Alright, here is the final chapter for Feros. I stuck to the game with one big change. Please r&r. Enjoy!
The Mako stopped short of the garage as the team piled out. As they stepped out of the Mako, they noticed a large grotesque creature that appeared humanoid in build. Luke drew his pistol slowly and approached.
"Garrus, cover him from the right. I've got the left. Wrex, Ashley, back him up." Claire said pulling her sniper rifle. Luke glanced back at her and inched forward. The sickly green skin that covered the creature was moving like it was breathing, possibly even asleep.
As they got within ten feet of the creature, it started to move slowly standing and revealing a twisted face with exposed bone and horrifically gruesome pustules all over it.
"Holy crap on a cracker! What the hell is that thing?" Luke exclaimed. The malformed being let out a blood chilling howl that sounded far different than anything that Luke had ever heard. The moment the creature started to move toward the group with it elongated talons that clung to the ends of its garish fingers all five weapons opened fire blasting the being into a sloppy mess against the garage door.
"There's no way that might have been one of the colonists right?" Luke said looking back at Claire.
"That was way too much mutation. But I've got a feeling that those creepy things are connected to the thorian." Garrus said putting away his rifle. Luke knelt next to what was left of the creature. The smell was beyond repulsive. He scanned what was left of the creature and found that the genetic structure was similar to that of humans but the cranium cavity had been nearly empty.
"Claire, what are these creeper things?" Luke asked rebuilding the creature virtually on his omni-tool.
"I guess we'll have to ask the ExoGeni scientist after we're done killing this thing." Luke ran a search for the creatures physiology through the files that he had discovered through Hossle's console using Lizbeth's security clearance. He found a shipment order sent to another ExoGeni facility. Luke skimmed the file and his eyes widened.
"Claire! There was a shipment of these things sent to a facility that has connections with Cerberus! They call them thorian creepers!" Luke shouted. Claire rushed over and looked over the data. Luke was right. There was a clear connection through a known Cerberus shell company.
"We'll go and tear those bastards a new one after this." Claire snarled. Luke nodded and closed his omni-tool.
Garrus opened the door to the garage and the team prepared to charge. But the moment the door was high enough, they saw a horde of creepers waking and turning toward them.
"Now it gets fun!" Wrex shouted. He launched a biotic warp that sent two flying toward the wall and splattering them like big water balloons. Luke shot one of the beings through the head causing it to fall forward carried by its momentum. Claire and Ashley had their assault rifles out and were shredding the creatures with every step they took. Garrus was picking off the creepers that were farther away as the team advanced.
"Claire the colonists, they're up by the elevator! They're shooting at us!" Luke shouted as a bullet ricocheted off his shields.
"Ashley! Grenade!" Claire shouted. Ashley flung the small disk at the barricades and took cover. The grenade went off spreading a cloud of green gas that caused the colonists to fall limp, crumpling to the ground.
"Well, at least we know the gas works." Garrus said standing up.
"Wrex, remind me to classify you as a biological hazard." Luke said waving his hand in front of his nose. Ashley and Claire snickered as Wrex sniffed the air.
"Sorry." Wrex replied shortly. The team laughed as they advanced on the elevator.
000
The crane lifted the freighter away from an underground passage as the team took up positions. Luke glanced back as Fai Dan appeared from one of the small structured. He appeared to be struggling to move. Luke tapped Claire and she turned to see Fia Dan pull his pistol.
"I tried to fight it, but it gets in your head…you can't imagine the pain." Luke slipped around some crates and moved silently to try and get behind the colonist. "It wants me to stop you." Fai Dan's hand started to shake waving the pistol. "But I won't." The pistol barrel started to move upward.
Luke saw the motion. He had seen it before. He launched himself forward charging the man with every ounce of speed he could muster. He launched himself at Fai Dan spearing the man and wrestling the pistol out of his hand. "Claire, grenade!" Luke shouted.
"I'm out!" Came the reply. Luke rolled off the man and hurled the pistol as far as he could from the colonist.
"Fai Dan, what I am about to do may hurt and I'm sorry." Luke lashed out landing a punch across the man's jaw. The blow knocked the man for a loop causing him to turn a full rotation before tumbling to the ground unconscious. Luke knelt beside the man and bound his hand and ankles so that if he woke up, he would not be able to pursue them into the thorian's lair.
"Subtle." Ashley said patting Luke on the shoulder. But she quickly realized that Luke was more angry than anything else. He had a fire burning in his eyes that she could not have dreamed of seeing. A wrath that she had only read about in her books and poems.
"I'm going to burn this plant thing myself. I don't care how long it takes." Luke told Ashley and Claire as he walked by. The two women looked at each other both concerned for Luke. He was in a reckless state that could very easily get him in trouble…even killed.
"Garrus," Claire said softly. "Stay close to Luke. This mission is hitting him really hard. Make sure he doesn't get himself or anyone else hurt." The turian nodded and fell in step behind his partner.
"Ashley, you and Wrex are with me. We stay behind Garrus and Luke but at the ready." Claire pulled her rifle and the squad moved down the stairs slowly.
Luke felt the hairs on the back of his neck start to stand up; that strange feeling of being watched again. It must be the thorian trying to get inside his head. As they made their way down the stairs, Luke checked the corners and kept moving.
"So all we have to do now is find…the…" Ashley's voice trailed off as the team entered a massive central chamber. Suspended by large tentacles that seemed to be anchored to the walls was a massive, slimy mass. Luke was not sure if it was truly a plant.
"It's never simple. Why is it never simple?" Claire said throwing up her hands.
Luke looked back at the group with his eyes wide. "That is a plant?"
Suddenly, the thorian started to move and a large orifice surrounded by tentacles opened and released a green asari. Luke immediately drew his weapon and took cover behind a pillar. Garrus did the same pulling his assault rifle.
"I speak for the old growth as I did for Saren." The asari announced.
"What did Saren want with this…thing?" Claire asked moving closer.
"Saren sought the knowledge of those who came before. Knowledge that the old growth shared with him, only to be betrayed." The asari spoke.
"Yeah, Saren will do that to just about anyone, but I need what you gave him so that I can stop him." Claire replied.
Luke listened and kept looking around trying to find a way to kill the throian. He could not find anything large enough to destroy the beast until he looked down. The ruined structure had had several pieces of metal, stone, and glass fall into the bottom of the tower, creating a massive bed of razor sharp spikes. If they loosened the thorian's hold on the walls, they could force it to fall and impale the creature on the shards below. After that, destroying it would be as simple as pouring in some kind of fuel and lighting it.
"You would not allow the old growth to keep its thralls. You seek its destruction as Saren did."
Luke rounded the corner and leveled his pistol, the explosive round he had chambered would more than do the job even if it did over leoad his pistol's heat capacitors with every shot. "The thorian dies now!" Luke pulled the trigger launching the projectile into the asari's chest. The explosion knocked her back and over the edge screaming until she hit the shrapnel below.
"Luke, what the hell?" Claire said looking over at her brother.
"Don't tell me you were even considering letting that thing keep the colonists. Combat is the only way that his was going to end." Luke said turning to the hall that circled the tower. Creepers were beginning to wake in hordes and pouring toward them. Luke pulled his assault rifle and started moving forward with Garrus on his flank and Wrex backing them up with his shotgun. Claire and Ashley brought up the rear and watched as the thorian produced another green asari.
"That this is cloning that asari. That must mean that the commando that served Saren is around her somewhere." Ashley looked around as Claire spoke. To be held captive by a mind controlling plant that cloned you over and over again seemed like a terrible fate even for an alien.
Luke started placing grenades around one of the tentacles that held the thorian up. Claire smirked as she looked over the ledge. Luke had already found a way to kill the thorian and free the colonists.
"Do we have enough grenades to destroy enough of the supports?" Claire asked as Luke run a few scans on his omni-tool. Luke estimated the size and weight of the thorian and figured the strength of each tentacle.
"No, but these tentacle things are susceptible to really any kind of explosives. I think if you concentrate your fire on the center and wear it down enough, it will break. However, I forwarding the layout of the area and all the supports that need to be destroyed if we are going to drop this thing." Luke paused hearing a creeper's howl up the stairs and a new wave started their way and yet another asari clone was unleashed from the thorian.
"Got it. Let's get moving. We have some weeding to do." Claire said taking point and leading everyone on.
"And you thought I made bad jokes." Luke whispered to Ashley as he triggered the grenades around the base of the first tentacle. The explosion sent the severed support flying out in to the tower and caused the thorian to let out a noise that was unlike any being, animal, creature, or plant that Luke had ever heard.
000
Shiala stood still as the team watched her. Her movements were slow and unthreatening. Though un armed, she was still a danger to the team because of her biotic potential.
"Relax Commander. Reach out to touch the strands that connect us all. Every action sends ripples across the galaxy, every idea must touch another mind to live. Reach out commander and embrace eternity." The asari's eyes turned black and Luke could almost feel the energy being passed between them. Perhaps it was his kinship to Claire that gave him the connection but it may not have been just that.
Shiala took a step back as the color drained from Claire's face.
"Claire are you okay?" Garrus asked stepping to her side. He offered his hand for support. Claire gave a soft smile as she placed her hand in his sending a little color back into her cheeks.
"I'm sorry if you have suffered but there was no other way. You needed the cipher." Claire nodded. With a firm hold on Garrus' hand, she looked back to the asari.
"Now the question is what to do with you." Luke stepped forward with his pistol out.
"You deserve to die for what you help the thorian do, but there may be redemption for you like Claire allowed ExoGeni." Luke stated examining his pistol for a moment.
"If you would allow it, I would like to stay with the colonists here and help them get this colony back on its feet. Perhaps I could even find a home here." Shiala said looking over at Luke.
"It's a noble sentiment, but how do we know you are telling the truth?" Ashley said.
"If she isn't it would be pretty easy to just come back and shoot her." Wrex added. Luke looked over at the pair and holstered his pistol. His instincts told him that Shiala was to be trusted and he had only been wrong a few times before.
"I think we can let her stay. Besides, we got what we came for. Anything else would be up to the colonist. She would have to make amends with them, not us." Claire nodded in agreement of her brother's statement and allowed Garrus to help her back toward the stairs.
"I think we all need some shore leave…what do you think?" She said as Garrus looked down at her.
"We could definitely use the down time, commander." Garrus replied.
"For heaven sakes, Garrus, would just call me Claire." Her face turned a light shade of scarlet as she directed her gaze down. Luke smiled seeing the reaction and put his arm around Ashley.
"To the Citadel?" Luke shouted.
Citadel." Claire agreed.