Chapter 26 Space Race
Character Harold Shepard
The base on Sur'Kesh was under attack from Cerberus, that much was certain, it was most likely that they were also after the Krogan female who was immune to the genophage. He Tali and Garrus took an elevator down into the base as Wrex, Ax and Gaige got in the Kodiak to lock down the pick up zone. That left the escort to Harold, Tali and Garrus.
"I hope we can take custody of the Krogan without incident," Garrus said.
"I think the situation is in our favor," Tali remarked, "With the defense of their base a top priority the transfer of the Krogan should go pretty quick."
"Yeah I hope," Harold added as they exited the elevator. Looking out over the underground base a familiar face caught Harold's eye. "Mordin?"
Mordin was a Silarian Scientist and ex Spec Ops, the eccentric doctor had helped Harold and his crew beat back the Collectors a few years ago and now seemed pleased to see them.
"Shepard, Tail, Garrus," Mordin greeted, "No time for pleasantries got to get Krogan off Sur'Kesh, can't let Cerberus get her. Good to see it is you over seeing transfer anyone else might get it wrong. Follow me, Only one survivor but cure for the genophage in her genes can synthesize cure for whole race given time."
"This part of your student's work," Garrus asked.
"Indeed, Maylen's work vital to cure," Mordin said as he zapped another Silarian to get the stubborn guard to release the Krogan, "Still don't agree with his methods but usefulness of data is recognized. I will stay with Krogan you get us through the checkpoints, Cerberus likely targeting those areas to intercept Krogan."
Harold saw the female for the first time as her cell was brought forth and Mordin walked in. She was garbed in woven, black, fabric that wrapped around her like a robe.
"Why have you come here," she asked.
"To bring you back to Tuchanka," Shepard said, "You are the last hope for your people."
"Shepard go checkpoints now," Mordin said as the cell started moving upward.
Harold headed back to the elevator only to jump back as the elevator exploded. "Mordin we need an alternative rout."
"Back of room use the ladder," Mordin advised. Tali motioned to a door that opened up to reveal the ladder leading up. Garrus got on and headed up Harold got up last since he was farthest away from the ladder. Once on the first level again he called Wrex to see what their status was.
"We are running interference with the Kodiak," Wrex said, "Took out several drop ships so far you just make sure the female gets here alive."
"On it," Harold replied. Looking around he saw the cell come to a stop at a control console. He walked over and cleared it for the next level and Mordin advised that the shield around the cell, while not designed for direct fire, could take some damage before breaking. Ironically or predictably that was when a drop-ship blew a hole in the wall next to the cell and deployed a squad of Cerberus troops. Harold and Tali ducked behind a low wall while Garrus, who was on the other side of the squad, rolled behind a door. Tali's combat drone, a round holographic interface with a missile launcher and shock weaponry, along with Harold's own drew Cerberus' fire while Garrus lined up three quick, but lethal, shots with his Black Widow sniper rifle. As the remaining members of the squad refocused their attention, Tali unleashed an incinerate and Harold hit them with a snap freeze detonating the fire effect that Tali had put on the squad, killing the remaining members.
"Well at least this won't be boring," Garrus remarked.
"What do you mean," Tali said with emphasizing hand gestures, "Oh right it isn't Tuesday is it, we normally kill Cerberus on Tuesday. Today is what... Collector Friday?"
Harold gave a laugh as they reached the second check point, "Power's out."
"Likely secondary power source around the corner," Mordin supplied as the cell arrived, "Do hurry more Cerberus on the way."
In the time it took for him to round the corner and reactivate the power Cerberus dropped in two more squads. These were taken out in much the same fashion as the first with him and Tali using combos to distract and weaken the troops while Garrus finished them off with his sniper. "Ok your clear," Harold said as the cell started moving towards the drop off level.
"Good meet us there," Mordin said, "Cerberus is likely to put up a fight."
Sure enough when they got to the last checkpoint several Cerberus squads had already converged on the position and were awaiting the cell to reach them. Harold had other plans. He motioned for Garrus to take cover behind a low wall to their left as he and Tali slid up to the edge of the wall. "On three," He said, "One, Two, Three." They rolled out from behind the wall throwing their combat drones into the Cerberus troops causing confusion, then three shots rang out signaling Garrus' attack had begun. Tali incinerated the squad leader who was then detonated as Harold hit him with a blast of ice dropping the leader and two of his followers. The drones took out the other two with rockets. Then an Atlas dropped into the landing zone. The hulking mech was twelve feet tall with a grappling claw and missile/pulse cannon on its arms. It blasted the drones then Shepard, sending him flying back behind the wall with Garrus and knocking them both down. "Tali get to cover," Harold warned even though he knew she probably was already doing so.
Instead to his surprise he heard Gaige say "No need we got this!" As he and Garrus picked themselves up they saw that the Atlas was being hammered by two massive turrets one on the floor and one on the ceiling and Deathtrap, Axton was firing off a shotgun and Gaige came up behind the distracted mech and slammed two digital claws through the fan on its back then ripped it open at the waist. The bifurcated Atlas caught on fire as it fell in two.
"Landing zone is clear," Ax said, "Wrex bring in the shuttle."
"Well that is one way to do it," Tali said, "But I didn't even get to shoot it."
"Nice work, very efficient," Mordin remarked, "I'm Mordin good to see Shepard is still branching out recruiting new people. Your contraptions are quite impressive we should talk sometime, but first get Krogan off planet to Tuchanka, cure genophage solidify Turian-Krogan relations."
Wrex offered the female a hand to get into the Kodiak, instead she took his shotgun and blasted two Cerberus troopers that jetted down from the level above before stepping inside.
"Women," Wrex mused.
"What I like shotguns too," Tali said.
"Shepard's perhaps," Wrex said with a laugh, "I'd like to see you try out a Claymore."
"Shepard's..." Tali pondered for a second before getting the innuendo and putting a hand to her face as her cheeks turned a deep red, "Ok its times like this that I miss the mask."
"You should probably wear the suit into battle anyways," Mordin said as they boarded the Kodiak, "It's life support systems would be most advantageous especially since you like close quarters combat."
"Not what I meant Mordin," Tali said.
"No you were referring to how the face mask would cover your blushing due to the sexual pun that our less than delicate friend here made," Mordin replied, "I was simply stating it has other value besides."
"Who is this guy," Ax asked.
"Axton, Gaige, meet Mordin, Mordin Axton and Gaige," Shepard said.
"Ah yes two of the Vault hunters," Mordin said, "Looked into your actions on Pandora while with STG, decided we didn't want to get involved very messy business."
"Yeah tell us about it," Ax said, "But if you all knew of Eridium why weren't you all after it?"
"Eridium only useful for Sirens, only three Sirens exists at one time, none are Silarian thus no benefit to us to go after it," Mordin explained, "Same for other races, all Sirens are human for now."
"Wait that stuff is true," Harold asked, "I just thought it was all a bunch of crap made up to justify some pointless mining venture."
"I told you that Pandora was more than you thought it was," Tali said.
"And why do some many people know about us," Gaige asked, "We are just from one planet out of an entire galaxy."
"The Vaults predate even the Prothians, or so Liarra says," Tali said, "They may even date back to the creators of the Reapers."
"So the Reapers might have a weakness that is tied to the Vaults and Sirens," Shepard said, "Hmm... Interesting. I'll have to speak to your Siren friends about their powers see if anything clicks into place."
"So you're the Reaper expert then," Ax said, "Well I could think of worse possibilities for a title."
"I'd rather not have a title and not have the Reapers," Shepard stated, "Now its a race through space to gather materials for the Crucible, and an army to defend it."
"The what," Axton asked.
"I'll explain later so I only have to go over it once with all of you," Harold replied.
Character Kalathanon
"The what," K asked.
"That's what I said, "Ax commented.
"The Crucible is, as far as we can tell, a weapon whose size and scope is beyond anything any one civilization is capable of designing let alone building," Liarra explained.
"So like a deep space cannon," C said.
"Something like that, but capable of destroying all the Reapers in one go," Harold said, "Or so we hope."
"Well here pull me up them schematics and I'll tell you what it does," Scooter the mechanic who was with the Vault Hunters said.
Liarra looked at Shepard who nodded before pulling up the designs on the holographic display.
"Ok now you see this giant coupling here that's for the power to this thing but it ain't linked to the internal systems those are powered from a separate source from within the Crucible itself the weapon is powered by an outside source also these capacitors here they is three of them and only one is linked to the power line so the other two must be for options other than firing this thing. As for the exact dispersion of the weapon systems there don't be no barrel, so to speaks, all you got is a cylinder but no transmission no way to direct it. All in all this plan is missing some major pieces to it, like a car with nothing but an engine."
"What do you mean an engine," K asked getting the sparks of an idea forming.
"Well it has the capacity to fire off a huge amount of energy through those relays but it is missing a battery and some method of directing it."
"So that must be what the Catalyst does," Liarra said, "But how did..."
"Ah it ain't that hard I'll show you later," Scooter said.
"This Catalyst," K continued, "It would have to be both the transmission medium to the relays and the power source?"
"Yup," Scooter said as he took off his hat and scratched his head, "Not sure what sort of space station could do that though, even the Hyperion ship is to small."
"Space station," Shepard asked.
"Well yeah this here device is meant to dock with something, probably whatever your Catalyst is," Scooter said, "See its got these hooky things right here that would let it dock with any station that was large enough and with the correct conical shape."
"Like a cylinder," Wrex said, "So we need a circular space station."
"More like a Pyrinder," Scooter added, "It's got to curve to a point for the hooks to not fall back out."
"Shepard," K said, "Describe the Citadel again."
"Holy... Liarra would the Citadel work?" Shepard said.
"I... it just might but the mere though is... we already know the Citadel is a relay a giant one," Liarra said, "Yes it would have to be."
"Contact the General," Shepard said, "And the Councilors we found the Catalyst."
"Your welcome," K said, "Guess this universe isn't all that hard to figure out after all. I'd bet that you could also tweak the pulse that Crucible delivers to control the Reapers or something."
"That's great," Victus said, "At least we know we can kill them, but first we need to get the cure spread to the Krogan I need Pallaven secured."
"Well at least you're eager to get on with it," Wrex said amused, "The Silarian seems less eager."
"How are we going to spread the cure," K asked, "Individually would take almost as long as the Reapers take to wipe out the galaxy. Additionally what exactly does the genophage target?"
"The genophage targets the Krogan's cellular reproduction so their rapid cellular replacement actually kills them instead of healing them," Mordin said, "The effect applies to about ninety-seven percent of the population at birth thus killing them."
"So it attacks the cells as they are replaced," K said, "Impressive design but easily subverted, get me on planet and I can cure this mistake. Wrex I'll have to first scan you to see how your cells are supposed to regenerate."
"Do it then," Wrex said, "and hurry I'm getting reports of Reapers already on Tuchanka."
"Reapers," Harold said, "Do you know what they are doing?"
"Shepard... they are trying to poison the planet with the Shroud," Wrex said after a moment, "The cure will be a mute point if we don't stop them."
"Sounds like you'll need two groups one to stop the Reapers and one to distribute the cure," Lilith said, "I'll help with stopping the Reapers."
"I'm with K," Diablo said, "If he is going to try what I think he is going to try..."
"I am," K said with a smirk.
"Well then We'll take the assassin too," Diablo said.
"I shall do what I can," Zer0 said.
"Lily, you might need help," Maya said, "And two Sirens are better than one."
"We want to punch something," Grunt said for himself and Brick.
"I might want to mention that we may need a third group," Victus said, "There is also a bomb that needs to be defused on the planet."
"A what," Wrex yelled.
"It's old Wrex," Victus said, "But Cerberus has it now and if it detonates..."
"I'll go with the third group," C said.
"I'm with Xeiver," Gaige said.
"And I'm with Gaige," Ax added.
"Deactivate the Shroud," Mordin said, "That will stop the poison, I will take care of it."
"So," K said, "What are we waiting for?"
"We are waiting to see what a Cerberus capital ship is doing in orbit," EDI said, "Scans show that it is headed for an old surface to space cannon, we may wish to prevent them from gaining control of it."
"Well," Baal said, "If something needs to be destroyed there are few better than I."
"I"m with Baal," Mephisto said, "We'll handle this cannon and its ship."
"The rest of you can stay here on the Normandy until we send in back up requests," Shepard said, "Now lets go."
About ten minutes later K found himself, Diablo, Zer0 and Wrex on the top of an old pyramid shaped temple that looked out over the plains of Tuchanka. They could see the Shroud in the distance and the destroyer class Reaper that was at it.
"Right," K said as he cracked his metallic knuckles against his boney ones, "Lets do this."
Character Lilith (Siren)
They had made it to the base of the Shroud, Shepard and Tali had gone with Mordin to secure an entrance to the device while they, with the help of some of the Prime-arc's air support and Wrex's tanks were supposed to draw the Reaper away.
"I don't like this," Garn the leader of the tanks said, "We have no cover against that thing's weapons."
"We may not need cover," Lilith said, "I could Phase-walk the tanks there, it would take a lot of power though and I didn't bring enough Eridium to Phase them there and back..."
"So its a one way trip," Garn stated. "But I'll take it."
"Alright then hold on," Lilith said. She reached across the group of tanks with her mind before pulling them all into her dimension. Inside the pocket dimension they could still see the world outside just through a smoky haze that made most shapes unclear. The Reaper stood out nice and big though so navigating to it was not hard. Once they were right under it Lilith released her hold on the tanks and they reappeared in the normal world with a huge fiery explosion.
"That got it's attention," Maya said, "Now we may want to run."
"Running," Garn replied as he gunned the engine an headed straight for one of the Reaper's legs. "Get out now!"
Lilith and Maya looked at the determined Krogan and popped the door open and rolled out of the tank. Looking back towards Garn's death head charge they saw he fired up the main gun and had started shooting at the Reaper as he drove. The damage it did to the Reaper was minimal but was enough that when the tank rammed the leg it rendered that limb immobile.
"Garn," Lilith called on the ECHO, "You survive that?"
"Sure thing," Garn replied, "Now hurry up out there and kill that thing. I'll hold off its minions as long as I can."
The Sirens shared a glance at each other before turning to take in the Reaper. It was looking for the aircraft that still were prodding it with occasional flyovers, however with one of its legs non-functional it's aim was sloppy and its tracking was slow.
"Orbital strike," Maya asked.
"Wouldn't do much against that and might damage the Shroud even more," Lilith replied, "No we need to hit it with something from the inside."
"How about this," Maya suggested as she tossed a longbow grenade into the air and caught it.
"The tech would work but we need something a bit bigger..." Lilith said as she looked back over to the tank.
"Garn get out of the tank," Maya said, "We are going to turn it into a grenade."
"Do what," Garn said, "That's awesome do it."
The Sirens headed towards the tank as Garn got out. Once there they helped him clear out the various Reaper creations that were assaulting the tank before Maya got to work on integrating the grenade's teleporting tech with the tank's power system. Lilith spent most of this time Phase-walking through the Reaper forces that continued to deploy to stop them. She saved Garn's reckless hide more than once in the process too.
"Ok its ready," Maya said, "Everyone get clear."
They started running towards the old ruins that were behind the Reaper as Maya lifted the Tank with a Phase lock and threw it towards the Reaper's head. The Tank teleported as soon as it left Phase-lock and a moment later a massive explosion from inside the Reaper brought the great machine down.
"Hahahahaha," Garn rumbled, "That was worth seeing."
"Lilith," Shepard called, "Mordin's gone up into the tower, get out of the area that thing is going to explode."
"And your just going to leave him up there," Lilith exclaimed, "I though he was your friend."
"He is," Shepard replied, "That's why he chose to go up..."
"Lily what's wrong," Maya asked.
"Mays get out of here, I'm going into that Shroud to get Mordin out, Garn make sure the girl listens," Lilith said as she Phased-walked away from the two. In a matter of moments she had navigated to the tower and found Mordin inside the top control room. He seemed unusually calm for someone who was about to die in an explosion, singing some tune to himself as he worked to fix the device. Lilith popped into the world again as soon as he had finished and grabbed a hold of him before phasing them both out of the tower as it exploded. "Got you," she said to the startled Mordin as he looked around the dusty plain that they had reappeared in.
"What...how," Mordin said, "Siren Phasing ability of course should have known as soon as the pocket dimension formed, many thanks did not expect to survive the Shroud, had made peace with the world, not sure what to do now... continue helping Shepard I guess. Long walk back we should go."
"Uh yeah," Lilith said, "Your welcome... I guess."
"Lilith," Shepard called from a tank that rolled up to them, "I can't repay you for saving Mordin but I can give you two a ride back so you don't have to listen to him talk science or theology all the way back."
"Could always talk about medicine if you prefer," Mordin said smiling, "Good news though Shroud fixed toxins should clear out of the air in a day or two, no long term effect on Krogan people."
"Good to hear," Shepard said, "Where are Maya and Garn?"
"Still over by the ruins," Lilith said, "lets go pick them up."
Character Celantra
C flew into the zone that the bomb was placed at with Ax and Gaige on her back and Garrus leading a squad of Turians behind her. Cerberus was already at the site and had the bomb dug up.
"That's not a good sign," Ax relayed to C for Garrus.
"Usually isn't," C agreed, "But if we can get our hands on the bomb I can bring it back to Cerberus' foothold here and blow it up on them."
Ax relayed the message before giving Garrus' reply. "Normally I'd advise against that but since Cerberus' foothold is probably on a ship somewhere in low orbit... That sounds like a good idea. We need to unlock the fuse for it though to get the bomb airborne."
"I assume you know how to do that," Ax said to Garrus.
"I hope he does, or has someone with him who does," C said, "We are going in." They dived towards the bomb as Cerberus transports started evacuating the area. C landed on top of the bomb, a large spherical device suspended in the air by four legs that also acted as a trigger mechanism, while Garrus had his transports spread out to provide cover fire for him and his team. Shortly after the air was secured Garrus arrived on sight with three other Turians to remove the bomb.
"Ok Victus no heroics," Garrus told one of the Turians then to the group, "Ok lets get on with this Cerberus probably has this bomb rigged to a timer." They proceeded to uncouple two of the legs from the bomb before Garrus told C to try taking off while they removed the last two couplings. C grabbed the bomb and took off as the last legs were disconnected. "Now follow those transports back to their base and we will give them a nice surprise," Garrus said with a chuckle. As he and the other Turians climbed onto C's back.
"How are we going to actually detonate the bomb," Victus asked.
"Leave that to Xeiver," Gaige replied, "She's got a way with explosions."
"And who is the girl," Victus asked.
"Who is the chatty Turian," Gaige retorted.
"That is the Prime-Arc's son," Garrus informed.
"That explains why they have the same name," Ax commented. "And the girl is the Mechromancer, I'd leave her be."
"Aren't you the one who wants her," C asked.
"Ha ok fair enough," Ax replied, "But still she has about the same tendency as you do for mass destruction."
"Yeah about that," C said, "You probably won't be seeing as much of that from me as you're used to."
"You say as we fly towards a carrier with a giant bomb," Garrus said, "If this is not as much as you're used to then what are you used to?"
"Xeiver is a," Gage started.
"Gaige," C warned, "Remember what I said about that."
"Oh right," Gaige said, "Sorry."
"There is the ship," Garrus said, "Shit, I had hoped it would be in a higher orbit this low will devastate the land underneath it."
"But it will be contained in a smaller area," Victus said, "Perhaps that is what we need?"
Garrus thought about it for a second before signaling for C to move in. C started charging the bomb as they moved in on the carrier. The massive electrical charge she was building on it would react with the metal of the ship and set off the explosives, that was the easy part. As they got close to the ship she dived towards it releasing her hold on the bomb and bringing up an energy shield around them as she pulled up and headed back to the rendezvous point she shaped the back side of the shield into a sail that caught the shock wave from the blast and propelled them forward.
"Now that was impressive," Victus said, "even by Turian standards."
Character Grunt
"Hahaha," Grunt laughed as Brick related an account of when he and Tiny Tina waged a two person war against the bandits of Pandora, "I wish I could have seen that."
"Yeah it was a great day," Brick said, "How you two big guys doing back there?"
"How do you think," Mephisto's grating voice replied from the cargo hold of the transport.
"Probably cramped as hell," Brick said.
"Actually our hell had more room than this," Baal added equally displeased at having to be cramped in the hold of a cargo barge as they flew towards the space cannon.
"Its not as bad as being stuck in a cave where the only way out is to punch your way through the rock walls," Grunt said, "I'll have to tell you that story later the gun approaches." The ship dropped them off near the power station for the weapon, Baal and Mephisto deployed first then Brick and Grunt.
"EDI talk to me," Grunt said through his Omi-tool.
"The Cerberus vessel will be within range of the gun in seven minutes and will remain within range for five minutes at its current velocity," EDI relayed, "The controls for the cannons are on the opposite end of the firing grid maintenance platform and likely guarded by Cerberus."
"Well," Brick asked.
"Usual stuff get the gun working shoot the ship kill lots of people," Grunt said, "We've got to get inside the building on the other side of the open area out there."
"I'll draw the guard's attention," Mephisto said, "Brother?"
"This gun won't fire if the power is cut," Baal said as he examined the power conduits, "I will remain here and see what I can do to improve this weapon's destructive potential."
"So Brick and I will take the control center," Grunt said, "I like it, lets go."
Mephisto floated out into the middle of the platform and let out a challenging bellow daring anyone dumb enough to fight him to try it before engaging a troop of Cerberus that came out from the side of the control center. Grunt and Brick used the distraction to sneak in the same way the guards came out, they were not without their own fight to be had though as the controls were still manned and guarded by another eight Cerberus troops, one was a phantom class stealth assassin. The phantom cloaked itself as they engaged its fellow Cerberus, which dropped quickly to the onslaught of fists that their faces had to eat.
"Where did the skinny one go," Brick said.
"Its still here somewhere," Grunt said, "look out for a..."
"Sword," Brick asked as he held up a phantom's sword, "Yeah I saw it over by that stack of crates." Then the phantom uncloaked and tried to kick its way out of Bricks grasp. "Ah ha now this is something isn't it?"
"Brick throw it here," Grunt said as brick broke the sword in the phantoms grip.
"Here brick said as he threw the unfortunate phantom to Grunt who headbutted it out of the air with a laugh.
"Now that was fun," Grunt said, "Ok lets get this gun working." Grunt activated the controls to target the ship but halfway through the firing sequence the power was cut.
"Uh don't we have Baal guarding the power," Brick asked.
"We do," Grunt said, "Something must have gotten past him." They went to look out a balcony towards the power supply where all sorts of fire and tentacles were devastating Cerberus, looking to their right they saw Mephisto engaged with more Cerberus who were getting beaten back with ice and lightning.
"Grunt the Cerberus ship is within range," EDI said, "Shoot it down."
"Can't gun's not working," Grunt replied. Then Baal walked out into the open area of the platform and looked up into the sky, he shoved a clawed hand into the rails of the cannon which then fired three swirling masses of energy the resulting explosion was visible to them even through the cloud cover overhead.
"The ship is down," EDI reported, "Nice shot, but that wasn't normal Krogan weaponry did Cerberus tamper with it?"
"No Baal did," Grunt replied, "Send in a pick up I think we are done here." As Grunt finished speaking a huge wall of green energy washed over them and continued off into the distance. "Heh seems like K is done too."
"Acknowledged," EDI replied, "Now it is just a race to finish the Crucible."
"Alright space race," Brick said, "I punch it."