Chapter 10: Truth, Under Fire
Feros, March 24th, 2183
What the colonists called 'the skyway' was an ancient construction connecting one tower to another that, with modern material science, was still considered extremely difficult to replicate safely. It was largely silent, uncaring, as bridges often were, that it was about to become an active combat zone.
The silence was rent asunder by the roar of twin engines sending their two Makos flying onto the bridge, tearing down the high causeway as they weaved around abandoned and disused construction equipment, driving on as they split the air into thin, whistling thunder.
Nate focused on driving, allowing Daniel to sweep the area in front and above them with the IFV's gun. He put his focus on the road specifically to try to put to rest how… interesting the situation behind him was.
Wrex had insisted on coming along if there was a fight to be had. With little time to argue and a need to use their Makos to get to ExoGeni's HQ here quickly, a… rather uncomfortable solution was put into place.
'I wonder if he's regretting it now,' Nate mused, not even really needing to turn his head to see how much space the krogan took up.
If Wrex had an issue with being crammed into the space next to the side hatches, then he didn't voice it now. He heard some talking behind him from Tali, Garrus, Liara, and one of the marines who'd come with them, Yamagishi, but couldn't quite catch what they were talking about. Ergonomics, maybe? He'd caught the word in passing, but it wouldn't be overly surprising with the spectacle in front of them.
Then, he caught sight of one, two geth walkers, almost shining in the light that broke through the clouds with their white armor, as they strode towards them from behind an earthmover, plasma cannons firing as several geth infantry bots emerged alongside them and started to fire as well.
Daniel was precise as he fired the Mako's turret, careful, almost surgical bursts of the machine gun sawing the infantry in front of them in half as Nate used the massive construction machinery as cover, weaving between the hulks while the main cannon recharged after each shot.
It made for an interesting contrast to the gunnery of the Mako Kaidan was driving, its machine gun only pausing for brief moments as waves of fire slashed through the geth ranks. Marlowe was excited to get into the gunner's seat when they'd saddled up, and it was showing.
"Comman…," he heard Joker say at the moment after they heard a huge, muffled boom, interference breaking in with startling speed, "I… osing… acking…"
Then, it was nothing but static. "Looks like we're on our own," Daniel said, somewhat loudly for the benefit of those in the back. "The geth have cut off long-range comms back to the ship."
"Not shocking in the slightest," Tali said with some distaste. "It's their preferred tactic after all. Surround, confuse and disable, pick off."
"Makes me grateful we have the heavy weaponry we do," Garrus said. He referred to another portion of their latest stock-up on the Citadel: 5 Oroochi light machine guns and 3 Bardiche anti-vehicle launchers, all Alliance military standard. One of each was with the squad in the other Mako.
"Though I must admit," Liara began, pausing as Nate ran through, and over, a fireteam of geth infantry, "I can't imagine what we might find inside the building itself that requires a missile launcher."
"With how big protheans seem to get with their buildings," Wrex commented, "I wouldn't be surprised if they fit one of those medium-sized walkers in there."
The fighting slackened as the last of the geth walkers went down, the other infantry disappearing in short order. Then, Nate heard an unexpected transmission.
"Lizbeth, if you can hear this, please, answer now."
It was a woman's voice, which didn't make it any less surprising. "That might be someone from ExoGeni on short-range," Daniel said as they went towards a covered portion of the skyway.
"Oh, damn it, Ethan, we'll be dead anyway if we can't get off this rock! Besides, it's only been a few hours. They could have missed her. And I'll wait as long as I need to for my daughter."
"Looks like our comms signal is just ahead, through this door," Nate said, the vehicles pausing before the door in. Inside, there was a long hallway before a ramp up to their left likely leading onward to where they needed to go. Instead of a ramp down, however…
"Hold on," the woman said. "That's a vehicle. Two of them. It doesn't sound like the geth."
The vehicles paused just before the ramps, Nate nodding over to the slope down as he commed over to the other Mako. "Everyone, dismount. I think we've got some people to talk to."
. . .
In a few moments, the collected squad was in the tunnel proper. "Wrex, Garrus," Nate directed, "keep an eye on our perimeter with the other marines. The rest of you, with me. I get the feeling the more people they see who aren't geth, the better."
The group nodded, the marines spreading out as Nate, Kaidan, Daniel, Liara, and Tali went down the ramp. Immediately apparent were the twin searchlights set up behind a scattered wall of boxes, three security guards with pistols and rifles behind them regarding the approaching group with some mixture of suspicion and relief. They did nothing to stop the team as they walked past.
Beyond the barricade, about two dozen scientists, security guards, and other workers ambled about either on their own or in twos or threes. There was more tech in the area than Nate expected there to be, a scattered few consoles, likely all that they could take from the building in the attack, that were all occupied in some way.
Over one console stood a man and a woman, both only having to look like they were almost at each other's throats for Nate to surmise that she was who they heard over the short-range.
Inevitably, all eyes turned to them, the argument the man and woman almost started averted as the woman walked over to them. Before she could speak, however, the man spoke first, a pistol held at his side an obvious threat display. "That's close enough!" he shouted with a wavering voice.
The woman ignored him. "Thank god, people who aren't geth and krogans," she began, dark blue eyes closing as she sighed and raked a hand through black, slightly salted hair. "My name is Doctor Juliana Baynham, Assistant Chief Researcher of ExoGeni."
"Juliana…" the man she'd been arguing with, Ethan, gaunt-faced and with a buzzed head, said warningly, his eyes darting from person to person.
"That," Juliana said, exasperation dripping from her voice, "is Chief Ethan Jeong. We're glad for whatever kind of interruption you just gave us. Can you help us?"
"Help us?" Ethan said incredulously, an aborted chuckle strangling in his throat. "How can a motley crew like this help us? Do you have any idea how many corporate secrets might leak?"
"We don't have any intentions of corporate espionage, I can assure you," Nate said placatingly. "I'm Commander Shepard, Alliance military. We're on a mission, searching for something important. Something that might be here in these ruins."
"We've been studying these ruins extensively since we arrived," Juliana began.
"And we've likely found nothing you'd find interesting," Ethan interrupted stringently.
Juliana rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up for a second, Ethan."
She paused for a moment, seeming to expect further interruptions, then returned her focus to the group. "Like I was saying, we've been making extensive studies. However, Chief Jeong is right. There are things that we aren't allowed to specify. Even during a geth attack."
She paused for a moment, her eyes going wide. "You must have come from Zhu's Hope. Are they alright?"
"We have a squad keeping an eye on things there," Nate promised, sure that Ashley and Sergeant Korrapati would keep a close eye on things. "They were shaken up when the geth attacked them, but they were brave enough to stand with us and defend themselves."
"Good, good," Juliana said. "We lost contact with them a few days ago."
She frowned as she looked over at Ethan. "And I thought you reported that they were all dead."
"Only that it was highly likely that they were dead," Ethan retorted.
"Either way, it's good to hear that they're okay," Juliana said. "These damn synths are relentless. If they found us here, we probably wouldn't be able to hold them off."
"We'll go in and take care of your geth problem," Nate said firmly. "But like I said, we're looking for important info."
"What kind of info?" Ethan asked suspiciously.
"Does it matter at this point?" Juliana said, continuing over Ethan's attempted protestations. "The ExoGeni headquarters are up the ramp and across the skyway, in the next building."
"Those headquarters are private property, soldier," Ethan interjected. "Destroy the geth and nothing else."
Nate spared a critical glance at Ethan. "Combat has no guarantees. And besides, I'm not interested in your company's dirty secrets."
That, he knew, was a little lie. But it would make things go that much more smoothly with Ethan, who was, frankly, falling apart at the seams.
"Commander, before you go," Juliana said, "if you can find my daughter Elizabeth, she was one of the last people alive in the building before we evacuated."
"We don't need them poking around," Ethan said as firmly as he could seem to at the moment. "We can do a proper accounting of our casualties after the geth are gone."
"That's my daughter you're talking about," Juliana said, a dangerous edge to her voice that caused Ethan to back off. "She's as resourceful as any of us. She's still alive, I know it."
"Well," Ethan said cautiously after a moment, "The building is big. There would be some places she could hide. For a little while, at least."
"We'll try and find your daughter," Nate said.
"Thank you, Commander," Juliana said with weary gratitude. "Thank you."
"Before we go," Liara, thus far silent, said as she stepped forward, "do you have any idea what the geth might be here for? If they might be looking for something?"
The question made the pair tense up, even the otherwise open Juliana seeming hesitant. "We wouldn't know," Juliana replied. "We haven't found anything of use during our time here."
She, once again, looked over at Ethan with annoyance. "Something that the company's all too willing to remind us of."
Ethan raised his hands. "Look, I'm just relaying the board's messages. We do need to recoup our expenses here, after all."
The whole exchange felt off to Nate. For such a simple question, the pair danced around it quite skittishly. Sure, there had been a sprinkling of the truth in there, but…
"Commander? You're going to the HQ?"
Nate turned to see another man approaching. "Gavin Hossle. I'm a freelance consultant," the man introduced himself. He was an older, thin man with fair, but weathered skin and pale blond hair. "There's something I'd like to ask you."
"What is it?" Nate said.
"I've got some data on my terminal in my office," Gavin began, reaching into his lab coat and pulling out a hard drive. "If you can transfer the data to this drive… I can't say I'll make it worth your while, but I can compensate you. Just connect it to my terminal, and it'll auto-download."
Nate considered the offer for a moment, then took the drive and slipped it into an armored pocket. "I'll see what I can do."
"That data is going to be copy-protected, Commander," Ethan interjected, "so I wouldn't even bother trying to make a copy before downloading it."
"Will you shut up?" Juliana said with a mighty sigh. "They don't have a reason to suspect us unless you give them one, which you damn well might."
Ethan spoke no further as Nate began to turn and leave. As they passed the barricades, Kaidan looked over at Nate. "I'm guessing I'm not the only one who got the feeling that they're hiding something?"
"Based on how my question was answered," Liara replied, "I'm doubtful they gave us everything we need."
"We'll figure it out," Nate said as they got back to the Makos and began to mount up again, "however much it might annoy Mr. Jeong."
With that, they were soon on their way again, the IFVs in single file as they twisted their way up the spiral ramps and headed to their left towards the ExoGeni building.
. . .
As they emerged into the open air again, it was easy to see where the geth frigate from before had gone, clinging to the side of the building like a resting dragonfly. It was also easy to see that the geth had entrenched this position, a white armature waiting before a barricade staffed by geth that fired rockets, attended to by a pale white infantry geth that was taller than any Nate had seen before.
Nate decided to barge through the armature and the barricade, the rear thrusters roaring as the vehicle knocked everything aside, crushing a few geth as Kaidan's Mako began to fire. Nate kicked the Mako into a drift, spinning the vehicle around as Daniel began to sight in and fire on the geth as well.
Two turrets of firepower swept through the initial defense line in mere minutes, the two vehicles turning back towards the building.
"Tali," Nate called back as they cleared away the forces waiting for them, "how likely is it that the long-range comms jamming is coming from the frigate?"
"Extremely," Tali replied as they began to go up a ruined section of the skyway that had become a ramp. "From what I can remember, the geth usually use the strongest point of interference to broadcast their jamming. We take that frigate out, we're likely going to be able to communicate again."
"Then that'll be our primary target," Nate said, flicking on the comms to the other Mako and giving a brief explanation as they drew close to another tunnel, this one leading into the building. "We'll make our way there once we have some schematics of the building. Our next priority will be finding Elizabeth Baynham, and lowest on the list is retrieving Mr. Hossle's data."
They came to a stop at a pair of wide columns that presented a narrow passage into the building proper. Far too narrow to let the Makos through. "Looks like we're on foot from here on out," Daniel said as he began to put the vehicle's VI into sentry mode.
"Looks like it," Nate agreed, hearing the now still Mako audibly creaking as Wrex shifted his weight to get out the door.
Soon enough, the squad was assembled at the entrance. "We'll be in two teams again once we find a way into the facility proper," Nate began. "Kaidan, you'll take the marines and split off from us when you can, try to find a console that has a map of the building, and make your way to the frigate whatever way you can. We'll be doing the same."
He paused as he pulled the hard drive and handed it to Kaidan. "We'll split secondary objectives. You try and find Hossle's data. Even freelance, it's a good idea to be on someone's good side within the corporations. My team will try and find Lizbeth."
Kaidan nodded as he stowed the drive away securely. "Will do, Commander. We'll try to keep in contact with you as long as we can. Are you sure you don't want at least Ayanami and her LMG with you?"
"We've got a krogan with a krogan shotgun," Nate said, smiling slightly as he was sure Wrex grinned behind his helmet. "I think we have all the firepower we need."
With that, they made their way cautiously into the ruins proper. It was easy to spot what had been ExoGeni's work on the structure even with how ruined it had become, with lay-down white, gray, and green tiles overlaid on the original floor and several accessways fitted with similarly colored walling. It was like they wanted to forget somewhat that they were in a ruin as ancient as Earth's Stone Age, plaster it over the ancient wonder with sterile, modern corporate sensibilities.
"Looks like we might have drawn out any geth that were in here," one of the marines, Ikari if he remembered correctly, remarked as they spread out slightly, exploring the immediate area.
"That doesn't mean that they wouldn't leave something behind," Kaidan gently reminded him. "Stay sharp."
"I hope that everyone made it out alright," Yamagishi said, her SMG sweeping the ceilings, broken and letting what light there was outside in as great columns in lieu of her sniper rifle. "Or at least didn't get turned into husks."
There was a silent agreement that Nate was sure was shared between all of them as he came to the first open doorway that wasn't covered in rubble. Or, at least it would have been if a familiar rippling blue glow didn't bar the way.
"Looks like that won't be our way in," Tali said as Liara stepped forward to study the kinetic barrier for a moment.
Liara hummed quietly. "It seems that this corporation has figured out the prothean security system, to some extent, at least."
"Wonder if anyone got stuck in it in the process," Garrus said, earning himself an unamused glance from Liara as she stood.
"Commander," Kaidan called, the group turning after a moment to see the man beckoning them over to a trench a little taller than most of the humans among them were, its bottom strewn with rubble as it led under the floor.
"Looks like this might be our way in," he continued as the squad gathered around it. "Might be a one-way trip though, judging by how much rubble is on top of the floor it goes under. Wrex might want to be careful."
Wrex harrumphed as Nate nodded. "It's the best shot we've got. Let's send a drone in, see where it goes."
"I'll handle initial pathfinding," Tali said as her omni-tool flashed to life, the micro fabricator near her open palm whirring as a small, hourglass-shaped drone coalesced into being, lifting off as multiple layers of shifting shielding flickered to life. It dropped into the tunnel, promptly forging ahead and disappearing.
"Let's see what you can see, Chatika," Tali said offhandedly as she pulled up the camera feed on her drone, Daniel and Kaidan dropping similar drones into the trench as well.
From Tali's camera feed, it showed that, indeed, the path opened up into a wide, cavernous space, seemingly untouched by ExoGeni even in its ruin. There was a door that still had power at the far end of the corridor. Otherwise, it looked empty, save for the bodies of a few dog-like, bug-eyed varren strewn about the place. "Looks safe," Daniel said. "Though the varren do worry me. It looks like they've been shot."
"Alright," Nate said as he hopped into the trench, pulling out his rifle, "let's not waste any time."
Slow, but surely, they funneled through the trench into the wide room, spreading out and spreading out somewhat to secure the room. One couldn't be too careful with the geth around.
Nate, along with Garrus and Wrex, went over towards one of the varren, kneeling to get a look at the corpse. He wasn't Allison by any means, but maybe the wound pattern might tell him who had killed it…
Then, movement from ahead, Nate's gun instinctively rising as his biotic power flared to aim at… a human woman, who staggered back and put her hands up, pistol in one hand. "Oh, thank god," she said with a sigh of relief as she let her arms drop. "I thought you might have been geth, with those drones I heard."
"Are you alright?" Nate said as he stowed away his pistol, opening his faceplate.
The woman nodded. "Yes. I'm Doctor Elizabeth Baynham. Please, though, just call me Lizbeth. Are you who the Alliance sent to investigate? Because you have some good timing."
"Investigate?" Garrus said as the rest of the squad began to converge on them.
"Wait a minute…" Nate realized. "Ambassador Udina said that there was a whistleblower here that leaked info that could match Liara's research."
Lizbeth nodded. "With what was happening with Zhu's Hope, I couldn't let it go unanswered anymore."
"What was happening?" Liara asked. "Is there something here threatening Zhu's Hope?"
Lizbeth nodded. "Yeah. The Thorian. We've been using Zhu's Hope as a testbed to see what I can do to people."
She paused and shook her head. "I'm sorry. I should be able to tell you more, but I've been so focused on surviving, my head's a mess, and none of it would make any sense. There'll be terminals that can give you the information you need further in. Here, you'll need my access pass."
She took a trapezoidal chip from the back of her palm and handed it to Nate as she spoke. Nate considered the pass for a moment. "What made you stay behind?" he asked.
"I wanted to make sure that there was a backup that anyone investigating afterward could find and access easily. By the time I was done, the shields had gone up and I was stuck in here. Trying to call for help became useless once the geth ship latched onto the building, too."
"Smart plan," Daniel remarked. "Shame luck had to go against you like that."
"You're telling me. I'll stay here, keep hiding until the barriers fall."
"Smart move," Wrex remarked.
"We'll let you know when the geth ship's been dealt with and we've deactivated the defenses," Nate said. "Stay safe."
Lizbeth nodded. "Good luck in there. I'll follow you if I need help."
Nate nodded, and the group turned to the door at the far end of the room, making their way toward the facility proper.
. . .
Opening the door, they found that the rest of the facility, unsurprisingly, matched the sights that they had seen outside the trench; ancient architecture with a veneer of corporate cleanness that bent itself around the strange architecture. There were three paths out of the room, one that led upstairs at its center flanked by halls to their left and right.
"Looks like this is where we part ways," Nate said, his visor snapping back into place. "We'll make our way upstairs, see where it goes. I'll leave what hall you go down to you, Kaidan."
"Sounds good to me," Kaidan replied, gesturing over to the left. "Don't get too lost."
With that, the two groups ventured into the unknown.
Nate's team found themselves going up, and up, and up, past small rooms dotted on their left and right that had been converted into cubicles or offices. The prothean walls peeked out from where the paneling on them had fallen, lending the space an eerie, patchwork quality.
The stairs deposited them into a wide, long room that had likely been used as storage space, crates and other large objects spilled and scattered across the entire space. In the quiet, they all heard the whir of something coming towards them. Geth.
Without a word, the squad got into cover as quietly as they could. It was all too simple after that to ambush the small geth patrol that walked into the room. The fight was over in seconds.
"Here's hoping the racket didn't draw much attention to us," Garrus said, tightly sweeping the marksman's rifle he held with his aim squarely at the door the geth had come through.
"Sit tight for a moment," Nate said.
Long minutes passed before Nate slowly got up. "Alright," he said over helmet comms, "looks like we're good. Let's move on."
And so it went, long moments of silence punctuated by staccatos of gunfire, biotics, and tech attacks, geth falling to their overwhelming first strikes.
Then, as they went on, the group slowed at the base of a stairway as they heard two voices in the distance.
"Stupid machine!" one voice, low and guttural, said with no small amount of exasperation. "Access encrypted files!"
"You seem to be trying to repeat this task unsuccessfully," another voice, robotic and clinical, replied. "Shall we review access protocols?"
"No, I don't want to review protocols!" the first voice shouted as the team slowly made their way up the stairs.
"Then I am unable to comply," the other voice, obscured behind what was obviously a krogan, replied. "Please contact your supervisor."
"Damn it," the krogan muttered as he stepped forward. "Tell me what I want, or I will blast your virtual ass into actual dust!"
"Please," what was now quite apparently a VI once again said, "contact your supervisor for a Level 4 security exemption or make an appointment with-"
The group was slowly, but surely getting closer. The krogan was remarkably distracted as he growled in frustration at the VI assistant, cutting it off with a cry of "Stupid machine!" Even Wrex was managing to stay largely quiet, considering his bulk.
"If there is nothing else, please step aside. There is a queue forming behind you for the use of this console."
The krogan, now in sight down a short hallway, turned as the group froze at the top of the stairs, Nate squarely looking the krogan in the eye.
There was a moment of stunned silence, broken at last by a roar as the krogan enemy pulled out a massive rifle, blocky and painted a violent green and yellow, and leveled it at Nate as he charged.
The gun fired two-round bursts, Nate swearing he could actually see the metal wedges that the rifle threw at his barrier as each impact rippled with sympathetic feedback into his body and brain. There was as good a chance as any that the krogan would batter through his barrier and throw him back…
"Out of the way!"
It was almost on instinct that Nate dropped the barrier, pressing himself to the wall as Wrex met the charge. He battered the rather surprised krogan's rifle out of the way before grabbing his arm, another hand darting out to grab a leg. The pair struggled mightily for a moment before Wrex began to lift the other krogan, shouting from the strain as the krogan shouted in surprise.
Wrex turned, and heaved the krogan, tossing him down the rather clear path that he'd made down the stairway, the krogan losing grip on his rifle as he bounced and tumbled down the flight, landing at the bend and shattering the wall plates to reveal the original wall with a resounding crack.
There was no such pause as Nate, Daniel, and Tali immediately overloaded the krogan's kinetic barriers before a barrage of fire slammed into him like a hurricane wind, tearing up the walls and floors around the krogan as he struggled back to his feet, making it up one step, then another…
Before finally collapsing onto the stairwell, dark orange blood beginning to flow down the steps from a still body, pooling at the bend.
Even still, the group waited for long moments, guns leveled at the krogan's corpse, before turning back to where the krogan had come from. Nate made his way over to the terminal, Liara, Tali, and Daniel following after him while Garrus made his way past them to stand sentinel at a branching hallway past the VI terminal.
As Nate approached, the VI activated again. "ExoGeni Corporation reminds all staff that the discharging of weapons while on company property is strictly forbidden."
"Company property…" Liara muttered derisively, the VI continuing regardless.
"Welcome back, research assistant Elizabeth Baynham. How can I help you?"
Nate could accept a case of mistaken digital identity today. "What information was the last user trying to access?" he asked.
"One moment, please. Fetching data," the VI said before it went silent for a moment. "The previous user was attempting to access files on the study of Species Subject 0037, codenamed 'Thorian'."
"Tell me…" Nate began, pausing as he realized that they had stumbled on the krogan getting absolutely nowhere. "Give me a summary of the research on the Thorian."
"There has been no new data recorded on Species 0037," the VI began. "All sensors monitoring Zhu's Hope were disabled 4 days, 8 hours, and 25 minutes ago."
"Why is Zhu's Hope related to the Thorian?" Nate asked with a growing sense of unease.
"Species 0037 is located within the substructure of the Zhu's Hope colony," the VI replied. "Species 0037, the Thorian, is a plant-based lifeform that exhibits a sentient behavior uncommon in other flora. Through the dispersion of unique spores into the immediate atmosphere, it can affect and control organisms that inhale said spores. The Zhu's Hope control group has yielded the most notable results, as almost 85% of all test subjects showed advanced infection of the Species 0037 spores."
"That might explain why everyone was so strange at Zhu's Hope," Daniel said darkly.
"Keelah…" Tali said, her voice quivering slightly. "Do you think you'll be alright, Commander? You and the other humans went in with no protection against inhaling anything?"
It was an all-too-good question that made Nate's skin crawl. "How long does this control take to manifest?" Nate asked.
"Manifestation of behaviors deviating from standard psychiatric backgrounds requires at least 3 days of continuous exposure," the VI replied, the group sighing in apparent relief.
"This must be what Saren is after," Nate said grimly. "A way to cement his control over those who follow him."
He thought for a moment. "Did anyone outside of the regular shipment of goods and supplies land at Zhu's Hope before the sensors went out?"
"One moment, please," the VI said, silent for a moment. "Before the sensors went offline, a vessel logged to a Matriarch Benezia T'Soni made an unscheduled landing at the colony."
"Shit," Garrus said as he overheard the conversation. "That probably means that Saren already got what he wanted from here."
Nate's lips twisted into a grimace before Liara tapped him on the shoulder. "Ask the VI how old the Thorian is," she whispered. "I have a feeling it might be useful to us, too."
Nate nodded. "Has the Thorian been tested on how old it is?"
"Not as of yet," the VI said. "However, study of plant growths in relation to the ruins it resides in determines that it is at least as old as these ruins, perhaps older. The species has a diffuse nervous system similar in nature to many species of fungi. Its cognitive abilities are centered in clustered nerve bundles, but it receives data from kilometers of meandering tendrils."
"Then it might be able to help us, too," Liara said. "We'll need to contact Zhu's Hope as soon as we get through this interference."
Nate nodded. "Can you tell us where the geth ship is attached to the building?"
"I have limited data available; the internal sensors are currently fluctuating in power. However, I am detecting a spike of energy in the cargo containment sector, though I cannot pinpoint the location."
"Create a downloadable map of the facility," Nate said firmly. Finally, they had a firm direction.
"One moment please," the VI said, nodding after a moment. "Please link your omni-tool or other storage device to the console."
Nate accessed the map, downloading it quickly and sharing it with the rest of the squad. "That's all," he said to the VI assistant. "Thank you."
"Going to standby mode," the VI replied as the group gathered again and walked away from the console.
"Are short-range comms going to work in here?" Nate asked Tali as they went down the hallway that Garrus had kept an eye on.
"It's a roll of the dice," Tali admitted. "They could, or they might not."
Nate considered the answer for a moment. "Is there a way we could send a drone as a courier, make sure that they get the map and relevant info as well?"
Tali was silent for a moment, pulling up her omni-tool and typing in it. "It's a tricky program to make on the fly, but I can make a drone that backtracks, follows the marine squad's signatures, and delivers the map and some text to them."
As they entered a wide room that had once been several cubicles, Nate nodded. "Alright. We'll hunker down here for a few minutes to let you get that done."
As they began to sweep and clear the room, Nate found himself next to Wrex, who now wielded the battle rifle that the krogan had been carrying. "I see you liked the other krogan's gun," he said levelly.
"It's hard to find non-krogan manufactured weapons that fit our hands without a significant amount of credits to modify them," Wrex said. "It was just practical to pick up a long-range option. And an AWF Ogre is as good as any."
Nate shrugged, continuing the sweep until they confirmed the room was clear. "Alright," Tali said a few moments after, "drone is away."
The last words were accentuated by the whir of said drone as it zipped back from whence it came.
"Good," Nate replied. "Let's keep going."
. . .
Kaidan Alenko did his best to focus. The dark helped, even though his helmet could adjust for lighting. He always felt more comfortable in the dark. It allowed him to think clearly. It felt safe, secure. Even if it really wasn't.
"Funny we haven't hit any geth just yet," Marlowe remarked over helmet comms after more than a few minutes. "Think they all went towards the Commander's team?"
"There's always a chance," Ikari replied for him. "Just try not to get too caught up in charging forward. I haven't fully figured out how the Commander shares his tech armor yet."
"That's just a matter of creating a decent generator module," Kaidan interjected. "Focus up. We're coming up on offices."
The corridor widened, became split by a row of columns, and the rooms within it became larger. What had this been before? A part of him couldn't help but wonder.
Then, from up ahead, three geth stepped into view. One of them, emerging from the doorway it had to stoop through, was easily head and shoulders above the rest of them, a pale white like the armatures that threatened their vehicles.
"Get to cover!" Kaidan said, ducking behind a pillar, watching the others scatter into office rooms as the corridor lit up with a torrent of plasma fire. It was difficult to peek out at the slowly approaching, and rapidly gathering, geth, now numbering over half a dozen that he could catch at a glance.
"Ayanami, focus fire on the big one!" he said as he marshaled his biotic power, considering his repertoire of tech attacks. The biotics needed to wait for shields to go down anyway. He prepped the overload program on his omni-tool, glancing out and pointing a fist at one of the geth. Its shields popped, just as they did every time he used it.
'Nice and simple,' Kaidan thought, switching his omni-tool to an incinerator round launcher and letting it fly, the blistering cocktail of mass-effect induced plasma smearing the unshielded geth as it burned through armor and circuitry alike, sending the bot sprawling after a few moments.
He watched for precious seconds as Ayanami's LMG chewed through the shields of the large geth unit with ease, sending it into cover behind one of the pillars as its subordinates popped and collapsed left and right around it. A moment later, Langley sent the geth stumbling into the line of fire again with a biotic push, a flare of gravitic power blooming from its back.
'Sloppy. Needs work,' he thought almost on instinct, smothering the thought as he gathered his biotic power into the palm of his hand. Most L3s seemed like that to him, anyway, just on the cusp of proficiency. Besides maybe Shepard.
With that thought, he sent the power hurting towards the large geth, a tight, long biotic lance of purple light bleeding into blue cutting through the air with an eerie howl to pierce the chest of his target.
It stumbled back from the impact, warbling and squawking as the projectile remained for a moment before exploding, sending pieces of it flying everywhere as its legs fell back.
It was a long moment before Kaidan looked out of cover, then cautiously walked forward, sweeping the doorways as the rest of the squad followed him.
"That was a hell of a trick, sir," Langley said, her usual rather cavalier tone subdued somewhat. "I'll have to learn that from you sometime."
"It's just a refinement of the usual warp projectile," Kaidan replied as they continued on. "It's only a matter of time and practice to get that right."
Stars only knew that Vyrnnus had given him plenty of the latter.
They pressed on, somewhat more slowly, until they found a dead krogan in the middle of the hallway, its chestplate charred and pitted deeply. A glance to the nameplate next to the doorway it was in front of read 'G. Hossle'.
"Looks like this is our first stop," Kaidan said as he looked into the room.
There was the usual stuff, a desk, chair, a few personal effects likely left behind. What he didn't expect was the armored human rising slowly from behind the desk, rifle in hand.
"Oh, good," the human, a man, said. "Actual people who won't shoot me when they see me. What are you doing in here?"
"Well," Kaidan said as he pulled out the drive and plugged it into Hossle's terminal, "we're retrieving data for someone and then going on to clear the geth out of here."
"Good to hear," the man said.
"So who are you, I gotta ask," Marlowe said. "You security that got left behind?"
The man nodded. "Yeah, something like that. Name's Robertson. When people started clearing out, I was checking to see if everyone made it out safely. Comms jamming made it damn hard to do that, so I holed up in the offices."
"So the krogan's your doing, then," Private Nagisa said.
Robertson nodded. "Yeah. I wanted to make sure he was dead. And so he is."
"We've cleared the way behind us," Kaidan said as the drive finished its download, "so if you want to make your way towards the exit, just follow the geth parts, go down the stairs, and take a right. Someone else will be in the large room waiting for us as well."
"Good to know," Robertson said. "Sounds like I'd better get going."
"Before you go," Ikari asked, "would you happen to have a map of the facility?"
Before Robertson could reply, Kaidan heard a quiet gasp before a sigh of relief. "Special delivery!" Marlowe called out. "The other squad has a map for us, and a direction to meet them in."
As she spoke, Kaidan saw the download request on his helmet display. He accepted it, seeing the map and Commander Shepard's message.
'Geth jamming likely originates in marked cargo area. See you there.'
Kaidan nodded slightly as he looked over at Robertson. "Don't worry about us. Just make your way out of here and we'll get you the rest of the way."
Robertson nodded. "See you on the other side."
With that, the man disappeared down the hallway. Kaidan wasted no time in looking after him as he ran the map through a pathfinder program to see the shortest route to the cargo bay. "Alright," he said as the program showed the way, "let's get moving."
. . .
Nate and the others slowly made their way into the cargo reception area, at the only bay that didn't have its entry collapsed. It was eerily silent, lit by a light from below their railed catwalk.
Nate made his way to the railing, peeking over to see a sphere of light under one of the legs that pierced the wall that was surrounded by three kneeling geth.
He switched over to helmet comms and motioned for the others to do the same. "Are they… praying to that thing?" he asked.
"It certainly looks like it," Liara said. She glanced over at Tali for a moment. "Perhaps to the Reapers?"
"Perhaps so," Tali admitted.
"Either way," Wrex interjected, "we've got to deal with them."
It was slow, silent, as Wrex, Nate, and Daniel leveled rifles at the geth platforms. 6 shots, head level. The platforms were down.
As they descended the stairs, Nate couldn't quite shake the strange sensation that washed over him as he walked past the now-deceased supplicants splayed on the floor. Their weapons were on their backs. They would have been on them in an instant if they'd passed them up.
And even still…
He'd figure this out afterward. There were civilians, a colony to think of.
They made their way towards the next bay, Nate activating the opaque, glowing red plates of tech armor that were his, the new layer floating above his armor, with smaller, more defined plates hovering above those. They'd stood out enough to draw fire on Elysium from those who weren't able to withstand it. He'd seen it become a part of his image, a mark of boldness and willingness to do whatever it took to win. They were wrong about its purpose, of course.
Then again, the Commander Shepard most people thought they knew was a remarkably different man anyway.
He layered a biotic barrier between the tech armor and his armor's kinetic barriers, a shifting aurora that gave the tech armor new depths, made him a beacon on the battlefield.
He could see Wrex doing the same beside him, the pair striding without care for cover or concealment into what they knew would likely be geth infantry on high alert. If the relative emptiness of the building was any indication, it was remarkably likely that most of them would be waiting here.
And, as expected, there they were, dozens of weapons pointed at him as his companions set up behind cover. They could take care of themselves, of that he was sure now. They didn't need him beside them, worrying. This was familiar. Almost refreshing, even.
'Alright,' Nate thought, raising his rifle and letting shots fly, 'look at me. Shoot at me. I can take it.'
He could almost feel the weight of fire pressing down on his chest, the tech armor, linked to his armor's main generator, holding far more steadfastly than the all-too-recent sharable version he'd tested on Eden Prime. Time seemed to slow as geth after geth fell before him and Wrex, fire coming from behind him taking out those on the periphery of his vision.
His tech armor finally cracked, several rounds striking the biotic barrier, causing it to ripple before, after what felt to him like an eternity, he took cover, giving the fraying barrier a chance to be mended as the tech armor module recharged.
He peeked out every once in a while, aiming at geth that weren't being focused on by the others and swiftly dispatching them, glancing at his head-up display to check the progress of his tech armor. Almost there…
Again, the crimson armor bloomed to life around him, and he stepped out to face the geth again. This time, however, he saw a crossfire, biotic flares and tech attacks joining bullets from their right, above them.
He risked a glance upward to confirm what he already knew; Kaidan and his squad had made their way here as hoped. Good.
He sent a biotic warp at the last of the geth, the impact sending it flying before the sticky shot detonated, sending scrap metal and sparks flying before the room, at last, went silent.
Nate deactivated his tech armor and dismissed his barrier, stowing his weapon as Kaidan and his squad jumped down, their powered armor making it barely an inconvenience.
"I wondered when the Sentinel would show up," Kaidan said. "You can put on quite a show, sir."
The Sentinel. Yet another moniker military and civilian press alike had ascribed to him. It wasn't the worst one by far. There were other things to focus on, however, as the squad reunited fully. "We need to find a way to get this thing off this building. We only seem to have access to the legs. Any ideas?"
"This is a pretty big ship attached to an old building," Garrus said as he looked at one of the legs. "I'm betting even just one of these getting pulled out should send the whole thing tumbling."
Nate considered the idea for a moment, then heard a slight whistling as the noise gates protecting his hearing slowly let off. He looked over to the source, an adjacent bay that, apparently, had its cargo door open when the geth ship landed. 'Now why could that be?' he wondered as he began to make his way towards the open door.
The rest of the group followed him, and they came across the open bay door, the geth ship's landing claw taking up a remarkable amount of space. Almost hidden by it, however, was a large console on the far wall.
Making his way around it, he found that there was, of all things, a scrap of paper stuck to the machine, handwritten words scrawled on it.
'The damn door to the shuttle bay's fried again,' the note read. 'It works fine if PSI is set at 30 or lower, and the safety shutoff kicks in above 34. But between 31-34, the door slams down hard enough to shear through an I-beam! Someone fix this thing before someone loses an arm!'
Nate studied the message for a moment. "Think the door might be able to cut through a geth landing gear?" he asked to Kaidan.
"It's worth a shot," the man replied, both he and Daniel stepping up to the console and taking stock of it. "31 to 34 PSI should be easy enough to do."
And so, the men worked in silence, those more militarily-minded turning after a moment to provide cover for the trio. The more inquisitive simply stayed and watched.
It was remarkably quick, all things considered. In one moment, the coding showed that the doors, at 33 PSI, were activating. Almost before the next, the doors had snapped around the landing strut like a predatory jaw, the crashing sound of it drawing everyone's attention to the sight as the doors clamped down on the leg for long, almost agonizing seconds.
At last, the doors slammed shut, the leg sparking and slamming to the ground. The silence that followed was all too brief as the walls began to creak and groan, cracks forming on the wall around the other visible leg before the wall tore away, taking the leg, and the rest of the ship, with it.
Several rushed to the edge of the brand-new window, watching as the geth ship tumbled into the cloud cover below.
"Are you sure you didn't miss your mark as an architect, Mr. Vakarian?" Ayanami finally said after a few moments.
Garrus did something of a double take, those around him missing the subvocal of all-too-evident confusion. "Maybe demolition, but I don't typically mess around with drafting tables."
The moment of humor passed, and Nate commed back to the Normandy. "Normandy, this is Shepard. Can you read me?"
"Loud and clear now, Commander," Joker said, not bothering to hide his relief. "The other squad you kept in the colony is reporting that the people are starting to get real antsy about something."
"I'll talk to them in a minute," Nate replied. "We found a bunch of survivors from ExoGeni, and we're on our way back."
"Oh, well, that's a relief," Joker snarked. "I'm sure the corporate cog in the megacorp machine is going to be real warm and fuzzy over that. I'll let you talk to Williams."
Nate switched channels as they made their way back to the place they came in, though not without a slight smile. "Williams."
"Here, sir," Ashley replied. "I hope this means you're on your way back soon. Everyone's kind of on edge."
"We'll be back soon," Nate said. "However, the colonists are all under the control of a being underneath the colony. They may get violent if something happens. The last thing anyone needs is the chance to hurt someone else, or themselves. If you see the need to, restrain them and get them away from their weapons."
"Aye, sir," Ashley replied levelly. "We'll be ready here."
With that, Nate turned off the comms. "Alright. We've got some scientists to talk to. So let's not keep them waiting."