Gunfire blasted out the sound of the waves. Without the echo of Virmire's pulsing tide, time seemed to quicken.
"Fuck, Garrus, take out that flier!" Shepard shouted over the throng of bullets. Damn, these things are pissing me off. The turian shot down one, then another with his rifle as it rounded the corner towards them. "Overachiever." Shepard grumbled and heard Garrus snort a short laugh in reply. He looked down sight of his own gun to take out the last. It exploded over the water with a flash, and the commander lowered his weapon. "Alright, back up everyone. Tali, you're going to overload that fuel tank once we get out of the blast radius – we're going to make sure that those fliers don't have enough fuel to get to the other teams." They had destroyed satellites and disrupted communications already in hopes of aiding the salarian squads.
"Got it, Commander." The quarian said with an enthusiastic nod. They ran back down the platform, Shepard and Wrex leading the charge. He held up a hand and the team complied with his unspoken command and stopped, taking cover where they could.
"Alright, blow it up!"
Tali nodded and keyed the overload sequence into her omnitool. She waved her hand, and not a second later the tank went up in a blast of flames.
"Oorah!" Shepard whooped and grinned, but the enthusiasm didn't reach his eyes. He was tense with fear, terrified for Ashley. His only reassurance was the echoing of her commands in his ear. Knowing she was safe, and knowing he could talk to her, get her out if he needed, allowed him to hold on to his composure. He glanced towards Kaidan and the biotic grinned back at him, but he seemed to possess the same worry in his eyes. This place, for all its beauty, felt wrong. As they made their way closer to the base, the feeling only became worse. But the team was feeding off his energy, needed his command, and with Ashley being able to hear him just as he heard her… I guess its fake it 'til you make it time. "Come on, let's get to that base."
Shepard sprinted forward with Wrex, the krogan going ahead when they encountered geth. The commander crouched and darted between points of cover, sniping out targets he could and switching to his pistol when he needed to take care of any synthetics that got too close. He could see the facility. It was massive, spanning from one cliff face to the other and overhanging the ocean. Kirrahe hadn't been lying – the place was very well fortified. Geth and krogan threw themselves at the team without hesitation once they reached the bridge, funneling themselves into the squad's scopes.
"Alright, looks like we have a shooting range. Tali, do what you can to take down those barriers. Liara, set up some singularities so Garrus doesn't have to try to hit too many moving targets." Both the quarian and the asari nodded and got to work, and Garrus simply scoffed and crouched behind some cover parallel to Shepard, grinning at the commander.
"Don't worry, Shepard. I'll try to leave a few for you." His mandibles clicked as he chuckled and the two snipers raised their rifles and began their assault. Despite the sheer mass of enemy forces, they seemed uncoordinated, confused – whether that was due to being attacked on two sides or some other reason, Shepard didn't know. But he was grateful. The faster they got through the base, the faster he would be able to ensure Ashley was safe and whole. Battle was something he knew, something he thrived at. But he had gotten used to working with the soldier, having her at his back. Now, without her here, he felt off balance. And he couldn't lose her.
Wrex charged out of cover straight into oncoming geth. The krogan was being reckless, relentless, and Shepard understood his frustration at having to destroy this place. He kept the battlemaster covered as he raged through their foes, but in truth, he didn't need it. He was a virtually unstoppable force as he was – a furious, rampaging behemoth. The others in the squad allowed him to work with a wide berth while they moved up, nearing the door.
"Commander, I can disable these alarms before we go in, but I might be able to trigger them at the other side of the base instead." Kaidan shouted. Shepard fired a final shot from his pistol at a rather stubborn krogan before running to the lieutenant.
"Where Kirrahe's men are?"
"Yes, sir."
Shepard frowned. He thought back to the beach, to Kirrahe and his squad. They had all looked terrified, doubtful, but still willing to sacrifice themselves for this mission. To give Shepard a chance to get at Saren. Kirrahe had extinguished their fear with his rally cry, and the salarians – Ashley in their midst – departed with a newfound confidence, more ready than ever to hold the line. Their bravery was inspiring. He felt it, his team felt it. He wasn't about to let them get washed over by the geth.
"Just disable them, we can handle it. We're not giving them anything more to deal with." Especially not when Ash is with them. Kaidan nodded and the doors swished open. Shepard slid to the edge and peeked around, checking for any obvious targets, before rounding the corner and waving the rest of the team in. They followed him quickly and got to work on the geth and krogan and… Salarians?
"Why were there salarians working with them?" Liara questioned, striding up beside Shepard as they took out the small force within the entrance hall.
"These look like Kirrahe's men. STG armor." Kaidan observed.
"His team mentioned they were missing a few of their men when I talked to them." Garrus eyed the dead salarians suspiciously. "I don't know why they would want to work with Saren, though. They seemed… confused."
"Hopefully we'll find out soon enough. Come on, we need to keep moving." We can't waste time. Not when they're depending on us. Not when she's depending on me. He led them deeper into the base, through winding halls eerily empty of geth and krogan.
"Commander, this terminal has that same code. It's different than the geth's. I've never seen anything like it. I- I don't know if I can crack it." Tali's voice was nervous, and she stood twisting her hands as the rest of the team turned back to face her.
Shepard turned back from the elevator control and walked towards the quarian. He let out a sigh. It didn't surprise him. Whatever Saren was doing here, there was something very wrong about it. His head was screaming – the beacon's vision coming to the forefront of his mind and intermittently showing him fire and destruction and the deafening roar of silence. The facility had its own viral pulse, slowly beating and infecting those who came near it. Virmire had no more peace, no more calm. But it drew him in.
"That's fine, Tali. We'll try another one. We have to keep moving." The commander motioned the team forward. He could hear Kirrahe in his ear, sounding a little more desperate every time he ordered his men to keep pushing, to hold the line. His throat clenched as apprehension pulsed through him. She's going to be fine. We're almost there. They all climbed into the elevator and the lift carried them down a floor. "Weapons ready." He murmured without need, as they already stood alert and ready to face whatever was on the other side of the door. But no geth swarmed outside. There were no krogan hulking behind the door. Shepard's brow furrowed in confusion. Where the hell are they? Guarding something further in maybe?
He led them wordlessly around the corner and down another hall. He almost passed up a room that appeared at first glance to be empty, but a shout pulled him back. Shepard gave a questioning look to Garrus, who had followed him quickly and stood at his side. The turian shrugged. The commander looked back into the room and upon further inspection found the far wall was lined with cells.
"Shit, they have prisoners. Come on." Shepard rushed quickly to the caged salarians. They didn't look up at his approach. Their eyes searched the floor, the walls, the ceiling for something unknown as they muttered incessantly and spontaneously shouted nonsense. "What the hell…" He frowned, and stepped back. They looked soulless, non-responsive, like the salarians they had fought coming in. It was unnerving.
"Who are you? I told you before, I won't tell you anything! You can't break me" Shepard turned quickly to the next cell down and found a salarian pointed accusingly at him. "You can probe and cut and whisper, but I won't tell you, I- wait. You're not one of them. Who are you? Alliance?" The salarian's voice was panicky, strange. "Oh, I knew someone would come. Please, let me out. I can help you. I can't take the whispering anymore. It snakes and slithers in your mind… Please, let me out now." He rambled on, hands pressed against the wall of his cell.
"Don't do it. He's not himself anymore." A voice at the far end of the line of cells spoke up.
"Garrus, watch him." Shepard muttered and gestured to the salarian before him, now desperately palming the glass before him. The commander walked down the line, passed the dead eyes of the other STG men to one kept alone in his cell. He was sitting, slumped against the wall and looking surprisingly normal. "What do you mean? Who are you?"
"Lieutenant Ganto Imness of the Third Infilitration Regiment. Our team was captured during recon. Saren and his researchers have been running tests on us, trying to find out what they can about indoctrination. I believe it is how Saren holds such influence over his followers." The lieutenant looked up at Shepard sadly. "Even he doesn't understand it fully though. And his scientists… I believe they have begun to succumb to its darker effects as well. My whole squad has been reduced to mindless, blithering husks of their former selves. Private Avot, who you were speaking to before, he held out longer than most. But I think he's gone too. He spends his nights beating his head against the wall. He hasn't spoken to me in days. He's indoctrinated." Imness shifted. "Are you the reinforcements from the Council? You're here to destroy the facility, correct?"
"It's like what he did my mother…" Liara murmured. Shepard glanced at her and saw Kaidan offer a supportive smile. The commander grimaced. Saren was blindly throwing away the lives of these salarians to research something he was supposed to have control of. Shiala, Benezia - they had both mentioned his power to indoctrinate his followers. It supposedly was centered on his ship, Sovereign. But if he needed to study it, if his own scientists were being effected… Where did he get that kind of power? The geth? The Reapers? The idea he may have found some kind of Reaper technology was unsettling.
"I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre. The Council sent me here to investigate." He answered the lieutenant's inquiries quickly. "And you? You seem normal enough. How have you been unaffected?" The commander asked with a furrowed brow. Imness sighed.
"They kept me as a control specimen, to compare the effects. I almost wish they hadn't. Watching these men, my friends, change like this… I would have rather they just killed me." The lieutenant muttered. Shepard's jaw clenched. The man was caged, broken, and in far too familiar a place for the Spectre. Caged and beaten and forced to watch. Like a fucking animal. He recognized the defeat in the salarian's voice, recognized his anguish. It made the bile rise in his throat.
"I'm letting you out." The decision was made quickly. "We're blasting this place as soon as we can, but we don't have time to walk you back to a safe zone. You can fight with us, or make a run for it, but either way you have to do it fast. Can you do that?"
"Yes, Commander. Though I think I'll try my chance running. I'm in no shape to fight, and what you're doing is too important for me to slow you down." Imness said, his voice resigned. Shepard nodded quietly. He's giving up. He stepped forward and hit the door control, and Imness walked out, taking in a deep breath. "Thank you, Commander. I would not have liked to die in a cage. Good luck to you." The salarian gave a last nod to Shepard, a sad, mournful look to his squad mates bumping into each other dully in their cells, then sprinted off down the corridor.
"Shepard, we have a problem over here –" Garrus started, then jumped back as there was a large thump on the glass. "Damn it!" The commander rushed towards the turian then glanced in the cell, the salarian private still on the floor of his cell. "He broke his own neck, just rushed the wall. I didn't say anything, he just started mumbling about not being able to get out and the whispering…. Damn." The turian shook his head, perplexed. Shepard frowned.
"Better this way than to be a guinea pig for more of their twisted experiments. Come on, we need to move." He started towards the exit of the room, the rest of the squad close on his heel. They had to stop Saren before he got away, before he infected anyone else with this sick mind control. And they had to get to the other side of the base. Ashley was waiting.
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The soldier was breathing hard, the muscles in her legs on fire from the constant sprint and stop from cover to cover. Another bullet whizzed past her and she let out a choice curse. Shepard and his damn sailor's tongue. Guess it's rubbing off on me. She smirked, then lifted her assault rifle again and fired a spurt off towards a group of approaching geth, smiling wryly at the number of times his voice had broken in through her comms that day with a few rather imaginative ways of swearing off the synthetics.
God, please let him be okay.
Ashley's smile faded as worry returned. She knew he would be fine. Shepard was a survivor, he had proven it more than anyone, but still… The geth were relentless. She had been holding with her salarian team as long as she could, keeping the geth back from the facility so Shepard could move to the bomb site without having them pour at him from all sides. But the machines just kept pushing.
You've got this, Williams. Just hold it a little longer. These damn circuit boards aren't getting the best of you again.
"I want snipers in that tower, take out long range targets and drive them back!" Ashley shouted the order and the team complied. The salarians were definitely efficient. She switched to her shotgun, eyeing a ledge farther up she could get to and take out a damaged juggernaut blasting the ass off of one of her men. Adrenaline flooded her veins as she jumped over the pipe she hid behind and let loose her rounds at the giant machine, sliding behind the ledge before it could retaliate. The soldier grabbed a grenade from her belt, pulled the pin, and tossed it quickly towards the geth. Ashley whooped as it successfully eliminated both her target and a shock trooper that had closed in nearby.
That's right. Better than the best.
She wasn't going to repeat Shanxi here. No matter what, she would hold this line and get Shepard where he needed to go. There was no backing out, no matter how hard they pushed and how many men she lost. Something ached in her as her commander's voice rang again in her ear, ordering his team to push forward. She wanted to be with him. But this mission was more important than her or her men, more important than her need to be at his side. Shepard believed in her, and she would get it done.
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"Get out of here. You have five minutes before I blow this place sky high."
"Wha- What?! You can't – Ahhh!" Rana ran for the door and bolted back down the balcony they had come in through. Shepard glared after her.
"You enjoyed that, didn't you, Shepard?" Garrus drawled, his eyes following the asari scientist as well.
Shepard smirked a little, but didn't answer. A look at Wrex told him that the krogan was echoing his thoughts. Should have just killed her. She was going to be trouble if she somehow made it out. She had, at least, confirmed his suspicions – Saren couldn't control who his ship indoctrinated. Those directly targeted did succumb faster, becoming mindless slaves, but it didn't stop with them. Anyone who went on or near the enormous vessel was effected, and the asari suspected Saren himself was beginning to hear the whispers.
How the fuck does a ship control someone's mind?
It had to be the Reapers. Nothing else made sense. Maybe Sovereign was a Reaper-made vessel? Shepard frowned and motioned his team forward, then stilled. Another pulse hit him. Shit. The pull was becoming more intense, drawing him in, and battering his mind with the screeching of metal and the silencing roar.
"Commander?" Kaidan stepped up beside him. "Shepard, you okay?" The biotic glanced over his slightly slumped form. Shepard closed his eyes and shook himself.
"Yeah. Fine." He grunted, rolling his neck. "There's something here, though. I can feel it. Come on, we need to move." The lieutenant nodded, but worry still clouded his eyes. Shepard turned towards the door and exited, the team following without another word. Kirrahe was in his ear again, then Ashley, both ordering their men to hold on, to push back against the geth. She's okay. She's going to be okay. The mantra repeated in his mind as he sprinted across the walkway leading to the breeding facility.
Wrex was at his side, looking as furious as ever after encountering the krogan doctor in the lab. Shepard doubted he had enjoyed having to kill one of his own, especially one who had aided in a cure for the genophage. He sighed with frustration as he hit the control for an elevator. Fuck this place. He was feeling incredibly eager to blow it all to hell. The squad piled into the elevator, collectively catching their breath. Shepard looked them over. He had been pushing them hard, moving forward quickly and relentlessly. But it was necessary. If they didn't get there in time, this would all have been for nothing, and they would lose a likely half-insane Saren again.
Another pulse, and Shepard's face screwed up as he kept himself from being taken in by it. His brain was burning with the flashing of fire and the looming darkness of space. What the goddamn fuck. The beacon's vision had been a consistent lull in his mind since Eden Prime, always present but something he was usually able to ignore. Now it strained against him, made itself known. Why is it doing this now?
His question was answered as the door swung open to reveal a large platform, a console, and a glowing, intact Prothean beacon. Shepard stumbled out of the elevator towards the thing. Its draw was overwhelming.
"Oh, wow! A beacon! I never thought I'd see one, it's so incredi- "
Liara's usual gushing exclamations on the glory of the Prothean Empire were cut short as they seemed to notice Shepard fall into the beacon's grasp.
"Shepard!" Garrus shouted. Shepard's eyes darkened.
"No, it'll pull you in too!" It was Kaidan, but any further response was cut off by the beacon's scream.
Again, there was screaming. People fleeing burning cities. Works of machine and flesh. Wires laced through tissue. Screaming and screeching and then a deafening roar as it went farther, but closer. Over the fires of many suns and closer to it. A planet. But the planet was more, there was something hidden there. It showed him a place. A place that held what he wanted.
Then silence, crushing silence. And Sovereign.
The commander's eyes opened, a pinhole of light entering and spreading, bringing him back to reality. His breathing was rapid, his head feeling like it might split at the seams. But the pull was gone. His head was clear again, though aching, as he looked up. And he might finally have the missing piece. He might know at last where the Conduit is.
"Shepard! Spirits, Williams wasn't joking about those things kicking your ass." Garrus grabbed his arm and dragged him up. Shepard grunted his thanks, a hand running through his hair. Kaidan grinned at him from behind the turian, relief clear on his face.
"I'd like to see you get your brain probed and come out looking as good as me." The Spectre gave the turian a weak grin, and Garrus snorted and shook his head.
"Shepard."
"Wrex?"
"This computer wants to talk to you." The krogan announced, his voice its usual low grumble. Shepard glanced up to see a very large, red holographic image looming over them all. An image of Sovereign. He made his way up the stairs quickly, pacing up to stand directly in front of the thing.
"You are not Saren."
Looks like we've got ourselves a detective here.
"This is not good…" Garrus mumbled behind him. Shepard frowned, staring up at the holograph. What the hell is this thing?
"Maybe it's some sort of VI? I could try to hack it, see what is stored here. At least this console seems to still be functional." Tali shrugged, taking a half-step forward, eager to try. She stopped as the booming voice spoke again, sending a shiver through the team.
"Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh. You touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding."
Shepard glared up at the thing, his gut filled with the sinking feeling of apprehension. Yeah, fuck you too. What are you?
"I don't think this is a VI." Liara supplied, rather unhelpfully, before the giant continued.
"There is a realm of existence so far beyond your own you cannot even imagine it. I am beyond your comprehension. I am Sovereign!" Despite the thing's mechanical monotone, the machine sounded distinctly arrogant. And suddenly, everything was clear. Saren, the geth, the indoctrination anywhere they went, how it affected anyone aboard. Sovereign's immense size and capability. And now, it's apparent sentience. The ship wasn't just constructed from Reaper technology.
"You're a Reaper." Shepard's voice was quiet, damning. His body was washed over simultaneously by awe and a sickening feeling of disgust as he spoke to this creature, this monster.
"Reaper? A label created by the Protheans to give voice to their destruction. In the end, what they choose to call us is irrelevant. We simply are."
"No, no, the Protheans vanished 50,000 years ago. You could not have been there. It's impossible!" Liara said petulantly. Shepard sighed as the monster continued enlightening them to their shortcomings.
"Organic life is nothing but a genetic mutation, an accident. Your lives are measured in years and decades. You wither and die. We are eternal. The pinnacle of evolution and existence. Before us, you are nothing. Your extinction is inevitable. We are the end of everything."
"Before us, you didn't exist." Shepard snarled. "Before us, there was nothing. You had to be created by organics, it's the only possible explanation. You are only a machine – constructed by us. You can be broken. We made you, and we will stop you."
"Confidence born of ignorance. The cycle cannot be broken. The pattern has repeated itself more times than you can fathom. Organic civilizations rise, evolve, advance. And at the apex of their glory, they are extinguished. The Protheans were not the first. They did not create the Citadel. They did not forge the mass relays. They merely found them, the legacy of my kind."
Shepard's jaw clenched. Even machines can be fucking assholes. His mind traveled back to the human discovery of a mass relay, to how it spurred humanity forward into a new age, speeding their advancement astronomically. "And you left them for us why? Why would you want us to find them and advance faster?"
"Your civilization is based on the technology of the mass relays, our technology. By using it, your society develops along the paths we desire. We impose order on the chaos of organic evolution. You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it."
They're… harvesting us? Why? Why do they need us? Shepard continued to stare up at Sovereign's image, his eyes set in a steel glare as he tried to puzzle it out. There was no way he was going to step aside while they steamrolled the universe. The machine continued, its voice reverberating through the commander.
"We have no beginning. We have no end. We are infinite. Millions of years after your civilization has been eradicated and forgotten, we will endure. We are each a nation. Independent, free of all weakness. You cannot even grasp the nature of our existence. The time of our return is coming. Our numbers will darken the sky of every world. You cannot escape your doom."
"Are you fucking done?" Shepard finally spoke up, his voice a low growl. "We will not step aside. We will not give up. You have countless species and civilizations ready to face you when you come. You won't win this. So do yourself a favor, and stay the fuck away."
"Your words are as empty as your future." Sovereign called his bluff easily, though no doubt it was just a continuation of the machine's evidently programmed arrogance. "I am the vanguard of your destruction. This exchange is over."
The holograph disappeared, the Reaper effectively hanging up on him. Shepard ducked quickly as the glass broke from the windows lining the walls of the room, a sonic pulse echoing from the console.
"Commander?" Joker's voice was in his ear. "We've got trouble. I think you did something to piss off that big ass ship. Sovereign, I mean. The thing just pulled a turn that would shear any ship I know in half." He let out a disgruntled sigh. "Think maybe you could warn me next time? Anyway, it's coming towards you. I would, you know, maybe wrap things up?"
"Got it, Joker. We're heading to the bomb site now – I think it's about time we blew this place to hell. We'll meet you there."
"Aye, aye, Commander."
"Alright, move out, we've got a bomb to arm. On the double, people!" His brain still ached from the beacon and the encounter with Sovereign, but he sprinted towards the door. They still had an AA gun to take out before the Normandy could land, and he hadn't heard her voice for a while now. The team moved quickly, shooting their way through geth and krogan. His heart rate sped more than was normal for the exertion.
She'll be okay. Fuck, she'll be okay.