Chapter 3

The first day on the dig had felt like it was dragging, even for Shepard. It was only mid day but Shepard had felt like it had been much longer than that. To keep herself and her crew busy she had set up a rotation of sorts for patrols around the dig site. She honestly didn't expect anything to happen on this dig, not with the alliance due by end of day. Pirates, raiders, and thieves generally staid away if the Alliance were bound to come sniffing about.

But with it being mid day and the scientists all taking a break from their dig Shepard had decided to allow her crew a break as well. Everyone broke out the rations and were sitting around talking and eating. Her crew were not too far off from the scientists, eating from their rations as well, she could hear her crew laughing with each other every now and then and it would bring a small smile to her face here and there.

She had decided to keep watch still though. Always feeling like she had to remain vigilant. At this point in her life as a merc she didn't know if it was a habit or just how she was as a person. But she didn't think too hard on it, as her eyes scanned the horizon for anything that might be a threat.

"Why do you not join everyone for lunch?" Liara's voice suddenly broke Shepard's thoughts as she looked over her shoulder. Nicole smiled slightly before she resumed her watch but patting the space next to her on the giant boulder she had perched herself on. Liara accepted the invitation as she sat onto the boulder herself, eyeing the bright red symbol on the upper arm of Shepard's armor.

Shepard finally took the moment to look at Liara and give her a friendly smile as she noticed the asari reaching up and touching the red E like symbol on her armor. "I guess I just felt like keeping watch, I'll eat soon." Shepard answered as she could see Liara's fingers trace the ancient greek letter imprinted on her armor.

Shepard felt her cheeks burn slightly as she knew she probably flushed watching the contact, tearing her eyes away from the delicate blue fingers on her armor, clearing her throat. "It's a symbol from ancient Greece, an old country on Earth." Shepard said, figuring Liara was curious about it. It was also a new addition to her and her crew's armor. After she realized she didn't want to go solo as a merc again she had decided perhaps it was appropriate to try and give them a symbol, something people could recognize.

Liara looked up to Shepard, her hand quickly retreating as her cheeks turned a deep shade of violate. Shepard smirked slightly, knowing Liara probably didn't mean to do what she did. Nicole didn't mind it though. She knew Liara had a curious mind, a scientific mind. "What does it mean?" Liara finally asked as she opened a bag she had brought with her, probably her lunch and began to dig through it's contents.

Shepard looked back on the horizon, focused on the tree line about half a mile from their position. She then looked back at Liara who had offered her a sandwich. Shepard smiled lightly at Liara who looked at her earnestly with her offering. Shepard took the offered the sandwich, perhaps a pre packed ration from her human counter parts. "Thanks." Nicole said as she unwrapped the item. "It means sigma. It's got a lot of different meanings, I dunno I just felt like it fit our group I guess." Shepard finally answered before taking a bite of her sandwich, feeling more hungry than she thought she had been.

Liara smiled and bit into her own sandwich as they both fell silent for the moment, both looking out at the tree line before them as they ate their meager lunch. The silence did not last for more than a few minutes before Liara spoke up again, "Perhaps you have finally found a name for your crew, Shepard." Shepard gave a thoughtful look and a single nod of her head in acknowledgment.

"Perhaps you're right, Doctor T'Soni." Nicole teased slightly as Liara gave her a slight smile and nodded once herself. Shepard almost wanted to say how the others, how she, considered her part of the crew. But she also decided against it. She wasn't sure how that might sound to the asari. She would always be the shy yet eager prothean scientist in Shepard's eye. She wasn't sure if it would muddle her good name if people found out she was sort of adopted by a merc band, however small, from the terminus systems. Shepard did not want to test her luck with it.

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Hell. It was like Hell itself had descended on the shining colony of Eden Prime. After the scientists had unburied the beacon, and after they had done some work trying to figure out how it worked, they had decided to finish for the night and continue their work on it in the morning. By the time they had wrapped up and went back to their little compound like camp in the evening, Hell had come for them all.

It happened so quickly, and even Shepard and her crew of mercs were caught off guard. Geth had come pouring out of the country side, out of the trees and from behind rocks, like a wave of terror. They didn't even hesitate they began to shoot at anything that moved. Shepard had managed to hide a few scientists in one of the buildings, effectively locking the door but in the middle of the chaos so many ran, so many died a pointless death.

Now her crew were split up, and she was alone with Liara, trying to keep the asari safe and alive. They found a moment to try and recollect themselves as Shepard shouted orders at her team through their comms. Orders to hide and save who they could while also ordering them to make a retreat for their cargo ship. "We'll pick up that beacon and get the hell out of here." Shepard finished her orders as Liara clutched at her chest, fear written on her face clear as day.

"I do not understand, why would the geth be after the beacon?" Liara questioned Shepard as they could hear gunfire and screams somewhere off in the distance. Shepard clutched her assault rifle close as she peaked around a corner, checking if they were still in the clear.

She then turned back to Liara, a look on the human's face that Liara had never seen before. There was a fire behind the human's green eyes, a strength and determination she had never seen as well. "I don't know." Shepard replied as she let go of her rifle for a moment, catching both herself and Liara off guard as she gently grabbed the asari's face with both hands, her green eyes bore into blue. "Do you trust me?" Shepard asked, her tone so serious, Liara's heart almost stopped at the gravity behind that tone. Shepard had never seemed more stoic than in that moment, in that question.

Liara nodded her head in Shepard's hands. "Yes." the asari barely breathed as her eyes were glued to Shepard's.

Shepard's serious gaze and tone never eased. "I will get you out of this alive, Liara, I swear. I need you to believe me, I will get you out of this." Shepard said, her brows furrowed, almost emphasizing how serious she was in what she was saying. Almost like an oath. A very solid oath. Liara believed every word of it with the way Shepard looked at her.

Liara nodded her response again, the asari's hands grabbing Shepard's forearms, a seriousness rising to Liara's own face and tone. "I believe you, Shepard." she responded, almost matching Shepard's looks and tones.

Shepard loosened up a bit as she released Liara's face. Perhaps Shepard was more trying to convince herself she could keep Liara safe. She had never been against geth before, never been against such odds with such a small crew. Not even she knew how this day would end, but she would die trying, if only to keep Liara safe.

When Liara released her as well Shepard took up her gun again, checking the corner. "We need to head back to the beacon." She said as she reached to her hip with a free hand, unhooking her pistol from the belt. She then looked back to Liara, offering the prothean expert the small firearm. "Do you remembering what I taught you a few years ago? How to use this?" Shepard asked still holding the pistol out for Liara to take.

Liara looked at the pistol, realizing in the bottom of her stomach that this was more dangerous than she had first assessed. Or at least more dangerous than her mind allowed her to believe. Liara took the pistol carefully from Shepard but nodded her head. "Yes." She responded. Shepard gave her a look Liara did not recognize. There was no name for that look. It said so many different things.

"Come on, we need to move." Shepard said, her tone having shifted from serious to something unrecognizable to Liara. But the asari nodded as she followed close behind the human as they left their temporary hiding spot, moving towards the beacon Shepard meant to recover before it fell into the wrong hands.

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Saren stood before the beacon. He knew how to gain access to it, to see what information was stored. A small part of him wondered what he was really doing. But before he could consider the thought further pain clutched at his mind, clouding his thoughts, something urging him forward, to see what the beacon would tell him. He growled as his talons clutched the sides of his head, but his feet moved him forward, as if against his conscious thoughts.

The pain ceased when he let go of his hesitance, approaching the beacon on his own, determined to access the ancient prothean device. He reached out, his mind able to decipher the prothean language as his taloned fingers worked over the holo console, putting in the commands to release the information within.

He had killed many to get here. He now wondered why he had hesitated in his mission for the briefest of moments. He even killed a fellow Spectre, an old friend, Nihlus. He killed a few humans that just happened to be in his path. But he did not care as a green glow began to ooze out of the beacon, reaching for him, surrounding him as he felt himself being lifted off the ground.

He closed his eyes as he relaxed, eager to take what the beacon was about to give him. His mind's eye erupted with visions. They made some sense to him as the images flooded his mind in rapid chaos, imprinting the information into his brain. He grimaced for a moment, the intensity of the information transfer causing discomfort and a bit of pain before the beacon released him.

He landed on his feet with a heavy thud before he stood upright, looking to the beacon. His mandibles flared before he activated his comms. "I have what I need. I will need extraction. Set the charges, destroy the colony." He said with a cold calm that would have chilled anyone to the bone as he turned away from the beacon and began to move to his pick up point.

He was one step closer to finding the conduit. The key that would help him succeed in his mission.

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As Shepard and Liara made there way through Eden Prime, narrowly dodging geth along the way, they came upon the train station that would take them to the beacon. They had discovered from a surviving colony member that the geth had moved the beacon to a different location, perhaps to secure it for pick up.

But at the new train station they found a dead turian. Liara covered her mouth as her eyes portrayed shock and sadness. Shepard carefully took her by the arm to lead her away from the dead turian. "Come on, we can't stop." Shepard urged as kindly as she could given their situation.

Liara looked over her shoulder as she let Shepard lead her away. "I do not recognize him." Liara admitted as Shepard looked back at the dead turian. She had to admit, the man was heavily armored, and heavily armed. Her brows furrowed trying to figure out why a randomly armed turian would even be on Eden Prime.

But before Shepard could ponder further on the implications of one dead turian someone from behind a stack of crates revealed himself. "Are you part of the Alliance?" He asked as Shepard's reflexes kicked in, releasing Liara to whip around, assault rifle raised at the voice. He quickly held up his hands in surrender, his eyes wide as he thought he was about to be shot. But Shepard sighed and lowered her weapon.

She kind of glared at the new man but shook her head. "No. Have you seen anyone from the Alliance here? We could use the backup." She responded finally. The man shook his head though and Shepard let out a frustrated noise as Liara finally stepped back to her side. "Where's the beacon?" Shepard then asked impatiently.

The man rang his hands together as he shrugged. "The geth loaded it on the train about twenty minutes ago, maybe it's on the other side of these tracks." he answered before pointing off behind him. Shepard nodded and looked at Liara, gesturing with her head to follow.

"Find somewhere safe." Shepard said to the man as she began to head for the stairs that lead down to the train. But her progress was halted when a loud horn like sound filled the air. The ground beneath them trembled at the vibrations of the sound and Liara grabbed Shepard's arm stuttering as Shepard looked around and then up.

In the sky, descending onto the planet was a monstrosity of a ship. Huge, and black, looking like what would be similar to a squid from Earth. Shepard's eyes narrowed. "Goddess, what is it?" Liara questioned in shock and awe.

Shepard shook her head as the ship blared it's horn once again touching down in the direction of the other platform the train would lead to. Where the beacon might be. "I've never seen anything like it." Shepard admitted, but her tone suggested she found it dangerous. "We don't have time, we need to get to that beacon." Shepard said as she quickly trotted down the stairs, her rifle raised as she picked off a couple of geth on the train below.

Liara quickly followed, but her eyes were glued to the beastly looking ship. "Roll call." Shepard suddenly shouted over the sounds of her gun firing as she picked off more geth from behind cover, Liara quickly ducking next to Shepard.

Everyone seemed to be checking in as Shepard cursed, ducking behind her cover as the geth returned fire. Kaidan, Garrus and Wrex were already on their ship, Tali was the last to respond. "Shepard, I may have some information on what's going on." the young quarian said through the ear piece. Shepard shot down the last geth before quickly leaving cover, Liara trying to keep up as Nicole raced for the end of the train, where the controls would be.

She quickly started up the train as it began to move along it's tracks. "Tali, get back to the ship, we'll go over what you found once you guys come to get us and the beacon." Shepard barked, brokering no chance for argument. Tali gave her an acknowledging response as Shepard rubbed at her forehead.

Once the train reached the last platform Shepard and Liara disembarked the train, but stopped in their tracks once they saw what appeared to be a bomb. "Is that a bomb?" Liara asked, the shock in her voice. Shepard quickly approached it, noting the timer. Ten minutes before it detonated.

She sat her rifle on the ground as she kneeled over it, pulling out a combat knife from a hiding spot in her boot, prying a panel open with it. "Liara, keep watch I need to try and disarm this thing." Shepard said, her eyes looking over the wires and controls once the panel was ripped open.

Liara nodded as she clutched the pistol Shepard had given her, blue eyes scanning the area, but she was shaking. She was scared, she did not know what she would do should she have to use the weapon. "None of this makes sense." Liara began, her voice giving away the stress and nervousness she felt. "Why would they wish to destroy this area?" Liara continued to question as Shepard reached into the control panel of the bomb, starting to sort out what she needed to do to disarm it.

Shepard sighed as she began to trace what wire lead where and to see if she could even stop the bomb without killing herself or Liara in the process. "I don't know. Destroy evidence maybe? But that doesn't make sense either." Shepard admitted as she grabbed her knife pressing it against a wire, chewing the inside of her cheek, feeling rather nervous herself about what she was about to attempt. "I may be able to stop this... Lets hope I don't kill us in the process." Shepard muttered, Liara looking down at the human.

Shepard may have been a merc, a hired gun, but she had high standards for herself and her crew. Never let innocents suffer. Don't take their lives, keep people safe when possible. "I believe in you, Shepard." Liara said, her voice sounding so sure of the words she just spoke, reminding the human of her promise to get them out alive. Shepard nodded once, exhaling heavily she she studied the wire her knife was pressed against. She was hoping yet at the same time sure it was the right one to cut.

"Here goes nothing." She muttered as she quickly pulled up on the knife, almost expecting for the bomb to blow up in her face. Instead there was a loud whirl and then the timer stopped in it's tracks. Disarmed. It was dead now. Shepard almost headbutted the bomb in relief, letting out a pent up breath. "Thank god." she whispered to herself before she stuck the knife back in her boot, picking up her gun.

She patted Liara on the shoulder once, giving her a nervous lopsided smile. "Piece of cake." Shepard said as Liara couldn't help but return the nervous smile. "Keep an eye out for any more bombs... I feel like this wasn't the only one." Shepard then said as she took lead, moving up a set of stairs that led to a catwalk.

But what greeted them at the top of the stairs stopped both mercenary veteran and archaeologist in their tracks. A creature, a black creature with sunken eyes and glowing blue lights screeched at them. It almost looked human, but inhuman at the same time as it suddenly charged them at full pelt, more of the creatures coming out of hiding, also screeching loudly as they all rushed for the two women.

It filled Shepard with a sense of dread and terror. She had never been afraid of anything in her life, but these zombie like creatures almost stopped her heart cold. "Dear lord in heaven." Shepard said, some of her terror apparent in her voice as she raised her gun.

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Gonna stop it right there. Cliff hangers hoozah! Reapers, Husks, and Geth oh my. Anyway, yes another chapter already, what can I say I have been on a roll. This chapter is the longest so far, and there's much more to come. So until next time.