Chapter 31

Sanctuary

Finn could only stare for a few moments, the constant pounding from outside barely audible to him. It wasn't until the hologram let out a polite cough that he finally managed, "So you really are alive."

"In a manner of speaking." The hologram replied. "My body is alive in an old prothean stasis pod, but only just. After all this time, it's unlikely I could be removed from the pod … at least, not alive."

Calming down somewhat, Finn said, "So this hologram is some kind of projection from your mind while in stasis?"

"Something like that." Garel said. "I was neurally linked to the ship before I went into the pod, though my current state was a surprise even for me. For a few years, it was like one long unending dream. I relived old missions, spoke with the memories of my old team, and even thought back to my youth on Surkesh."

He allowed him a brief smile before continuing, "As time passed, I began to gain a level of lucidity in my dreams. I was able to take control, to relive memories differently than I remembered. As I gained more and more control, I began to grow aware of the world outside my pod. This ship's systems were responding to me. It took a while to assemble this construct, but I had centuries to do it. I wanted to be ready."

"For what?' Finn asked warily.

Garel smiled at him. "First, I would hear your story."

"But …" Finn gestured at the door, where from the sounds of it, Councilor Raine was hitting the heavy metal with her rifle.

His smile seemed to grow sad. "Do not worry; she cannot break into this chamber until I allow her entry."

"You know her?"

"I do. Her story, however, is for another time. Please, tell me who you are, and how you came to be here."

Finn was worried about his friends, but seeing as Garel seemed unwilling to speak until he knew more of Finn's tale, Finn let out a sigh and spoke. He told Garel everything, from J-27 to the discovery of the hidden chamber. Garel seemed most amused by the tale, and laughed loudly as Finn mentioned snagging the book before running from Councilor Raine.

"Don't be embarrassed." He said, no doubt noticing Finn's red cheeks. "Sometimes, in strange situations, priorities can become a bit … twisted. Being a man of books myself, I can understand wanting to protect a rare volume from damage."

"About that." Finn asked, "How did you get the newer books?"

"An old friend." Garel said, a strange smile on his face. "She brought me new works every few years. You'd be surprised how quickly you go through the books when it's pretty much all you have to do."

"So she's still here?"

"Oh, yes. Very close now, I believe."

Finn couldn't help but shake his head. "Being a bit enigmatic for a thousand-year old ghost, aren't you?"

Garel let out a laugh. "A ghost. How appropriate; no longer living, but not completely dead. Perhaps I should find some chains to rattle, eh?"

Finn chuckled for a moment only to stop suddenly. Silence fell over the room, broken only by the slight hum of the hologram projection and Finn's breathing.

"She stopped." Finn said, looking at the door. "Did she give up?"

"Doubtful." Garel squinted at the door. "I'm detecting life signs outside the door; two people, from the look of it."

"Two? More asari commandos?" Finn said, his hand reaching for the carnifex that wasn't there.

Someone knocked on the door three times. "Oy! Finn! Open up already!"

"Boss?" Finn hurried to the door and pressed his ear against it. "Boss, is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me. Got a friend of yours with me too."

"Sherle?"

"Yeah." Mannon said through the door. "Look, Raine ran off when she saw us coming."

"How'd you get away from the commandos?"

"What, Shalle and Asiris?" The Boss asked, sounding amused. "Let's just say they had a change of heart. Look, it's bloody dark out here, and I don't want to be around when Miss Cuckoo comes back. Open up already!"

Finn glanced at Garel, who nodded. The door opened moments later, revealing The Boss and Mannon. The Boss had a split lip, and Mannon looked to have taken a shot in the arm. Once they were on the bridge, the door slid shut once again.

Mannon stared as Finn applied medi-gel to her wound. "This place … the sanctuary's a ship?"

"Yeah, looks like it." Finn told her. He nodded at the Boss. "You okay?"

The Boss chuckled. "Come on, Finn; you know full well I've had worse. Damn, Finn, you should see some of the stuff they got here. That room you disappeared in? Small potatoes."

"I'm pretty sure they've got part of the lost library of Alexandria in here." Mannon said.

"But I didn't … wait, really?" Finn shook his head. "Never mind. You said I disappeared?"

"Yeah. Those two asari waited a good ten minutes before going in after you , but the place was empty."

"Empty?" Finn asked.

Shrugging, the Boss said, "Well, there were the vintage cars, of course. Quite a collection they have."

"There weren't any vintage cars in the room we entered." Finn rubbed his temples. "It was a study; they had a bunch of books. Hang on; I've got one with me."

Finn turned to the helm. That was when he realized that Geral was gone. He considered telling the others, but he couldn't think of a way to do so without sounding insane, even after everything else they had been through.

"Finn?" Mannon said, "Is something wrong?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry." Finn picked up the book. There was a little blood on the cover, but it seemed okay otherwise.

"Cor." The Boss said, eyeing the book. "Did you happen to see a copy of Pride and Prejudice?"

"I'm not sure." Finn admitted, "But it was a pretty big collection … and that was just a single room."

By that time, Mannon had made her way to the sensor controls. After a few false starts, she managed to bring up a schematic of the ship.

Finn and the Boss crowded around her, the latter letting out a low whistle. "I'll be damned. Look at that!"

The ship was large, even larger than the Ulasomorf. Finn found himself thinking of his old friend, Krieger, and his once-proud collection, and that had filled an entire station. It wasn't just a ship; it was a mobile station for the League of One.

"Holy hell." The Boss said, both hands on her head and a smile across her face. "Talk about the mother lode!"

Mannon said, "All the history on this ship … it's an archaeologist's dream!"

Even Finn, who had little interest in treasure, found himself imagining just how much it would all be worth. Forget building a station; with that many credits, they could afford to tow in a small moon and terraform it as the new J-27, and still have enough for his and Kyra's children's children to live a life of luxury … and Kyra had already expressed her desire for a large family.

An alarm registered on the sensors, pulling them from their separate fantasies. Mannon fumbled with the controls for a moment before registering the location; a large mass of readings was bearing down on a location just outside the hull.

"Jake! Darsan!" Mannon said, a look of horror on her face.

"Not to mention Johnnie." The Boss said. Even she looked worried. "Even he can't kill that many asari."

"Screw it." Finn activated his internal comm. "Kinsie, let me talk to Jake."

The tremulous voice of the Saint's AI said, "Um, but the Boss …"

The Boss grabbed Finn's ear and pulled him closer, shouting, "Let 'im through, Kinsie … and send in the cavalry. Any Saint who can make it, I want here."

"Y-yes, Boss. Do you want them to take care of the asari ship above you?"

"The Meridia?" Finn said, trying to ignore the ringing in his ears. "No! My friends are in there!"

"You heard the man; any other asari or their poncy ships are fair game. Now stop blocking this channel!"

After a brief hiss of static, Finn heard Jake shouting, "Finn! Finn, buddy, let me know you're all right in there!"

"I'm here!" Finn said, pulling away from the Boss. Rubbing his still-ringing ear, Finn said, "You still have that asari guarding you?"

"Y-" the sound of a shotgun firing cut Jake short.

Alarmed, Finn said, "Jake! Jake, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. The asari's not a problem anymore."

"Really? What happened?"

"Auren happened. Who says sandbag rounds aren't effective? Hang on; she wants to know if you've seen Scarlet or Glen."

Finn glanced at the Boss and Mannon, who both shook their heads.

"Not since we left the Meridia." Finn said.

"Huh. She says they've … ugh, hang on."

Finn heard a click, followed by Auren's voice. "Can he hear me?"

"Yes. Look, we haven't seen either of them, Auren."

"I was afraid of that. They disappeared off the Meridia's scanners about the same time as you and Jake."

Finn glanced at Mannon. "Scarlet and Glen went missing."

She nodded and started working at the sensor console.

"We'll look into it from this end." Finn said, "Listen, you've got company incoming."

"Yeah, I know; they took a few potshots at us on our way here." Auren said, "They've got three gunships covering the Meridia."

"Damn." Finn said, now worried about the crew left aboard. "Look, get everyone inside the hidden passage; keep going until you see the metal shutters. I'll see if there's something I can do from this end."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll let you know." Finn deactivated his comm link and let out a sigh before admitting, "When I figure something out."

Mannon shook her head. "I'm sorry; I can't get more than vague signals, and those on the ship are hard to pinpoint without a better understanding of this system."

"Can we at least get a count?" Finn asked.

She looked at the sensor monitors. Shaking her head, she said, "Maybe twelve? Thirteen? Some of them are grouped together, so it's hard to make them out."

"Knew we shoulda thrown the commandos into different closets." The Boss muttered.

"Three of us, six with Jake if Eri's still with them, Councilor Raine and her two commandos, and maybe two to four more? Could be more commandos."

"Or my backup team." The Boss paused and added, "Mind you, if Oleg and Pierce were here, we'd probably have noticed by now. Christ, I'm subtle as compared to them."

"We need to find a way to cut off the asari." Finn said. He stared at the helm for a few moments. "Maybe … it's a long shot, but maybe …"

"Long shot sounds good to me." The Boss said. "It's gotten us this far, eh?"

Mannon, who had much more experience with Finn's plans, asked warily, "What are you going to do?"

Finn hesitated only for a moment before his hands reached for the controls, his fingers tapping the panel instinctively. With a loud thrum that seemed to run through the ship, the engine miraculously came to life.

"Outer door secured." Intoned Geral's voice with the barest hint of amusement. "Engine activated. Preparing for launch."

Mannon stared in disbelief. The Boss let out a laugh and shouted, "Oh, yeah! Gonna bust on outta here!"

"But the Meridia!" Mannon said, "She's right above us!"

One of the consoles near the rear of the bridge activated. Geral's voice slid through the air as the salarian ghost in the machine said, "Magnetic tether activated. Asari vessel secured. Reach for the Stars, Mister Cresste."

"Thank you, Geral." Finn said as Mannon continued to stare open-mouthed. He looked up at the viewscreen as the ship began to shake. "Let's see what she can do!"

A few asari felt the first tremors, but dismissed it as their imagination. As the first commandos approached the hidden chamber, however, the tremors intensified so that none could ignore it

"Mallandra?" One asari asked, holding a hand to her earpiece. "This is Captain Greni. We're getting some seismic disturbance here."

"Copy that, Captain; it seems to be coming from beneath the ruins. Recommend returning to the ship or retreating a safe distance."

Captain Greni frowned. Councilor had been insistent that they rendezvous with her. Normally, that would be enough for her to ignore the imminent danger, but there was the matter of her missing commandos. The Councilor said they were on special assignment, but seemed tight-lipped about what that assignment might entail, or where it even was. The looks on the other asari who were assigned to assist Councilor Raine made their fate all too clear. Add to that the rumors of Councilor Raine speaking loudly for hours to no one while in her quarters, and the strange, maniacal gleam in her eyes since she took command of Captain Greni's squadron were wearing on her sense of loyalty for the asari representative.

There was a loud crash as the krogan statue collapsed into a pile of stone and ancient circuitry. The tunnel was the next to collapse, sending a wave of dust through the chamber.

That was it. Coughing, Captain Greni eventually managed to say, "Fall back."

"But Councilor Raine-" her next in command said.

"Goddess take Councilor Raine!" Greni snapped. "I'm not sacrificing any more soldiers to her mad quest. Fall back, that's an order!"

The asari fled from the chamber and the ruins, the tremor now a full-fledged quake. As asari commandos climbed into shuttles and dropships, the ancient stone tiles began to crack.

The last to climb aboard the final shuttle, Captain Greni turned and looked at the asari ship perched on the top of the ruins. Despite the intensity of the quaking, it didn't seem to be moving. The ruins, however, seemed to be slowly rising as though some ancient leviathan had awoken.

Shaking her head, she climbed into the shuttle and told the pilot to take off. The shuttle shot toward the nearest overhead opening as parts of the ceiling collapsed. Large chunks of stone bounced off of the Meridia's kinetic barriers, not damaging the ship but certainly giving those within a good shake with every deflected stone.

Free of the ruin, the Captain's shuttle sped away as she watched the ruin continue to rise, stone cascading away to reveal the ancient hull of the salarian vessel. The ship continued to rise as sloughs of cracked stone slid away, the asari vessel still maintaining its position. The reason why was now evident; a glowing field held it there, pulling it close once the stone no longer occupied the space between the ships. It looked like a mere shuttle itself as the ancient salarian vessel continued to rise, looking very much like a massive ancient turtle with a tiny hatchling perched on the top of its shell.

"By the Goddess." Captain Greni whispered as the ship continued to fly toward the stars. "All it's missing is four elephants."

"Captain?" The shuttle pilot asked, her eyes locked on the sight before them.

Captain Greni shook her head. "Nothing. Just something I read once. Follow them."

"Should we attack?" The shuttle pilot said.

Captain Greni stared for a long moment. The ancient turtle-like form of the ship was no war-ship; whoever built it went to a great deal of trouble to make it a work of art. Councilor Raine was likely still in there, but opening fire on such a beautiful construct just seemed wrong.

She was about to give the order to hold fire when she spotted the Saints. The sight of the gleaming purple armada joined inexplicably by a number of krogan vessels and a large ship that looked like a giant winged boot was just too much.

"Negative." Captain Greni said. "We're leaving."