MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA SERIES II: CHAPTER 9
Inside the Mess Hall at Peak 15, bodies of destroyed Geth littered the floor, their outer shells blown apart by Shepard's and his team's weapons. Now the trio formed a circle with their backs to each other as they followed the eerie cracking noise with the scopes of their rifles. Garrus tensed up as he tried to find the exact origin of the sound. The whole place felt wrong. Since they left the garage and made their way upward in the facility, there was nothing organic around. There were only Geth troopers and the continuous loud speaker warning from the facility's computer indicating that the tram station was down due to everything being offline. It was strange not finding anyone around that was friendly. He began to wonder just what kind of situation there was at Peak 15. With the Geth working with Saren, it seemed unlikely that Geth were deployed prior to Benezia's arrival unless it was a ruse. The noise made him jump back to his senses and he moved the barrel of his rifle quickly to his right. "What was that? What was that?"
"Probably debris," Wrex replied back coolly as he looked around with his shotgun poised. "Don't have a panic attack. I'll protect you."
The sound of footsteps approached dead ahead in the upper level of the Mess Hall where glass was that allowed users to look down at the eating area. Seconds later, they saw it! A large bug like organism walked up to the glass and shrilled loudly. "Enemy contact!" Garrus shouted as smaller green bugs swarmed inside the room.
"Fire on everything that moves!" Shepard ordered. He took aim as one green bug leaped up at him and fired. The spray of bullets found their target and the bug exploded in a green liquid that covered the hall's floor. Garrus followed suit and took down two more of the bugs. He then heard the sound of a Krogan charging as Wrex roared and sprinted up the snow covered hill that led to the main aggressor. The brown bug gave a piercing shrill as it sideways walked to take on the massive Krogan and then spat a green acid from one of its arms. Wrex dodged and then fired back. The first hit didn't even phase the creature as it neared. Wrex didn't flinch and fired again and again till finally the creature howled in pain and collapsed dead.
"Not moving now," Wrex chuckled as he walked up to his kill.
"What were those things?" Garrus caught his breath as he followed Shepard up to their squadmate. Even with the creature dead, it still gave the Turian a chill. Was this the situation on Peak 15?
"I haven't seen a bug like this before," Shepard kicked at the corpse to make sure it wasn't moving anymore.
"Wrex answered, "I don't know how this is possible."
"What is it, Wrex?" Shepard became intrigued.
"A rachni. Least I think it is…though we Krogan killed the bastards a long time ago. At least I thought we did..."
"That's right," Garrus thought back to his history lessons growing up. "The rachni were expanding quickly and the Salarians uplifted the Krogans to take care of these pests. Man, they are ugly."
"Uh huh, course the Salarians and the Turians wanted to neuter my kind after they were done with us."
"We can play diplomats another time," Shepard interjected as he motioned them to follow him down the corridor that led to the elevator. "Let's find out what the hell is going on with this place. I really don't want to be bug chow."
"So let me get this straight, Shepard," Wrex began as they made their way down to the Quarantine section of the Rift Station. "There are rachni crawling along this place and they want us to find a cure for some sick patients?" Annoyance filled his words. Garrus made a side glance over to his burly compatriot. The idea of Rachni coming back into the galaxy brought fear to him, but to Wrex, it brought frustration. A lot of Krogan died to fight the galaxy's problem and now it seemed like they were back.
"I don't like it either but no one really has answers up top. Maybe we can get some answers down here," Shepard replied as he was the first one to step off the elevator. The room contained a Turian guard across the room, two human males who instantly eyed them suspiciously and a volus who was pacing back and forth. Shepard pointed to the volus. "Let's start with him."
The volus stopped as they approached and rubbed his hands nervously. He eyed their weapons fearfully. "Did the Captain send you down here to kill me?"
"Kill you? If he wanted to, he wouldn't need all three of us," Shepard rolled his eyes.
"Why would you think the Captain sent us down here to kill you?" Garrus questioned.
"For what I've done. I was only the one who survived leaving the hot labs…I…I killed her," The volus spoke through the respirator as panic plagued him.
"Slow down," Garrus raised his hand. "What is your name and killed who? Who did you kill?" The idea of Andromeda being dead made it hard for him to swallow.
"The name is Han O'lar," Han took a breath. "Mareena. She was my assistant in the hot labs. A young Asari…too young." He shook his head.
Garrus was able to take a breath after hearing the name. Thank the spirits that it wasn't Andromeda. "What were you studying in the hot labs?" Shepard pressed on.
"Binary Helix contracted me to study the rachni egg that they found on a derelict ship. It was old…very old. The egg hatched and inside was a queen. She was still alive so they raised her and bred her to create more rachni to study them and see how they were controlled. But something went wrong…so horribly wrong."
"You bred Rachni?" Wrex asked loudly in disbelief. "Are you insane?! Do you have any idea what my ancestors went through to take care of them?!"
"Calm down, Wrex," Shepard warned cautiously.
Without being cued, Han continued his story, "The rachni broke free of all restraints. We were unable to contain the situation and the labs were breached. We had to evacuate. I made it to the tram before Mareena and panicked. I closed the doors just as she and the rachni were approaching. She…she banged on the door begging me for to open them. But the rachni were too close…I was afraid if I did they would come in and then we would all be killed. I…I ignored her and started the tram up to leave. They ripped her apart in front of me…th-there was nothing left…I closed the doors…I left her to die…" He rasped heavily as his voice shook.
"You're a goddamn coward." Shepard spat in disgust. "You could have saved her but instead you saved yourself!"
"I know…" Han replied back solemnly. "I deserve to die as well."
"No…you will live with that image of her over and over again. You better pray to whatever gods you believe in that the rachni flood this part of the station before I'm able to destroy them." The commander motioned for his team to move on as he stepped away towards the guard up ahead.
Garrus followed suit and he heard the raspy breathing of the volus that they left behind to ponder over his words. The image of the poor Asari being killed so violently made him sick to his stomach. "It's their own damn fault," Wrex grunted beside Garrus. "Well if the rachni spread again, the Salarians and Turians better not ask for our help."
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that. I don't think the galaxy could handle another rachni invasion," Vakarian answered calmly.
"Apparently they didn't think they could handle a Krogan 'invasion' either..."
"Enough you two," Shepard barked up ahead. "Let's get that cure so we can hurry up and get to those hot labs. We need to stop them from spreading any further.
"Right behind you, Shepard." Garrus wondered where Benezia was. Was she in the hot labs waiting on them with more Geth? Or were now the rachni on Saren's side?
Shepard panted as he looked down at the fallen corpse of the once Matriarch Benezia. The firefight in the hot labs against her, her entourage of commandoes and Geth troopers was strenuous. Garrus was nearby examining one of the commandoes' bodies while Wrex stood in front of the glass casing that held the rachni queen. The bug creature glared at him and hissed wildly. "Not so tough in that cell are you?" Wrex taunted as he tapped the glass with the butt of his gun.
Hearing Wrex talk, Garrus stood back up and walked back over, his eyes lingered on Benezia's hollowed eyes. They still looked up in horror and he could still hear her dying words, "No light? There is no light." A cold chill ran through his body. The Matriarch claimed that Saren had somehow assumed control of her mind so her will was no longer hers but she was only able to resist a few brief seconds in between bouts before she came at them again. Trying to save her was a loss cause to the commander so they had no choice but to take her down. He feared how Liara would react when she found out. How could Saren obtain such power to where he could take over a person's will just by talking to them? Was his cause that just? No, this was not voluntary. He now began to wonder if Andromeda was just as consumed by this power since she was in Saren's custody. Benezia didn't mention any type of mechanical device that penetrated her brain and he didn't believe in sorcery; so how was Saren able to manipulate the Matriarch's actions? The wild roar of the rachni brought him back to his senses.
"Let's just kill her so we can get the hell out of here. This whole place gives me the creeps." The Krogan stepped back over to them.
"We should not be too hasty," Garrus warned. Just as he did he heard a thud behind him. He turned around to see the same dead commando that he was examining earlier slump towards them. Her body was not stiff and her feet dragged as she moved along. Her eyes still rolled up into the back of her head. "What the-?"
Shepard drew his pistol to take aim but then stepped aside as he saw the commando was nearing the rachni but no made no action of hostility to them. She stood with her back to the glass in front of the rachni and one of the larger arms of the creature leaned up towards her. Cold words came pouring out of the commando's mouth. Wrex stepped up closer beside Garrus while the commander listened to the queen speak. "This is just too eerie. I don't want a rachni controlling me."
"It's amazing. She can speak through another individual? I didn't know this was possible. Why is Saren so interested in Peak 15? Was he going to control the rachni?"
"What will be our fate, Commander?" The queen's question brought back their attention to what was going on before them.
Wrex didn't hesitate to chime in. "There are acid tanks rigged up on that thing. Set them off. Millions of my ancestors died to put those things down. Don't let them come back."
Garrus could see where his burly companion was coming off but this queen seemed different. She was more interested in talking to resolve a peace between the species instead of provoking violence. He couldn't see them instantly damning her without giving her an opportunity to live in harmony. "If you kill her, you consign an entire race to death. We should let the Citadel Council decide her fate."
The asari's frosty voice addressed Shepard," Your companions hear the truth. You have the power to free us."
Shepard remained silent momentarily as he studied the queen behind the commando. His jaw clenched as he mused over the idea of destroying the rachni. Both Wrex and Garrus watched intently. "Make your peace with the galaxy. The rachni are a dead race."
Garrus was appalled at the response and he thought he saw a smile come across Wrex's lips of satisfaction. He never thought in his lifetime that he would actually see a Krogan smile. "We can't exterminate them," He protested firmly. "Not without the Council's approval. Genocide is one of the reasons we fought the Krogan…" His words caught up with him. Here he was arguing against killing off a species but years ago, his kind was all on board in destroying another species... "Ahh…" He felt like he wanted to open his mouth and put his foot in there.
Wrex's voice was filled with hurt and pain. "You want to learn about genocide, Vakarian?" Garrus couldn't even catch his gaze as guilt filled him. "I'll take you to a Krogan obstetrician's office."
"Is our kind so frightening?" The queen asked solemnly.
However, the commander was not moved. He approached the console that controlled the acid tanks. "This time, stay dead!"
"We will not embrace the great silence," The queen roared in sheer anger as she desperately began to try to break the containment glass. Her efforts were in vain, as seconds later, the acid poured out of the tanks onto her. She howled in pain.
Garrus looked away and closed his eyes. He knew that he could block the image of the queen being melted by the acid in a horrific death, but he could not block out her last shrills of life. Was this what it meant to be a Spectre? Your power extends beyond the council's authority that you could simply wipe out entire species if desired without anyone blinking an eye? No, there had to be consequences for this action. What would they be and would it halt their hunt for Saren? He didn't want anything to hold them up. He had to bring Saren to justice and hopefully find Andromeda before she became a puppet like Benezia.