A/N quick thank you to Cellestor for pointing out my usage of crucible instead of conduit in chapter "This is too easy" the chapter should now be changed with the correct word usage there and without further ado, Therum.
Therum
Kayla activated the Mako's thrusters as they dropped down onto Therum's surface, in order to slow their descent. As they landed, she took off down what looked like a road towards the location that Joker had picked up some strange readings from.
"Shepard, are you sure we are going to the right location?" she heard Garrus ask from his position on the gun.
Kayla shook her head, "Not for sure, no." she said, "But it is the best lead we've got on where the good doctor might be."
"Commander we are picking up hostile signatures, looks like Geth." Ashley reported.
Garrus began firing the main gun as soon as the Geth came into view.
Kayla grinned as she rammed into a few more Geth, "Well Garrus, I think we are on the right trail now." she said.
Garrus chuckled, "Looks like you were right, Commander."
As they continued along the path they faced a large steel wall, guarded by Geth turrets, "I don't think a frontal assault would be a good idea." Garrus muttered.
Kayla nodded, "Indeed." she said, "Alternate routes Ash?"
Ashley nodded, "Yes ma'am, I'm picking up a trail to the right."
Kayla drove the Mako to the right down the narrow path, "You know, you would think machines would be smart enough to put heavier defenses on this opening." she said to herself as they drove into the middle of the Geth camp.
Kayla parked the Mako and made to get out, "Garrus, stay on the gun and keep me covered as I open the rear gate." she ordered.
Kayla activated her stealth equipment and rushed towards the building hooked up to the gate. As she entered she saw a couple Geth near the opening mechanism. Kayla took out one of her biotic grenades and threw it at the Geth's feet. Before they could do anything the grenade exploded, shredding on of the Geth and lifting the other into the air. The Geth began firing wildly as it spun in the air. One of the Geth's shots hit Kayla in the shoulder as she fired her pistol into the Geth's headpiece.
"Damn flashlight heads." she grunted as she put medi-gel over the injured area.
She walked over to the opening mechanism and opened the rear gate. As it opened she reactivated her cloak and returned to the Mako, "Look's like one of those flashlights got you Commander." Ashley said as they began driving back down the road.
Kayla nodded, "Ya, damn thing got lucky before I killed it."
As they traveled down the road, Kayla stopped the Mako in front of a narrow path, "Well, looks like we are on foot from here." she said as she got out of the Mako.
As they walked up the path, they found themselves coming under Geth fire. Kayla and her squad fought through the Geth and arrived at what looked to be a dig site leading into a large underground cavern, "I think this is the place." Ashley muttered.
Kayla nodded as a giant metal object came flying down, slamming into the ground.
"Spirits, Colossus!" Garrus shouted as the three of them dove behind cover.
"Alright Garrus, aim for it's head plate, let keep it focused over here and distracted." Kayla ordered, "Ash, you and I will cloak up and circle around, from there we'll overload it's shields and shove as many biotic grenades as we can under it, hopefully that will shred it to pieces."
Garrus began firing off rounds at the Colossus's head, causing it to fire pulses at the rock Garrus was hiding behind.
Kayla and Ashley made their behind the machine and coded in an overload to disable the Colossus's shield.
"Alright that is as good as we are going to get it." Kayla said as they released the overload into the machine's system, "Throw your grenades now!"
Kayla and Ashley threw their remaining biotic grenades as Garrus through in a couple frags. Some of the grenades landed beneath the machine as others landed on top of it. All the grenades exploded in quick succession, tearing the Colossus to pieces.
Kayla grinned at the smoldering corpse, "Well then, let's hope they don't have any more of those hiding inside." she said.
The squad took an elevator down into the cavern, "Damn, this place is huge." Ashley muttered.
Garrus nodded, "Ya, quite impressive really."
As they exited the elevator onto a walkway, Ashley looked over the edge and whistled, "Damn, if I spit over the edge Commander, how long do you think it would take to land on the ground?"
Kayla looked at Ashley in surprise, "Really Ash?" she said, "now isn't exactly the time for that."
"R..right Commander, sorry." Ashley said.
As the team continued down the walkway, they began to hear someone's voice but couldn't make out the words, "You hear that?" Kayla asked as Garrus and Ashley nodded.
"I think it is coming from just below us, the elevator over there should take us down." Ashley said, pointing towards the elevator.
Kayla nodded and they entered the elevator, heading down towards the source of the voice. As they waited Kayla impatiently patted her foot, "You would think that we could make faster elevators then this, in this day and age." she muttered.
When the elevator finally stopped, they exited and found themselves looking at an Asari who appeared to be suspended in a blue bubble, behind an energy field, "Ha, fantastic." the Asari said, "I'm so far gone that my mind is making me think Imperials would come to my rescue."
Kayla noticed that the Asari appeared to be suffering from delusions, possibly from being suspended for a long period of time.
"Not this time mind." The Asari muttered, "You can't trick me, I know enough about the Arcturus Empire to know that they would never send someone to save a Council race."
Kayla whispered to Garrus, "See if you can find a way around this thing, while I try to calm her down."
As Garrus took off to see if he could find a way around, Kayla turned her attention back to the Asari, "Hello, are you Liara Tsoni?" she asked.
The Asari looked at her for a moment in confusion, "Hmm, they never talked to me before, must be my brain finding new torments." she said, "Anyways, yes delusion, I am Liara, though you already knew that, considering you are a part of me."
Kayla smiled, "Well, Ms. Tsoni, I'm not a delusion." she began, "I was sent as part of an Imperial/Council joint effort to track down Saren, we are hoping you might have knowledge of you mother."
Liara looked at Kayla in confusion, "Alright, let's say you aren't just a delusion." she said, "Why would you want to know about my mother."
Before Kayla could answer a large explosion, caused tremors to run through the cavern, "I guess Garrus found us a way around." she muttered, "Give us a moment Tsoni, and we should have you right out of there."
Kayla and Ashley met Garrus at the bottom of the cavern, in front of a large hole, "Mining laser." Garrus explained at their confused looks.
The squad made their way up to where Liara was suspended, behind the energy field.
"Ah, I suppose this means you are in fact real." Liara muttered as they arrived, "I suppose the shaking was our mining laser?"
Kayla nodded, "So, how do we get you out of here?" she asked.
"Well, this is a bit embarrassing, but when we got reports of the Geth, I activated the defense systems of this facility, however I seemed to trip a trap as well." Liara said, "Pressing the button to your right, should release me."
"Should?" Garrus asked suspiciously.
"Commander, are you sure we can trust her?" Ashley asked, "I mean, she could be working with her mother."
Before Kayla could respond, the caver began shaking again and rocks fell from the ceiling, "Damn, we don't have time to debate this." she said as she punched the release button, "We have to move now!"
Liara nodded as she got up, "This elevator should take us to the top of the facility, from there we should be able to exit."
Kayla nodded and they all began to rise up the elevator. As they waited for it, she connected to the Normandy, "Joker, we will need an immediate evac, lock on to our position."
"Roger, commander." Joker responded.
As the elevator came to a stop, they found themselves facing a large Krogan and four Geth.
"So nice of you to save us the trouble of breaking through that energy field." the Krogan said, "Now, hand over the Doctor."
Kayla glared, "Damnit, we don't have time for this." she said, "Everyone, open fire, focus on the Krogan."
Kayla's squad ducked behind some crates and began firing on the Krogan, as Liara threw a singularity at the Geth and ran behind a wall. Kayla saw shot down the three Geth caught by the singularity and threw the fourth into a wall.
"Ashley, take out the fourth Geth." she ordered as she cloaked up and made her way around the Krogan. Kayla unsheathed her knife and made to slit the Krogan's throat.
"I can smell you Human." the Krogan said as he fired his shotgun in Kayla's direction.
The shot barely missed Kayla as she rounded around a wall, "Damnit," she muttered.
As the Krogan began to get closer to where Kayla was hiding, she heard a gun shot and saw blood splatter on the ground. When she looked around the corner, she saw the Krogan was dead on the ground and it's head was missing.
"Thanks for distracting that berserker, Commander." Garrus said, giving what appeared to be a Turian version of a grin.
The Commander chuckled as the Cavern gave another large tremor, "Damnit, we need to get out of here, now!"
Kayla, her squad, and Liara raised out of the cavern through a tunnel. As they began to see a hole at the end of the tunnel with light coming through, the tunnel began to collapse. Kayla summoned the last reserves of her energy and sped up out of the tunnel, pushing a worn out Liara with her.
Just as the tunnel collapsed Kayla, her squad, and Liara escaped and found themselves facing the Normandy. Kayla looked around herself and laughed, "Ah, that was fun." she said grinning, "But let's not try to run out of collapsing underground ruins again."
Normandy
Kayla found herself looking at the images of the Council, with Vasir standing to her right and Chiron leaning against the wall near the door.
"I know you Imperials are reckless Commander, but was the destruction of a Prothean ruin strictly necessary?" Sparatus asked.
Kayla glared at the Turian, "We didn't exactly have a choice here Councilor."
Sparatus grunted, "Are you at least taking precautions against the Matriarch's daughter?" he asked.
Kayla growled, "She is not a prisoner, Turian." she said.
Sparatus glared back at Kayla, "You will watch your tone human."
"I've had enough." Kayla said loudly enough for Joker to pick up over the intercom.
"Oooh, we have appeared to have lost the signal Commander." Joker said, "A shame that, I think that Turian fellow was starting to warm up to you."
Chiron started laughing from his position against the wall as Vasir slowly rubbed her temples, "Commander, I hate Sparatus as much as the next person, but you can't just hang up on the Council." Vasir said.
Kayla shook her head, "Wrong Tela, you can't hang up on the Council, but I do not fall under their jurisdiction." she replied, "Anyways let's gather everyone here and see where we can go from here."
Everyone sat around the conference room, including Liara. As they informed Liara about the vision, her eyes seemed to light up, "A Prothean artifact gave you this vision?" she said, "Yes, that would make sense."
Liara turned towards Chiron, "If you would let me, a meld might allow my knowledge of the Protheans to help you understand the vision better." she said.
Chiron glanced over towards Kayla and saw her nod, "Very well." he said.
Chiron and Liara stood up and faced each other, "Relax Chiron," she said, "Embrace Eternity!"
The vision flashed before Chiron's mind again, but this time he could easily make out an alien species fighting and being slaughtered by machines that looked a lot like the ship from Eden Prime.
When the meld was finished, Liara nearly feinted, "I... I was right, the Protheans didn't just disappear, they were wiped out." she said, "And if my research is correct this has been going on for a very long time."
Liara looked into Chiron's eyes, "You have an extraordinary mind Chiron, a lesser person would have been destroyed by that vision."
Tali felt a flash of jealousy upon seeing how close Liara was standing to Chiron, but she couldn't figure out why.
Chiron shifted uncomfortably, "Riiight." he muttered, "Anyways, do you know where, your mother is?" he asked.
Liara nodded, "Yes, we haven't had any serious contact in years, but I kept some eyes out for her." she said, "She arrived on Noveria not to long ago and should still be there, I.."
Liara held her head and began to wobble as Kayla jumped up and steadied her, "I think we should get you to the med bay, when was the last time you have eaten?" she asked.
Liara shook her head, "I can't remember."
Kayla nodded, "Lets get you to Chakwas, she should be able to help."
Liara nodded and they began to walk down to the med bay. The rest of the group took that as the signal to break the meeting and began leaving.
Chiron walked over to Tali before she could leave, "So Tali, we haven't gotten to talk much, did you still want to know about the Spectre/Wraith rivalry?" he asked.
Tali shook her head, "Kayla explained that to me, but I do have a question if you don't mind." she said.
Chiron shook his head, "Go ahead and ask." he said.
"I noticed back on Feros that people were afraid of you because you were a Wraith and seemed to follow your orders without question," she began, "Is there a reason you're not in charge? or am I misunderstanding Imperial ranks again?"
Chiron thought for a moment, "Well, technically, one could say that I outrank Kayla." he said, "As a Wraith, I report to both the Emperor and the current head of the Wraiths, however in practice, we allow the official military to guide our actions, it makes things easier."
Tali nodded, "That sounds a lot like how the Fleet works." she said.
Chiron's eyes sparkled in curiosity, "Oh?" he said, "What is the Migrant Fleet like?"
"Well, officially we are ruled by the Admiralty Board, five admirals who's decisions affect the whole of the Fleet." Tali explained, "However, the Conclave, our civilian form of government, typically handles the daily running's of the Fleet and individual Captains, are typically allowed to handle any issues that affect individual ships."
Chiron nodded, "Interesting." he said, "Let's hope I get more opportunities to learn about your people, Ms. Tali'Zorah."
Tali felt herself blush for a moment before shaking it off, "Of course, Chiron." she said, "I would be happy to answer any questions you have."
Chiron grinned and began walking off to plot a course for Noveria, in Kayla's place, "Glad to hear it Tali." he said as he left the conference room.
A/N Alright, so I'll freely admit that I have never been too good at writing romance points, so I hope I'm doing a good job with Tali/(M) Shep. Still not sure where I want to take Kayla in the romance department however, so we shall see.
