Chapter 25
I don't own mass effect
Story start
Blaze I don't know for sure but I've always assumed that the destroyed Grizzlies on the way to Peak 15 were from those who had managed to escape Peak 15, the rachni, Benezia and everyone else only to be taken out by the geth before they could make it back to port to raise the alarm. (or they were already on the road to or from Peak 15 or one of the other facilities and unfortunately ran into the geth.)
Varvas thank you for your review and saying you like my story. It's never to late to say that you like the pairing. As for Tali, I like herbut she was already the pairing for my other mass effect story. Since both stories were already so similar I wanted a different pairing. I got a bit tired of Destiny due to the constant leveling but eventually I'll get back to writting it. speaking of that story I had an idea to bring back Cayde-6. That involves the transporter that he got stuck in during the Red War making copies of him, I wonder how bungie is going to bring him back.
As for me saying it was a game devalues everyone your right, I feel it everytime I mention it.
Arriving at Peak 15 it was immediately obvious that we wouldn't parking inside.
The main entrance was blocked off by snow and a destroyed truck, thankfully there was a side access we could go through. Entering the side door we then entered the buffer zone between the actual garage itself and the outside, opening the secondary roller door we were immediately fired upon by multiple hostiles. Including two krogan, multiple standard geth units, at least two geth juggernauts and multiple drones.
Roaring a challenge Wrex charged the two krogan, who in turn also charged Wrex but without the accompanying roar. Meaning it was either a clone or a fully indoctrinated krogan, something that just pissed Wrex off more.
Colliding with the first krogan Wrex sends him flying before turning his shotgun on the second. The first blast does nothing, the second causes the charging krogan to jerk back. The third takes out his knee causing him to drop to the ground. Getting closer Wrex shoves the curved blade of the Bruce through the krogan's helmet and jaw before pulling the trigger a fourth time and blowing a massive hole through the helmet. Letting his gun cool Wrex creates a powerful barrier around himself, when the gun had cooled down Wrex turned his attention back to the first krogan.
As for me, the first thing I did was chuck a singularity on the ramp leasing up to the second level. If there were anymore geth up there no point in letting them join the fight before we were ready. I then use my settler to start taking out the geth troopers, using the overpowered shots exclusively and reloading when all the heat banks were full. With the amount of people on our side I didn't have to worry about an overheated gun.
I used my biotics sparingly, a singularity here, a pulling a geth into another there. Soon the garage was clear of hostiles. Clearing the garage also come with some good news, the garage had a number of vehicles untouched. My guess was that they were the ones Benezia and her followers used to get here and after Garrus, Ash, Kaiden and Tali had checked them for traps we had a choice of transportation back. Also in the garage were a number of empty crates, where the rest of them were I didn't know.
Leaving the garage we passed through the first security checkpoint. Tali was quick to notice that the turrets were facing the wrong direction.
"They seem to care more about people leaving than who's coming in. Are they active?" asked Shepard
"...no they aren't." said Tali after a scan
"Good let's go through."
After we walked through the checkpoint Shepard had Tali and Garrus make sure that the turrets were disabled both electronically and physically so we didn't have any nasty surprises when we came back.
Reaching the elevator we once again split into two groups. This time however when Wrex, Gamora, Kaiden and I arrived a firefight was already in progress. The room was completely filled with snow thanks to a broken window as a number of geth, thankfully they didn't take long to deal with.
When the last geth fell though, a shriek and the sound of something moving between the walls rang out.
"Everyone be on guard, this isn't over." warned Shepard
Tali was the first to spot one of them crawling through one of the vents. Snall, green and deadly.
"I see one of...something." said Tali unsure, shotgun aiming at the small rachni. An engineer I think they were called, however one second it was in the snow about four metres from Tali, the next it was leaping through the air straight towards her. Thankfully Gamora managed to catch it mid-air biotically and throw it into one of the nearby walls. Morbidly I noticed how it melted into the wall, while it didn't exactly erase the wall, even causing light damage to something as solid as a wall meant I sure as hell didn't want it touching me.
After the first one appeared dozens followed, coming from vents or holes in the wall to just scuttling through the snow. My biotics were exceedingly usual in that regard, the engineers were exceedingly fast and small. The only person among us that I would bet could reliably hit them was Garrus, everyone else, even Ash who was the third-best shot after Shepard had to use burst fire in order to take them out. With biotics I could just reach out and 'catch' them, after we dealt with a few of the engineers there was a second shriek from above and the sound of breaking glass. Looking up we all had to jump back as a much larger rachni jumped from the second story followed by another.
They were roughly the size of a large dog, with sharp beak-like mouths and two long tentacles tipped with claws that snapped shut. They released an angry hissing/shrieking sound but they weren't hissing for long, Wrex quickly fired two rounds into one of the rachni's skull turning it to paste while Gamora and I simultaneously unleashed a throw at the second and held it pinned against the wall where it died seconds later thanks to overwhelming fire. As annoying as it was to constantly split up in two groups everytime we got to an elevator it sure came in handy at times to have a large group.
"Is that what I think it is?" asked Ash "I...
"It's rachni." interrupted Wrex giving her a look "I recognise the smell from some old family trophies, though the smells alot fresher."
"I pictured them being bigger." finished Ash in the background
"It's young, from what I've heard of the old spike chins they can get a lot bigger." growled Wrex while Garrus asks in the background "What else could it be?" to which Ash shoots back "Who knows what else they have here!"
"Spike chins?" asked Shepard, ignoring Ash and Garrus for the time being.
"Yeah, krogan get old too you know. When a krogan starts getting on in years they start developing spikes on their chin around the time it takes for an asari to become a matriach plus a few centuries. Not many reach that point though, we tend to die a lot younger, there's only a dozen that I know of on Tuchanka and some of them could be dead. If ever a spike chin gives you advice you take it." answered Wrex
"When do you start getting your spikes?" asked Kaiden getting a snort from Wrex
"I'm not that old, give me a few more centuries and I'll start getting them, a few more and they'll be worth showing off."
Making sure that there weren't any other rachni about to jump out at us we headed upstairs. Walking past a few snow-filled offices I waited for the inevitable elevator and sure enough a few doors later...elevator.
"It looks like this one will take us to the central hub." said Garrus looking up at the glowing sign
"Hopefully that means that means and end to all these elevators...I'm really getting tired of them." said Ash, mirroring my thoughts
"They are a constant delay." agreed Gamora
"And I'm afraid it will be a delay that we'll be getting constantly." said Shepard before stepping into the elevator
This time when Wrex, Gamora, Kaiden and myself reached the others the battle was already over, the bodies of a few engineers sinking into the floor here and there.
"Did we miss much?" asked Kaiden
"No, only a few of the small green ones." answered Shepard "Now lets see if anything works."
Going to the nearest console Shepard tries activating it.
"Critical error...virtual intelligence not available, manual reboot required." came the voice of the computer.
"There's also a power junction here that's damaged but only lightly." added Garrus.
"See if you can get it fixed, Tali I want you to do the manual reboot so nothing goes wrong." ordered Shepard
While Garrus got to work fixing the junction the rest of us headed to the vi core where Tali alone descended into the mainframe...after five minutes we started to hear what could only be swear words coming up, though they were faint and the translater didn't tell me what they meant.
After a particularly loud tirade Wrex let out a chuckle "Good one."
"What she say?" asked Garrus curious
"It doesn't exactly translate but it roughly means 'I hope you get stuck in an elevator that you coded yourself with only a bucket and four horny vorcha that are constantly shitting."
"Oh."
"That mainframe must be really be giving her a lot of trouble." remarked Ash
Eventually, Tali came back up and she was pissed
"Whoever designed that bosh'tet of a mainframe is an idiot. I know children who could have done a better job." fumed Tali
"Hey guys I got something!" called out Garrus
Heading back to Garrus we saw a holographic image of a woman.
"It looks like you are trying to restore this facility...would you like help with that?" asked the woman
I was instantly reminded of that paperclip assistant that I had to deal with, always saying something, only being helpful occasionally.
"A pop up...great." said Shepard sarcastically, already telling that this VI was on the less helpful spectrum "And you are?"
"This system is programmed to respond to Mira. What is your name?" asked Mira
"I'm Commander Shepard."
"Well Miss Commander Shepard how may I assist you today?" asked Mira getting a sigh from Shepard
"I need to get this place up and running, I also need to find Lady Benezia and find out what she's been up to." answered Shepard
"I'm sorry but that requires an access level higher than...guest, public or civilian." said Mira sounding very falsely apologetic
"I'm a Spectre, here are my codes." said Shepard showing the codes
"Access granted. By the way your file says your name is Jane Fiona Shepard not Commander Shepard...would you like me to correct this on our system?" asked Mira
"That's fine, can you tell me what I need to do to get this place up and running?" asked Shepard
"Very well, your preference of being called Commander Shepard has been recorded. As for bringing this faculty back online...manual diagnostics in progress...done. Multiple critical failures are detected. Critical failure 1; main reactor has been shut down in accordance to with emergency shutdown procedures due to a containment breach. Manual restart is necessary. Critical failure 2; landline connections are disabled. Critical failure 3; passenger trams are offline. Currently, these are the only problems detected." finished Mira
"There could be more, a lot of the equipment in here looks damaged." commented Garrus
"You and Tali get to work on that. Callum, Gamora you stay with them to make sure no rachni comes in while their back is turned." ordered Shepard
For the next 20 to 30 minutes Gamora and I stood guard while Tali and Garrus repaired anything damage they could see, every so often the rest of the ground crew would come back and Shepard would give us an update on what was repaired and any forces they encountered which was either more geth or rachni.
Eventually, everything was up and running, so we headed for the tram, travelling through a maze of corridors and a couple of lifts dealing with a few more rachni along the way before making it to a secondary checkpoint that held a swam of rachni inside. Thankfully Tali was able to turn on and repair the plasma purge to deal with them so we didn't have to. Finally making it to the tram we saw that for once something was large enough to carry all of us so a second trip was not needed.
"Was it just me or was that VI a lot stupider than it should have been?" asked Ash during the tram ride "I'm no techy but that core looked big enough for the VI to be a lot smarter."
"It could have been on purpose, I remember my dad telling a case he did a few years back where there was this company that had two versions of the same VI. One that was almost entirely useless and each question had to be phrased a certain way while the other you needed a certain phrase to access." said Solana
"Why would they do that?" asked Ash
"To make it harder for anyone they don't want to get information to get that information. Not only does it help secure their systems from anyone that sneaks in but it also makes it hard for anyone who has legal permission to be there but not the goodwill of the company. Its also completely legal..ish and is very hard to prove as not only do they have the right to protect their information but if you do prove that there are two versions they can just say that the agent didn't start up the VI correctly, that there was an error and that it went into failsafe mode or that they were in the middle of updating it. I can't be sure but I think I've dealt with a few companies that did that sort of thing, questioning the VI takes hours when it should only take minutes. By the time you think you've got all the information you need you're too tired to look for more." said Garrus
Eventually, the tram started to slow and we got ready to disembark.
"Now arriving Rift Station, Binary Helix Research Facility."
Leaving the tram we found ourselves in a wide and open space with even more doors.
"So where to we head now?" asked Kaiden
"Well, that's the entrance to the secure labs which is where we need to get to, unfortunately, it looks sealed. Tali anything you can do?"
"I'm sorry Shepard it looks like it was sealed automatically by the lockdown. There's nothing I can do from here." said Tali after a few minutes of trying "If we can find a security console I could get it open but not from here."
"Worth a shot, alright let's find a way we can go." said Shepard and find a way we did, every time we came across a door that was locked shut we looked for a door that wasn't with all the twists and turns it was certainly not evacuation friendly. If there was ever a fire and the place was full of smoke there would be no way anyone would be able to navigate properly, the only thing the layout had going for it was that there was only one elevator. As always when we got to that elevator Shepard went first, I went second.
When we exited the elevator I saw Shepard talking to a man wearing very familiar white armour. I couldn't be 100% certain but after seeing Gianna I'm pretty sure that this was the guy that would stab us in the back should he be given an opportunity to do so.
"Team this is Captain Ventralis he's the one that's..." before Shepard continue grinding was heard through the wall just like when we first encountered the rachni.
Knowing what was about to happen I got my sword ready, within a second the metal part of the blade flowed smoothly out, and in the next the red-hot blade appeared. When a clawed tentacle sprang through one of the floor tiles I was ready and sliced through with ease. Hearing a screech of pain I quickly aim my sword and drive it through the floor in the direction of the screak. After a second or two of the shriek intensifying it goes silent, pulling my sword back out I get ready for the next rachni who had already climbed through the floor. Dodging a projectile of acid I perform a biotic evade to get close before swinging my sword into it, the orange/red hot edge going deep into its side.
Turning around I use my biotics to stop, to catch a glob of acid before it could hit Garrus, freeing him up to take a shot at the rachni that spat it. Someone else, likely either Liara or Gamora set up a singularity that drew in a number of soldiers allowing everyone else to take them out with ease. For some reason, I couldn't see any engineers, but that was probably for the best. With how many people were in this enclosed space and their exploding nature a stream of them could do a lot of damage.
"Thanks for the assist." said Captain Ventralis "Things haven't gone our way ever since those things started clawing there way way through the vents, tunnels and walls. As I said before they sent an asari into the hot labs in order to take care of these things ages ago but they still keep coming. If we block the vents or tunnels they force their way through the walls or floor. Best we can do is slow them down but not stop them, at least that way we can expect where they'll pop up. My main problem is they just don't seem to learn, even animals know to stay out of the fire once they get burnt but they keep coming. Even if they can't survive the cold outside there are plenty of places where they can hide without getting close to us. It's like they're rabid and have an overwhelming urge to wipe us out from spite alone at the same time."
"Don't worry we'll take care of the hot labs, though we'll see your doctor first. To check us over." said Shepard before pointing backwards with her thumb, "Just to refresh the hot labs are back that way right? And so is Benezia?"
"That's right. Just be careful, there aren't enough people defending this place as is." said Captian Ventralis before walking away "Now I'm sorry but I need to make sure all the breaches are sealed as much as possible. If you need anything else please speak to one of my men, if they can't help you they'll come and get me."
Leaving Captain Ventralis and his men behind we ventured into the next room where we found the survivors, one elcor, multiple humans, salarians and quite a few turians though most of those were armed and no doubt part of security. There was also a single suspect asari hanging around that I was going to keep my eye on.
Walking past the asari we headed down to the med lab, even though we went down at least one level we thankfully didn't need an elevator to get there. When we entered the med bay though it seemed like we entered a war zone, which in all fairness was close. There were at least half a dozen people with either acid burns or claw marks already in the room, that combined with the size of our ground crew meant there was very little room to go around
"Hold on dammit!" swore a balding man running around from patient to patient
"Doctor?" asked Shepard
"I'm busy, unless it's urgent you can wait!" exclaimed the man moving to another patient
"I got Mira working." interrupted Shepard
"That was you? You saved half of the people in here. Unfortunately, we don't have the resources needed to save the rest. On top of that, we have three individuals that were exposed to a toxin." said the doctor
"What kind of toxin?" asked Shepard
"I shouldn't say, I signed a non-disclosure agreement." said the older man hesitantly, still working on his patients
"Then don't, all I need to know is it infectious and how can I help?" responded Shepard
"Fine, I'd like to think the company values our lives more than a few words. When Mira went offline so did the safety protocols causing it to escape from quarantine, however it's not infectious nor is it still active. It has a short active stage that has long since passed, we wanted to make sure that it wouldn't spread or infect anyone else aside from it's intended target." said the doctor
"Yeah I'm sure that makes all the difference." growled Wrex
"I know you don't like what we do but governments, militaries all of them want things like this. One way or another they'll get their hands on it, what we do is limit the damage it does when they do decide to use it. Would you say no to a more accurate rifle? A rifle were you're more likely to hit your intended target rather than an innocent victim? We might be arming people with dangerous weapons and some of those people should not have access to those weapons but I rather they be armed with a proverbial rifle than an assault rifle or shotgun."
"We can worry about the ethics later, what do we need to do?" asked Shepard cutting the conversation off
"We have a cure, we always make sure that we have one for whatever we're working on and that it's up to date with every modification we made. Unfortunately it's locked inside the lab that's been sealed by Captain Ventralis and is guarded by one of his men, I've tried to convince him that it's safe but he just won't listen. Maybe you'll have better luck at convincing him."
"I'll do that but in return I want something." brokered Shepard
"Anything." answered the doctor instantly
"I need to find Matriarch Benezia, I believe that she is further inside Peak 15 but I'll need a way to get to her." answered Shepard
"The only thing further in is the secure labs and even I don't have access to that, at least not at the moment. There's been some sort of secret project going on there for some time. However, down near the quarantine labs there is a maintenance tunnel that just might lead to it. Usually, it would be locked shut but with everything that's happened here you just might be able to open it thanks to everything being in evacuation/emergency mode that might not be the case." said the doctor
"I'll take that risk, Ash, Kaiden and Garrus you're with me. Everyone else wait around upstairs until we get back." said Shepard before leaving the aforementioned individuals.
While Shepard was going to see Captain Ventralis I did a bit of exploring, at the back of the main level were numerous drones and guards keeping watch over another door. My guess was that it was the main way to get to the lab where Benezia was, if the maintenance tunnel couldn't get us to Benezia I could only hope that Tali could find a console that would allow us to open the door back near the tram otherwise a lot of blood was going to be shed in order to get to Liara's mother.
When Shepard came back we headed for the quarantine labs. While Shepard, Kaiden, Tali and Garrus went inside we stayed outside keeping watch with a turian guard. Moments after Shepard went inside a very familiar asari came around the corner, however once she saw us she quickly backtracked. My guess was that she expected us all to go into the quarantine lab and make an easy target to ambush. Now that wasn't the case is seemed she wanted to think up a plan B, a few minutes later there was an alert from the door.
"Okay scanning...no infections detected, opening the door now." said the turian guard after double checking the results before letting everyone out. "I have to say I half expected to have to seal you in there after you got infected or your crew to hold me at gunpoint to force me to open the door." the relief was obvious in his voice.
Leaving the quarantine labs behind Shepard waited until we had enough distance between us and the guard before she said anything else.
"Wrex, Ash and Solana are with me, I want to head to the doctor and back again without worrying about or waiting around for the elevator to come back. That said should Captain Ventralis learn I have no intent on heading into his oh so obvious trap I want to make sure your ready to reinforce us." ordered Shepard
Once again I we waited for Shepard to come back, however to be honest the waiting was starting to make me anxious. Any second Shepard could call us over comms to say they were under attack by Captain Ventralis.
Even if that didn't happen there was still the impending confrontation with Benezia, even with the whole ground crew and my knowledge of what would roughly happen we were still going to deal with a powerful Matriach and dozens of asari Commandos and geth units. Things could easily go sideways resulting in the death of at least one of us. I didn't want that to happen.
Thankfully Captain Ventralis did not attack Shepard and after a few more minutes she rejoined us and we made our way to the maintenance tunnel.
Opening the door all we could see was a dark corridor filled with pipes which disappeared into the ceiling and the occasional intersection, it was even more of a mass than above.
"Every one keep an eye out for a blue print or schematic." ordered Shepard "Thats the only way we're going to be able to find our way around."
"I've got one here." said Kaiden after some looking around was able to find a console. Turning it on the layout of the facility was shown "What kind of room am I looking for?"
"The rachni queen should be the size of the mako or grizzly and a lot taller. There has to be only a handful of labs here big enough to hold her."
"Give me a few minutes." said Kaiden getting to work searching through the layout and floor plans.
"Okay I think I found it, downloading directions and the layout now." said Kaiden after he found what we were looking for.
With Kaiden leading the way we eventually came to a ladder. "Okay if I'm reading this right this ladder will take us through the floor of the lab we need to be at."
"You sure?" asked Shepard
"As sure as I can be, this is lab with the largest open room. There's bigger ones but the room's broken up into sections." answered Kaiden "It also seems to match the...intel we have. It has one main entrance and other one that heads to the emergency exit
"Okay, Solana your first, I'll be right behind you followed by Ash and Wrex, followed by everyone else." ordered Shepard
Forcing the hatch open, we were all able to make it to the next level without incident, though Wrex found it bit of a squeeze. From there we made our way to where we would hopefully find Benezia. If we didn't from what Kaiden said there was only a few other labs that were big enough.
Coming to the lab we got ready, however before we get in to the lab proper we had one last airlock. Though it was less an airlock and more like a buffer zone so that whatever were in the labs had less of a chance of getting out.
While we could have all squeezed in at once that would have left us all vunerable to a single grenade or singularity so for what would hopefully be the last time Shepard split the team in two. This time I went first with Wrex, Shepard, Liara and Solana.
With half of us inside the airlock and the other half waiting outside of it we got ready to breach.
"Get ready and remember your teams. Gamora and Wrex your on me dealing with Benezia. Kaiden, Solana and Callum you're on this door. Garrus, Ash, Liara and Tali you're on the other one."
As we entered the room the first thing we saw was Benezia herself overlooking a large container.
"I see you were able to avoid my forces, most impressive commander." said Benezia turning to face us before turning back look at the rachni queen. "Magnificent isn't she? There is power and privilege in being a mother. Power in creation, to shape a life. The ability to nurture or tear down. To turn it it towards happiness or despair. Her children were supposed to be ours , to serve Saren. To hunt and slay his enemies. But if you think bringing my own child here will persuade me to give myself up, I'm afraid you are mistaken. I won't be moved by sympathy."
Behind us the door opens letting in the other half of our team.
"That's not why she is here." remarked Shepard as they rejoined us.
"Indeed? Tell me Liara what have you told them about me?" asked Benezia
"What could I say mother? That you're..." started Liara before stopping herself, remembering that this was almost exactly how I remember things going before.
"It's clear that I should have disciplined her more as a child." said Benezia
Before we could move we were all suddenly enveloped in a stasis and unable to move. Using my biotics I struggled to move, seconds later we were free. Though that was propably more due to the fact that not even a matriarch can hold multiple people in a stasis for long rather than anything I did.
When we did break free, Benezia was quick to put distance between us and errect a fully powered biotic bubble around herself.
Behind us, the door opens letting in a small army of asari as well as a couple of geth and I'm sure the same thing was happening on the other side of the room.
While everyone else advanced Kaiden, Solana and I stayed behind. Opening with a shockwave I send them flying backwards and to the sides. Next to me Kaiden creates a singularity in the middle of the airlock stopping them from getting closer.
Before we could do much more the door closed.
"Kaiden can you hack the door to make it stay open?" asked Solana "If we can keep it open we can create a kill zone, which will make it all that easier to deal with these guys."
"I don't think so, if Tali couldn't do it, I doubt I can." answered Kaiden
Behind the door I could hear the sound of the singularity detonating. Taking with it whoever was stuck in it at the time, telling me whoever was on the otherside was either indoctrinated or didn't care it their allies lived or died.
"Callum you got any grenades?" asked Solana
" Five." I answered, while I didn't usually use them I typically carried a few incase anyone needed more.
Palming two grenades Solana answered "When I tell you when, I want to jam two grenades into the frame. I'm willing to bet that if the door's bent out of shape it won't be able to close. Kaiden I want you to hit it with a warp before he does that okay?"
When the door opened, Solana tossed the two grenades inside.
"Now!" she ordered when the grenades went off.
After Kaiden performed a warp onto the frame weakening it, I created a biotic barrier around myself to protect me before jamming two of the disk-like grenades into the gap. My biotics protecting me from the fire from the surviving asari and half mangled geth.
"Clear! " I shouted ducking into cover and activating my omni-tool.
After the grenades went off the door started groaning and shuddering, trying to close but unable to. The geth on the other side must have realised that we sabotaged the door on our side , because shortly after dealing with the remaining forces the door on the otherside reopened.
The door might have been unhackable for Kaiden and even Tali, but the geth had likely been in the system for days. With both doors open we had a clear line of sight whenever an asari or a geth came through the other doorway creating a kill zone like Solana said.
Despite this, the geth and asari showed no hesitation at pouring into our fire. We fired until our guns overheated and we were forced to either heat or reload. I was constantly swapping between my assault rifle and my pistol on a three round burst. We must have taken out dozens of hostiles, their bodies were starting to pile up. Liara was right when she said the asari might not be be able to fight as well as they once did. On the other side of the room I hear someone making a very liberal use of grenades.
Despite this they were still asari and they still had their biotics and eventually one of them threw something other than a warp. While Kaiden and I were able to avoid the singularity Solana wasn't and was sucked into it.
Moving forward I quickly created the strongest biotic shield I could. If one of the asari detonated that singularity it could be all over for Solana. Even if her shields were strong enough to handle the detonation she could be seriously injured easily by the resulting shockwave sending her flying into the nearest wall.
" Kaiden!" I shouted as I was forced to block multiple warps and fire. While their sense of strategy was clearly gone they still understood biotic detonations.
Understanding me, Kaiden quickly and gently pulls Solana out of the singularity before someone could detonate it.
" She's clear!" called Kaiden and just in time to. Ducking out of the way of a geth rocket I back out of the airlock.
From there we continued taking out the remaing geth and asari until they were all gone.
When we were sure that there were no more hostiles incoming we rejoined Shepard and the others as well as a collapsed Benezia struggling to get to her feet. I don't know how long she kept the bubble up but considering her mental state and how much fire power and biotics Shepard , Wrex and Gamora put in it was impressive she was able to last this long.
" You must listen to me please." pleaded Benezia " There isn't much time." she warned
"Where is Saren heading?" demanded Shepard
"Here is a copy of the cordinates I seat to Saren. " said Benezia handing a tablet over
" I'm sorry I should have stronger." said Benezia with despair and loathing in her voice.
"Gamora do it now ! " ordered Shepard
A lot tirade of emotions flashed over Benezia's face, from fear and worry before finally settling on acceptance as she turned to look at her daughter.
"Liara know that I will always lo...hmph!"
"Goddess" said Liara stunned
" Hmm, didn't see that one coming." rumbled Wrex
In hindsight none of us bothered to ask Gamora how she was going to 'cure' Benezia. Looking back now, I feel that I should have seen something like this coming.
There in front of us, with her hands at her sides in shock was Benezia... in full lip lock with Gamora. I swear there could have been tongue involved there as well.
Next to us was Liara, her mouth gapping like a fish and looking like someone just laid a canary.
I don't know how long the lip lock went on for, but I feel that it went on for a least a few seconds more than was strictly necessary. When the lip lock did end Benezia still looked stunned, things didn't stay that way however as Gamora quickly hit her with a modified overload knocking her out.
"Holy shit girl!" swore Ash "You do not mess around."
"I'm sorry, I thought the plan was to free her and then knock her out ?" asked Gamora
"It was." answered Shepard "We just weren't expecting you to do it in that fashion."
"But this was the simplest and most effective way of doing it." remarked Gamora
"I can see that, but remind me to have another 'girl' chat with you later." said Shepard "Now let's address the elephant in the room, or in this giant insect queen."
Walking over Shepard proceeded to bang on the glass, or whatever the cage was made of.
"Oy! I need to talk."
"Ahh guys... we've got... something." called Kaiden from behind us.
Turning around we saw a heavily wounded asari stumbling towards us. Her stomach was coated in blood and more was leaking from her mouth.
"Let her through." ordered Shepard
" What . ... do you want?" asked the clearly dying asari with a struggle.
"I need to talk to you about oily shadows and yellow notes." said Shepard
"You know of the S-shadows?" questioned the asari
" What the hell is this? That asari looks like she should be dead! Or at least on the floor unable to move." asked Kaiden
" This one is... fading. Her song is bittersweet and it is coming to an end...but it is beautiful. She speaks for us. We cannot sing to you here, not in these low spaces. Your music is colourless." said the dying asari
"Colourless?" asked Ash
" It is difficult to explain... we... you speak in flat notes, we sing." answered the queen "Those notes are not without their own beauty, each one is unique and special in its own way. Though two of you have songs we have not heard the like of before. One is made up of notes both old, new and ancient to form its own melody. The other...it clashes with the very air around it, it does not belong. But it does not bear ill will...we do not understand." finished the queen in confusion
" What can you tell me about the oily shadows and sour notes?" asked Shepard after sending me a look
" We never saw them, their music came from space. First one queen sang along to that horrible sound and then the others followed. My mother was among the last to still sing her own song. She took my egg and sent it out into the stars in the hope we could sing again, that we would not fall into the silence. There we drifted for an eternity before we were found and brought here. I'm sorry but we are on the embers...will you silence us or let us sing once more?" asked the queen. The asari she was speaking through seemed to struggle more and more as time went on.
"I'll let you go, but first I need you to do something." said Shepard
"What is it you want of us?" asked the queen
"The ones that did that to your people are coming back to do the same thing to the entire galaxy, and it's not the first time they've done so." answered Shepard
" You want us to...fight with you? " questioned the queen
"I do, but I also know it will be a long shot of us winning. So I'll also need you to do the same thing your mother did. Send a daughter far away in the hope she makes it. If we fail to stop this cycle, I want the next one to be the last." said Shepard " This cycle of death can not continue."
"We... agree." spoke the queen
"There's one more thing, the creators of the sour note, the Reapers will be looking for you. You might have to...sing quietly so they don't hear you." added Shepard
"That might be difficult, our elders are okay with silence but it warps the mind of our young , I fear the quiet would harm us just as much as the sour note. Already many of our children are lost. I must ask that you end their suffering...that twisted existance is not worth living." said the queen
"What about making it so no one else can hear your songs? Your people were able to build ships, surely you would be able to build something that could prevent your song from being heard from a distance? " suggested Liara
"That... may be possible." said the queen
"Good, now let's get you out of there. " said Shepard moving over to the nearest console.
"Hold on a second I want to ask you something." interrupted Wrex
"Yes? "
"Do you recognize my species?" rumbled Wrex
"You are the ones that are said to have won against my mother's sisters. "
"Said to... you mean don't know?" asked Tali
"Before I was Iaid my mother heard of newcomers that were being attacked by those who had succumbed to the sickness. My mother used that confusion to smuggle me out. I fear that was her last act as herself, she was as old and as ancient as you are when it happened."
" My people fought yours on the ground and in the caves. Could the sickness have been passed on to us?" asked Wrex
"In the beginning we tried many ways to fight the sickness...to heal it... but whenever the sour note touched one of us it would take root and grow. By the time... we learned that all we could do was avoid it, to keep it from our melodies it was too late and we were outnumbered... they began to capture those of us left... and force the note onto them... much was sacrificed to keep my mother and then me... untouched." said the asari, physically struggling to stay upright.
"We're loosing her, Wrex if you any o ther questions ask them quickly." said Shepard quickly
"I asked everything I needed." said Wrex with a growl
"Good, now let's get you out of there . Heads up though it's quite cold outside." said Shepard typing into the console
"T-thank you." said the asari before collapsing "W-we will s-sing songs of..."
"She's gone commander." said Kaiden after checking
"I don't know if you can still understand me but stay safe." said Shepard looking at the queen before typing the commands to release her.
As the machinery started to grown and move the enclosure Shepard turned to the unconcious Benezia.
"Wake her up." ordered Shepard
After Kaiden applied the needed omni-gel and stimulants Benezia woke up. Her immediate response was panic and then worry before finally "... the voices... they're gone?"
"Mother! " cried Liara throwing herself at Benezia and wrapping her arms around her
"How is this possible?" asked Benezia after accepting the hug in surprise.
"A while ago Saren traded an asari to a creature called the Thorian, what he didn't know was that it could also cure indoctrination. Thanks to Gamora here we knew about indoctrination, that you Iikely had it and that we had access to a cure." answered Shepard
"Saren always made sure he had a least a few asari with him at all times. Usually those asari didn't last long under his...tender mercies." said Benezia setting to her feet, still holding onto Liara "I'm sorry but do not remember your name or having a follower that was... green."
"Gamora here is the mouth piece of the Thorian, she joined us to help stop Saren and the Reapers. "
"I see. " said Benezia "But what happens to me now?"
"Unfortunately the Council knows full well your involvement with Saren. Also, unfortunately they don't believe in the indoctrination I keep trying to warn them about. Either they think it's a fake threat meant to put me off the trail or is a much more known and understandable form of brainwashing. You know, drugs, LSD and lots of conditioning. The best I would be able to do is convince them that Saren was forcing your compliance by threatening your daughter."
"Saren did say Liara's knowledge could be useful. I had to exert what limited control I had to get him to agree to take you alive." said Benezia
"Well the krogan and geth were inclined to do otherwise." remarked Shepard "Aside from us from now and onwards no one will know you're still alive. In my report, I'm going to say you died of your wounds. Hopefully, the fact I just let the rachni go will distract them for a bit. If not... well I doubt a matriarch's dead body vanishing would be anything close to the shady shit that's gone on here. After we smuggle you off-world, we're going to take you to another planet where we expect to find Liara's father waiting."
"You know her father...how?" asked Benezia not understanding how we knew such a personal secret
"It's a long story, I'll tell you about it later but for now we need to get you out of here. We've modified the mako to sneak you out."
Unfortunately, as we left the secure labs and headed back to the tram and hot labs we encountered an unexpected... difficulty.
"That's far enough Commander." interrupted a voice
Appearing from nowhere was Captain Ventralis with a dozen of his men and a singular asari in a lab coat
"When you didn't reappear after seeing the good doctor I got suspicious. Then I heard from Alestia that you snuck into the maintenance tunnels while I wasn't paying attention. I thought about trying to flush you out, but then I realised that no matter what happens you'll still need to head to the trams if you wanted to get back to the port." said Captain Ventralis "I'm sorry but I really wish you
went to the hotlabs first."
"Stand down." said a Benezia suddenly stepping forward.
"Lady Benezia?" asked Captain Ventralis in confusion only just seeing her.
"Everything is fine captain." answered Benezia
"I don't understand, you ordered me to make sure they died before they could made it too you?" asked Captain Ventralis
"The circumstances have changed. Let me introduce my daughter Liara." said Benezia gesturing at Liara "Until recently I believed that she was being held captive by a wanted criminal to force my compliance. As you see this is no longer the case, Commander Shepard was able to rescue my daughter freeing me from his control."
"What about all your diciples and bots that you brought here?" asked Captain Ventralis suspiciously
"Unfortunately most of my disciplines were really working for Saren and were here to watch me and make sure I fufilled his orders and didn't try anything. The few who were loyal to me were taken by surprise when the fire fight started. As for the robots they were actually geth, not the latest in automated security forces that I said the were." answered Benezia apologetically
"Those were geth? Does that mean this Saren was involved in the attack on Eden Prime?" asked Captain Ventralis
"That's right." comfirmed Shepard stepping forward "Saren was a former spectre and after proving his guilt the Council made me a spectre and ordered to bring him in. Originally we thought Matriach Benezia was his willing accomplice. It was only recently that we received intel that may not be the case after rescuing Liara T'soni from multiple hostiles holding her hostage, its clear that Saren never bothered to tell her that he no longer had Liara in his custody otherwise Benezia would never have ordered you to kill us when her daughter was present. Or would have changed her orders to take her alive at all costs."
"It was only when I saw Liara with the commander that I knew Saren didn't have Liara anymore."
"Can you confirm this asari is your daughter ma'am?" asked Captain Ventralis suspiciously "I'm sorry but for all I know your being forced to go with them against your will and Commander here is the real criminal."
As soon as he says this, the men around him get ready for a firefight.
"I can." answered Benezia opening her omni-tool before typing in a few commands causing a picture of her and a younger looking Liara to pop up.
"Zictus can you confirm validity?" asked Captain Ventralis
Stepping forward a male turian steps forward and starts scanning the image and her omni-tool.
"Can you display another picture of you two together?" he asked
After scanning half a dozen more photos Zictus backed away.
"They're valid, no signs of editing or tampering that I could see." answered Zictus
"So what happens now?" asked Captain Ventralis
"For security reasons as well as for her own safety all offical reports will say Benezia succumbed of her wounds back there and died. The only ones that will know any different will be me, you and your men and the Councillors themselves. If someone asks you I recommend that you say this meeting never happened." advised Shepard
"From here we'll smuggle Benezia of the planet where she will be taken to a secure facility and asked to tell us everything she knows. Saren's planning an attack even bigger than Eden Prime and we need to know where. Then, depending on what she knows and what she has been complicite in she'll either be hooked up with a new identity and watched for the rest of her life or be stuck in prison where she'll serve out her sentence."
"Are you sure you sure you want to go with these guys?" asked Captain Ventralis nodding at the commander "Seems like there is a good chance of no happy ending if do."
"I'm sure captain, I must be held accountable for my actions no matter how much I was forced to do them. At least this way I can atone for my actions and help stop Saren from causing more harm. For what it's worth I'm sorry that you and your men were dragged into this." answered Benezia
"Since we didn't actually try to kill anyone, let alone spectre and we're all still alive I won't hold it against you plus I have a niece of my own. It's not the same but I'm not sure what I wouldn't do if it meant keeping her safe." said Captain Ventralis
"Before we go, do you still need the hot Iabs sorted out?" asked Shepard
" No. Now that Mira is up and running again we can deal with that remotely from my personal console, I can also make sure there isn't any video logs of Benesis leaving. Also... sorry for trying to get you to head there and get yourself killed."
"I'd like to say it's fine and all is forgiven but sorry just doesn't seem to cover it , though cIearing the loggs might hea good start. Let's just be grateful that this didn't end in a lot of dead bodies and that you agree not to say anything about Benezia. I hate to think what the Council Would do once they learn you tried to kill one of their operatives and then exposed classified information." warned Shepard
Leaving Captain Ventralis and his men behind us we climbed onto the tram and road away.
"I'm sorry commander but despite what everyone must think I was not Sarens second in command. I know nothing of his plans or goals outside of the return of the Reapers and the coordinates I've already given you."
"That's fine, we already know what's his next move. We just needed a believable source we could say we got it from. It also gave the captain another reason to let us go." said Shepard
"How? Where are you getting this information?"
"It's a long story, we'll fill you in later. Just rest and get comfortable while you still can." said Shepard
The scenes in mass effect where the rachni queen dies always brings a tear to my eye. Especially in me3 where she just excepts her death.
Red vs Blue
After Ash and Wash leave Shepard quicky falls to sleep, all too soon though she is shaken awake
"Commander...commander Shepard?"
"Haaaahhh...what is it?" asked Shepard
"Mr Anoleis wants to see you." said the secretary/assistant
"I'm sure he does." said Shepard getting to her feet.
The last time she was in Anoleis's office he was sure and confident that he was in total control. This time he looked extremely stressed. He was typing furiously and his emai was constantly going off.
"You said you needed to see me?" asked Shepard innocently
"I assume you think this is funny or some sort of petty revenge for not letting go to Peak 15, a clear breach of privacy for all the companies that use that facility." said Anoleis still typing furiously
"What is?"
"Since your ground crew arrived I have received non-stop complaints ranging from harassment...of which there seems to be at least 20, vandalism, noise complaints, something about pollution from the hot springs manager and at least a dozen others." said Anoleis angrily
"Sounds to me like their just getting started, things will be a whole lot easier if you just let me and my crew go to Peak 15 so we can get out of your proverbial hair." said Shepard calmy
"And why should I do that, in fact whats to stop me or the Executive Board from starting proceedings against you?" asked Anoleis glaring
"Because I'm a Spectre, the guy I'm after was a Spectre who tried to blow up a colony. Despite that the Council wasn't interested in listening and I all but had to force them to do anything, like a parent forces their children to eat broccoli. If they weren't interested in listening about a colony what makes you think they'd be interested in a port that is all intents and purposes out of jurisdiction? That is why Noveria was chosen right? To be outside of Council control? There's also the matter that the individual that no doubt caused these problems have no link with any government of military faction you'll be able to find, there just along for this fucked up ride. Finally there's the fact that we have written permission from you to be here." said Shepard making Anoleis eyes widen
"You knew this would happen!" he said accusedly
"Of course I knew, I've been stuck with the idiots for the last five weeks and they keep increasing in number. As I see it you've got two choices, one make us stick around and hope thing get better...they won't by the way, or let us go to Peak 15. From what I hear you've lost contact with them for some time, you can even say you tasked a Spectre to make sure communications go back up and make sure nothing is wrong." offered Shepard
Before Anoleis could answer the intercom buzzed.
"Mr Anoleis we've had another incident."
"What is it this time?" asked Anoleis
"A chandelier has fallen and broken all over the ground. Multiple people are calling in to complain about the mess and safety issue."
"...we don't have a chandelier." stated Anoleis in confusion
"We did sir, at least temporarily. One of the new..." cutting the connection Anoleis turns back to Shepard and throws her something
"Here's the garage pass now get out of here...don't let the door hit you on the way out."
Leaving the office the secretary/assistant once again spoke to her "I have to say Commander that I've never seen anyone deal with an issue like that before."
"If someone won't help you than you make it so helping you is helping them." said Shepard continuing to walk away
The second she entered the main building area her ears were assaulted with a very loud (and very bad) singing voice.
"Let it go, let it go I'm one with the wind and snow! Let it go..." as the singing continues Shepard proceeds to follow it and to find Donut currently painting flowers and bunnies on one of the large rocks that decorated the room. In fact, looking around many of the rocks were already covered in paintings that looked like they belonged in a six-year-old girl's bedroom.
"Donut." greeted Shepard neutrally
"Oh hello Commander how are you?" greeted Donut happily. Say what you like about him but he was one of the most bubbly person she ever met
"We got permission to go to Peak 15 I'm going to get some of the team and head there, the rest are to head back to the Normandy." sad Shepard
"Oh darn and I was making such good progress." said Donut dejectedly
"Do you know where Tucker, Griff, Sarge or Tex are?" asked Shepard
"Well Griff and Simmons were talking to a nice krogan on a balcony over there, maybe they still are?" offered Donut
"Thanks, Ill go find them, if you could look for Tucker or anyone else?" asked Shepard
"Of course no problem, just let me put my paints and brushes away, can't let the paint dry on the brushes on them they'll ruin the brushes." said Donut
"That's fine." said Shepard walking away
Heading to the balcony that Donut indicated Shepard didn't get close before she heard raised voices.
"I said DON'T POKE ME!" roared out a voice from overhead making her look up
"Wait a minute!" cried a voice "Can't we talk about this?"
Seconds later Griff was thrown over the balcony and landed heavily on the ground.
"Owww."
"Hold on I didn't...oh shit!" a second later Simmons followed and landed on top of Simmons.
"Owww."
"Owww."
"Hello guys." greeted Shepard
"Hello Commander." greeted Griff as Simmons gets off him "What's going on?"
"Got a pass to Peak 15 about to head there now, Griff your with me. Simmons back to the Normandy, now do either you know where Tucker, Tex or Sarge are?"
"Well I don't I don't know about Tucker or Tex but Sarge should still be in the hot springs, he offered us to join him but I have no desire to be in any body of water with him." said Griff
"And I'm not waterproof." added Simmons
"Wait what?...on second thought nevermind." said Shepard "Now lets get the rest of the group."
Heading towards the hot springs they ran into Washington, Carolina and Ash sitting at the bar, on the way there they passed a broken chandelier
"Guys we got the garage pass have you seen Tucker or Tex?" asked Shepard
"Not sure about Tucker but after Tex kicked him into a chandelier she spoke to that Turian over there." said Wash pointing at a nearby turian
"Go see if he knows anything, find Liara too while your at it. Ash you're with me." ordered Shepard
Continuing to the hot springs there were directed to the one occupied by Sarge by a very annoyed-looking asari. Entering the room the first thing that Shepard thought was 'is the water supposed to be that colour?'
"Well hello Commander come to join me?" asked Sarge, naked (from what she could see) from the neck down, still wearing the iconic helmet.
"Get dressed we're heading to Peak...what's that smell?" asked Shepard suddenly
"Oh sorry about that, the suit's air tight...really locks in the flavour if you know what I mean." chuckled Sarge
Next to her Ash shuddered.
Eventually, they all made it to Peak 15 and after some more difficulties they were standing in front of Benezia herself
"Do you think bringing my daughter would persuade me to cooperate? That I'd..." started Benezia
"Wait that's your mum?" interrupted Tucker much to the anger of Benezia " Holy Shit ! Look at her tits!"
"Tucker." warned Shepard
"No seriously they're the size of my head, both of them. What the hell did you eat to get them that big?" asked Tucker "Or did you 'enhance them in other ways?"
Before Tucker could say anything else a blue field appeared around Tucker and lifted him into the air.
"Enough! You step into a world you don't understand, trend on ground where you don't belong and act like you know better but you prattle like thoughtless children. Now Commander will you beg me to spare your comrade's life?..I just might listen."
"No, I'm good. He's been bothering the shit out of enough as is."
"Wait...what? You're joking right Commander? Commander?" asked Tucker worriedly
"I expected that the great Commander Shepard would be more concerned about the lives of those under her command." said Benezia
"Oh usually I am, but one he's been really annoying and two...he's not in any danger." responded Shepard
Before Benezia could respond or react a black figure suddenly fell from above, land on her feet Tex quickly lands two punches to the stomach before landing a particularly powerful haymaker to the head that caused her to slam onto the ground.
When Benezia came to later she was handcuffed and her biotic amplifier was disabled. That said she was still a matriach, hand motions and amplifiers might help with biotics and make them easier to use and more powerful but they weren't absolutely necessary. Her attitude was also completely different, instead of confident and arrogant she was now worried if not terrified
"You must listen to me the voices are...gone. The voices are...gone?" questioned Benezia confused
"Voices?" asked Griff
"I think she means the indoctrination." clarified Shepard
"The what?" asked Griff
"Indoctrination...you know how Saren controls and influences minds?" asked Shepard with disbelief
"Oh yeah that...I wasn't paying attention." said Griff
"Saren you must stop him!" said Benezia suddenly "Before you arrived I sent a series of coordinates you must follow him!"
"I'm sorry but how is she cured?" asked Ash
"Tex probably just punched it out of her, she punches the black off my armour all the time." offered Tucker
"That doesn't seem possible." said Liara
"She once beat a person to death with their own skull, so what's physically possible doesn't really seem to apply with her." argued Tucker
"Wait I thought we realized that that didn't actually happen?" asked Griff
"Why do you want a demonstration?" offered / threatened Tex making Griff back away as fast as he could
"I'm good!"
"Now that's all done let's focus on what's really important." said Tucker seriously, walking towards Benezia and kneeling down "Can I see those tits?"
A flash of biotics later and Tucker was thrown hard enough into the wall hard enough to dent it
"Worth it!" gasped Tucker