They were in what looked like some type of chute, leading up into blackness. Two ladders stood side by side, bolted to the wall. "I guess we climb." Oliver whispered, his voice bouncing off the walls. They took to the ladders, trying not to make noise. The rungs were coated in dirt and grit from many a use. Thankfully that muted the clanging of their boots.
"Ugh. Doesn't anyone clean these?" Cadence complained, "I just touched something slimy."
"It was probably a slug." Mali chuckled.
"Eww!" Cadence almost let go of her rung in disgust.
"Shh! Keep it down!" Oliver hissed from above. "And Cade, there are no slugs in space. It was probably grease." Cade shot a look down at Mali, but thankfully they were all invisible.
"So, where would they keep the core?" Oliver whispered as they climbed.
"In the bay area, towards the middle bottom of the ship. The only thing lower is the hangar. From the look of this chute, we are dealing with a more ship-like type of reaper, so there will probably be elevators and walkways and stuff. We shouldn't worry. Once we get to a recognizable place I will know where to go."
"What do you mean by more "ship-like"?" Cade asked.
"Well, Shep told me about this reaper ship he was on once, uh, the collectors ship I think he called it. Anyway, it was all gooey and stuff inside, almost like real insides."
"Gross." Cade shuddered. They climbed on in near silence, the only sounds where the scuffing of their boots on the rungs and their quiet breathing. The ladder seemed to go on forever; Mali remembered how tall the reaper was, they were literally climbing the inside of one of its legs.
"Hey Cade?" Mali interrupted the silence.
"Yah?" She asked.
"I'm sorry about Ara." Mali whispered.
"I know, me too." Cade answered from a few rungs above her. "I just wish she would have told us what she was dealing with, maybe we could have helped her." Mali nodded.
"I know, I know." She wished she could be up there to give the little girl a hug. She was only twelve years old, and yet she had to see all this.
"I still have you." The little girl replied, sounding vulnerable. Mali's heart skipped a beat in fear, when had Cade become dependent on her? Mali was scared she couldn't do that, but then she thought of her face and warmth spread through her heart, she thought of Yane taking her in, even though now she knew he had been ordered too.
"Yah, you still have me, and I'm not going anywhere." Mali was surprised to hear fierce protectiveness in her voice.
"And me too." Oliver chimed in. "Hey! I see the end!" He whispered down. "No more talking, we don't know what's going to be at the top." They grew tense as they neared the end, and rightly so. The ladder led to a small steel platform that hung out over the chute, and which led to a door, which thankfully, was open. However there were two guards' playing cards on a small table to the left of it.
"I wonder what's going on." One said to the other, "Why has the ground team stopped sending up prisoners?"
"It must've has something to do with that big blast." The other responded. "You know, this whole job sucks. This reaper is creepy, this job is weird, everything. We don't even know what the mission is." He spoke.
"Yah. What makes it worse is that this reaper isn't even alive, it's like, we're sitting in a corpse." Both shuddered. The second opened his mouth to say something, but he never got the chance. From his spot on the ladder, Oliver shot two tranq darts into their necks, effectively knocking them out. They all clambered up onto the platform; Mali had never been so glad in her life to get off a ladder.
"Did you hear them?" Oliver whispered. "This reaper is dead! What's going on than!?" Mali shook her head, at a loss.
"Things just got a little weirder. Let's go." She took the lead stepping through the door. They entered a dark passageway shaped like a twinkie, long and oval. Lining the passage on either side were old fashioned cells made out of steel bars. They were filthy with soot and dirt; about half were full with their fellow students and even some teachers.
"Whoa, is that an actual padlock?" Mali heard Cade mutter under her breath—she almost snorted but she caught herself in time. As they crept by the cells, Mali spied Ashely and John Williams in a cell, he was hovering over her, holding his t-shirt to a gunshot wound in her torso. Mali grimaced, and even though she might blow their cover, she quickly grabbed a medi-gel pack from her belt and slid it silently through the bars to John's side. He spotted it after a second, and quickly picked it up, administering to her wound.
"Where did that come from?" Ashely asked groggily.
"I don't know," he replied, bent over her, "it just, appeared…" He looked up and around, but of course he saw nothing. Mali smiled and moved on, creeping by without making a sound; as much as Mali wanted to set them all free they would be doing them no good. They passed through without another incident into a more brightly lit hallway, yet it was still dim.
"When is this place not going to be dirty?" Cade huffed.
"That was the prison block." Mali said, thinking aloud, envisioning the layout in her head.
"Well, do you know where to go?" Oliver asked.
"According to its size and class, the bay is probably two levels down." Mali said. "This way." She quickly ran down the hall to the left, finding an elevator. She clicked the key and they stood waiting in the hall. The doors opened and they slipped inside, but before they could close, three soldiers rounded the corridor and walked towards them; please walk by, please walk by, Mali pleaded, but they didn't. They stepped through and into the elevator with them. They stood only inches away; Mali crammed herself as far back as she could go.
"That's weird, it's already been called." The lead one said, as the doors closed, trapping them inside with the soldiers.
"Weirder things have happened on this ship." Replied another. The leader pressed the up arrow. No! Mali screamed in her head. As they ascended, cheesy elevator music began to play, an annoying flute solo. Apparently, even on dreadnought-class death ships there was still that awkward elevator moment. Mali tried not to breath. Crammed in there with those men was one of the scariest moments of her life. She didn't move for fear of making a sound. Soon, the doors opened and the men started to get out. However, just when Mali started to breathe a sigh of relief, the last man paused at the door, his two friends moving away.
Mali froze, had he heard her? Fear knotted her stomach, panic made her start forward, to take him out, when suddenly there was a loud ripping sound as the man let one loose, letting out a sigh of relief. He got off, and hurried after his friends. Mali tried not to gag as the doors closed behind him. For a second, everyone was silent, and then they all burst out laughing. "Oh my—I thought—oh man! I can't talk!" Mali squeezed out in between laughs. Tears of mirth rolled down her cheeks, Cadence was literally rolling on the floor, bumping into their legs as she rolled back and forth.
Oliver pressed the down button, and they tried to calm down as the elevator descended. They were still chuckling when the doors opened up into a dark hallway, leading around a curve. "Aw man, not another Dracula passageway!" Cade complained. It was still and dark, not a peep.
"Ok, let's go." Mali said, all seriousness again. They rounded the corner, only to be blocked by a squad mingling in the hallway. They halted, a few feet away from them. She felt breath on her ear.
"How do we get by them?" Oliver hissed into her ear. There were too many of them to slip by.
"I don't know, just wait, I'll think of something." Mali started scanning the hallway for ideas, when a wisp of a conversation reached her ear.
"—what do you think Strojnik is going to do with them? They've been on the ship for a month now, and I think he's gotten all the information he can out of them." Mali's heart skipped a beat, she crouched closer, eavesdropping on two soldiers at the edge of the group.
"Listen man, I've been on their prison watch for a couple weeks now, I've seen 'em. Their almost to beat up to be any good, even to be harvested. I think that he's just going to kill them."
"Too bad," the other tisked, "the girl has some pretty eyes."
"But a bad mouth, and a mean left hook." The other interrupted. "Anyway, that's probably why he had them moved from the prison block to the staterooms, because it's probably their last day alive." He chuckled. Mali couldn't believe it, she was so close to her friends. She immediately knew she had to get them off this ship.
"And the other woman?" The first one asked.
"Probably the same deal, she's been here even longer—years in fact." His partner answered. Another? Mali was curious. She crept closer, they were talking quieter and quieter; she had to hear.
"Why?" The first asked.
"I don't know—that's how long ago it was—but," he lowered his voice, "I heard that—," There was a loud pop and fizzle, Mali looked down in horror to see her cloaking device smoking-it had overheated. She was visible.
"Hey!" The man said, frowning at her.
"Uh…hi." Mali raised a hand. In one second there were twelve pistols aimed at various parts of her body. "Oh, this is not good." She murmured. She raised her arms to show that she wasn't armed.
"What are you doing here?" A gruff voice asked, Mali turned to her right to look at the guy who was speaking. "How did you get out of your cell?" That pistol he was holding, it looked so familiar…
"Well, they are kinda old-fashioned…" She half-smiled, "Pretty easy to get out of if you know how to pick locks." Her palms were getting clammy, sweat rolled down her back. She hoped to God Oliver had a plan. If her cloak had overheated, it meant Oli and Cade only had seconds, maybe a minute before they were revealed. A guard to her left rolled his eyes at the speaking one.
"I knew we should have upgraded, that's what we get for going cheap." He spoke to him.
"Shut up!" The other retorted, turning his attention back to Mali. "We'd better get her back to—wait a minute…" He stared hard at her. "Wait…I know you." He cocked his head to one side.
"I'm pretty sure we just met." Mali shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. Murky images of a rainy night were slowly coming forward.
"No, I do." He stroked his chin, "where…oh! You're that kid! The kid we had to kidnap! Yah!" Oh, no, Mali thought, no way. Then it all came back.
"YOU'RE THE IDIOT THAT TOOK MY PISTOL!" Mali yelled, remembering. "Give it back!" She yelled with rage, he snorted.
"Like there is any way in—"
"Ahh!" A man shouted from the back, clutching at his neck, a dart protruding from between his fingers. He fell to the floor, snoring.
"What the!?" Gruff man yelled. Oliver became visible both pistols firing at the speed of light. Cade attacked from the left, sweeping through them, firing at will. Seven where down before they even knew it, the rest backed up into a cluster, aiming their weapons at her team mates.
"Watch out!" Mali dove in front of them as the squad fired, throwing up a biotic shield at the last second. The bullets bounced off harmlessly.
"Set your guns to kill, we have to take them out quickly before they alert the whole ship!" Oliver yelled over the gunfire. Before they could do anything however, a grate popped out from the ceiling with a crash and hit a soldier on a head. "Oops." Mali heard a man say from above, and then Shepard dropped to the floor, followed by Liara. In an amazing show of dexterity and skill, the other five soldiers were out cold within seconds, either shot or unconscious.
"Liara? Shepard?" Mali asked in surprise, taking down her shield. The asari stalked over, looking like a walking thundercloud. Biotic flames flickered across her fingers and body, making her look like a murderous ghost.
"Somali Avon!" Liara towered over her, "what in the name of the goddess are you doing on this ship?!" She yelled. Mali flinched when she heard the angry tone of the doctor's voice.
"Well, I, uh…" Mali stuttered.
"I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE!" Mali through her hands up in between them in protection, as if she could stop the verbal barrage.
"If I could say something." Oliver interrupted.
"AND YOU!" Liara turned on him, he shirked back in fright. "I THOUGHT YOU WERE THE SENSABLE ONE! AND YOU EVEN BROUGHT THE TWELVE YEAR OLD?! OH GODDESS!"
"Hey! I have a name you know! I'm not just "the twelve year old" here!" Cadence exclaimed indignantly.
"Liara," Shep came in from behind, laying a hand on her shoulder, "Liara, calm down. We can work this out." She was practically frothing at the lips, Mali had never seen her so angry. He turned to Mali, and she flinched under his stern gaze, "Explain yourselves," was all he said. The three teens grimaced.
"Uh…we have a plan…" Mali said, freezing under pressure. She couldn't speak with Liara's ferocious gaze on her, she could literally feel holes being burned into the side of her face.
"And…?" Shepard nudged. Oliver jumped in, explaining the whole thing.
"So, we could never get to the evac point, and it wouldn't have helped anyway, we would have just gotten captured like everyone else." He finished.
"Well, their plan is good." Shep turned to Liara. "Better than ours was." He added.
"What was yours?" Mali asked.
"We were going to crawl through the ventilation shafts to the bridge, and kill whomever is driving this curse around." Shep answered.
That's how we heard you, we were crawling by." Liara's anger had seemed to simmer down to a low boil. "Lucky for you, or you'd be dead." She gave a pointed look to Mali.
"So you know the reaper is dead then?" Oli asked.
"Yes, it's weird. All this time…how could I not know?"
"If it's dead, why are they still rounding people up for harvesting?" Mali asked, "A dead reaper can't harvest, right?"
"We shouldn't waste any more time on the details! We'll figure it out!" Cade interrupted. "We are just sitting ducks in this hallway!"
"Lead the way then." Shep answered. They started off down the hall, Mali naturally filing in by Liara.
"I'm sorry, you know." Mali whispered to her, "but you know me. To have run away, it would have killed me. Especially knowing you were fighting." Liara didn't seem to hear her, but then she suddenly pulled Mali into a side hug.
"I'm just glad you're alive. I guess its better having you here anyway, so at least I can keep an eye on you." Liara sighed. As they passed the squad, Mali bent down and picked up Yane's pistol, throwing her other one aside, and tucking it into her belt. They walked side by side down the passageway, heading for the cargo bay. Behind them, one man slowly got to his feet, careful not to make a sound. He glanced at the intruders, then raced off down the hall in the other direction carefully, so as not to be seen.
The small group jogged down the hall silently, until they came to a large silver hangar door. "I guess this is it," Shep stepped forward, the door opening, sensing movement. The door revealed a room so big Mali could not see the end of it. Row upon row of small fighter ships lay silent, a testament to the reaper's prowess; inside this hangar was an entire fleet. Huge boxes were stacked on the edges of the room, towering high. They walked out onto a platform with stairs leading down on either side to the hangar floor, there was a data pad strapped to the railing in front of them.
"How are we going to find it in all this?" Cade wondered aloud.
"We just find it in the bay list." She stepped forward and keyed into the data pad. She scrolled through the list until she found it listed under the "restricted access" area. Mali pointed down to a section of boxes to the far right. "It's over there, under C3, you'll need a passcode to get it out, but a simple hacking program could get it. It surprises me how low their security is for it."
"They weren't ever expecting someone to break in and steal it." Oli smiled. They started down, but Mali didn't follow.
"Hey, what's up?" Cade turned around.
"I have something I have to do." Mali looked at them, "you guys go and load it on to a fighter, I'll be there in a minute."
"You can't go alone," Liara said.
"I'll go with her." Shep volunteered. Liara frowned, clearly thinking that she was going to go. The commander looked at her. "They might need your hacking skills." Liara reluctantly nodded. Mali and Shepard ran out, taking a left at the door. "Where are we going?" He asked as he jogged next to her.
"To save some friends," Mali replied, "they are in the staterooms, only a few Yards down." She jogged faster, desperate to get to her friends. She turned a corner, and there they were, two big yellow oaken doors, with rooms behind them to service any diplomats who came aboard, however Mali wasn't here to negotiate. There were four guards standing in front of the doors, but Mali didn't even hesitate. She pulled out her pistol and fired taking two down before they even saw her, Shepard took care of the other two. Mali walked up to the door on the right, taking a key card off one of the guard's belts. She slid it in, took a breath, and walked in.
There were two prone forms lying on the bed, their clothes torn and dirty. Definitely Niles and Alexandra, Mali thought. Anger rose in her stomach as she beheld their state—they were both battered and bruised, their skin was covered with deep scab wounds and bruises. Their hair was matted and dirty, like their clothes, they probably hadn't seen a shower for weeks. Both were quietly snoring in blissful sleep, Niles's arm wrapped around Alex's waist. Mali walked over to the bed with Shepard close behind, tears sprang into her eyes as she reached out a hand and shook them.
"Niles! Niles!" Mali hissed into his ear, "Alexandra!" Both groggily opened their eyes, rolling from their sides to their backs to see who was talking.
"Mali?!" Alexandra slowly blinked in confusion. "Have they drugged me again? Am I seeing things again?"
"No!" Mali smiled, "It's me! I'm here to rescue you!" At the word rescue they both sat up. Alex reached out a hand across Niles, and poked her on the shoulder.
"You're real!" She smiled. "You really are here!" Mali dove forward and grabbed them into a fierce hug.
"I'm here to get you guys out." She repeated. "Come on, we don't have much time!" They hurried to their feet and exited, both adults taking weapons from the guards on the floor. Mali was alarmed to see how thin both had gotten, their ribs and elbows poked out like toothpicks. A fresh wave of hatred coursed through her.
"Wait!" Alexandra said, "We have to get the other woman too!" She motioned at the left door. "She was a prisoner with us." Mali slid the key card in and entered, along with Shepard. They opened the door, and Mali gasped. Sleeping on the bed, looking like death, was the woman from her dreams—except older, looking like she was in her late thirties. This woman had clearly been here a long time—she was pale and thin, lank dark hair spilled across the pillows. She was dressed in a loose cotton shirt and pants that looked like they had been freshly given to her. Her cheeks were sunken in and hollow, she hadn't seen a full meal in what looked like centuries. She had woken up as they had walked in, and that was what had really made Mali remember—she had the same gaze as the woman from her dreams, fierce and defiant.
"Miranda Lawson!?" Shepard rushed forward to kneel beside the bed. "I thought she was dead!" He gasped.
"Hi Shepard." Miranda croaked, "Good to finally see you again."
"How—what," He started.
"Not now!" Mali interrupted, "we need to go." Miranda turned her head, as if noticing Mali for the first time. Her eyes were bleary and unfocused, like she was about to slip back into unconsciousness.
"Do I know you?" She asked her. Shepard looked questioningly at Mali, interested.
"You've met?" He asked in surprise.
"I think so—yes." Mali answered, "But there is no time."
"Can you get up?" He asked Miranda, eyeing her frail body. The woman shook her head.
"I am too weak. Leave me. I will just slow you down." Her head hung limply, she had gone unconscious again.
"No way." Shepard quickly scooped her up into his arms and stood. They moved out of the room and back down the hall. They moved at a slower pace because the former inmates were weak, and that gave them time to catch up.
"How did you get here?" Alex asked.
"The reaper attacked my school campus—we are on Thessia." Mali grinned, "You don't know how long I've been waiting for this." Alex grinned too.
"You look better—more…happy." The older woman commented. Mali nodded.
"I am. I've been working through some things, I've had someone to help me." Mali answered, "Although I can't say the same thing about you. What did they do to you?" She asked. Alex grimaced.
"They wanted information," Niles shouldered up, "we didn't give it to them."
"Info on what?" Mali asked.
"You." Alex responded. "Your strength, what you were like, your history—everything. But we didn't tell them."
"Thanks by the way." Niles patted her shoulder. Mali smiled.
"Just returning the favor." She answered with a twinkle in her eye. They got back to the hangar room, and Mali led the way to the section that the core was supposed to be in, however nobody was there.
"Where are they?" She asked, "They should be here." An uneasy feeling started to spread through her body.
"Who are we supposed to be looking for?" Alex asked.
"Them." A voice answered. They turned to see a figure walking towards them, many soldiers following behind. Amidst the black uniforms Mali could see Liara, Oliver, and Cadence bound and gagged, struggling against their bonds. They held up their hands as thirty rifles were trained on them, ready to fire.
"Who are you? How did you find us?!" Mali yelled at the lead figure striding up.
"Oh Mali, don't you remember the very first thing I taught you about fighting?" The man responded. He reached up to unclip his helmet. "You always make sure your opponent is down before turning your back." He finished, lifting it off his face. Mali started in shock, dumbfounded, at the man in front of her. "Hey." Yane said.
"Mali?" Shep inquired. Mali couldn't not believe her eyes, her heart hammered in her chest. She took a step forward, towards Yane.
"Yane? This isn't possible…" She murmured, reaching out a hand to touch his face, but she never got a chance.
"Well this is all very touching, but we have a time schedule to stick too." A ruff voice interrupted. There was a hiss and click, and sounds of gears whining under stress. Mali looked away from Yane long enough to see a man step out form the mass of soldiers. He was almost completely machine, the whole bottom half geared and whirred, and his right arm and face were also made of interconnecting wires and gears within a steel frame. His right eye glowed red—artificial. The parts that were still human had deep scars, but underneath Mali could see that it was an Asian man, mid-thirties.
"Kaiden—Kaiden Alenko?!" Shepard exclaimed. Liara too, was stunned, her eyes were huge over the gag.
"It's Strojnik now, Shepard." Alenko smiled without warmth.
"How—why?" Shepard asked.
"When you left me, on that tower, the bomb went off, and I was ripped to pieces." Alenko frowned, "but I survived. Saren's forces picked me up, and they thought I would be more use to them alive then dead, so they fixed me up, and I entered into Saren's service, and the reaper forces. You never came back for me!" Alenko spat.
"I'm sorry." Shepard shook his head, "we didn't have a choice."
"What happened to never leaving a man behind?!" Alenko almost screamed with fury. "You deserted me!" He turned away, collecting himself. "I have been waiting for this day for years, Shepard. Every day I have spent working was in preparation for this moment, and it has finally come." He turned back around.
"What is going on?" Mali asked. "What do you want? Yane?" But he had backed away to stand at Alenko's side. "You're working for them?" Mali glared at him, wanting answers.
"You don't understand." Yane shook his head, "I have no choice."
"Mali," Kaiden approached her, "It's so glad to finally meet you. You are a hard girl to kidnap." He smiled without humor. Liara struggled against her bonds, fury in her eyes.
"What do you want with me?" Mali growled, hands in the air.
"I would have thought you would have figured it out by now." Alenko responded, "Such a stupid girl." He hit her for no reason, slapping her across her cheek—hard. "Hey!" Shepard petitioned. Yane didn't even flinch when he saw this. Tears sprang up into Mali's eyes as her head snapped to the left, but she held her ground. She saw real hate burning in his eyes.
"Why do you hate me?" Mali asked quietly. Alenko smirked.
"You mean you don't know? I'll have to break it down for you." He smiled without warmth between Shepard and Mali. "Shepard," Alenko laughed mercilessly, "meet your daughter."