resumed his run for the exit. "You know, admiral Gerrel is going to be pissed that you're scuffing his shiney armor!"

Riik took some more shots at the super-husks before running after Kevin. "Ah, crap! Just shut up and keep running!"

Kevin peeked over his shoulder and he quickly saw why Riik was hustling double-time. The super-husks decided to dispense with the unreliable distant shots and were now using all eight limbs to climb their way towards the commandos with blazing speed. Kevin's eyes widened and he, too, put forth as much haste as he could muster. Ahead of him, the others were jumping their way to the threshold to open space. Once standing within that threshold, they paused and looked back at Kevin and Riik. They saw the waves of husks and the two super-husks quickly encroaching on their position, and they jumped out into open space praying that Kar would snatch them with the Kellius. Only a few moments later, Kevin and Riik were doing the same thing. Riik however, took a second to turn around and fire some volleys at the oncoming wave, buying the team some time to put some distance between them and the beams of the horde.

"Gotta buy more time. . ." Riik said under his breath, still audible over the comms.

Kevin shook his head at Riik's valiant, but extremely dangerous move. "Riik! We're clear! Get out!"

Without saying a word Riik complied, and he jumped backwards out of the reaper with the same trajectory as the others. He fired a few more salvos at the husks, but was wary of increasing his velocity too much and stopped. The two super-husks halted at the edge, not wanting to follow them all into open space. Kevin breathed a sigh of relief, only to see a pair of bright beams collide on Riik. The quarian shrieked in pain and then went deathly silent.

"Riik! Oh God, Riik!" Kevin called out.

"What happened?" Tosh called back to him.

"Man down! Riik's down!"

"Keelah! Can we do anything to get him?" Bela frantically asked.

"Not until Kar picks us up!" Tosh responded.

Kevin wasn't sure of whether Riik was actually dead or just injured. His answer became clear when his body slowly separated in two at the waist where the beams cut.

"It won't matter." Kevin said, a somber tone overtaking the nerve-wracking anxiousness. "He's gone. Cut in two by super-husk beams."

"Riik. . . No. . ." Bela said sorrowfully.

Ahead of them, the Kellius came around with the loading bay ramp all the way down. Over the comms, Kar's sigh of relief was audible.

"Got you! I heard about Riik. . . I'm. . . I'm sorry, guys, I should have been faster."

"It wasn't anything you could control, Kar," Kevin said. He was happy to see the inside of the Kellius once more, but at the same time he felt severely disheartened by Riik's sacrifice. Behind them, the loading ramp started to close, and Kevin watched the opening in case any husks tried to make their way aboard. What he saw instead was something far, far more terrifying.

The reaper was turning on the Kellius.

"Kar? Get her moving, man! That reaper's fixing a gaze on us and I imagine it's just a little bit pissed right about now!" Kevin was fighting a deep-seated fear and urge to panic, but he knew all Kar had to do was jump to FTL to avoid ending up like all those cruisers during the battle of the Citadel. It was when Kar didn't respond that he felt his heart start to race. "Kar?" Kevin yelled as he shoved his way through Bela and Tosh. They followed soon after.

The cargo bay pressurized and Kevin flew up those stairs so fast he was skipping three to four steps in a stride.

"Kevin. . ." Kar said quietly over the comms. "The voices. . . They're back! I can't. . . I can't move my body!"

Kevin felt his entire body tense up. No pilot meant no maneuvering. No maneuvering meant. . . He didn't want to think about that any further. At the top of the stairs, he turned and bolted into the briefing room. He came to a skidding stop when he looked down through the bridge and saw the reaper looking at the Kellius dead on, it's tendrils spread out wide. He spotted Kar in the pilot's seat, stone still. He was still a slave to the machines in his body, even if they couldn't make him do anything. The reaper had them thinking that they were all completely inert, and they were about to pay the ultimate price for their negligence.

Kevin's fight or flight instinct took over, and with nothing to fight, he fled towards the aft of the Kellius, passing by Bela and Tosh as they topped the staircase. Not more than a couple seconds after he turned, the sounds of burning and crackling mixed with explosions, creaking metal, and more explosions filled the air. Kevin was thrown hard against the back wall of the hallway as a massive red laser cut straight through the Kellius at an angle. The aft was spared most of the destruction since the cut ran diagonally, and Kevin had to align his eyes to see what had just transpired. In truth, though, he didn't need to see. He knew exactly what was happening – his ship, his last chance to get home, his lifeline was being annihilated with them still inside.

Winded, he turned himself around to see his beloved Kellius cut into two large pieces. A massive, red hot fissure grew ever wider at the far end of the hall, occasionally spewing sparks and bursts of flame. No no no no no no! My ship! My Kellius! Kevin thought, his heart filled with despair. All of the systems on the ship failed simultaneously as Terra's stuttered and unintelligible warnings blared. Explosions were numerous, and they continued to rock the two pieces o the ship apart while was stranded on the backside piece. Across the void he spotted Tosh and Bela, terrified and recovering from reeling blasts, huddling together at the shaven top of the staircase and silently beckoning him to jump from his drifting piece to where they were.

He had to fight his own body to move and his own mind to find the motivation. It was all over – the ship was effectively destroyed and they were all about to be spaced. He felt like he was going to vomit simply by thinking on this fact. Nevertheless, he activated his magne-boots and attempted to make his way towards the growing chasm. Halfway there, he spotted a second laser emitting from reaper, this time starting low and coming up to cut the Kellius into quarters. He knew it wasn't true, but it felt to him like he could hear his ship wailing as it got cut bit by bit. He could feel goosebumps on his arms because of it. If anything, it was tearing him up emotionally just as much as the ship itself. It had been his home for a while now, and though he'd spent more time in alliance warships, his connection wit the Kellius was personal.

Kevin pulled an immediate one hundred and eighty degree turn and sprinted full tilt to the door of the entertainment room. Frantically, he pried the door apart and ran inside the pitch black room, desperately trying to stay out of the laser's path. He didn't know why he was bothering to run, really. He was surely just as dead as everyone else aboard the ship. All the same, he made his way to the far side when the red hue of the reaper's devastating weapon broke through the floor and cut the room diagonally through the center. He was out of the path, but it didn't matter much. Some chain reactions took place and the blasts from the resulting damage tore the room to bits. The laser had cut the secret door's right side off, and it free-floated away before getting tossed into space by an explosion.

Kevin stopped trying to avoid the explosions and destruction now. He simply walked to the door to his room and stepped inside, his magne-boots nearly being forced free of the floor because of the powerful explosion-induced convulsions. It was the only room left on what was the Kellius that was mostly intact, though the two forward corners were taken off. Illuminated by explosions, flying sparks, and the reflection of sunlight off of the planet through the viewports, Kevin made his way to his bed and sat. He fully expected a third laser to tear this last sanctuary into oblivion, but it never came. His thoughts turned to his doomed, if not already dead squadmates – Tosh, Bela, and Kar. He had failed Tyr most spectacularly by not protecting them, and there was nothing he could do to save them now. It weighed heavily on him.

As muffled blasts continued to shake his cabin and pieces of broken ship flew about, Kevin looked up through the viewports. The section he was in was slowly spinning, and he could now see what was left in the aftermath. The Kellius had fallen apart after the second laser ran it through, and was now several spinning pieces hanging lazily about with flames still feeding on the last remnants of pocketed oxygen. In the distance, he could see the sheen of sunlight reflecting off of the death-black metal surface of the reaper as it turned away from him and faced its next objective – the galaxy. Out of one of the cut corners of the room, Kevin saw multiple streaks of eezo energy arc across several points on the nearest mountain range and meet at the point of the topmost summit at the center. The gigantic combined burst of energy shot out towards the reaper in classic mass relay fashion, connecting the planetary device to the synthetic. Kevin smiled vengefully and waited patiently for it.

Instead of the reaper disappearing amongst a horizontal column of blueshifted energy, the eezo core detonated in a fantastic blue-white explosion of epic proportions. He barely even saw bits of the reaper explode outwards. Amidst all of Kevin's reeling emotions, the feeling of satisfaction came to the front. This vengeance could not have been any sweeter – but bittersweet it still was. The shockwave of the blast careened into the debris field consisting of the Kellius's remnants, aggressively shoving everything towards the planet. Kevin was rocked from his spot and he smacked into the wall behind his terminal. Winded a second time, he struggled to regain his breath as he peeked out of the viewports to see what was going on. It was a disorienting mess, as his piece was now spinning wildly out of control as it entered the atmosphere.

Kevin had a last minute idea. If the piece of the ship he remained in took the brunt of the collusion with the ground and he didn't get outright crushed by collapsing walls, he might stand a chance of making it out alive. Even when all hope was lost for his ship, his want for self-preservation remained. He started gathering dark energy to himself in dangerously high amounts as he fought to align his boots with the wall and make it to the closet just a few meters away. He pried the door open and pulled himself inside. Of the spinning deathtrap he was falling in, this was the most structurally sound area remaining. Once inside, he created a biotic bubble around him made of a barrier so dense that not even air would pass through, were there any. It was a strenuous field to keep up, but Kevin had no other option. He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes as he awaited the imminent and likely deadly crash. He pegged his chances of survival with this method at thirty percent. That was thirty percent more than zero, as far as he was concerned.

He envisioned Arla. He remembered their first fight where he nearly cut her head off. He remembered her accusing him of getting too buddy-buddy with Siri. He remembered pressing her against the wall of the entertainment room to pacify her at the end of a fight and getting walked in on by Bela. He remembered her staring into his glowing eyes as they sat huddled in a biotic-covered corner surrounded by geth as fire rained down around them. He remembered their slow dance together. He remembered her face.

If he survived this, she was going to be the first of anything he sought – above sleep, above medi-gel, and above sanity. He steeled his resolve against the crushing defeat they had suffered, and he put everything he had into his barrier. Seconds later, he was bouncing violently about the small room, nearly deafened by the sound of crashing metal. He kept the barrier up for a few seconds, at least. He was surprised he made it that far, but another jarring shift in momentum crushed him against the wall. He wasn't even sure if his barrier was still up by the time he lost consciousness.