CHAPTER 30: Into The Fire
2185 CE
With Tali recovered and back in action, more or less, it was time to go after the Reaper IFF.
We headed to Mnemosyne.
'Okay, so the Illusive man wants us to check in on his team that was researching this thing and grab the Reaper's IFF, which will supposedly let us through the Omega 4 Relay.' Shepard began.
She paused.
'Actually, quick question, Krell, is that actually going to work?' Shepard asked.
'Oh, yeah, definitely. It'll even let us come back too! There's a ship's graveyard immediately past the other end of the Relay though. So trying to head there with anyone other than Joker at the helm is just a complicated form of suicide, though.' I explain.
Grunt nodded, as if that was only expected.
'Lucky we have Joker then.' Garrus grinned.
Tali nodded, as did I.
'Now, we have no idea what killed this thing.' Shepard paused, looking at me.
'Yes, Krell? You have a problem with that statement?' Shepard asked, probably in response to the face I was making at her.
'We do know what killed it. It was a really really fast mass accelerator round. It ripped through the Reaper and created the great Klendagon rift. I wrote a paper on it. The speeds it hit aren't anything that we can replicate using modern mass accelerator tech, but if we substitute speed for mass we end up with a very similar amount of force.' I explained.
'How much force?' Shepard asked.
'About an asteroid's worth? A small one, like, four or five kilometers long.' I explained.
'I don't suppose you happen to have a gun that fires asteroids?' Shepard asked, hopefully.
'Like, a man portable one? I designed one, but I never actually built it. It also would have used a ton of eezo just to allow the user to aim it with one hand. It was pretty massive. Not particularly economical, though.' I explained.
'Why would you--!? The calibrations alone would--! How much would it cost to make one?' Garrus asked.
'Assuming you're not factoring in the cost of ammo, surprisingly cheap, you know, for what it was. Only 250,000,000 credits.' I explained.
'Hmmm... a bit out of my price range for now, I think.' Garrus decided.
'New and impractical ways to kill Reapers aside, I was about to say that no one other than Krell here knows what to expect once we're in there. So, what are we expecting here, Krell?' Shepard asks.
'Husks. A lot of husks. All of the different kinds. The blue ones, the explodey ones... the other but different and larger explodey ones--'
'Scions, they're called Scions. You named them, Krell. You gave us a lecture on them.' Miranda interrupted.
'Yeah, those. Whachamacallits. Enough husks to give you a phobia. They appear from underneath the catwalks, climbing up on every side of you. Also, since I know you love to read other people's journals, they're all going to be scientists slowly going insane from indoctrination; you know, for if you wanted to ignore my warnings in the first Normandy meeting room about dead gods still being able to dream. The Geth I mentioned on Tali's pilgrimage should be there too. It'll probably be wearing a piece of the N7 Armor you were blown into space in; so be ready for that. Other than that I can't remember anything else. I think you might be cut off from reinforcements until you actually grab the IFF? Don't remember for sure if that's what happened. Also! The Geth ends up deactivated in the final firefight. You're gonna wanna reactivate him as soon as possible. There's some stuff we need to know before activating the Reaper IFF since it's a bit of a trap? But beyond that nothing else for the dead Reaper. Wait. Maybe Joker ends up in a dog fight? I can't remember if that actually happened or if it was just the nachos I ate last night.' I admit.
'Tenses used strange. As if incident already happened. Curious.' Mordin observed.
'Cut off from reinforcements? Right then. Mordin, Garrus, Krell. You're all our best bets for dealing with husks and abominations. You three are coming with me.' Shepard decided.
'Fine. Just let me free up some space on my vid-recorder. Wrex isn't gonna wanna miss this fight.' I decide.
'You're recording these?' Kaidan asked.
'Aren't you?' I ask back.
'No, I'm typing up all my reports and sending them through you, wouldn't you notice if I had video attached?' Kaidan accused.
'What, you think I'm reading your mail? I have better things to do, Kaidan. I'm trying to save the galaxy.'
'We're all trying to save the galaxy! All of us, Krell. That's why we're here. We all want to save the galaxy.' Kaidan protested.
'Yeah, but I'm actually really good at my job.' I replied.
'You don't know that! How could you possibly know that? The galaxy hasn't ended yet!' Kaidan protested.
'That's how I know I'm good at the job, Kaidan.' I smirked.
'Okay, as amusing as this is, we do need to get that IFF today. So Mordin, Garrus, Krell. I want you suited up and ready in 30. Got it?' Shepard ordered.
'Got it.' I replied. Garrus nodded. Mordin just stared. I guess he assumed Shepard knew he'd be ready?
15 minutes later I was in the equipment bay with Mordin.
Mordin, and a lot of awkward silence.
'Hey, Mordin... I'm... sorry.' I admitted. 'I shouldn't have made you go through that on Tuchanka without telling you about it before hand. It was something I thought you needed to see to understand.'
'Likely right. Still, hurts. Had thought that we were kindred souls. Now I understand. We are both terrible teachers.' Mordin explained.
'In the interests of full disclosure, I have the last remaining copy of the data on what Binary Helix was doing at Peak 15. I cloned all their systems. They were performing all kinds of research on the Rachni there. I got to kill my first Rachni in almost two millennia.'
'Got bit in the ass by one too, to hear Shepard tell it.' Garrus grinned as he strode out of the elevator.
I rolled my eyes.
'Anyway, as a gesture of peace, do you want a copy? I know you've been bored ever since you figured out those seeker swarms.' I offered.
'Thank you, have been bored. Haven't been able to enjoy singing as much without a partner either.' Mordin admitted.
'You two have a song for this mission?' Garrus joked.
'You know, I think I actually do.' I admitted.
'You have a specific song for charging into the belly of a dead mechanical elder god?' Garrus asked.
'You read Lovecraft?' I asked, surprised.
'Wanted to know the genre of the horror story we're in for. Didn't like it. There were some words so racist I had to look up their meaning. Basically had to teach myself an entire college course on ancient human racism just to understand how racist he was.' Garrus explained.
'I warned you.'
'That you did. But you never answered my question. What about the song?' Garrus agreed.
'Right. It's more of a general purpose Captain Kirrahe speech in the form of a song; you know, for general suicide mission purposes.' I admitted.
'Well, now must hear. Cannot refrain from singing after hyping song up like that.' Mordin declared.
I agreed.
'This one comes from the Human musical 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' It's from a pre-FTL humanity. They were doing a revival on Broadway when I was in New York. I had to see it. The song is called 'Into the Fire'.' I explained. Then I opened my mouth to sing.
David walked into the valley with a stone clutched in his hand. He was only a boy but he knew someone must take a stand. There will always be a valley; always mountains one must scale. There will always be perilous waters which someone must sail. Into valleys, into waters, into jungles, into Hell; let us ride, let us ride home again with a story to tell!
'Into darkness, into danger, into storms that rip the night! Don't give in, don't give up but give thanks for the glorious fight!
'You can tremble, you can fear it but keep your fighting spirit alive, boys! Let the shiver of it sting you. Fling into battle, spring to your feet, boys! Never hold back your step for a moment! Never doubt that your courage will grow!
Hold your head even higher and into the fire we go!
'Are there mountains that surround us? Are there walls that block the way? Knock them down, strip them back, boys and forward and into the fray! Into terror, into valour! Charge ahead, no, never turn! Yes it's into the fire we fly and the devil will burn!
'Someone has to face the valley. Rush in we have to rally and win, boys! When the world is saying not to, by god, you know you've got to march on, boys!
'Never hold back your step for a moment! Never doubt that your courage will grow! Hold your head even higher and into the fire we go!
'Let the lightning strike! Let the flash of it shock you! Choke your fears away! Pull as tight as a wire! Let the fever spike! Let the force of it rock you! We will have our day sailing into the fire!
'Someone has to face the valley; rush in we have to rally and win, boys! When the world is saying not to, you know you've got to march on, boys! Never hold back your step for a moment! Look alive, oh your courage will grow! Yes it's higher and higher and into the fire we go!
'Into fire! Onward ho!
'Hah! Yes! Hold. the. Line! Kirrahe in a song indeed!' Mordin chortled.
'That was almost Turian in tone. Was it a general inspiring his military?' Garrus asked.
'Much the opposite. A rule-breaking foppish noble vigilante inspiring a crowd of like-minded nobles to invade another country in disguise and rescue the political prisoners which that country was set to execute.' I admit.
'Hah! Kirrahe indeed. How did you find out about that mission?' Mordin asked.
'Never heard of it. Must be a weird coincidence.' I admitted.
Mordin gave me a suspecting look, but ultimately let it slide.
At 30 minutes after the order was given, we were ready to invade the dead, yet still sleeping, mechanical god before us.
2185 CE
There was a patch of rough space as we headed in.
'What's with all the chop, Joker?' Shepard asked as he flew in closer.
'I'm doing the best I can. Wind's gusting at over 500 KPH.'
Joker tried to stabilize us as another gust hit.
'There's a second ship alongside the Reaper. It's not transmitting any IFF, but the lidar paints its silhouette as Geth.' He continued.
'That'll be Legion.' I chimed in.
'Well, that's not an ominous name at all. Bible demons that Jesus had to deal with personally. Not any red flags here. So way, sir!' Joker joked.
All of a sudden we stabilized.
'What just happened?' Shepard asked.
'The Reaper's mass effect fields are still active. We just passed inside their envelope. ... Eye of the hurricane, huh?' Joker quipped.
With that we landed. No sooner had the door opened than Garrus was joking.
'Exploring an abandoned area, expecting something mechanical or nasty to jump out at any moment. Just like old times.'
'Well, at least we're better armed.' I reply.
'You're using the same NK-47 you always do, Krell.' Garrus pointed out.
'Than them. We're better armed than them.' I clarified.
There were two video logs in the airlock area, and a couple corpses and bloodstained walls. This was clearly a research area. There was a sign in giant letters on the far wall. 'Indoctrination Scanning is no longer Mandatory!' The sign was well made, professional, to the point. The 'no longer' was scrawled on using dried blood. I wasn't aware humans contained enough blood to paint the letters, honestly. The fact that the additional words were all in lower case instead of title case also bothered me.
Not the most auspicious start of a fight.
'So... that's clearly the first step of indoctrination, right?' Garrus asked after Shepard played the video logs.
'Current Hypothesis. Either that or infrasound? Both, perhaps. Effects might be synergistic.' Mordin agreed.
Shepard opened the airlock and the entire room rocked.
'Normandy to shore party!' Jeff called out over the radio.
'What just happened?' Shepard asked.
'The Reaper put up kinetic barriers. I don't think we can get through from our side.'
'So we're trapped. Wonderful.' Garrus observed.
'I did warn you this could happen.' I countered.
'Yeah, but I didn't want to believe you.' Garrus agreed.
'We'll have to take down the barrier generators from in here. Any idea where they are?' Shepard asked
EDI's voice came across the line smooth and clear. 'At the moment of activation, I detected a heat spike in what is likely the wreck's mass effect core. Sending the coordinates now. Be advised; this core is also maintaining the Reaper's altitude.'
'You couldn't have warned up about that?' Shepard asked.
'I didn't know. But if it has to do with flying Joker can do it.' I admitted.
'Now, you sound like Grunt... Or Joker." Garrus laughed.
'I can still hear you, you know.' Joker replied over comms.
'So when we take the barriers down to escape, the wreck falls into the planet core.' Shepard stated, trying to distract her pilot.
'And that means everyone dies. yeah, I got it.' Joker stated, irritated.
'If any helmsman can pull us off this thing before it reaches crush depths it's you.' Shepard reassured him.
'Like I said, if it has to do with flying Joker can do it.'
'Was that a compliment? I think that was a compliment, Krell!' Joker teased.
'We'll make a sweep for survivors and recover what data we can. Stand by.' Shepard informed our pilot.
'Aye Aye. Good hunting.' Joker signed off, perhaps intentionally trying to confuse me.
'Fascinating, Require scanners from Normandy. Great deal of data...' Mordin observed as the doors opened into the technological guts of a once organic species, complete with corpse-covered catwalk.
'Even if there are survivors we're shooting any. There's no way this entire research team isn't indoctrinated.' I ordered.
'No problem here.' Garrus agreed.
The next research log was more troubling proof of indoctrination. Two unrelated researchers remembering the same incident with their wife Katy at their brother's marriage.
'Memory alteration. Reaper affecting their minds...' Mordin theorized.
'Humans are easier to control if you give them all the same memories, I guess? Or perhaps the damned thing's just firing aimlessly with no purpose behind it.' I speculated.
'Hard to tell. Not enough data on Indoctrination to say for sure. Shielding techniques still experimental, rudimentary.'
'Well, that's not worrying at all.' Garrus observed, perhaps ironically.
Three seconds later we were fighting husks.
'Whose idea was it to put high pressure tanks next to the explodey husks! Because I'm not sure I approve!' I roared.
'Not 'explodey' enough for you, Krell?' Garrus teased.
'Sure. Let's go with that.' I grumble, finishing the fight.
'I had wondered if the technology for making husks came from the Geth or from Sovereign.' Garrus admitted.
'You could have asked.' I replied.
'Nah, you seemed like you had a lot on your mind.' Garrus admitted.
The next log, after another brief fight, discussed visual hallucinations and the feeling that the ship was still alive. Apparently 'Doctor Chandana' removed the requirement that everyone wear indoctrination sensors constantly after people complained that they were inconvenient and that they felt awkward and uncomfortable wearing them constantly.
'I think I want to punch someone.' I grumbled.
'Many husks. Some non-explosive.' Mordin suggested.
We walked up a ramp only for a sniper to take out two husks.
'Sniper!' Garrus called out.
Shepard waited until it was clear and then grabbed some of the loot she used to finance this privateering semi-official Spectre operation.
'I couldn't see the shooter. A survivor from the science team?' Garrus asked.
'A Geth terminal.' I corrected.
'Well, that's a much less comforting thought.' Garrus decided.
'Huh. My favorite place to fight! A big open room where we can be attacked from all sides and all the chest high cover explodes.' I mutter, annoyed, as we're suddenly attacked once more.
'Tell me that's not actually your favorite place to fight. Big open rooms inside of dead Reapers aren't fun to fight through at all.' Garrus complained as he headshot a Scion, twice.
Shepard of course, ignored all the husks attacking us and ran to be the first to press the button on the terminal, biotic charging an enemy next to the terminal just to get to it faster and deprive everyone else of the possible pleasure of pressing a button.
'Chandana said the ship was dead. We trusted him. He was right. But even a dead god can dream.' Came the ominous voice from the terminal.
'A god -- a real god -- is a verb. Not some old man with magic powers. It's a force. It warps reality just by being there. It doesn't have to want to. It doesn't have to think about it. It just does. That's what Chandana didn't get. Not until it was too late. The god's mind is gone, but it still dreams. He knows now. He's tuned in on our dream. If I close my eyes I can feel him. I can feel every one of us.' The man in the vid terminal log had a face half-spattered in blood that was not his own; a detail noticeable even as I fought a ridiculously large wave of Husks.
'You know, the more I travel with you the less I believe your protests that you can't see the future.' Garrus declares.
'That's ridiculous. That was sound. You can't see sound!' I protested.
'Statement true... for Krogan. Still, implies that Krell can at least hear the future. Wonder if... No. Too dangerous to explore. Better stay away.' Mordin decided.
Once all the husks were gone, we approached a collection of oddly arranged Dragon's teeth, humans still impaled upon them, slowly starting to transform into husks.
'We've seen these before. Dragon's teeth, your people call them. The Geth used them on Eden Prime.' Garrus remarked as we approached.
'See how the room is arranged? They treated this thing like some kind of altar.' Shepard posited.
'It does look like that, but why would they want this to happen?' Garrus asked.
'You heard the logs. They were seeing things. hearing things. They were being indoctrinated despite the precautions they took. We can't help these people, but we won't let the Reapers use their corpses like this.' Shepard decided.
'You think the early stages of indoctrination made them sabotage the Indoctrination screening capabilities.' I realized.
'I do. There's a limit to even Cerberus' stupidity.' Shepard agreed.
'I wouldn't count on that.' Garrus joked. At least he thought he was joking; I wasn't so sure.
We salvaged the data in the room and moved on to the airlock. After it equalized the pressure and announced 5 days without a workplace death, it opened.
'5 Days, huh? Seems long for Cerberus. You think the Indoctrination made them more safety prone?' I asked.
'Could be.' Shepard agreed.
As we walked out onto the unshielded exterior, a Sniper took out a pair of husks sneaking up on Shepard; firing one bullet each on either side of her and getting a headshot each time.
Shepard looked up at the sniper, at the Geth, at Legion.
'Shepard-Commander.' The Geth Infiltrator pronounced before moving out of sight.
'Well damn, Krell, you were right. It talks.' Garrus decided as the thing left.
'Geth never operate alone. Stronger in numbers. Smarter too, as I understand.' Mordin observed.
'There are around 2,000 programs in that platform. It's definitely not operating alone.' I pronounce.
We fought our way through the catwalk, Shepard taking all the data and pressing all the buttons on the way.
'Only remaining task is destruction of mass effect core.' Mordin declares as we reach the final airlock.
We walked in to see a barrier blocking us, Legion interfacing with the terminal, being attacked by Husks. The Geth shot them with a pistol with one handed and took down the barrier with the other, moving to shoot the husks as he did.
He acquitted himself well, until three abominations exploded on him, deactivating him.
That left the rest to us. We shot up the core, and the husks and abominations attacking us in equal measure until it exploded.
I grabbed Legion and the IFF.
'Shame this isn't one of the juggernauts. I could have used their jump packs!' I joked.
The station was sinking and Husks were still climbing up to attack us. We raced our way back through the complex until we finally made it to the airlock. Joker detached as soon as the hatch slid shut, not even waiting for us to signal.
'Open the portside airlock.' Shepard ordered as we made it back to the exterior catwalks.
'Aye Aye!'
Gravity was low and so we all just hurled ourselves, Legion included, into the open airlock as the husks closed in and the Reaper exploded around us.
The door slammed shut and Joker barely waited for it to fully close before we were gone. The dead 'god' sinking into it's tomb behind us.
Fuck, I hate those things.
Author's Notes:
I honestly don't know if I like this chapter. It was meant to be a break after the Tali arc before we got to something more substantial; something light and humorous. I don't think it quite landed there.
The Scarlet pimpernel is certainly not the first superhero musical to grace the great white way, but it's definitely one of the best. Not that it has all that much competition. Toxic Avenger the Musical's the only other one that comes close, I think. It's definitely a lot better than Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark; though that's a low bar.
