EPISODE IV
The Hounds of Hell
"There's been a change of plans," Shepard addressed everyone in the comm room. It had been about a week since the mission on Therum and they had been on a course for Feros when Shepard suddenly changed their heading and summoned his ground team. "I just received a communique from Admiral Kahoku of the Alliance. He discovered that the trap that had been set for his marines had been planted by a group called Cerberus. They're apparently a human terrorist organization that's been conducting countless illegal experiments. While Saren remains our top priority, we can't allow this to go unanswered. Admiral Kahoku has already gone into hiding from them and we're going to make his life a little easier.
"I've ordered Joker to set course to the planet Binthu in the Yangtze system. That's where Admiral Kahoku knows they have three bases. Our mission is going to be simple: We find out what they're up to and exterminate them with extreme prejudice. We've got to hit them hard and fast so we're going to hit all three bases simultaneously. Garrus, Tali, Ahsoka; you three are with me, we're alpha team. We'll be hitting the largest of the three facilities. Alenko, you take Ashley and hit the second, you're beta team. Wrex, you and Liara have the third, you're gamma team.
"The three facilities are spread out so we'll be dropping in the Mako. Alpha and gamma will be dropped off just outside of visual range. Beta, when you're in position, send the signal and we'll strike at once. Remember that we need all the intel we can get so capture anyone if you can. If not, oh well. We're twenty-eight hours out from Binthu. I want all of you geared up and ready to go twenty minutes before we drop. Any questions? Dismissed!"
OoOoOoO
As everyone went their separate ways to get ready, Ahsoka pulled Tali aside. "We've got some time before the mission so I want to get in one last training session. Are you up for it?" Ahsoka asked.
"Of course! I've been doing those exercises you showed me when I have the time and I feel like I've been making tremendous progress. I can feel what you mean about the Force swirling heavily around the ship and I'm even starting to be able to read emotions. It's such a strange feeling! Quarians are naturally very social and we're pretty good at reading body language but being able to just passively sense what others are feeling is just…" Tali trailed off, clearly at a loss for words.
Ahsoka smiled, "I know what you mean. Every youngling has pretty much the exact same experience. Just remember to keep yourself focused on your own emotions. It can be a little overwhelming at first, especially when emotions are running high, but you'll get used to it and be able to tune them out. Anyway, I think it's time we begin the next step of your training."
"Really? Am I going to learn how to amplify my physical abilities next so I can jump around like you do?" Tali asked, not even bothering to try and hide the excitement in her voice as she started to bounce on her toes.
Ahsoka chuckled softly, "Not quite. While a lot of those will come naturally to you as you let the Force guide your movements, fully learning Force Jump and Force Speed will have to come later when we actually have the room to practice. You're going to be learning another fundamental skill instead. Can you darken your visor at all?
Tali seemed slightly disappointed at this news but the idea of learning something else was still exciting. "I can. A program does it automatically to shield my eyes from bright flashes of light but I can also control it manually. I usually use it when I'm trying to get some sleep."
"Can you make it completely opaque?"
Tali thought for a moment, "Not completely but, if the lighting was low enough, I could make it to where I couldn't see much. Quarians have much better night vision than most other races, though, so it'd have to be pretty dark."
"That works. Wait for me in the comm room. I'll be back in a minute."
A few minutes of patient meditation later and Ahsoka returned carrying a satchel. Tali was about to ask what was in it as she stood up but stopped when her teacher answered the question by dumping its contents all over the floor. It contained a variety of small objects from spoons to nuts and long bolts.
"Today, Tali, you're going to start learning how to use one of these," Ahsoka said as she approached her apprentice and held out a lightsaber.
Tali's eyes went wide as she almost reverently took the offered weapon. "Won't it be dangerous, though? Even if no one gets hurt, I don't like the idea of accidentally damaging anything."
"Don't worry about that. I've adjusted the power output to where it'll be more like a glowing stick. You could still do some damage with it if you tried but it should cut down on the risk of accidents," Ahsoka explained before stepping back. "Go ahead and ignite it."
Tali did as instructed and watched as a blade of pure plasma formed with a sharp snap-hiss. The modification was apparent as the white blade wasn't nearly as bright or as thick as it usually was. She carefully moved the weapon around and gave it a few experimental swings as Ahsoka spoke.
"The lightsaber is a Jedi's weapon. Master Obi-wan always called it a more civilized weapon for a more civilized age. Not as clumsy or as random as a blaster— or a gun in this case. A Jedi's lightsaber is their constant companion. It is a weapon to be used solely for defense. To protect your own life as well as the lives of others. Back in my galaxy, sometimes simply showing a lightsaber was enough to stop violence or get people to cooperate. It probably won't do that here but it's still important to remember.
"For your first lesson, we're going to be starting off simple." Ahsoka raised her hand and Tali watched as all of the odds and ends she had dumped on the floor started levitating. "I'm going to be randomly tossing these at you one at a time. You just need to block them. That's it. Remember to let the Force guide your movements."
Tali brought the lightsaber in front of her and held it tightly in both hands in a stance she had seen Ahsoka use a time or two. She gulped a bit nervously before saying, "Alright. I'm ready."
It went fairly well. While the exact location of the "attack" and the timing were completely random, Tali was able to react quickly enough to intercept it each time. There were a few close calls but then Tali cottoned on to the slight movements Ahsoka made before attacking and she was able to block them easier. This went on for a few minutes before Ahsoka called things to a halt.
"Very good. As always, you're a quick learner. Now that you have a feel for it, the true lesson begins. Go ahead and dim your visor," Ahsoka instructed. As Tali did so, Ahsoka activated her omnitool and followed the instructions Shepard had given to lower the lights until they were in almost total darkness.
"I can't see anything!" Tali reflexively complained. Even after she ignited the lightsaber again, its dim glow didn't really make things much better. She could faintly see the lightsaber but that was about it.
"Perfect. Your senses can deceive you. In order to fully master lightsaber combat, you need to rely completely on the Force. It can warn you of unseen danger and can guide your actions to do things that may seem strange to an outside observer. Let us begin."
Unknown to Tali, Ahsoka had levitated all of the pieces she had already used and spread them out until Tali was totally surrounded. After that, she kept totally silent, the hum of the lightsaber the only noise that filled the room, and waited. After exactly one minute had passed, a time that seemed to last forever to the tense Tali, Ahsoka made her first move.
The results weren't nearly as good as before but they weren't bad. The first move had caught Tali completely off guard and struck her in the back, causing her to reflexively spin and lash out only for her to be struck in the side. After that, she calmed down and spread out her senses with the Force as Ahsoka had instructed. She was seeing steady improvement after that and, when Ahsoka called an end to it over an hour later, she was pleased that only a bit over a third of the attacks had gotten through.
"Excellent," Ahsoka praised as she turned the lights back up. "You did a lot better than most do on their first lesson but it's obvious that you've had practice reacting to unseen threats."
"I'm probably going to have a few bruises, though," Tali said as she gingerly rubbed at a particular spot that had been hit multiple times.
Ahsoka flashed an apologetic smile, "Sorry about that. This is usually done using a practice droid that floats about and fires weak blaster bolts at random intervals. The bolts sting but they don't do any lasting damage. You guys don't have anything like that, though, so I had to get creative."
"It's okay. It's just an incentive for me to do better next time. So, what's next?"
"Next, we take a break. Using the Force for an extended period of time can be tiring. It's a lot like training a muscle. If we overdo it, it could leave you exhausted during the mission."
"I think I'm fine with that," Tali said as she walked over to one of the chairs and sat down with a soft groan. Ahsoka joined her.
"There's actually something I've been curious about. Why did the geth turn on your people in the first place? They're just droids, right? We use all types of droids all the time where I come from but, aside from the geth, I haven't seen any here."
"That's because synthetic life is dangerous. The creation of artificial intelligence is banned by the Citadel Council and they point to my people and the Morning War as proof of that. The geth started to become sentient and that's what led to it."
"Really? Our droids are usually sentient. If they start acting up, we just perform a memory wipe. Why didn't you do that?"
Tali shook her head, "The geth don't work that way. What we fight aren't individual geth but rather are just platforms that house countless runtimes. Even if you were to perform a memory wipe on one of them, their memory would just be restored using backups that the Collective keeps."
"Well, that certainly sounds like a problem but not that much of one, to be honest. Why not just make new ones that don't work that way? Have everything be stored on one machine like a walking computer. That's how our droids mostly work."
"We probably could but it wouldn't fully solve the issue. There's not a whole lot stopping such a thing from simply creating a copy of itself and storing it on a remote server somewhere with instructions to copy itself back over if the main unit were to become compromised."
"I feel like there's still a solution to this problem but I honestly don't know that much about how droids work. It's a shame my Master isn't here. He built an entire protocol droid by himself when he was nine. But you didn't really answer my question. What started that whole war anyway?"
"Like I said, the geth started to gain sentience. They were originally supposed to be synthetic helpers, kind of like what it sounds like your droids are. Over time, however, as we started to upgrade them to make them more efficient, they started to evolve on their own. The whole thing started when one of the platforms asked if it had a soul. Since the creation of true AI was illegal even back then, we had to put it down. Then the geth started fighting back and, well, here we are."
Ahsoka looked confused as she turned this information over in her head, "So, let me make sure I'm understanding this. Your ancestors accidentally created life so you tried to destroy it. They then defended themselves and that makes them evil?"
"You don't understand! The geth drove us from every world we occupied! We haven't had a home for the last three hundred years because of them and now they're trying to destroy all organic life!" Tali snapped. Ahsoka reached out with the Force and gave her apprentice a slight telepathic nudge, trying to project calmness to her. She felt Tali resist for a moment before letting it happen, letting out a long breath in the process.
"Don't get me wrong, the suffering your people have gone through shouldn't have happened and the geth need to be stopped," Ahsoka said once Tali had calmed down. "It's just that, from my point of view, what your ancestors did was wrong. Think about it like this. Let's say humanity found another species on their planet that was intelligent enough to be helpful but wasn't sentient. Let's say they then take that species and use them as helpers, breeding them to make them better. After time, this species becomes smart enough to become sentient and the first thing that humanity does is try to destroy them. Does that seem reasonable?"
"Of course not! Not only would that be slavery, it'd be barbaric!"
"Isn't that what your ancestors did with the geth?"
"Your hypothetical situation and the geth are totally different! The geth are synthetic!"
"So? Life is life, Tali. All of it needs to be protected and all of it needs to be given the chance to grow. Even with the droids, there are more than a few people who refuse to do memory wipes for much the same reason. Their droid became its own person and they don't want to take that away. What your ancestors did was no different than making a child and then killing them once they learned how to talk."
"But— It's— That—" Tali growled in frustration, unable to find the words to make her point. Ahsoka reached out to her physically this time and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm not blaming you for anything or even casting judgment on your people. Everyone's ancestors did horrible things at some point or another. What's important is that you learn from their mistakes and strive to do better."
"I… I need to think about this," Tali said somewhat hesitantly.
Ahsoka gave the older girl a reassuring smile, "Go ahead. Better yet, meditate on it. Come get me when you're ready to resume your training. I'll probably be in the cargo hold."
"Alright. See you later."
OoOoOoO
It was 0231 hours according to Tali's chronometer and the Normandy was deathly silent. Even after spending over a week on board, the almost total lack of noise still unnerved her. On the Flotilla, something or another was always making some kind of noise and the lack of it meant that something had gone horribly wrong somewhere and a lot of people could potentially die. On the Normandy, the opposite was true. This fact had led to her having some difficulty sleeping until Shepard had surprised her with a small device that simulated noise for roughly thirty minutes before shutting off after she mentioned it. That small gift had helped her immensely but she had been trying to learn to get by without it. The lack of noise wasn't what was keeping her up this time, though.
No, what was keeping her up this time was what Ahsoka had said. Even after nearly an hour of fitful meditation, she still wasn't entirely sure what to think or even feel. Thankfully, quarians tend to be good at compartmentalizing so Tali had just stuffed that problem into a little box and sought Ahsoka out to continue her training. Aside from being fascinating, her training could lead to her saving lives and these powers had already allowed her to save Shepard's life at least once.
She hadn't actually found Ahsoka in the cargo hold, though. Instead, she found her in the mess hall, which just so happened to be where Tali currently was, talking to Garrus about a dozen different things that all seemed to lead back to talking about potential upgrades and repairs for Ahsoka's ship. They had been so engrossed in their conversation that Tali had been hesitant to interrupt but, naturally, Ahsoka had noticed her almost immediately. She didn't ask any questions about what they had talked about but instead just asked if she had been ready to continue her training.
It was nice to see Ahsoka getting along so well with the rest of the crew. While she spent a lot of time talking to Garrus or herself, Tali had also seen her talking with the other members of the ground team and even with the ship's regular crew. Most of them seemed to like her and it was easy to understand why. Even though it was clear to Tali that Ahsoka was still hurting from what had happened to her, she was a very cheerful, positive person. It was hard to not like her.
Of course, Tali now knew that that wasn't the only reason why she got along so well with others. Thanks to Ahsoka's ability to passively sense emotions through the Force, it was easy to tell when others were feeling uncomfortable or upset or basically anything, for that matter. With that information, it was easy enough to figure out what people did or didn't like talking about and get them talking about something they liked. Since basically everyone on the ship was more-or-less a good person, that meant it was easy for her to ease people past any initial misgivings and get them to see the real her.
Tali didn't think that this was something Ahsoka was consciously doing, though. It was likely just a natural result of having grown up with that ability and her desire to be a good person. As Tali awakened to that ability as well, she tried to copy Ahsoka's example and do it a bit more on purpose. While people held more of an ingrained bias against her due to the stereotype quarians have, she found that she was still successful in getting people to treat her a bit more like an actual person more often than not. While she got along well enough with the engineering crew already, it was definitely helpful when talking to people elsewhere, especially when she was eating in the mess hall.
"Having trouble sleeping?" a familiar voice asked, nearly making her jump out of her suit and drop the tube of sterilized water she had been toying with.
"Oh! Shepard!" The man in question gave her a gentle smile as he sat down across from her. "What are you doing up so late?"
"I could ask you the same thing. Did my little gift stop helping?"
"Oh, no, it still helps. Thanks again for it, by the way. I just… have a lot on my mind right now."
"Want to talk about it?"
"I…" Tali hesitated as she looked into his deep blue eyes. Though she would never say it, Shepard was a source of strength for her. When Ahsoka had told her to relax back on Therum, she had done so by focusing on Shepard's back and thinking that he'd make sure they all got out of it alive. Even though she hadn't known him for that long, it was obvious that he'd do just about anything to keep his people safe and that included her.
"I think I would like that," Tali eventually said. She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts and was glad that Shepard waited patiently for her to begin. "I talked with Ahsoka earlier today— or, yesterday, I should say— about the geth and about the Morning War. She had a lot to say about the subject."
"For someone who knows so little, she has a surprising amount to say about a lot of things," Shepard remarked with a half chuckle.
Tali couldn't help but join him, "That she does. Anyway, when I told her about how it started, she talked about how what my ancestors did was monstrous when you think about it. How we had accidentally created life and our first response was to try and end it." Though Shepard's face remained a passive smile, she could sense that he had something to say. "You think so, too, don't you?"
Shepard's grin became sheepish, "Honestly, kinda. I don't blame you or your people or anything and I can't really make any judgment since I wasn't there, though. There's probably more to it that history has just forgotten."
"Ahsoka said much the same thing, at least the first part. My people have spent the last three hundred years adrift in space because of the Morning War and the geth and a hatred for them and all synthetics is practically burned into our society but I can't deny any of what she said as being true. I just don't know what to think or feel about it anymore."
"Well, I don't think I can help you out too much there, what you think and feel is ultimately up to you, but does it really matter right now?"
"What do you mean?"
"What you're talking about is really important. If you decide to change what you think and feel with regards to the Morning War, that'll change how you think and feel about a lot of other things. But, right now, I don't think it's the most important thing. Right now, we know that the geth are working with Saren to bring back the Reapers and need to be stopped. Even if they were just victims in the Morning War, they're certainly not victims now. So long as the geth are a threat, they need to be dealt with."
Tali thought about that and was silent for another long while before saying, "I guess you're right. No, you are right."
"Let's talk about something else. Last time we talked like this, you were telling me about a species of bird native to Rannoch. What did you call it? The rey-shy?"
Tali giggled, "It's pronounced wrei'xai. So, the wrei'xai is a bird that a lot of my people thought was just a myth for thousands of years…"
And so they talked, Tali explaining all kinds of things to Shepard about her homeworld of Rannoch and quarian society while Shepard talked about the parallels between them and Earth and human culture. It wasn't the first of their talks like this and likely wouldn't be the last but they were moments that Tali wouldn't trade for anything. By the time they parted ways, it was already 0600 and first shit was just beginning. Despite not getting any sleep, Tali actually felt very refreshed.
She never did find out why Shepard had been awake, though.
OoOoOoO
Shepard, Tali, Garrus, and Ahsoka stood atop a rocky plateau on Binthu overlooking a relatively small circular structure. The building was entirely off white without any kind of identifying markings and on either side of the small indention where the door was stood two massive black cylinders which Shepard said housed rocket turrets. They had just been dropped off by the Mako not moments before and Shepard was laying out their battle plan.
"Ahsoka, I want you to shield us from the turrets. They're not designed to target infantry so their accuracy won't be the greatest but even a near miss could prove fatal. Redirect the rockets to hit the other turret if you can but keeping us safe is your first priority. We don't need to destroy the turrets.
"Garrus, you'll be behind Ahsoka. If she's busy with one missile, put your sniper skills to the test and try to shoot the other out of the air. Once you're within range, go ahead and hit the turret on the right with an overload and target it.
"Tali, you'll be on point with me. Hit the turret on the left with an overload when you can but otherwise we'll just be pushing straight for that door. Once we get to it, you need to get it open ASAP.
"Once we're in, Garrus, I want you to switch to your assault rifle while Ahsoka and Tali switch places. Remember the strategies we went over. Ahsoka flanks behind them, Tali and I take the outside, while Garrus pushes the center. We can expect tight confines and probably heavy resistance. Everyone clear on the plan? Good. Now we wait for the signal."
With the plan now in place, the group waited in almost complete silence. The minutes dragged on as the tension in the air rose higher and higher to almost a breaking point. Eventually, after an eternity of waiting, their comms came to life and the starting gun was fired.
As one, the group slid down the cliff before sprinting toward their goal in formation. They were crossing the rocky valley where the base lay hidden with great speed and soon came within range of the first turret. The thick metal curtain protecting it fell as the turret came to life and began trying to track them. It fired off a missile but Ahsoka quickly reached out with the Force and redirected it to where it'd hit the ground far away from them. It wasn't long before the second turret also came to life and opened fire as well. This time, Ahsoka put a bit more effort into it and redirected the second missile to strike at the first turret.
Thankfully, the turrets couldn't fire that quickly so Ahsoka was in no danger of being overwhelmed. The plan worked out beautifully and one of the turrets was even heavily damaged by the time they reached the door. Tali immediately got to work on hacking the door's lock while Garrus fired a burst from his rifle at his designated turret. Even this close to the building, the machines keep up the assault. The ground rocked beneath their feet from a missile explosion that Ahsoka had just barely been able to redirect in time. Shepard grit his teeth though the shockwave and stepped out from their limited cover to hit the weakened turret with a warp. As the machine's structure started to buckle from the mass effect fields tearing at it, Ahsoka finished it off by sending a missile straight into it.
"I'm in!" they heard Tali cry out. Garrus slammed the control console to open the door as Shepard breached the room, shotgun raised and biotic barrier glowing. They were instantly met by a hail of mass accelerator rounds but Shepard just absorbed most of it with his barrier while firing off his shotgun at the nearest attacker. Ahsoka stepped in behind and thrust out her free hand, sending two more of them flying across the room as she ignited her lightsaber.
While the others made for cover, Ahsoka pushed deeper into the room with a burst of speed. She was upon one of the Cerberus goons in an instant, her lightsaber slicing through his rifle before she slammed him into the wall with the Force. One of the others whirled around to shoot at her only to be dropped a moment later by precise fire from Garrus' rifle. Seeing two more people trying to use a metal crate for cover, Ahsoka grabbed the crate with the Force and flung it at them before dodging out of the way as yet another tried to shoot her.
When the last one fell to Tali's shotgun, Shepard sounded the all clear before pressing forward to the only other door in the room. Beyond it was a long, featureless hallway that was only broken up by a few doors on either side. They went up to the first one and Garrus and Tali took up positions on either side as Shepard readied his shotgun. With a nod, Garrus hit the door's controls and Shepard breached the room only to find it empty of people. The next two rooms they checked were also devoid of life but there was plenty of equipment that Ahsoka could only guess the purpose of.
"They must have already evacuated down to the lower levels," Garrus hypothesized as they scanned another empty room.
"Then we keep going. Tali, can you get us a layout from one of the computers?" Shepard asked.
Tali worked quietly for a few moments before answering, "Got it. I also found some files on some of their projects. Most of it is honestly pretty basic stuff but there's something here that's frankly unbelievable."
"What is it?"
"They've apparently been performing experiments on live rachni," Tali answered, her voice full of surprised disbelief.
"The rachni? That's impossible. They were exterminated thousands of years ago," Garrus said.
"Any idea where they got it from?" Shepard asked.
"Sadly, no. The files on this system are only related to the tests this group was performing."
"This is potentially troubling but it doesn't change the mission. We should just be a little more careful. We can let the Alliance and the Council decide what to do with this information. Let's keep moving."
As the group made their way to the facility's lower levels, they started to encounter resistance again. If nothing else, Shepard had to commend Cerberus' people on their loyalty. Even when faced with overwhelming force, they kept fighting till the last. Every so often, they would pause for a quick breather while Tali hacked another one of their computers but nothing of any particular use was discovered.
During one of these pauses, Ahsoka took the moment to lean against a nearby wall and collect herself. She had taken more life in the past half hour than she had in the entire three years of the Clone Wars and she'd be lying if she said it wasn't starting to get to her. She knew that they were doing the right thing, that Cerberus was a terrorist organization conducting highly unethical experiments and was responsible for an untold number of deaths but her Jedi training had taught her that all life was sacred and that striking someone down wasn't something to be done casually.
"You okay?" Garrus asked her quietly as he approached her, shaking her out of her thoughts.
She gave him a weak smile, "I'll be fine. Just not used to all this killing."
"I thought you said you fought in a war."
"I did but our enemies were droids. I can't tell you how many of those I destroyed but those were just lifeless machines. Killing living, breathing people is a bit new to me."
"I know that feeling. Turian society is militaristic; nearly all turians are required to serve at least a year in the military. Even then, the first few times are always the hardest. We're all given a one-on-one talk with a counselor when we begin our service and we have another one if we're forced to take a life while on duty."
"Sounds like a good policy to have."
"It probably is. Anyway, I told you all that to tell you this: You know that you're doing what you have to do. Diplomacy won't cut it and these people need to be stopped. While you shouldn't grow callous about killing, you can't let those feelings stop you from pulling the trigger when someone else's life is at stake."
Ahsoka gave Garrus a grateful smile, "I know. Thanks for saying it anyway. It helps to hear it from someone else. It's still hard, though. Unlike you guys, I can feel their life end when it happens. I can feel their spirit return to the Living Force. It's… hard to describe but it's not the most pleasant feeling."
Garrus placed a reassuring hand on Ahsoka's shoulder, "I can't say I know what you're going through but you're strong, Ahsoka. Just remember what it is that we're fighting for."
Ahsoka smiled a bit more fully, "Thanks, Garrus."
"Everyone ready?" Shepard asked, breaking the little moment.
Garrus gave Ahsoka's shoulder a light squeeze before returning his hand to his rifle, "Ready when you are, Commander."
"Let's keep moving."
OoOoOoO
"I sense a trap up ahead," Ahsoka said as they approached a door at the end of yet another corridor.
"Any way around?" Shepard asked Tali. Tali worked at her omnitool for a moment before saying that there wasn't. "Then let's spring this trap. Shock and awe."
At the command, Tali and Garrus activated subroutines on their weapons while Shepard pulled out a tech grenade and attached it to the door. He then stood back a ways from it before surrounding himself in a biotic barrier and charging at the door in a sprint. At just the right moment, he leapt into the air and brought his arms up to protect his face right as he triggered the explosive. The blast utterly destroyed the door and caused the people on the inside to shout in panic. That panic was only increased as Shepard's glowing form flew out of the smoke and hit the ground in a roll, his shotgun out before he was even halfway through it. As he opened fire on the nearest hostiles, Tali and Garrus breached the room and started adding their fire to his, focusing on the flanks while he took center.
Ahsoka charged into the room not a moment after and quickly took in the scene. It was a large room that was cluttered with metal crates, some of which had been moved to create a makeshift defensive barricade, and there were at least a dozen or so armed humans in various locations that were still standing.
Her task clear, Ahsoka immediately took to dismantling the enemy's defensive positions. She managed to crush two people between the wall and the crate they were using for cover but they were obviously getting smart as two others dove out of the way the second she tried to go for it again.
Moving about the room quickly, Ahsoka approached one and took him out with a quick swing of her lightsaber before grabbing another with the Force and throwing him into the person standing nearby. She saw another person that had managed to flank Tali raise their gun to fire at her from a blindspot but she was prevented from doing anything when Tali thrust out her hand toward the man and slammed him into a crate with the Force.
Proud of her new apprentice, Ahsoka returned her attention to the rest of the room and started focusing more on moving the crates to either take away the enemy's cover or provide another place for the others to move up to. As she was doing this, one of them managed to get behind her and take a swing at the back of her head with the butt of his rifle but Ahsoka was quick enough to roll out of the way in time. A quick burst of blind fire made her shields flash but any further danger was ended when the man was dropped by fire from Shepard.
"That's it. Bag em and tag em," Garrus said as the last enemy was dropped.
"Everyone good?" Shepard asked and waited for their confirmation before continuing. "That was pretty heavy resistance. We must be close to something big."
"The room on the other side of this door should be the last one. I don't know what's in it but it's a bit larger than this room," Tali informed them.
"Alright. Let's bring this whole mess to an end," Shepard said as everyone took up their standard breaching positions. Once inside the other room, the fighting started almost immediately but this encounter was very different from the rest. Most of the room was inaccessible; blocked off by large energy fields that formed a cage in the room's center. Surrounding the cage were machines of all kinds but the most curious thing was what was inside.
Inside the cage was a large, insect-like creature that was brownish-red in color and possessed two long, whip-like tendrils. There was also a human corpse inside but no details could be made out. As the group was fighting off the Cerberus personnel, one of them decided to make their life that much more difficult and deactivate the field before anyone could stop them.
Now free of confinement, what everyone could only assume was one of the rachni leapt into action with terrifying speed. Its tendrils lashed out almost faster than the eye could track and tore one of the Cerberus people to shreds before spitting out a green substance at another. Everyone could only watch in horror as that person started to scream as the acid-like substance started to eat away at them.
Despite targeting the Cerberus personnel first, it was made obvious that the creature wasn't an ally when it lashed out at Shepard next. While Shepard had managed to backpedal in time to avoid taking the brunt of the sharp claws at the end of the tendrils, it still bit through his armor like it wasn't even there.
Seeing as how she was probably the one best suited to handling it, Ahsoka immediately charged in but was surprised when the creature proved fast enough to dodge the blade despite its bulk. She then had to quickly dodge out of the way as it tried to lash at her with its forelegs before having to dodge again as its tendrils came around for another swing. The two then engaged in a deadly dance at speeds the others could barely keep up with; twisting, ducking, and rolling around lightning fast strikes where even one mistake could prove fatal. In the end, however, Ahsoka proved to have the advantage in terms of experience, having been in similar situations many times in the past.
It was then that Ahsoka was reminded of another advantage she possessed. Just as she was about to go for her second lightsaber, she felt a slight tug at her hip and watched as it went flying to the opposite side of the creature. Focused as it was on her, it couldn't even begin to react fast enough as Tali ignited the weapon as soon as she caught it and came at it with a slash from behind that tore through its carapace with as much ease as its claws had torn through Shepard's armor. As the creature let out a strange cry of pain, Ahsoka took the opening and sunk her lightsaber through what she could only assume was the creature's head before a quick slash severed it from the rest of its body.
Now that the fighting was over, Ahsoka gave Tali a smile of appreciation, "Thanks for the help."
"Don't mention it. It just felt like the right thing to do," Tali said as she offered the weapon back.
Ahsoka shook her head, "You should keep it on you. It's about time you get used to carrying one around and you never know when it could help."
Tali's eyes went wide but Shepard spoke up from where he was crouched over the body that had been in the cage before she could say anything. "It's Admiral Kahoku. He's dead."
Garrus bent down to also examine the body. "That thing certainly didn't kill him. There wouldn't be much of a body left if it did." He then pushed up the admiral's sleeves and Shepard grunted when they saw track marks. "Seems like Cerberus executed him before dumping his body in here."
Shepard slowly shook his head as he stood up. "I'll contact the Alliance when we get out of here. The Fifth Fleet can send a ship to pick up his body to make sure it receives a proper burial." He then looked at his squad and frowned in confusion when he saw Ahsoka staring at the corpse of what he could only assume was the rachni. "Are you okay, Ahsoka?"
Ahsoka shook her head when she was addressed, snapping her out of her thoughts. "I'm fine. It's just strange. This creature was strong in the Force but it's almost like its connection was… damaged. Like the connection wasn't complete or something."
"Do you know what that could mean?"
"No, I don't. I've never encountered anything like this before."
"Another mystery to add to the pile, then. Come on, let's get out of here and contact the others. I'm sick of this place."
OoOoOoO
Back aboard the Normandy, the ground team was once again meeting in the comm room. Barring the unfortunate death of Admiral Kahoku, the mission had been a complete success with only minor injuries on their side that medi-gel had been able to fix.
Ashley and Kaiden had just finished up their report when Shepard spoke, "Great work, everyone. I've already had Joker signal the Fifth Fleet to collect Admiral Kahoku's body and to see if they can find any useful information. Wrex, Liara, you said that you found creatures similar to the husks?"
"That's right," Liara confirmed. "But they were not like the ones in the reports I read. Rather than a strange fusion of organic and synthetic, these were purely organic and did not attack with electric bursts."
"Damn things were just as mindless, though. They charged at us like a pack of angry varen when that barrier went down," Wrex added.
"Any chance you managed to find any information on them?" Shepard asked.
"As a matter of fact, we did. One of the computers I went through contained a shipment manifest. They were apparently brought in from Feros," Liara said.
"Looks like that's our next stop. I don't know what could be creating these husk-like creatures but we need to find out and put a stop to it. I'll have Joker lay a course for Feros immediately. Rest up until then. You've all earned it. Dismissed."
A/N: With this, we're now caught up to what I had prewritten. From this point on, chapters will be posted as they're completed with no real timetable for such. My main story, Remnants of Fate, takes top priority.
I honestly don't really have much in the way to say about these chapters or even this story as a whole so far. It's just been a fun little thing to write. That being said, I'll now be replying to reviews at the end of chapters since refuses to email anyone when they get PMs.
EricFreak: I gave Ahsoka the weakness, such as it is, to guns specifically to stop her from completely outshining the Normandy crew. She also has no reason to have a blaster on her when she could just throw things at people or throw people at things or throw people at people using the Force.
Arbiter-Archivest: With regard to using the Force like Tali did without training, you're probably right. There is that one kid at the end of Episode... I wanna say IX who used Force Telekinesis to pull a broom to her but we don't talk about the ST here. In my mind, between biotics being a thing that Tali has no doubt learned about (especially since Shepard can use them), seeing Ahsoka use Force Telekinesis multiple times, and her own desperation; I thought it was fine. It's perfectly understandable for someone to think otherwise, I just wanted something dramatic for the reveal.
With regard to me being limited, you're right in your assessment and, were this to be a longer story, I may well have. However, the structure of the first game makes it rather hard- if not impossible- to realistically work in a number of the side quests. It also doesn't help that basically every side quest is "Talk to a person on the Citadel, go to this random place, fight your way through either the same building or the same ship, then the quest just ends" without much of anything in the way of story. I don't know how long The Lost Pilgrim is going to be but I don't expect it to be too terribly long given those limitations set by the game. I also feel like, after all of the little hints in this chapter, Ahsoka would have tested Tali on a hunch and that'd be that. I actually was going to to have that happen at one point but I discarded the idea for the one you read since that was more dramatic. It also would have been pretty obvious to the readers that Tali was Force sensitive- one reviewer figured it out purely from the mitochondria line- and waiting for the characters to catch up to this might have been annoying for some.
Al: Yeah, I kinda forgot about the scatterguns and Juggernaut. They don't cause any serious issues, though, so I can't be bothered to go back and correct those segments. With regards to the reveal being rushed, I direct your attention to my above reply.
I've also seen a couple people talk about the idea of Ahsoka running into someone from her own galaxy and that's simply not possible. If you recall, the iconic text crawl, and this very story, starts with the words "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away." Not only was Ahsoka flung an impossible distance, she was also flung far into the future. Not that any of the characters could possibly know that.
Until next time!