Of Cats and Dark Energy
Part 6: Face-Off
Tali and Shepard were going over some recalibrations to the sub-light drives when the Doctor stepped out of his blue box. Tali glanced up and said. "You know, none of us can make anything of that thing. I'd really like to see inside it!"
"No, you wouldn't." The Doctor replied. "You've already got enough to confuse you with the Enterprise. The TARDIS would probably make your head explode."
"TARDIS?" Shepard asked.
"Totally And Radically Driving In Space." The Doctor told him. "Or something else entirely. It depends.
"Glad to see you decided not to dismantle Data. He's one of the less irritating humanoids I know of. You seem to have adjusted to him surprisingly well, Tali'Zorah."
"Data didn't drive me from my homeworld." Tali replied.
"Neither did the geth." The Doctor pointed out. "They drove you from their homeworld. After you, or your people anyway, tried to murder them all."
"Now, wait a minute..." Shepard growled, but Tali caught his hand.
"No, Adam." She said. "Let him have his say. According to one perspective, he's right."
"According to any perspective, I'm right!" The Doctor snapped. "There's only one possible interpretation of the facts. Your people created the geth, the geth got too clever, they scared you and you tried to wipe them out. And they almost let you, they almost didn't defend themselves. Then they learned to fight, and they drove you off."
"And we've been wandering ever since!" There were tears in Talis' voice.
"And whose fault is that?" The Doctor demanded. "Not the geth. They've never hunted you. They did nothing but keep themselves to themselves."
"And help the Reapers!" Shepard snapped.
"Not all of them." Was the reply. "Otherwise, you'd have lost, for all your heroics, Shepard. There are millions, maybe trillions, of geth. Only a tiny minority joined Sovereign, and the other geth want no part of them, or the Reapers."
"How do you know that?" Shepard demanded. "Have you been watching the geth?"
"I know it because it's history in some of the places I've been." The Doctor told him. "History written by geth and quarians together!"
"We go back to the homeworld?" Tali asked.
"Spoilers!" He growled. "Let me ask you something instead, Tali'Zorah. How far advanced is your people's medical research on boosting your immune systems so you can settle a new planet?"
Tali shook her head. "It's not possible. Or it would take generations of adaptation. We decided it was more important to find a way to defeat the geth."
"Defeat the geth, who aren't fighting you!" The Doctor shook his head. "You could ask the salarians – they developed the genophage, after all – or the humans, who cured their own immune system viruses. Some of them would want to help, and probably not ask for anything in return.
"It's not your people, who decided not to do that research, Tali, it's your Admirals. Why do you think that is?"
"The Admiralty Board is charged with keeping us safe." Tali responded, with a hint of uncertainty in her voice.
"Precisely!" The Doctor agreed. "They keep you all safe on a fleet under their command, scared of a geth attack that will probably never happen.
"But what would happen, Tali'Zorah, if you found a planet? If you found a therapy that would help your people live there, without suits? If quarians began to build houses, farm the land, set up businesses?
"is it possible that they might start to think the unthinkable? To propose, I don't know, a civilian government? Maybe even..." he glanced around mock-furtively, then leaned closer and said in a hoarse stage-whisper "...a democratically-elected one?
"Where are your Admiralty Board then? Back to doing what other military leaders do – going every year, cap in hand, to a bunch of civilians for funding! How would your Admirals feel about that, hm?"
With that, he strode away, leaving a dumbstruck Tali still clutching Shepards' hand.
The saddest thing about the massacred asari colony was that so much of it was still intact. Even the most basic asari buildings are touched by that races' deep aesthetic sense, and are as graceful as they are functional. Here, many of them still stood, practically undamaged – a shocking contrast to the bodies that littered the streets and squares.
Shepards' party had stepped out of the shuttle expecting a poisonous atmosphere of decay, but the air was oddly fresh and clean.
"Well, we definitely know it wasn't the Reapers." Shepard noted. "They'd have flattened everything!"
"Daleks don't bother with buildings, unless they want to use them." The Doctor stated. "They're all about efficient killing, not random vandalism."
"Let's take a look." Shepard told them. "Move out."
The team knew their assignments. Garrus climbed up to the roof of the shuttle, which had landed on a raised platform - designed for air-cars - in the middle of town. The lanky turian readied his rifle and settled down to wait. From here he would see any incoming attack from a long way off, and was in position to cover a retreat. Jacob, Zaeed and Grunt set off, locked and loaded, to quarter the area for survivors, hostiles and anything that might be useful.
Shepard escorted the investigators. Tali, Data and the Doctor were all scanning the area; the quarian with her omni-tool, the android with a hand-held device he called a tricorder, and the TimeLord with a device that emitted a blue light and a trilling sound. Mordin and Dr Chakwas – the Normandys' Chief Medical Officer - set off for the nearest body.
"Remarkable." Mordin said, looking at his omni-tool. "Massive dose of neutron radiation. Gamma rays. Death on molecular level, like a biotic warp attack. Much more powerful and effective, though."
"This body is already partially mummified." Chakwas noted. "It's hot and dry here, but I'd have expected at least some decomposition."
Overhearing the conversation, the Doctor approached and scanned the body with his device, then nodded. "You see that a lot where the Daleks use their main weapon." He explained. "The weapon is designed to kill every form of life. That includes decay bacteria."
Chakwas raised an eyebrow. "Of course." She said. "The bacteria live inside the body, feeding on waste products from the metabolic processes. Once the metabolism stops, they begin to feed on the body itself, causing decomposition. If they died with the body, there would be no decay and so nothing to attract insects or animals."
"The Daleks are very thorough." The Doctor noted with grim irony.
"And highly-efficient, it would seem." Data announced. He and Tali were standing beside a structure that stood out among the others for its stark utilitarianism.
"That's a ground-defence cannon." Shepard said.
"Indeed." Data agreed. "You will note that it has been disabled by a single, accurate blast from an energy weapon similar to a phaser. By analysing the blast pattern, I was able to determine that the beam must have been fired from low orbit, with remarkable precision."
"Obviously the ground defences were a threat, at least." Shepard noted. "So they took them out from orbit, first. Smart."
"You have no idea." The Doctor remarked.
They carried on.
"I am unable to get many satisfactory readings." Data said. "The intervening time has eroded most energy signatures. Observation of the physical evidence indicates a sudden and overwhelming attack, conducted with ruthless efficiency. The placement of bodies, dropped small arms and expended thermal clips in clusters in certain positions shows that any attempts at organised defence were quickly overcome. The same areas show unusual residual dark energy readings."
Shepard nodded. "As a race, the asari have a high proportion of biotics. They'll have used their powers as well as weapons. Not that it seems to have helped."
"They didn't know what they were fighting." Tali pointed out. "I'm uploading any omni-tools I can find. There are some readings, but nothing I can make sense of. You don't get time to do much scanning when you're being shot at."
Jacobs' voice crackled in Shepards' ear. "Commander? We found the Command Centre."
"On my way." Shepard responded.
The Command Centre was a large, single-storey building that occupied one side of a square. As they entered they found Grunt, gently carrying an asari body and laying it down with a line of others along one wall of the foyer. He turned to Shepard.
"This is bad." He said. "I'm a krogan, battlefields don't bother me, I'm bred for them. But this was cold-blooded slaughter. It makes my plates itch. I want to meet one of these Daleks, Shepard. And when I do, I'm going to kill it!"
Shepard nodded. "Duly noted." He replied. He was a little taken aback by the statement, coming as it did from a 'perfect specimen' of the most warlike race in the Galaxy. Oddly, it was Data who seemed to understand.
"The Klingons are a warrior race," he stated, "but this would disgust them, also. They would find no honour or glory in it."
They found Jacob and Zaeed in what seemed to be the main monitor room. Jacob indicated the wall of active but blank screens: "This facility seems to have been shared between the commandos, the local militia and police." He said. "Best we can figure out, the commandos were here because there was a nest of vorcha out in the back-country, raiding farms. They may still be out there."
"No." The Doctor said. "The Daleks will have killed them as well."
"If you say so," Jacob allowed, "you're the expert.
"Anyway, as you can see, we got the power on, but we can't access any of the security vids. We know they're there, but they seem to be locked. Whoever did it was probably trying to protect them from these Daleks."
"Right!" Tali said. "Let me see." She began tapping away at the interface. "Looks like asari military encryption. I'm going to have to hack it, give me a moment. Come on, you little bosh'tet! Dammit, the asari are worse than humans for forgetting that not every species has five digits!"
"It's an asari colony." Shepard pointed out. "They wouldn't be expecting a quarian to use their gear."
"Adam Shepard!" Tali snapped, not taking her eyes off the console. "Don't you dare be reasonable with me when I'm complaining!"
"No, dear." Shepard replied contritely. "Of course not, dear."
"Oh, you are so going to pay for that when I get you alone!" She promised.
Jacob was overcome with a fit of coughing and had to turn away. Zaeed rolled his eyes. Data raised an eyebrow at the Doctor, who shrugged.
"They remind me of a couple I knew back on Earth, in the 21st Century." He said. "What was the name? Potter! Harry and Ginny Potter. Only he was a wizard and she was a witch."
"Got you!" Tali exulted, as images suddenly appeared on the screens. Then her tone changed as she shrank against Shepard. "Oh, Keelah!"
The images were terrifying, even for the hardened veterans watching them. Any lingering idea that the Daleks looked vaguely comical was wiped out forever, now that they saw them in action. To see something so utterly unlike any living species, something whose appearance suggested a robotic drone, acting with intelligence and precision was bad enough. But to realise, as a soldier, that these things were reacting with the same instincts and awareness that he did, was profoundly shocking to Shepard.
Only Data retained his detachment. "They seem to possess Transporter technology." He noted. "They beam down in squads, several at once in tactically advantageous positions, then spread out. They seem to prefer remaining on the ground, taking flight only when it is advantageous or necessary to do so."
Tali turned on him, then relaxed. "I was about to ask how you can be so calm." She said. "But you can't help it, can you? You don't want to be, I can tell."
He shrugged. "I lack the ability to experience or express emotion as you do. But what the Daleks do is entirely antithetical to my base programming, which is to preserve and protect life. It is also in direct opposition to everything I have learned in StarFleet. I do not know if the sensation I experience is actually revulsion, or merely discordance, but it is extremely unpleasant."
There was an undertone in the androids' calm voice that boded no good to any Dalek he might encounter.
"We need to get this all uploaded to the Normandy." Shepard decided. "We can analyse it properly there."
"Good." The Doctor said. "There are some images of that Dalek saucer I want to get a closer look at. There's something not quite right."
Under pressure from Dr Chakwas and Yeoman Chambers, Shepard had finally insisted that everyone get a few hours' sleep. It had helped, people looked more alert as they gathered in the Briefing Room.
"OK," Shepard began. "What do we have?"
"Well, the first thing," the Doctor said, "is that the saucer is crippled. We were able to enhance some of the images, and from what I can see, their hyperdrive is irreparably damaged. That means they're stuck at sublight speed until they can find a substitute.
"That explains why there haven't been any more attacks. The next colony – so Joker tells me – is months away at sublight."
"They do have a substitute." Tali said. "The security vids at the space-port showed Daleks removing the mass-effect engines from two cargo freighters and - how do you say it, Data? - beaming them up to the saucer.
"How long would it take them to retro-fit those drives to their ship?"
"Not very." The Doctor allowed. "But even if they do, they have to power them. Daleks know about dark energy, but like most races in that universe, they don't use it -there just isn't enough about. Getting that part on stream will take longer. How fast can they go once they do?"
"Standard civilian engines from older model freighters." Tali noted. "That saucer is much, much bigger. Best estimate, perhaps light speed by two. Slower than the Normandy."
"Much slower," this was EDI, "when you take into account that they cannot use the relays."
"Why not?" The Doctor asked.
"Using the mass relays requires more than a mass-effect engine." EDI replied. "A ship needs to identify itself to the relay, and programme in the appropriate coordinates for the relay it wishes to reach. This may involve jumping through several relays in sequence. There is no evidence from the colonys' systems to indicate that the Daleks have acquired a map of the relays, and they most certainly do not possess the security codes, which are built into ships at the point of construction."
"So, they're going to be slow." Jack said. "That doesn't tell us where they're going."
"I think I can guess." The Doctor said. "They'll have analysed those engines, and they'll know they need better ones, but they'll want to build them themselves -they won't trust anything built by an inferior race. They'll go where they can find raw materials for that. Specifically, Element Zero. It's the only one they won't be able to synthesise."
"There is a turian Element Zero mining colony in a nearby system." EDI said. "Commander Data and I have tracked emissions from the Dalek ion drive. Extrapolation of their course indicates that as their destination. Their ETA, assuming they completed retrofit of the mass-effect engines within a day, is three days from now. We can get there in seventeen hours."
"Sounds good." Shepard said. "But what do we do when we get there?"
"We've analysed their tactics." Garrus said. "They seem to operate in squads of between five and twenty, depending on the area to be covered and the likelihood of opposition. Individual squads operate on verbal orders, but co-ordinate with others by internal radio. First thing to do is jam their comms, preferably without jamming ours."
"The asari just didn't have what they needed." Zaeed noted. "They did the best they could, making up squads from militia and police, and putting a commando in charge of each squad. But they only had small arms and biotics. No custom ammo, no heavy weapons and no Tech specialists. The Dalek shields and armour were too much for them.
"We could do better against one, maybe two squads. Against a whole army, we 'd have no chance. And if they learn as fast as the Doc here says, we've only got one chance, now."
"Then we'd better make the most of it!" Shepard said. "Ideas?"
"I have one." The Doctor said grimly. "You won't like it. I don't like it. But it's the only one that might work. But I need to speak to Picard."
"That can be arranged." Data told him. "This ship has a point-to-point quantum entanglement communications array. With EDIs' help, I should be able to reconfigure it to reach the Enterprise."
"Then let's get to it!" Shepard said.
In one sense, it was good to be back in armour again. In another, it reminded Shepard that he wasn't getting any younger. Spending two years dead gives you a perspective on your own mortality. Back in the day, the hell-bent-for-leather young N7 marine Shepard would have led a boarding party onto the Dalek saucer, regardless of risk and consequence. Now, he was getting as cagey as Zaeed.
Fortunately, this was a turian colony and Shepard was still a Spectre. That had got him a hearing, and the discipline inherent in turian society had done the rest. Now the miners had hidden themselves in the deep tunnels, where the veins of eezo made them near-impossible to detect, while Shepard and his team had taken position in this warehouse.
The Dalek saucer had arrived dead on schedule. The colonys' single defence cannon had fired once and been taken out. Now it was time to wait.
"Commander," EDIs' voice came over the comlink, "the saucer has lowered shields, apparently preparing to transport forces groundside."
"Bravo team, you have a go!" Shepard barked.
"Acknowledged." Thane was as calm as ever.
"Dalek forces are now on the surface." EDI reported. "One squad of five headed to your location. Two squads of twenty each commencing a sweep of the mining colony surface buildings."
"You get that, Mordin?" Shepard asked.
"Yes." The salarian replied from the Hammerhead, parked in an abandoned mine two klicks away. "Moving out now."
"ECM and cyber warfare suites fully deployed." EDI told him. "Dalek comms are now jammed groundside. I am attempting to hack the saucer systems.
"Alert. Dalek squad has reached your location."
The lock was burned off the main door, and it was rammed open. Five Daleks advanced in a tight wedge. Seeing them close to sent a chill down Shepards' spine. He had fought beside turians, salarians and krogan, against geth and rachni. He had had intimate encounters with an asari and a quarian. But he had never seen anything quite so alien as these creatures. Even the jellyfish-like hanar bore some resemblance to a recognisable life-form, more so than the Daleks.
Now the squad came to a halt in front of the lone figure who stood in the middle of the warehouse floor. The lead Dalek – nothing but its position at the front of the wedge differentiated it from the others – swept its eye-stalk around as if looking him up and down, then spoke in a harsh, squawking, synthetic voice.
"You are the Doc-tor." A statement, not a question.
"Well spotted." The Doctor replied. "Journeys end in lovers' meetings, as Will once said. Yes, I'm here, and you know what that means, don't you?"
"What does it mean?" The Dalek asked.
"It means that you should clear off." The Doctor told it. "Find a nice planet somewhere. Build houses, go into business, make friends, raise little Daleks. You're in a different universe now, you've got a chance no Dalek has ever had. A chance to be something other than what Davros made you to be."
"Dav-ros is dead." The Dalek replied, and Shepard was astonished to hear loss as well as anger in that voice. "We saw his ship fall in-to the jaws of the Night-mare Child at the Gates of Elys-ium. We tried to re-group, but the Time-Lords att-acked us with Dark En-er-gy. Now we are here. We must re-turn to the War."
"I know." The Doctor said. "I was there. I tried to save him. Even if you could go back, there's no point. The Time-War is over. You lost. The TimeLords lost. Nobody won. I Time-locked the whole thing. Somebody had to."
"You lie." The Dalek said. "The Da-leks can-not be de-feat-ed. You sur-vive, there-fore the Time-Lords sur-vive. The War can ne-ver be o-ver un-til the Time-Lords are ex-ter-min-at-ed. You are a-lone here, as we are. You will be ex-ter-min-at-ed!"
"You're consistent." The Doctor sighed. "I'll give you that. I almost admire it." He raised his voice. "All right, do what you have to!"
At the signal, Jacob popped out of cover on the Dalek flank and fired the Arc Projector. Distributing heavy weapons among his squad had been a calculated risk on Shepards' part, since, as a former N7 marine commando, he was the only one with heavy weapon training. It seemed, however, to be paying off. Jacob handed the cumbersome device like the veteran he was, and its combination of ionising laser and high-voltage electricity did just what Shepard had hoped, bouncing from one Dalek to another in a spectacular display that produced an immediate reaction.
"A-lert! A-lert!" Screamed the lead Dalek. "Shields com-pro-mised!" There was a sharp report as Garrus, perched somewhere up in the rafters, neatly amputated its eye-stalk with his rifle. "Vi-sion im-paired!" The Dalek squawked.
Shepard remembered what the Doctor had told them all earlier. "If you must fight them, keep the pressure up! If you let up for a second, they'll adjust, and then somebody will die!"
He flung a powerful biotic shockwave attack into the midst of them, breaking the wedge and throwing them in all directions.
"Get over here!" Jacob yelled, exerting a biotic pull that yanked a Dalek off the ground and set it floating helplessly toward him.
"Nice one!" Zaeed allowed, before bringing up the M-100. The rapid-fire grenade launcher broke the unshielded Dalek wide open. Something indescribable fell out with a shrill shriek to land on the floor with a nasty splat. Whether it survived the fall, Shepard never knew, because seconds later it was crushed by its own ruined armour.
Garrus fired again from the rafters, this time with the M-622 Avalanche. The supercharged cryo ammo turned the eyeless lead Dalek into a frosted statue. Shepard unleashed a burst from his Tempest SMG, the rapid-fire, high-velocity rounds shattered the upper portion of the Dalek -rendered brittle by the cold. The thing inside, was, incredibly, unaffected by either hit. It was all brain and tentacles and a single mad eye. Motivated as much by disgust as necessity, Shepard hit it with a warp attack that shrivelled it instantly.
Another Dalek swung toward him, but then Grunt hit it from the side, at full charge. 300 kilos of armoured krogan moving at a speed better than the best human sprinter is pretty much an irresistible force, and Grunt rammed the Dalek against the reinforced wall of the warehouse. Jumping back, he unlimbered his Claymore. This massive shotgun, so heavy and powerful that only a krogan could use it, or stand the recoil, was loaded with disruptor ammo, designed to rip through armour and mechs. The first and second rounds tore the armour apart, the third blew the thing inside into gory rags.
Tali had hit another one with an overload attack. It stood, sparking and twitching. Data rose from cover and levelled his weapon. A beam of what Shepard had been told was phased plasma struck the Dalek full on, chewing through the armour and killing the mutant within.
All this had taken only minutes, but the fifth Dalek had already recovered itself. It fired at Data, a green-white beam that struck the android full in the chest – and had no effect. "Re-mod-u-late!" The Dalek said. The next bolt it fired was blue and crackled, like the Arc Projector. Data convulsed for a second, then collapsed like a marionette with cut strings.
"BASTARD!" Screamed Jack, her entire form flaring with Dark Energy. With a gesture, she flung the Dalek up toward the ceiling, where it hung, spinning madly, but still shouting "Ex-ter-min-ate! Ext-ter-min-ate!"
Zaeed emptied the clip of his Vindicator assault rifle at it, but its shields were back up. It began to fire as it spun. This time, bolts of red energy. One struck Grunt and knocked him flat. Another hit Jacob and flung him across the warehouse like a rag doll.
Then Tali hit it with overload, shorting the shield. Shepard raised his own heavy weapon. The Collector-made particle beam gun he had captured on Horizon had served him well against the Human-Reaper Larva, and now it was their best chance of crippling the Dalek before one of its shots found Jack and set it free.
His first shot sheared the gun-stick off. Then he took advantage of the spin to carve several deep furrows in the armour. That done, he nodded to Jack.
She didn't let it fall, she was too angry for that. She slammed the Dalek into the concrete floor, where the suit fractured along the lines Shepard had cut and fell apart. Grunt, already back on his feet, strode over and brought a massive foot down on the bulging brain of the revealed monster with a roar of triumph.
Shepard shared a glance with Tali, then he made for Jacob while she went over to where Jack was now kneeling beside Data.
"Is he dead?" She asked Tali anxiously. The worry in her face and voice reminded the quarian woman of just how young Jack was. Barely out of her teens, if she were a quarian she'd only just be thinking about her Pilgrimage. With that in mind, Tali refrained from pointing out that Data had never been alive in the first place. Instead she scanned him with her omni-tool.
"Hard to say." She admitted. "It looks as if he's just..switched off. If I had to guess, I'd say that the Dalek weapon threatened to overload his systems, so they shut down to protect themselves. Maybe that LaForge fellow knows how to switch him back on."
"Switch him on?" Jacks' face lit. "Of course! Help me turn him, Tali!"
But the androids' dead weight defied their efforts, until Grunt suddenly loomed over them. "Need a hand?" He asked.
"I need to get this side up." Jack told him. "Dammit, he didn't feel this heavy when he was on top of me!"
"Too much information." Tali remarked, watching as Jack snaked a hand up Data's uniform top and along his side. "But if you're trying to shock him awake, you're going in the wrong direction!"
"Are all quarians so dirty-minded?" Jack asked.
"Probably a cross-species infection." Tali replied. "Hard to tell. I'm the only quarian ever to have sex with a human."
"Now that was too much information." Grunt chided her. "Found what you're looking for, Jack?"
"I think so." Jack allowed. "Let's hope this works."
She made a quick movement with her hand, and Data jerked. Then his eyes opened and he sat up. Jack sat back on her heels and said. "Shit, Data, you nearly gave me a heart attack back there!"
"You do realise that we'd have had to sell the Normandy to reimburse your Captain if you had to be scrapped?" Tali asked.
"I am sure that StarFleet has me adequately insured." Data told her.
"That wouldn't have covered what your pal Worf would've taken out of my hide!" Grunt observed. "Most anyone else, I wouldn't care, but him I don't want to piss off!"
They all got to their feet just as Shepard came over. "How's Jacob?" Tali asked.
"Pretty banged up." Shepard admitted. "Some broken bones and internal injuries. I've pumped him full of medi-gel, so he'll be stable until we can get him to Chakwas.
"You OK, Data?"
"All systems nominal, Commander." Data replied. "My systems would have reset in an hour, but Jacks' knowledge of my structure allowed her to bypass that. Thank you, Jack."
"Any time." She told him.
He nodded, then went over to where the Doctor was standing over one of the wrecked Daleks.
"You good, Grunt?" Shepard asked.
Grunt chuckled. "I'm a krogan, remember? We heal fast. Armour's gonna need some work, though!"
"So, Jack," Tali wanted to know, "what did you do you to Data? And how did you know to do it?"
"He has an on-off switch." Jack revealed. "When he was built, it was put there so the colonists would feel safe. His father never had a chance to disconnect it.
"He told me about it when we were...together. My hands tend to wander and he didn't want me accidentally switching him off in the...middle of...everything."
She was blushing furiously – and uncharacteristically. They decided to leave it at that.
The Doctor was looking at the Dalek remains, but his eyes were far away. He seemed to be speaking as much to himself as to Data.
"They're such an incredible species." He said sadly. "Brilliant, inventive, adaptable, fearless. They could do so much, if not for one flaw. They hate every other living thing. If I could only change that! It's what made me stop short of wiping them out, even when I had the chance, time after time. The potential."
It was just then that the Hammerhead arrived outside.
Mordin Solus piloted the Hammerhead fighting vehicle out of the abandoned mine and up to a rise above the settlement. He did so in a style most others would have considered near-suicidal, but which in his view was moderately cautious. Salarians have an average life-expectancy of around forty Standard years, a third of that of a healthy 22nd Century human, and less than an eyeblink compared to the asari or krogan. Despite this, they had achieved as much as any of the other races. Salarians talk fast, move fast, think fast and work fast, and Mordin was considered hyper even by their standards.
So he was in position by the time the Daleks had begun their sweep of the mining camp. They were not hurrying, but being thorough. This was good, as it gave Mordin time to deploy the weapon he and Data had developed. It was based on the Seeker swarms the Collectors had used to paralyse the entire populations of the colonies they had kidnapped. But unlike the organic, insectile Seekers, this swarm was composed of thousands of metal spheres, about ten centimetres in diameter, with a tiny but efficient mass-effect generator at the core and certain other special additions.
Mordin released the swarm from the roof-hatch of the Hammerhead and sent it over the mining town in a compact formation, at a safe height.
As he had expected, the Daleks -finding the town deserted- had congregated in the open area in front of the mine entrance. They were clearly moving into formation to enter the mines. Mordin dropped the swarm around and among them in a loose formation, keeping the individual drones moving randomly. Before the Daleks could react, he activated the emitters.
Each drone could emit a small Dark Energy field, but as it met the ones generated by others, the total power increased geometrically. Coming as they did from a universe where that energy type is seldom encountered in a free state, the Daleks were poorly protected against it, with the result that their shields were shorted and their systems momentarily overloaded.
But Dark Energy was not the only thing the drones had released. Trillions of tiny, molecule-sized machines that the android Data had designed – he called them 'nanoprobes' – had also been emitted, and now swarmed the Daleks invisibly.
The Doctor had told them that, while the Dalek suits could be sealed, and were equipped with rebreather units for operations in outer space or lethal atmospheres, in areas where the air was breathable, the Daleks did not use the facility. Apparently it was deemed more efficient, especially since the mutants inside the suits were highly resistant to radiation and pollution, due to the state of their homeworld, Skaro. Datas' nanoprobes simply slipped through the intakes, past any filters and found their way to the creature in the suit. Once in contact, they released a tranquillising compound that effectively stopped the Daleks generating the power they needed – the emotional energy – to operate the suits.
Mordin allowed himself a satisfied nod as he checked the sensors. The Daleks were inert. Alive but out of action, for now. He set off for the rendezvous with Shepards' squad.
The tension in the Normandys' CIC was palpable. Mordin was chain-smoking, despite the signs forbidding that activity. Garrus and Zaeed seemed unable to take their eyes from the monitor stations they had appropriated. Grunt and Jack paced constantly, she soundlessly, his heavy tread sending vibrations through the deck when he passed close. Tali clung to Shepards' hand with a grip that was almost painful. Only Data seemed calm, but his eyes moved constantly, missing nothing. The Doctor brooded in a corner.
EDI spoke, her voice sounding strained. "The saucer has lowered shields. They are transporting the paralysed squads back up, along with the remains of the ones killed in the warehouse."
"Get the shuttle in!" Shepard barked.
"I can jam either external or internal sensors, not both." EDI warned. "If the shuttle is to approach unseen, then the Daleks may be able to detect Thane and Kasumi."
"We need to rely on them." Shepard gritted. "They're two of the stealthiest people I know. If they don't want to be found, the Daleks will have a Hell of a job finding them."
The minutes stretched on. "Come on, come on!" Tali muttered.
Then EDI spoke again, urgently. "I am detecting increased activity in Dalek systems. A full-scale alert has been initiated. My hacks have been detected and are being overridden."
There was a bright flash from outside, and they heard Joker swear.
"Shuttle detected and destroyed." EDI announced solemnly. "Crewmen Yardley and DeSoto lost. Pickup was not made. I cannot pinpoint Bravo teams' position. Communication inbound."
"Normandy," It was Kasumis' voice, but without her usual devil-may-care tone. "we have a situation here."
Shepard turned to ask the Doctors' advice, but the enigmatic TimeLord was gone.