Chapter 44 – It Ain't Over Till The Rachni Sing
"Okay…. Predator or prey. Which are we now?" muttered Joker as he stared out at the deceivingly benign space before them, with the knowledge that the Leviathans were out there. Terra could hear him swallow.
Time will tell, she thought. Then Shepard shook off that instant feeling of being hunted and pulled on the mask of the hunter. "We're the only thing we will ever be if our lives are threatened, Joker."
"Hell, yes," he said with gusto, seeming to absorb the power in her words. "So, what now?"
"Now we wait for them to make their move." Only Shepard wasn't exactly waiting. She knew that there was some kind of connection that was automatically established when she was within the Leviathans' proximity. Were they close enough?
Opening her mind just a little, she reached out like she had through the artifact. There was silence, but she could feel the prickle at the back of her neck as the spores reacted to the unseen presence. "I know you're out there. Here we are. Just my ship and you."
Feeling the slight push as they tried to invade her mind again, Shepard held firm, deliberately exuding derision. In response, she felt their enraged affront. Good.
"You seek our destruction, yet all you will find is your own."
"You sound so confident, but I can practically smell your fear," she taunted.
"When you have been dealt with, your offspring will suffer greatly for your impudence."
Expecting that threat, Shepard had hardened herself to it. The Leviathans wanted to sense her fear - they got nothing. "You'll never have the chance," she vowed. Closing her mind off denied them a retort; she was the one in control.
That's when she got her first visual through the cockpit window. A faint outline of a single Leviathan, barely perceptible, its distance making it appear small enough to reach out and grab with her hand. "There you are," she murmured.
"Oh, shit," whispered Joker. He looked back down at his screens. "I still haven't got a clear reading from our systems, though. Just what Edi picked up. Some kind of scrambler perhaps?"
"They're organic." Shepard reminded him, noting that the Leviathan wasn't getting any bigger. It wasn't moving. "No reason to think they'd register the same way."
"I agree," said Edi. "I believe that the muted emissions are from their in-built technology. However, it is my opinion that they are intensifying the signal on purpose."
That immediately sent alarm bells through Shepard. She could only see one Leviathan.
"Uh… Why would they want to give themselves away?" worried Joker. "They had an advantage."
"They still do," Shepard rushed out. "Joker move!"
Without questioning her, Joker accelerated Normandy harshly, just as two Leviathans hurtled out of the darkness on either side, narrowly missing them.
It was a distraction, and it had nearly worked, except Shepard had read the damage report from the ship of Liara's agent, Rel Zorran – the one that had detected the Leviathans first-hand and had died as a result – and it had been consistent with crushing from the starboard and port side. She always gathered as much intelligence as she could, and it had proven itself invaluable - in more ways than one.
Shepard wasn't about to go down that easily, and there were checks that had to be done before she was ready to respond.
The cameras fed back the scene outside. The Leviathans had swerved away from each other at the last moment and were heading apart, vanishing back into the void.
"Phew!" puffed Joker. "That was close! Damn if you weren't right, earlier. With their pulses useless, they're using the only other advantage they have: their size. I was really hoping you were wrong," he admitted.
"I know, Joker. Sorry."
Ahead of them the first Leviathan still hadn't moved, like it was merely watching over proceedings.
"Projecting that emission drowns out any others I might have detected otherwise," stated Edi. "With it in place, it prevents me from being able to pinpoint the positions of the other two."
"Clever," Joker said, grudgingly.
"Bring us around," ordered Shepard. "I want to keep our distance from that other one. We've more chance avoiding two than three. You're going to have to be on your toes with those others, though, Joker," warned Shepard. "Looks like we're down to camera visuals only." That meant Joker really would have to react within a seconds-timeframe.
"I've got this," he assured her.
"Good. I'll go make sure everyone's ready. For now, your remit is to evade. Edi, throw out some heavy fire for good measure. I'd be more than happy if we can weaken them, and they need to believe this is our attack."
"Understood, Shepard."
Making her way through the CIC was easier said than done. It was difficult to move through the mass of rachni whilst trying to maintain balance as Joker sent the ship into another jolting move that indicated the Leviathans were trying again. Getting into the elevator was a relief.
On Engineering deck, the corridor presented another heaving crowd that spilled into the holds and down beneath Engineering, though Shepard had insisted they keep Engineering itself clear. Almost falling through the doors, she saw Massani leaning casually against a control panel with arms crossed, obviously choosing to take refuge here. But she hadn't come to check on her newest bane. Adams looked up at her as she approached, his brow furrowed and glistening.
"How are we doing?" Shepard asked him.
"Normandy's not designed to carry so many. The extra weight was already starting to strain the engines, and the sudden draw required for Joker's manoeuvring is making things worse. It's a constant battle to keep the core from over-heating."
"Then I'm really thankful you stayed," she said sincerely, reprimanding herself for not considering the rachni's presence could a problem to the ship itself. It was an oversight that could have cost her the mission before it had even begun.
"We're a team," waved off Adams.
She would have hugged him had he not looked so busy. Instead, she took one of the stations, providing assistance. "Ready to see how she copes with a little more?"
"As I'll ever be."
"Edi. Disable PPP, then initiate and extend the shields." It was a risk, but they couldn't have both, and they needed the shields.
"Shields extended," confirmed Edi.
Several warnings sounded out, and Shepard and Adams dealt with each one, adjusting and re-directing power where possible. Then a tremor rocked the ship making them cling to the surfaces in order to remain standing.
"Joker. Sit-rep."
"Had a close shave, is all. It's all good."
"Adams?"
"Everything's stabilising for now. Until the next crazy stunt her pilot decides to put her through."
"Good. What's he been doing?" Shepard jerked her thumb over her shoulder towards Massani, who was silently watching them.
"Occasionally cursing from what I can gather."
"Then he's your assistant. Massani," she called out. "You're Adams' dogs-body." She could admit she'd deliberately phrased it that way to irk him.
"Like hell," snapped Massani, standing upright.
"Do you want any chance of surviving this?"
His jaw clenching in irritation that there was only one sensible answer to that and it involved him doing what she'd said, Massani sent her a look that would have had the hardiest soldier snivelling to the ground begging for mercy.
"Save the glare for someone who doesn't have Hackett for a father," she flung back, unimpressed. "You pale in comparison."
Adams wasn't too preoccupied to be able to appreciate that, and he laughed under his breath. "Don't worry, Mr Massani. I'll keep it simple for you."
"Two goddamn smart-asses," grumbled Massani.
With no time to stick around to aid Adams herself, Shepard headed back out into the throng to the elevator and continued down to where the bulk of rachni waited.
oOo
Joker was in the zone, where everything was in sharp focus and nothing but what he was looking at on his screens entered his mind. Edi relayed her own observations to him with the lightning speed that could only be achieved by an AI, and he reacted almost as quickly.
After the last charge from the Leviathans, he had to roll his shoulders to work out the tension from the near-miss, but not once did he take his eyes from the screens. Even blinking carried risks of missing a few crucial seconds.
"Jeff!" warned Edi, but he'd already caught the shadow that blocked some distant stars.
He quickly banked, taking his ship up and out of harm's way with relative ease, then watched smugly as the Leviathans were left without a target. "Yeah, suck it up, assholes."
Once they'd circled to face them, Edi fired the guns, catching them with several strikes that singed their way across the tough hides before the creatures disappeared into the blackness.
"Okay, Joker…. This is it." Shepard's voice demanded his attention in the gentlest way.
"Aye, aye, Shepard," he answered in the same tone. Running his hand over the panel in front of him, Joker sighed. "Come on, girl. You can do this. You alright, Edi?"
"I am. Do not concern yourself with me. Even if this shell does not survive, I will still exist by way of the back-up. The same cannot be said of the rest of those on board. Stay safe, Jeff."
He didn't answer that; just inhaled deeply and brought Normandy around. "Here we go."
After checking the first Leviathan was still in the far distance, he made all the same moves he'd done before. Only this time, as the Leviathan duo rushed into view, Joker was a little too slow to out-manoeuvre them.
The shudder was horrifying as the Leviathans impacted their shielding.
"We have contact!" informed Joker, his heart racing.
"Shields at 67%," announced Edi. "Re-routing power."
"Shit, this is truly insane!" The camera views fed back a close-up of the Leviathans he'd have been happy never to see. Instinctively, he tried to shift Normandy, but his ship was wedged, only their enhanced shields keeping the weight at bay.
O
Adams was running from one station to another, frantically trying to reduce the stress on the drive-core. Massani was monitoring the output, shouting out where it was going into the red, so Adams could deal with it. He wiped his arm across his forehead to remove the sweat. The grating beneath his feet was vibrating as the ship tried to move, but it was like they were clamped into a docking bay – they weren't going anywhere – and the effort was pushing them to breaking point.
"Joker! You're gonna have to ease up or we're in trouble!"
"If you could see what I'm seeing, you'd realise how ridiculous that sounds! But okay…."
A serious Massani looked over at Adams and nodded that everything was calming down at bit, and Adams steadied himself where he stood. He just hoped he didn't have a heart attack before this ended.
O
Taking his hands from the helm was against every instinct within Joker, but it had to be - this was part of the plan – and he'd done all he could to make it appear they'd attempted escape. The rest was up to the rachni.
When Shepard had first told him of what she was risking with the ship, he'd been surprised to find it hadn't bothered him like he thought it would. He'd come a long way since the first Normandy, and it had taught him that as much as he adored the ship, it was those within her that made it special. Right now, that's all he truly cared about.
After the initial hit against the shields, the Leviathans had pulled back on the force, and now began to merely float through the shields, knowing it only prevented a fast-moving projectile.
It was time.
Joker hit the control to release the bay door. The Leviathans were in for an awakening.
O
The opening bay door was all the rachni needed to know what to do, and Shepard and Cortez were pressed against the armoury workstation to avoid being carried out along with them.
Shepard switched the nearest terminal to show the feeds from the external cameras, and watched with an uneasy fascination at the sheer number of rachni that blackened the Normandy as they spread across her hull, safe beneath the extended shielding the Leviathans would soon wish they hadn't passed through. Behind her, the rachni were swarming down from the upper decks, via the open elevator shaft that Edi had cleared by leaving the cab outside Shepard's cabin.
Returning her attention to the screens, she and Cortez witnessed the rachni begin their onslaught.
oOo
Kaidan had taken to leaning against the viewing window of Hackett's ship. He'd made himself walk away many times, tried to bury himself in the latest reports only to end them with nothing absorbed, and finding himself right back at this spot seeking a sighting of Normandy it wasn't possible to see yet. But he remained, regardless.
The door opened behind him and he saw Hackett's reflection join him.
"I just got the first reports from Parnack. Chu'Tak reasserted himself as his tribe's… Primary, was it?" He continued at Kaidan's nod. "I have footage from our beacons, if you're in need of a distraction. Two yahg one on one gives a new meaning to the term brutal, and that was between those trying to seize the alpha spot for themselves, before Chu'Tak set foot back on his soil. Whatever the salarians did in that lab, it made one strong yahg – the other contenders didn't stand a chance. Oh, and after the scuttlebutt spread about your own successful fight with him, you've achieved a new level of renown amongst your impressed colleagues."
"Huh! Not my intention, but if it gets people to look at biotics in a more favourable light, I'll go with it."
"Indeed. Anyway, from what they're seeing on the ground, though the leaders are still meeting with Chu'Tak, it appears the bulk of the yahg are dispersing."
"Good. For now, at least."
"I've started to recall our remaining fleets back to Arcturus. The geth have offered to stay on patrol and assess the situation further, so the other races are also retreating."
"Just one more hurdle to jump," sighed Kaidan. His eyes roamed the stars. "She's there, right now." He knew because Terra had requested that Edi keep him updated periodically. "They've made contact."
"We're not far now," Hackett assured him, then jerked his chin to towards the empty view. "She'll be within sight, soon."
Not soon enough for Kaidan. From the tightness he noticed in Hackett's jaw, it was a thought the man shared.
oOo
The hundreds of rachni soldiers were viciously tenacious in their role, listening to their queen's song that called for retribution over the violation of their minds that nearly brought on their extinction.
Acid spat from hundreds of them at once, all aimed with no chance of missing their large targets.
The ferocity and swiftness of the attack had stunned the two Leviathans, as the hardened layers of eons-old skin was melted away. They flailed in pain, their weight working against any retreat as the shields blocked out the weightless effect of space.
Working as one mind, the rachni crawled upon each other, gaining height in order to reach the Leviathans themselves, then snapping out their claws into the newly-exposed flesh, almost anchoring the Leviathans. Others travelled right up onto the Leviathans themselves, though taking care to remain beneath the shielding, where they continued their attack.
It was relentless. It was the rachni's justice.
oOo
Disbelief. An old emotion barely recognised, but that was what it was. It was fleeting, but no less enraging to the First. The last time a remnant of that feeling had been reborn was when Shepard had led this cycle to triumph against those they called Reapers.
To feel it now, in this situation, was unacceptable.
But the rachni were controllable. Shepard had made a mistake. The queen may have found a way to drown them out over the intricate neural network they used, but at this proximity the Leviathans' strength would be unfiltered. They would send out that warped tone which drove the young rachni minds insane, and Shepard would die.
They were the Leviathans – the apex race. They demanded tribute.
oOo
"Wow…" murmured Cortez, from beside Shepard, both of them riveted to the screens. "The rachni mean business."
It was then that Shepard saw the rachni freeze, and her breath hitched as she watched them cease their attack. The queen's fear that this would happen was actualised; it was why she had insisted on being here.
Abandoning the screens, Shepard went over to the rachni queen, who towered over her, almost filling the bay by herself. "You were right."
The asari messenger, who stood at the rachni leader's side, immediately phased out as the queen spoke through her.
"They try to sour our songs. Do not fear. They are ignorant to my presence and think they have control; they do not. I will extend the true intensity of my voice to fill the dark emptiness with our beautiful melody, and those who seek to seize our children for their ill intent will be silenced for eternity."
As the asari returned to herself, the queen's head reared up, and Shepard winced as the high-pitched frequency could be sensed by even her. It was incessant, and she backtracked to Cortez, who looked equally perturbed by it.
"What the hell is that noise?" Joker broke in. "It's seriously messing with my head!"
"A necessity. It's preventing that Alien scenario you were so worried about."
"I'll deal with it," he said quickly.
On screen, the rachni were moving again, re-focused and even more ferocious than before. More surged up and over the Leviathans to proceed with their assault, and when Shepard was able to glimpse the creatures themselves through the mass of rachni that covered every inch that was within the shielding, there was only raw flesh. It was not a quick way to go, and Shepard even felt a degree of sympathy and regret for their suffering, but this was about protecting those she was duty-bound to watch over, and those she loved… and she had no other way of achieving it.
Then she noticed the Leviathans were no longer trying to pull away. Briefly wondering if it was because they had no fight left, or because they had accepted their fate, Shepard's heart thudded hard in her chest as she realised the two Leviathans were both coming towards the ship.
"Uh, Shepard? I'm getting a proximity alert," worried Joker.
"Edi. Adams. Can we move without sending the drive-core into meltdown?"
"Currently: no," said Edi. "The power required to move swiftly with our shields breached would be too great. A gentle acceleration is required, but would not clear us in time."
Regardless, Shepard could feel the ship rumble as Joker immediately started crawling the ship forward.
"Sorry, Shepard. I've exhausted every avenue," replied Adams. "She's just got nothing left to fight the drag on the shielding."
"So take the damned shields down," grated Massani. "Who gives a shit about a load of bugs?"
Though annoyed by the interruption, Shepard couldn't help but be tempted to save her ship – but it was just metal and parts.
A myriad of thoughts raced through her mind.
Had the rachni done enough damage to the Leviathans? It was impossible to believe they could survive with the wounds Shepard had seen. Yet, if she took the shields down it would suffocate the rachni instantly. She shuddered at her own memory of a death in space. But of course, for these rachni, their fate was already sealed, whatever path she chose. As difficult as it was to admit, the rachni were irrelevant to her decision.
There was also still one Leviathan left… Once Normandy was on the move, would it flee, even without the rachni to threaten it – that age-old survival instinct kicking in? She couldn't risk losing the last Leviathan now.
Shepard checked her omnitool. Just half an hour and her father's ships would be here. Kaidan was so close, but not near enough. She had to keep the Leviathan here…..
That left her with only one option. It was a situation she had planned for, but hoped to avoid. "We stay in place."
"What the fuck, Shepard!?" cursed Massani.
Ignoring him, Shepard rushed over to the rachni queen with regret; there was no way to remove her from the ship, but then the queen had known that and had come despite Shepard's attempt to dissuade her. "I'm sorry."
"We give our life gladly for the freedom of our future children," voiced the queen through her messenger.
"What about the rachni on your home planet?"
"They will be without song and must be avoided. It is regrettable, but unavoidable."
Her large body convulsed for a few seconds, then stilled. Turning, the queen picked up something and presented it to Shepard.
Staring at what she was being offered, Shepard swallowed, feeling a new weight descend as she took the large egg between her two hands. It was heavy; the textured shell appearing thick.
"Our memories and knowledge will live on in this new queen. With her birth, she will know the sacrifice made and why, and a new generation will build anew. The rachni will be able to live in peace and harmony once more. Thank you, Shepard, for giving us our existence, our retribution, and our future."
Cradling the egg, Shepard could only nod, astounded by the trust the queen had placed in her. Then it was just the asari looking back at her, looking a little paler at the implications of what was happening.
Shepard concentrated on opening her mind to the remaining Leviathan.
"Two down. You to go."
"My brethren are not done. They will crush you with their last breaths."
That told her the other two were still alive, though certainly not in good shape, and they were aiming to bring down the ship as their last act.
"My ship, yes. But I don't intend to be in it when that happens. Then I'm coming for you."
"Bold words when you are all alone."
"I don't think so – because I'm not afraid. Unlike you, I'm not content to sit and watch from afar as my own race get slaughtered. But then, you couldn't even stop your own creation. You're nothing but an ineffectual coward. You're no threat to me." She sent a strong feeling of contempt, and sensed the Leviathan's rage. Done, she cut the connection.
It would want to see her end, now. A dying Normandy would lull the Leviathan into a false sense of security. It would stay to ensure her death. She just needed to hold on until back-up arrived.
The egg felt even heavier in her hands – a whole race dependant on her carrying them through.
Then came the violent jolt as the ship was impacted on the starboard-side, followed quickly by a second on their port-side, accompanied by the sickening sound of stressed metal. The ship wailed in warning, the sirens more like her distressed cries.
It was the beginning of the end for the SR-2, and with that came a surge of panic that Shepard struggled desperately with. This wouldn't end the same. This wouldn't end the same. She chanted it to herself, but that fear settled inside her, refusing to budge. She wasn't sure which was trembling more – Normandy, or her.
oOo