Zhu's hope

Disclaimer

Starcraft is the property of Blizzard entertainment.

Mass effect is the property of Bioware.

Any elements used in this story are used only in order to create a story for no monetary gain nor do I claim any ownership over them, beyond the names and characters unique to this story.

Outpost of Zhu's hope - Feros

Ashley

Chief Williams was glad that they had managed to rescue these survivors before the geth wiped what remained of the colony.

Now they just needed to kick the tin cans of their world.

And in order to plan for that eventuality Ashley had joined up with Kaidan and the Commander in order to meet with the leader of these survivors: Fai Dan.

The middle aged man was not too flashy in his appearance, but Ashley could see that he carried around a great aura of respect from the rest of his fellow survivors as they all seemed to perk up whenever it was that he passed next to them.

He seemed to genuinely care for his people as he managed to make time to ask about the problems of the colony whenever it was that he crossed paths with one of the people in charge of fixing a certain problem on their way to a more private area.

Eventually this led them to a room within the grounded freighter that counted as one of the only remaining shelters in the colony.

"Thank you for helping us repeal that last attack, Commander" Fai Dan began as he leaned over a table that held some documents and a diagram of the spire's layout.

"Happy to help" Shepard replied as he also leaned in forwards and took a look at the map that was on the table "Still, can you tell us what happened here?".

"The geth happened" replied the person in charge of security as the one called Arcelia spoke with some distrust in her eyes while glaring at them "And it isn't a coincidence that the Alliance did nothing while those machines-".

She began to point the blame towards them before Fai Dan gave her a stern look and made her shut up.

Ashley couldn't blame the woman since she had been in the exact same situation just a few weeks prior.

But she sure as hell wouldn't blame the Alliance for what clearly was Saren's fault.

"I'll tell you what I can, Commander. Even if it ain't much" began the old man before he got his omnitool and showed them a recording "The attack began five days ago with a bombardment on the most remote settlements on the other side of the continent".

Shepard nodded and continued to listen while Ashley found it strange that only those settlements on the other side of the continent had fallen so easily while this sole tower had been spared for so long.

If Ashley had only one positive thing to say about those damned machines is that they weren't sloppy… and this was just that.

"We saw several cruisers orbiting this sector. Can you think of any reasons why?" Shepard asked in turn.

Ashley caught that for a brief moment there were signals of guilt and distress in the face of Fai Dan while she also saw that the expression on the other woman had hardened a tad bit more.

"We don't know why they came here. Only that they will stop at nothing until we are all dead" Fai Dan replied finally and began to rub the back of his neck "I'm gonna be honest, Commander. The situation is far more critical than what it looks like".

So it would seem that these people had far more problems than originally thought.

"Run me through your list. I'll see what we can do" Shepard replied like the good samaritan that Ashley knew him as.

The colonists looked a little more relaxed and began to explain to them the main problems that this outpost was going through.

First and foremost in their list of priorities was security.

Cecilia had explained to them that she was originally part of the security detachment of Farid's gift but had been forced to cluster down with the people of Zhu's hope after one last courier run between the two settlements a few days prior.

She had done some message runs while using the spire's upper sewage system and she had seen a great concentration of geth coming from that direction after she had arrived.

That would seem to be the first place they needed to explore.

They had also been informed that the main geth threat to the settlement had originally been coming solely from the direction of said sewages until the anti air systems they had around the colony was suddenly deactivated.

Fai Dan had also told them that those systems were originally operated from a neighboring spire that was used by Exogeni as their hq.

Another task that would need their attention.

At least they had a big team to do the job.

Before another word could be spoken, the ground shook violently as an earthquake shook the spire with tremendous force.

It lasted seconds but the whole room seemed confused as to why this had happened.

"What the hell was that?" Ashley spoke as let go of the wall she had propped herself against and saw that the colonists looked as confused as they had.

"I… I'm not sure" Fai Dan began as he helped Cecilia to her feet "They began shortly after the attack and have become more frequent ever since yesterday".

Ashley felt more confused than before as she tried to rationalize how the geth could generate earthquakes in a world that had old and supposedly inactive tectonic plates.

But it was Kaidan who would end up discovering the root cause of this problem as he propped himself with the help of the table and managed to glimpse something on one of the diagrams.

"I think I know what is going on" Kaidan began to point to said diagram at what looked to be an empty chamber located at the base of the spire "All water in this place has to be coming from somewhere and I think this is the place" his finger then ran the length of the diagram until it reached a place almost at the top of the structure where the piping connected "There has to be some sort of station siphoning the water to our level… is it here?".

The trio looked at Fai Dan as they expected an answer from him.

In the end Fai Dan revealed the nature of the hydraulic plant (to a begrudging Arcelian) and he directed them to go into the sewer systems that the geth were coming from as this was the most direct route to reach that place.

Shepard had agreed to help the colony and told Fai Dan that he would be leaving some of his crew behind to guard the settlement while he investigated with a small group.

The colonists once again looked somewhat concerned for a moment but quickly agreed with the Commander.

Once they left the prefabricated structure, Shepard sent Kaidan to gather the rest of the team who had remained near the perimeter while the Commander spoke with the leader of the colony.

Only Shepard and herself remained.

"Ash… did you catch their expressions?" Shepard asked under a hush as a patrol of the armed colonists passed near them.

She nodded and leaned in closer to the Commander "They have to be hiding something. But what could it be?".

Shepard just shrugged and continued to look at the rest of the colony as they waited.

"Not only that, but they just mentioned the other colony in passing and didn't seem too concerned with their well-being" Shepard added with a troubled expression.

Ashley had missed that but also found it strange that they had ignored that point completely.

What were they to do?

"I'll need you to do a favor for me" Shepard requested and only continued after Ashley had nodded in agreement "Go back to the Normandy and bring Xiltar and Liara".

Ashley gave a weird look to the Commander but snapped her fingers after she realized what he wanted from those two.

Scouting the other settlement would be easy for one of the two people as he could go unnoticed while Liara could be able to get them extra knowledge on what secrets this place could hold.

But that just left one loose end.

"What about the batarian?" Ashley asked with no malice in her words but true curiosity.

Shepard got this much and answered her question with something she wasn't expecting: "Arm him with a rifle and have him wear an alliance helmet. Also tell him to remain silent as to not startle the people of the colony".

"..." Ashley looked at him dumbfounded and uttered something that she wouldn't have said to any other superior officer "Are you fucking stupid?".

John on his part just scoffed and gave her his iconic shit eating smile "Fucking stupid…" he gestured his hand as if he was specting something else.

…

"Are you fucking stupid, sir?" Ashley's answer served to ease the tension but Shepard just patted her on the shoulder and motioned for her to get his other guns to come.

"I won't be that bad, Ash" Shepard began as he turned and saw that the rest of his squad was approaching "If everything goes according to plan we will be out of this rock in no time".

Ashley nodded and saluted quickly before she turned away from the Commander and their squad as she left for the Normandy.

Some time later

Garrus

The people of this colony had gotten Garrus' respect after the hell they had endured.

This position wasn't the most well defended as there were too many approaches due to the open terrain but he could see that these people had entrenched themselves particularly well on the ground approach.

Bad military doctrine… it reminded him of boot camp back on Palivan.

The sweet memory of being ordered to dig a trench under the blistering heat of his homeworld had to be one of his favorite experiences from his time in the military.

Either that or the late nights of rifle cleaning and maintenance back on the armory.

Sigh.

Focus Vakarian.

The Commander had left with Kaidan and Tali in order to investigate the incursion of the geth from the sewers and only two people remained to stand guard while they returned from his little excursion.

This left the turian with the only person who he was not too glad to meet with.

Wrex.

The krogan and the turian had done a good job with the whole batarian gang mission but their luck had run out right at the last second and this left a shower mark on that whole experience.

And it was not like they would be talking about that as Garrus guessed that Wrex wanted to hold him accountable for that.

And he was… partially.

Who would have guessed that a quarian that had never been outside of the migrant fleet did not know how to drive a police cruiser.

He now could see the mistake in retrospect but that wasn't the point.

Now they were stuck doing some menial job while the rest of the team had a party in the dirty sewers of this decrepit ruin.

…

Better stick with patrolling the colony.

Wherever the pair walked they were sure to get the strange glares that were guaranteed whenever someone approached a settlement that was mainly populated by members of other races.

But this was… far stranger.

When the pair walked past a group of colonists that were working on moving some rubble, none of them registered their presence at all.

It wasn't until they approached a certain spot next to the freighter that the stares became more intense and some of the colonists tried to divert them to other places.

This had strange written all over it.

Garrus and Wrex had then moved to a spot next to the entrance in which Shepard, Alenko and Tali had gone so they could meet with them or peel off any geth that came this way.

In silence that is.

…

Meanwhile, Wrex had found something to do as he continued to stare at Garrus before shifting his glance whenever the turian caught him in the act.

He wouldn't have minded… were it not for the eerie silence.

Oh, what the hell.

"I gotta ask Wrex…" he began "What's on my face that got you so interested in it?".

The krogan glared for another moment before he chuckled.

"Besides how ugly it is? Nothing much" the krogan confessed with a chuckle "Just wanted to get what you le angle was".

His angle?

"What do you mean by my angle?" he asked out of curiosity but with some reservation in his question.

"Your angle… as in what do you get for following Shepard in this mission of his" Wrex replied in turn.

Garrus may have helped Wrex with taking down that gang, but they weren't friends by any sense of the word.

They were either coworkers at best and just acquaintances at worst.

So he would always have some apprehension or distrust towards Wrex's intentions as he did not trust the krogans just like most of the galaxy.

But he could humour him for now.

"Bringing Saren to justice. That is what I want most out of this" Garrus replied but Wrex seemed to think there was something more "Maybe bringing that traitor to justice will restore the good name of turians in the galaxy".

Wrex scoffed at his answer.

"Must be hard for you, Garrus" Wrex began as he reclined on some debris and motioned to the ruins around them "Knowing that the person behind all this death and destruction was a turian spectre".

This was a fucking insult to Garrus.

"Saren is a traitor and a madman. I cannot rationalize what would make such a thing" Garrus replied with some indignation.

Wrex smiled at his response "Then taking care of him will be a favor to the universe, kid" the krogan began to look disinterested for a moment before he smirked "Now that you have proven yourself in a real struggle I can see that you have half of what it takes to take on a madman like Saren. Maybe taking that shiny C-sec badge made you see the universe as it truly is".

That… wasn't untrue.

Garrus had only left his year-long career in C-sec just a few weeks prior but he could already feel that something was… different.

Whenever he encountered a problem that would have usually been covered by red tape back in his own job, there had been far more grave consequences than he had originally expected.

The gang on the citadel, the batarian attack on the human world, the secret experiments with the thresher maws… this.

There had been unintended consequences of their outright interaction with these incidents.

What was that human saying… 'Don't look behind the curtain?'.

Sigh.

Was he now being taught something of import by a krogan?

What weird times these are.

"You know. I was raised to see the krogan as blood thirsty thugs…" Garrus began to speak and Wrex turned back at the mention of his race "But you've surprised me, Wrex. You are different".

He intended to say this with some new found respect to his companion.

But Wrex didn't see it that way

"The genophage is a lot easier to swallow when all krogan are savage monsters, isn't it?" Wrex began as he approached the turian and towered over him "Your race better watch their back, turian. Who knows what the council will deem as undesirables once my people are gone".

Once his people were… what?

A commotion interrupted their conversation as they heard hurried footsteps approaching their position, both turned to see who it was that was coming towards them.

It was Doctor T'soni.

"Dr. T'soni? What are you-" Garrus began but he was interrupted by the asari.

"Garrus. Where is Shepard?" She asked frantically.

"He is down in the sewers" Wrex said as he pointed towards the tunnels "What happened?".

"There's no time" she began panting "We must find him. The rest of our team is in danger!".

Garrus and Wrex exchanged glances before they nodded and entered the tunnel while motioning for Liara to follow.

If the situation was as pressing as she had claimed, then time was of the essence.

Kaidan

Their trek down into the sewers was an uneventful one at first.

The Commander had said that they would be investigating a lead on what Saren wanted with this colony if they ventured into the sewers as he had instructed.

But the only thing they had managed to find so far was a horrid smell and a pack of Varrens that had scattered at the mere sight of the group.

And so far that was the only thing they had managed to find.

No geth, no lead and most frightening of all…

No noise.

It was actually quite unnerving if he had to admit.

Shepard instructed them to stop in their tracks and pointed forwards.

A light shined right around the corner before it disappeared.

More of them began to appear for a moment before they also disappeared.

Was this some sort of patrol?

"I'll scout ahead" Shepard whispered as he told them to take cover behind a downed column "Be ready to lift up any geth that comes, Kaidan. And disable any heavies that you see, Tali".

The lieutenant nodded and moved to take cover while Tali took a little more time to register the order.

Kaidan turned to look at his companion and managed to see that she seemed unfocused for some reason as the Commander went ahead and left the pair.

They waited patiently for some time and nothing changed for what had to be a solid minute or two.

"Come one, Shepard" Kaidan began to whisper "What's taking you so long?".

Kaidan sighed and kneeled behind the cover.

He was then confronted by the look of a rather saw looking querian.

Or maybe she wasn't?

It was hard for him to distinguish what was going on with her as he couldn't exactly look at her expression for some reference.

He could only look at her body language to decipher what was going on in her head.

And she now looked quite sad.

Why could that be?

Maybe it was the reaction to all this destruction.

"Are you okay, Tali?" Kaidan began with some concern "It looked like most of you got a lot of dirty looks back there".

The girl on her part seemed to lower her head in contemplation "Yes, and I wouldn't blame them either" she sighed in exhaustion "This whole thing only serves to remind me why my people are confined to the flotilla".

It would seem that he was right.

"Is that why you have been looking down? Don't mind those people, they are ignorant of what your people had to go through after all" he said while placing a hand on her shoulder and giving her a reassuring smile.

She seemed to perk up a little with this "Thank you, lieutenant Alenko. I… will take it to heart" she said with some moniker of respect "But I wasn't troubled because of them. Rather…".

Before she continued, they heard as an explosion from afar rocked the tunnel slightly and as they exchanged glances they prepared to look for their Commander.

But he actually was coming towards them as he crossed the bend in the tunnel and sprinted towards them.

"GET READY!" The commander ordered as got behind a pile of debris and took position to ambush the incoming threat.

Kaidan began to focus a mass effect field at the top of his fingers and waited for the geth to arrive as they saw the same lights approach from around the corner.

But it wasn't the geth that waited for them.

Kaidan launched his biotic push against a massive figure that passed beyond the protection of the wall and had failed to detect the presence of the squad.

But Kaidan was surprised to see that his biotic push connected with something made of bone and flesh rather than steel and wires.

A krogan was launched against the wall that would quickly recover from what must have been a slight push for him.

Another two of the creatures emerged from beyond the corner and Kaidan wasted no time in shooting at the first krogan that registered their presence.

Shepard and Tali seemed to have the same ideas as they also focused fire on the krogan that quickly moved beyond the pile of rubble that laid in front of the corner and tried to charge at them.

He was met by a swift end from the lieutenant as he placed a precise shot in his leg before the other two focused fire on his head.

The krogan fell flat faced on the ground before the one behind them launched itself over the cover and corpse of his fallen ally and began to charge at them.

Then the Commander did either the most brave or the most stupid shit Kaidan had ever seen.

He charged against the charging krogan.

Maybe it took the creature by surprise that somebody would be this stupid or he wasn't expecting this from anybody altogether but the krogan faltered in its step and seemed to stumble a little at the end of his charge.

Both beings crashed into each other with Shepard being flung backwards with much force while the other krogan just staggered backwards a little at this event.

The other krogan that Kaidan had flung with his biotics also recovered and seemed to be intended on blowing the three of them to bits.

It was then that all those present in the room began to hear a small beeping sound.

All of them turned towards the krogan whom Shepard had crashed against earlier and found what he had been intending to do.

There was a grenade disk stuck dead center on the krogan's chest who began to frantically struggle to take it off.

Kaidan took the opportunity and pushed this one krogan a little with the small biotic field he could muster in such a short time while a headache be damned.

And it was fortunate that he did this as right after the krogan explosive had been pushed against his sole remaining ally, the small device detonated with enough force to blow a massive hole in the krogan's chest while also managing to push the other one into the ground.

Tali ended the whole engagement by running up to the staggered krogan and blowing his head off with some quick shots from her shotgun.

It was over.

Kaidan got out from cover and looked over at the Commander who was panting while laying on the floor.

He smiled once he saw Kaidan looking over him.

"Well-" he struggled to speak as he wheezed some air out "Well done people".

Kaidan offered him a hand and helped the Commander to his feet.

"That, Commander, was either the bravest shit I have ever seen… or the dumbest" Kaidan said with some humor in his voice.

"Dumb…" Tali interjected with the same amount of humor "That was dumb".

The commander chuckled before he coughed some more.

Kaidan guessed that he had landed that last blow quite badly.

"Well… let's just continue" Shepard finally ordered after he took another moment to regain his breath.

They were about to pass beyond the corpses of the unexpected krogans and only paused to look at them when they noticed their armor.

"There are no markings" Shepard pointed out "No way to tell who these bastards worked for… nothing".

"Why did they attack you?" Tali asked in turn.

"They were inspecting a single geth further down the line" Shepard said "I managed to scrap the geth, but the krogans dodged my first grenade and began to follow me".

Geth working with krogans… they had only seen that once.

On Therum… when that massive geth fought against them.

This didn't bode well.

Shepard ordered for the group to follow him and as they ventured even deeper into this part of the sewers their walk took them beyond the remains of the geth that Shepard had encountered before.

Tali kicked them for good measure.

Then something strange happened.

"Shh" Shepard shushed as he raised his arm for them to stop "Do you hear that?".

…

Laughing.

Followed shortly by screaming.

Then some thumping.

Followed then by more laughter.

This unnerving pattern was repeated several times as the trio stared at each other with concern.

What… or who would be doing such a thing?

Shepard motioned for them to move forwards with a slow and silent step.

As they moved forward the sounds became ever more clear as they approached the source of such bizarre cries for help.

Winding corridors and more corners eventually took them to the place from where the cackling laughter and the thumping were coming.

A massive chamber that was filled by more pipes than any sane person may dare to count all at once.

Was this the hydraulic station they were looking for?.

A massive grate in the middle of the chamber confirmed this as all the pipes seemed to be extracting water from a massive torrent that was rising from beneath their feet and leading it out of the chamber.

"Yes. I'm working as you order mast- AHHHRRG" a voice spoke from above the group "YES. THAT'S WHAT IT FEELS TO BE ALIVE!".

It was a sole human.

They couldn't get a clear look of who this person was but they could tell that by his frantic movements that he was desperate.

And it would seem that he was still unaware of their presence.

The person screamed some more before he began to move more of the plant's controls.

The chamber shook violently and the thumping brought forth more water from below which made the torrent grow in height and in turbulence.

Some of the pipes also began to deform due to the stress from the water works.

"Yes. I know I made a mistake, just- AAHHHRRRRG" the man bellowed once again and finally turned to look at them "More caretakers?" He focused on them "No… touch of the master doesn't reach them. What-".

Even when facing them, Kaidan failed to see any distinguishing features from this man as he remained shrouded by the poor light of the room

Shepard raised his rifle and pointed it at the person "I don't know what your game is, but you clearly don't know what you are doing. Stand down".

The person seemed to twitch slightly at this response "They don't pose a threat, master, but what if-" he paused for a moment "No. NO!" He recoiled in horror "They brought the voice of the great nothingness!" He began to run out of the chamber "The master won't die! The master will never die!".

"Kaidan, Tali. Fix the goddamn power plant before we are blown to hell" Shepard began before he ran after the madman "I'm going after him!".

They wasted no time and climbed the ladder that would take them to the plant's controls.

They would need to work quickly…

Afterword

There are no protoss to be seen here.

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