Virmire was pleasant, bright and sunny with a gentle breeze. It would be a lovely place for a holiday… if you excluded the geth. That my hands bound with some strange blue electrical... thing. Antiseptic, recycled air and oil filled the air. The metal walls shone as we marched past them, the halls echoing with footfalls. The air was humid outside of this building. Lagoons swished with the waves, the towering cliffs topped with greenery. Outside was preferable to here, there were more places to hide, but inside at least was air conditioned. That wasn't a good argument for staying here though. My weak glare didn't faze Saren as he continued through his facility. Although whenever he turned my eyes found the floor. Another krogan appeared around a corner. He wandering off down a hall with an assault rifle in hands. Its eyes were dead and dull, waiting for further orders. That was krogan number six now and none of them had any spirit, any life in them at all. It was like they were undead... Undead krogan were more terrifying than Nyryntha, to be honest.
"W-Where are we going?" I asked, eyes scanning the halls as we passed them. Saren spared me a glance over his shoulder.
"Be at peace, Saboteur. Sovereign needs the Conduit's location. He will not wait for your mindless questions," he said, waving a hand. My stomach dropped out from under me, silencing my further complaints. My teeth clenched, trying to reason with my courage to force my eyes up. It failed.
My eyes drifted to the Locust, Carnifex, Omni-tool and Omni-Bow bolts strapped to his waist. My hands itched at the thought of having them in my possession again. The fingers flexed, swallowing. With them, my lost confidence would rejuvenate and steady my aching nerves. Although the two geth on either side of me may have something to say about me trying to arm myself. On top of which, with my hands bound behind my back they couldn't grab anything. So I followed him, subdued. The temptation to annoy him and break through the indoctrination now that Sovereign hid in orbit grew. My confidence levels did not. How to respond to him snapping at me? And he would... so my voice remained silent, begging he would ignore me. If he snapped out of the indoctrination, he might kick me for bad mouthing him.
We entered a small room with a catwalk up to a platform in the middle of the room. The geth held me at the door while Saren moved up to the upper floor. A strange, tall piece of metal sat in the back of the room, illuminating the room with a green hue. The tower's hard angles jutted, leaving no surface smooth. The sides were the only flat surfaces as it towered to the roof of the lofty room. Saren approached it, grinning. He fell silent, until the pulse of energy lifted him off the ground. My eyes popped out of my skull. How was he- The whole me + Reaper = Saboteur thing wasn't so far-fetched if people could hover in mid- ah, wait. Scratch that. Mass effect fields, a good enough explanation to cover that one. The whole Reaper thing was still insane. Saren landed hard after several seconds, buckled on his knees. He panted, the flanged gasps of air ringing through the empty room. What had he seen, what where these things? Where these prothean beacons? Saren staggered to his feet, stumbling to the platform behind him, in the middle of the room. Sovereign appeared as a tall, red hologram before us.
"I know where the Conduit is," Saren panted, fighting for recovery. "The planet Ilos, in the Refuge System,"
"Good. I will direct the army to the location. You have one last task to do, Saren. You must disable the Citadel defences from the Citadel Tower. This will allow me access to activate the Citadel relay," Sovereign responded.
My gaze fixed on the scene before me as Sovereign continued to manipulate Saren. So subtle were the strings of indoctrination no one would know they were there. Something in me whispered about them though, being part Reaper may gave me some resistance to indoctrination. An immunity perhaps or but that stretched it. I should've asked but my answer would be silence. But thinking on Saren and how he wanted to help the Reapers. How could anyone else want the end of their species if not for indoctrination? Maybe Saren was just crazy and believed the crazy robot overlords would save 'some of us'.
"What of the Saboteur?" Saren asked.
"There is a relic of our technology within this base, a cryptograph. Implant it on the Saboteur. It will begin the rewrite process," Sovereign explained. Wait, what? My body trembled, every muscle vibrating. There was no way in hell anyone was putting anything on me! My eyes glanced around the room, frantic flicks for freedom. They saw the door at my back. It needed me to run around geth, but that was something I was familiar with... Saren nodded his head.
"Of course, Sovereign," Saren answered as the hologram vanished. "Hold the Saboteur, I will collect the cryptograph. I know what I seek," My eyes widened, pupils shrunk. My body twitched, already balancing on my toes as instinct bounded through me like an excitable dog. My legs tensed as the geth moved. Instinct took the reins.
The geth clicked behind me as I spun on my toes and tore off down the outside walkway behind the door at my back. Saren roared at me, then order the geth to capture me. , gritting my teeth as the bullets flew, aimed low as if to hit my legs. With my hands bound behind my back, my only option was to run. Stopping would be death, as would a door that required a code or opening a ventilation shaft. If I wanted to live, don't stop running. As Mat'al said 'If you can't fight, run', and there was no intention of dying here.
Through another door, my heart thundered, so thankful none of these needed buttons pressed. A krogan walled off one corridor before me, my course altered with a sharp turn down a hall to evade his outreached arms. The facility was a maze with no way to know where you were going. Run, just keep running and there was a chance for survival. My legs powered me down the hall, jumping on the wall at the next turn to wall run. It saved me by avoiding a geth waiting for me. Zig zagging saved me from the bullets. Stop and you die, stop and you will die! From hall to hall my legs bounded, sometimes skidding to a halt to U-turn away from an incoming assault. My teeth clamped down on my lip every time a bullet hit home. Adrenaline pushed me onwards. A small collection of bullet wounds gathered during my rampant escape.
I burst into a room, kicking the button at the side of the door to lock it. The hologram turned red, letting me breathe. Upon looking to the room, my eyes gazed at a series of boxes lining the walls of the room. They reminded me more of storage boxes, only they held people. A glance to the rows of machines in the centre of the room said it was a lab, some of the heftier machines along the wall behind me. Several desks with computers lined the room in a systematic format. All faced the tanks holding the people inside.
Krogan to be more precise, but something was different about them, something unfamiliar. The crest covering the head flattened, leaving a smooth dome of colour rather than a flared, pointed battering ram like Wrex's. The carapace at the back of the head was less prominent, it didn't tower over the head like a protective hood. As my expression slackened at them, it didn't dawn on me that these could be the female members of the race until one spoke.
"Who are you? Another scientist?" one asked, her feminine voice strong and deep, defiant. Her voice jolted me, startled. My throat swallowed a hard lump.
"W-Well, n-no but..." I stuttered. The door banged behind me, the robotic crackling of geth echoing through. My eyes searched the room, trying to find something that could break these ties on my wrists. My hands had to be freed, but how were they tied? Behind a desk, a quick survey tried to find something within easy reach to free myself. The female krogan, all 13 of them, watched me with curiosity. Another powerful bang at the door sent my skin flying to the ceiling. How long would that door last?
"Human," a honey-coloured crested female called, her voice just as powerful as the first, if a tone higher. "You... are not one of Saren's men, are you?" A flying glance passed them.
"N-No, I'm not," I said as my attempts to latch the cuffs to the corner of the desk to wrench them free failed. She was quiet for a time, studying me, weighing her options.
"Free us, we can aid you," she said. My head snapped to her, my mind trying weigh the options. The male krogans were powerful, where the female ones just as strong? They were of similar size but... They would get hurt if... but these cuffs refused to budge. Although, being stuck in a tank would suck ass too.
"H-How?" I asked. The female nodded her head to a desk near the front.
"There is a button on the console over by that desk. It will override the locks on these cells," she explained.
My jaw clenched at the third bang on the door, the metal creaking. Two things could happen; they either jammed a knife in my back or they would save my hide. If I helped them, they could either help me or be cannon fodder as during my escape. My eyes squeezed shut as the fourth bang caused a permanent bend in the door. My legs carried me to the desk in question, eyes searching the screen for an override. Sweat trickle down my brow as the fifth bang snapped something. I turned around, leaning forward to push my arms up and touch a button, praying it would open the tanks. My shoulders squeezed my ears when the glass doors dropped, freeing the krogan. They moved, moving to cabinets at the back of the room, cracking the doors open like oversized walnuts. The females burst into action, throwing me into awe. The older females tossed out shotguns like they were chocolates, the younger ones cocking and checking the clips. Once ready, they lined up at the door, guns prepared.
The magnificent slaughter that followed brought tears to these sore eyes. My jaw was on the floor as male krogan crumpled, geth exploded and anything else just ended up as oversized blood stains. The females held no mercy for them, shooting them down where they stood. A foot shuffled back, glancing to the room behind me as the numbers dropped. The crowd at the door eased, less enemies sprinting through than before, it wouldn't be long before they turned their attention to the human. The pounding shotguns ceased and all fell still. My body quaked as the females turned to me. My whimper begged to be let loose. The honey-crested female approached, shotgun pointed in the air. The other females rushed to more cabinets, yanking hoods over their crests if they could.
"You have our deepest thanks, human. It is good to see there are people in the galaxy who do not condemn krogan where they stand," she smiled, checking the shotgun clip. A weak smile lined my face.
"N-No problem," I said. The krogan paused, studying me. My weight shuffled under her scrutiny. "My name is Endellion Shaik,"
"Jorgal Raisha, a pleasure," the pale peached toned krogan answered.
It took a moment to break down her name. Wrex was 'Urdnot Wrex', so 'Jorgal' was her second name, or clan name as Wrex called it. Raisha looked friendly enough, but after just met her, it hadn't been established if the females were anything like the males. Yeah, I didn't want to end up like the geth… although the females co-operated with each other, something male krogan did little of. The other females helped each other with pulling decorative hoods over each other's heads. They checked the available weapons and making sure no one was hurt. Even their soft demeanour and personality and the way they spoke showed they were not the same as the males. A female approached Raisha, a hood in hand. Raisha held her hand up.
"No, Dyla. I need my head uncovered to see our foes," Raisha said. The shale-crested female nodded, understanding. Raisha returned her attention to me. "Perhaps you can aid us once more," she reached around me. My shoulders tensed as her towering frame dwarfed me, but the bindings on my hands vanished, the cuffs clattering free. My eyes wheeled around just as a small female scurried away, the cuffs snapped on the ground. Tension eased from my muscles as my hands rubbed my wrists.
"What do you need, Raisha?" I asked, flexing my fingers, hoping my understanding of the krogan naming system was right.
"Aid in escaping this place," Raisha said. My expression blanked. "My sisters and I cannot do this on our own. We have are weak from the experiments done here, the torture they put us through," she paused for a time, collecting herself. "We need to find a ship to take us off this planet, back to Tuchanka,"
"I-I don't know how to fly a ship though," I stammered. Raisha chuckled.
"Fret not, I believe I know where we can find a pilot," Raisha turned to the females behind her. "Are we ready?"
"Yes, Raisha," A rose-crested female answered. Raisha nodded.
"Endellion, your aid would be most welcome," Raisha pressed, a small encouragement. A nervous smile spread. There was no choice, huh? At least a small army of krogan would be at my side.
"Well, you helped me so... I-I would shame myself if I did nothing for you in return," I shrugged. Raisha gave me that soft pondering look again, watching my eyes. "A-Although they took m-my guns from me... I... need to get them back," The krogan before me nodding.
"We will see what we can do. We need to move, young one," she turned, facing the females arming themselves up. "Gretna, any idea where Preeze is?"
"Who knows, maybe a prisoner as well or dead," a pale cyan-crested female sighed. My small frame stayed in Raisha's shadow. "I hope not, otherwise leaving may prove difficult,"
"We can only hope," Raisha agreed. She passed me a shotgun. My hand raised, shaking my head.
"Sorry, I'm… kinda banned from them, snipers too. I hurt myself," I forced a laugh. "Anything... smaller?"
"There is a few pistols," Raisha said. I nodded as a dark mint crested female held one up.
"I can take that," I said, easing the gun out from her grip. The pistol reminded me of an old M-5 Phalanx, although judging from the dents, it had gone through a special hell. It clicked in my hand as the clip loaded, turning it around. The pistol straightened in my arm, aimed at one of the fallen corpses, firing once to just the recoil. It didn't kick as bad as the Carnifex did, but it was more powerful than my old Predator. With a nod, the pistol sheathed at my hip, raising my arm to study the shields meter on my wrist. Thank God they kept omni-tools and shields separate! It was brilliant blue, full.
"Alright, this could work, we'll see how long it lasts," I shook my head, running a hand through my knotted hair.
Raisha moved the team out, pressing deeper into the compound. We crept through abandoned halls, finding no foes... yet. The Phalanx sat in my hand, eyes scanning the halls. My senses tuned into every sound, ready to fire at every opportunity. My finger stayed off the trigger, my hands too twitchy to trust. One wrong move and everyone in the facility would be alerted. I held up a hand, asking them to wait as we approached a cross junction. A quick glance down both ways showed nothing but a passing geth shadow as the females waited. Eyes narrow, my fingers flicked forward as we pressed on. During the whole process, Raisha studied me. It was unsettling, sending shivers down my legs. What about me held her so interested? There was no way she could know about Nyryntha. Hell, if anyone knew about her, something would have told me or would have been dealt with. No, it must be because I was human, I was a human and was helping krogan without shooting at them.
Then my mind wandered to when Mat'al had stared at me when we first met, running his eyes up and down me as he judged my worth. Or Val when we first made eye contact in the docking bay, when he decided I was a stupid human who put herself in danger. Every time someone watched me like that, something would happen. It would be a torturous time, but it wasn't always bad. I made a friend to a total stranger – someone who disliked humans, Val later admitted – on the Citadel. Then I became at least somewhat combat competent under Mat'al's controlled bullets. My improvement grew when he took me onboard that STG space station. With luck, this wouldn't involve me jumping around Saren without weapons.
We became lost in the maze of white metal corridors, pausing in a small room to rethink our strategy. My arms hoisted me up on a counter, snuggling my backside onto the hard counter, trying to find a comfortable position in this damn onyx armour. Sitting on rocks was easy, yet a desk proved difficult... typical. The other females muttered among themselves, working out a plan, taking in what resources they had. If we could get outside, we could navigate from there, but we still needed to find this 'Preeze' fellow. If they were anything like Wrex, there would be serious trouble. Krogan males were notorious for their possessiveness of females.
"Endellion," Raisha called, making me blink as she approached, breaking away from the other females. "May I speak with you?"
"W-What? S-Sure, what's on your mind, Raisha?" I coughed, pulling myself up. The krogan leaned against the counter. It was a miracle it didn't creak, it remained steady.
"Forgive me if this is intrusive, but... I have noticed something odd about you," she said. My weight shuffled, ruining my comfort, eyes scanning her expression. Did she know about Nyryntha? Was something just that obvious? My hands clenched the top of the counter.
"Odd?" I echoed.
"I have been watching your body language while we were walking, when you have not noticed me watching. You were alert, sure-footed, prepared for trouble. I would even say courageous as you investigated the safety of the halls. Yet whenever someone speaks to you, you stutter and skitter away. How so?" My shoulders quivered, keeping my eyes on my knees rather than on Raisha. My lips dried, forcing my tongue to wet them.
"I-I have mild social-phobia, n-nothing else," I said, trying to shrug it off. But judging by the evenness of Raisha's stare, she didn't believe me. She pondered for a moment, choosing her words.
"These guns you mentioned, the ones you wish to get back?" she queried. A frown deepened on my face, trying to steady my quivering. Where was she going with this? "If the person who took them was standing right here, what would you do?" My expression blanked. It wasn't a question I had been expecting.
But what would I do? My mind wanted to say demand them back, but in reality, my courage would leave me a trembling mess of pleading. It depended on how much of an advantage they had. With the Phalanx, Saren wouldn't have such an easy time with me. Would he laugh at my attempt to be fierce though? He saw my quivering on Sovereign. He knew of my cowardice. My will wanted argue with him, to convince the indoctrinated bastard he was wrong, but the words would die in my throat. The krogan females watching from afar.
"I-I'm not sure," I shrugged. "Depends on the situation. If I have a pistol, I-I'd try to take them back. If I didn't have the gun then... H-He'd just laugh at me. He knows I am a coward," Raisha tilted her head to the side, narrowing her eyes as she turned my answer around.
"So, your courage lies with a weapon," Raisha frowned. "Why? It would appear to be a crutch rather than a help," My gaze averted, tension running through my jaw.
"I was trained that way. Don't think, worry about the here and now. Then you can dwell on everything else once the mission is over," I said, muttering.
"I do not think it is a healthy way to summon courage, young human," Raisha sighed. My gaze focused on her from under my eyebrows. "If you were not armed, how would you survive?"
"Run," I said. Raisha tilted her head to the side again. "If you can't run, fight. If you can't fight, run," Raisha flicked up a small smile.
"The world is not so black and white, young one. There are times you must fight but with words, not violence," she explained. A glower formed on my face.
"I know that! It's a work in progress!," I grumbled. "I couldn't do any of this a month ago,"
"So this is all new then? I can tell. Caught between two extremes with no development between. I am not sure who taught you, but he neglected your mental development," she said.
"We were working on it," I growled. "It's not my fault I got kidnapped during training!" Raisha smiled.
"My, my. You are getting upset. Am I saying something that is not correct?" she asked. My teeth grinded together.
"Fuck sake, you remind me of Mat'al. What is pissing me off is your huge assumptions. The world is more complicated than what you think," I snorted.
"So you agree that the world is in shades of grey? That your switch from violence to flight requires development?" she asked.
"Oh for fuck sake, I said we were working on it!" I roared, fists clenched by my side. "What do you expect to happen in 2 fucking weeks?" I demanded.
"Progress," she said.
"Oh would you fuck off!" I snapped. Raisha raised a brow.
"Oh? And what are you going to do, wave a gun in my face?" she asked, snatching the pistol from my hip. She tossed it over her shoulder to the females behind her. "Not so easy to do now, is it?" Rage burned, my knuckles turning white.
"Give that back!" I demanded.
"Oh, and here I thought you couldn't fight without a weapon," she said. My pupils shrank, my heart thundering in my chest.
"Can't fight? Can't fight? I can fight!" I shouted, My head reared back. Every ounce of strength thrust itself into headbutting her. Raisha stumbled back, holding her head. My arms pushed me fully onto the counter, knuckles raised as my breath erupted in ragged bursts. Raisha straightened, shaking her head out.
Then she smiled.
The Timeline and Galaxy Map have been updated for this chapter. Please see profile for link to Archive.