Outright panic broke out throughout the crew and ship. Through my com-link, the rampant roars from those still on the Starquake roared. My fingers tapped at the console by the door, bypassing a 15-key encryption code with Endellion's screams drowning every sane thought over the radio. We had run out onto the Reaper after she stormed away from Val. But every door she walked through sealed as soon as she crossed the threshold. She didn't notice or didn't care, all we knew now was that she tore through the corridors, screeching. The door popped open, the team rushing deeper into the Reaper.
"The Reaper's not dead! It's not dead! Shut up! Leave me alone! SHUT UP!" Dell screamed over the radio. We ran down vast rooms, mist collecting in the depths around us, masking the roof and floor from view. My head ached from the angles that poked through the mist, but not enough to put me off. Another door slammed in our faces, bringing us to a sudden halt.
"Shayan, come on!" Corin hissed. My body quivered under his demands, hands trembling at the console. The encryption was unlike anything I had seen before. While my curiosity wished to study it further, Dell's screamed dragged me to my mission. As the sole engineer in the Reaper, no one but me had the experience necessary to crack encryptions. My fist slammed on the console once the door opened, shutting the machine down. Concentrate on rescuing Dell. After everything she had done for me, I couldn't screw this up!
Dell's screams now echoed in the room as the distances closed. Her pelting screams resonant in the halls like haunting screeches. The doors forever blockaded us, every few dozen metres, another door waited. The team waited while the screen flew under my touch, bypassing the force that prevented our advance. Dell's screams demanded my attention, but with my hands whisking through the codes faster than ever, my mind couldn't focus on that. We didn't know if each door we ran across every 15 steps would block us from her. My frame trembled with each second, the fear of failure haunting me like a shadow. That my hands remained steady was a miracle. This was our first fight with a Reaper. I had always imagined our first fight would involve guns, big guns, and an entire army at our backs. Not this. Not one engineer trying to out-smart a Reaper's code to press deeper into its core.
The door caved, but screams of surprise rang from the room beyond. It didn't sound human, or anything similar. A mass of husks swarmed our way, the small combat team backing up in horror. Vids of human husks discovered during Commander Shepard's work circulated after his death, but these were not like any alien in the galaxy. They ran on four legs, almost like rachni, with a raised torso and a skeletal crest surrounding their round faces. Blue wires and cables crawled along their limbs and body. They screeched as they charged at us. Gunfire deafened me. My Indra tumbled into my hands, but the trembles holding me prisoner refused to leave. My aim shook too much to be of use. They trained me in a sniper because I couldn't survive on the frontlines!
The crew around me didn't need my help. Their experience surpassed mine and the husks dropped like insects to the guns. My Indra pressed to my chest, relief shuddering down my knees. Let them fight, you fight the Reaper. Keelah, why was I fighting the Reaper? Why did they make me worry about this stuff!? A console grabbed my attention near a bottomless abyss. The Indra sheathed at my back while my fingers flailed over the keys, my goal to locate a master control for these doors. The encryption had changed from the door consoles, like the Reaper was toying with me or luring me into a false sense of security or victory. My teeth played with my lip. So much pressure rested on my shoulders. The group of aliens surrounded me, guns pointed outwards.
"This isn't the time for playing around, Shayan. Open the bloody door!" Belak snapped. The team grunted around me while the husks smashed against the metal doors, creating echoing ghosts. Some crawled up from the depths to charge them, shattering any sense of quiet.
"I'm trying to find a Master Controller," I said while cracking the encryption. "T-That way we won't be fighting every door we find,"
"Hurry, quarian," Utren growled. His words threw a tremor down my spine. Despite my fearful nature, anyone would forgive me for shying away from an angry krogan. Dell's screams faded as she sprinted down more corridors away from us. My hands stayed glued to the console, refusing to retune it to her comm.
Another wave of strange husks streamed through the cracks inside the Reaper, crawling up the massive pits on either side of us. My eyes stayed on the code, trusting the team to protect me. These doors had to give, we had to rescue our captain. We would lose everything if something happened to her! A husk crawled up behind the console, a scream leaping from my throat as I stumbled back. Corin dragged the thing away from me, hauling it over his shoulder as he fought off the six limbs. Utren shoved me back against the console, my hands trembling as my attention returned to the console. My eyes bulged as it stared at the encryption, horror staining every thought.
"It's changed! This Reaper keeps changing its encryption codes!" I said. How could it change them so? It had only been a moment!
"What the hell do we do then?" Sallis demanded.
"I... need to stay here. I can get the doors here but this Reaper is fighting me every step of the way. It has a massive processor and is hyper-intelligent. Maybe if I lure it into a false sense of security... We just need to get the captain out of here!" I said. With my attention on the console, my imagination run riot on what expressions were. My eyes couldn't look away from the console for a moment without fear of the Reaper changing everything again. The aliens around me grit their teeth as they pushed the wave of husks away.
"Fine, Corin, Utren, go on ahead and get Dell. We'll stay and guard Sherlock's here," Henry ordered. A shiver danced over my shoulders, a sour taste in my throat. What was a 'Sherlock's'? The turian and krogan abandoned us, pressing deeper while Henry, Belak and Sallis remained. My fingers danced over the console, trying to outsmart or fool this machine.
The uphill battle refused to relent. Enough control to see the camera feeds granted the others time to plan a course to Dell, and to give alterations when the doors opened. After fighting with the Reaper for this long, the machine fell into patterns that allowed me to counteract some of its attempts to blockade us. But even then, times arose where we bunkered down to face the awaiting assault until more doors opened for Corin and Utren to proceed. The Reaper planned and knew its body better than me. It would contort the cameras, more than once something not on the ship flashed on the screen, like something out of a horror film. Once or twice, the rescue team glimpsed Dell but she sprinted ahead, deafened by her own screams. Then the husks attacked our small group. They pulled me back away from the console as husks crawled up behind it, seeking to destroy my attempts.
Fighting the Reaper and sprinting through the Reaper took its toll on Dell. Through the radio, her voice warped, the fear succumbing to anger and determination, Dell's rage boiling as she came back to herself. She screamed at Nyryntha, a thunderous war cry demanding blood. Her mad sprint halted, Dell dancing in a single room as she fought the Reaper for control, her curses signing high through the vaulted Reaper. While she fought her own war, the husks closed in.
"I- I win, Reaper! Now fuck. Off!" Dell snarled. Ragged gasps of air sounded from her radio, the first sounds other than screaming since the whole mission started. Exhaustion smashed her like a hammer, her body falling limp on the floor. The doors freed themselves, opening without complaint as if the Reaper conceded defeat. A sigh of relief rocked me when confirmation from Utren and Corin came through. They got her. They pulled husks off her by the dozen, but they were there. We planned the next stage; our hasty escape. We waited, guns blazing while Utren and Corin made their way back to us with the unconscious Dell. Numbers brought security with so many husks, we turtled down until the pair returned, protecting both Dell and her carrier from further injury.
The latest swarm of husks ran towards us on a suicide run, their master now quiet. They tore down the corridors, screeching like nails on a chalkboard. Some crawled up the walls, clawing their way via the overhanging beams and cables to reach us. Sallis aimed up, shooting as many down as he could before they rained in from above. Some husk red veins staining their skin and exploded if they got near. Belak and I tried to push them back, but my aim refused to steady. The sounds of the husks tore my gaze away from my target, flying over the room as panicked and paranoia assaulted me. from. A husk entered my sight, it screamed as it rushed towards me like an angry bull. My bullet missed, soaring past the creature's torso. It hit Corin in the shoulder as he ran out from the doorway.
He cried out as my weak sniper bullet yanked his shoulder back, Dell spared from a drop in the nearest pit by crashing into Utren's massive frame, stopping Corin short. A numbness settling on over my limbs. Corin struggled to pull Dell secure in his arms again with an injured shoulder while Utren aimed his assault rifle at the threat. One thing stopped the krogan from firing at me; his discipline. He spotted my trembling frame with my Indra falling out my arms and re-aimed the gun to the husks. Dell's arms swayed, limp in Corin's arms with strange wires and cables radiating from under her skin. They danced like limp vines with Corin's trot. Circuitry stained the corners of her eyes, a faint blue glow dying to black.
So focused on the injury my gun had done to Corin, my attention didn't notice the husk charging straight for me. A scream sounded as it launched at me, taking me to the ground and mauling me with its multiple limbs. My limbs flailed, failing to free myself from the grip, to push the husk off me. Information piled before my mask from my suit, ruptures and damages inbound. Oh no... oh keelah. My immune system was weaker than most, I always had to be so careful! The quarians designed my suit to prevent as many ruptures as possible with hardened material! It would kill me! Oh keelah!
The husk fell limp over me, crushing my lungs until they wheezed. Rough hands yanking me out from under the dead beast spared me any thoughts of asphyxiation. Belak hauled my sorry ass to safety, pulling me back on my feet to run back to the Starquake. Corin cold gaze passed me, sending me skittering away as we retreated We abandoned the Reaper behind us. My arms wrapped around my chest, cuddled in the group of aliens. Never again would I go out on another field excursion. Never again.
Endellion had warned us it would not go as planned. But everyone doubted even she knew the true extent of the damages. My eyes scanned the doors of the Officer's deck, choose my time. Three days had passed since the incident in the Reaper. Once the ground crew extracted Endellion, the Starquake pulled away to a safe distance to assess the situation. We returned several hours later to collect data from nearby terminals but we dare not risk anything more. Husks still rampaged within the Reaper interior. Now we floating in a near abandoned stretch of space, orbiting an unimportant star several systems away in the middle of the nowhere until we recovered. Endellion had warned us that Cerberus would arrive on the site. While she seemed oblivious to the threat, we took no such chances. We left as soon as we gathered viable data.
Endellion regained consciousness yesterday, but she wasn't herself. A quietness consumed her, she refused any attempt to walk, citing pain and reluctance. She had difficulty eating. Small wounds dotted her skin from where Saere, Nakmor Ferilsa and Anthon Cerr pulled cables and wires from her skin. She would also carry a small scar on her left shoulder blade from when Anthon pried a piece of fresh Reaper metal plate off. Her body had not relented the Reaper pieces with ease. My feet edged up the stairs towards Endellion's room where she was recovering. Saere had assured us she should make a full recovery, but we all still feared the worst until Endellion was back on her feet.
"So yeah, everyone is going on about weird signals from your suit. Brain waves or something. And they're going crazy about those cables and stuff they got off you. So Sassy is busy with that," Gideon's voice said as I entered the room. The boy hadn't left her side, like a chick clinging to its mother. While the boy's confidence had soared since he had come into our care, he was still in need of Endellion's support. Endellion had pulled him free from the horror that had been the escape pod, had given him free roam of the ship, access to all the food he could dream of. Endellion must be something heroic to him.
"Thanks, Gid. Can you tell Mat'al to report when they have preliminary data?" Endellion's tired voice said. She sounded frail, soft, like she struggled to stay awake. After mounting the stairs to the upper tier, Gideon came into view. Gideon sat at the foot of her bed, cross legged. Endellion leaned against cushions salvaged from her sofa. Her face looked drawn, her eyes baggy and her skin pale. Small black marks danced at the corner of her eyes. They were fading, but it remained a painful reminder that the Reaper had come close to winning.
"Yeah, sure. Sassy is in the labs just now. I'll go tell him," Gideon said, chirpy, launching to his feet. He skidded to a halt just short of me. "O-Oh. Hi Ray," he flushed, putting his hands behind his back.
"Gideon," I greeted. "I shall not keep you from your errands," Gideon jumped. My size and species terrified the boy, we knew that. He remained friendlier towards me than to Mat'al, or 'Sassy' as he dubbed him. A shortened version of Assassin. Mat'al petrified the child.
"O-Ok. Thank you, Ray," he cleared his throat before walking around me, he made a run to the door.
"Cassianus," Endellion called. Gideon paused in the doorway. "The Reaper's name is Cassianus," the boy pondered the name for a moment, choosing his words.
"Heh, you said anus," he grinned. Endellion snorted out a laugh while the boy darted out the door. The distance between us closed as my gaze studied the woman before me. Her eyes turned to the window beside her.
"Bless him," she smiled, a faint glow of colour returning.
"He is a character," I said as I lowered myself to the edge of her bed, "But he is correct about the suit data. The science team is swarming all over the data and the Reaper parts we extracted from you. The intel teams are cracking the encryption codes on the Reaper data we collected while you were recovering. Shayan is also on mend. The pneumonia has given in,"
"The data is on the isolated server? Will Shayan be up soon?" Endellion asked, her tone far away.
"Yes. The science team is taking no chances with this data. We do not wish to destroy these new servers after all the trouble we have traversed to get them. Shayan will be on his feet soon enough, give him time," I said. Endellion needed every piece of good news she could get her hands on. Her gaze diverted from mine, lost in the stars once more.
"I'm such an idiot," she sighed. "It all makes so much sense now. Val said my stubbornness would get me killed. It's more like my ignorance will do it," Endellion held her face with a hand. "It makes so much sense. Hindsight. I hate it so much,"
"I am afraid I do not understand, Endellion," I said, wondering what bothered her so much.
"My programming. I've heard so many times from Nyryntha, Saren and Nazara... Sovereign," she shook her head after the correction. "They had said I needed reprogrammed so many times, had tried to do that before I ran on Virmire. And now it makes so much sense. Why had I been such a coward, why had I been so skittish when I first came here, why could I never stiffen my spine and stand up for myself? They programmed me to be afraid. The Reaper tech, the mass effect and fusion generators, ran off my terror. I wonder how close they had gotten to controlling me before I met Val, Mat'al, yourself. Nyryntha gained control of me because something scared me enough, she can only try to control me if I am afraid," Endellion held her chin in her hand, eyes lost to the galaxy.
"What was your personality like on Earth before you came to be here?" I asked. "Perhaps we could gauge the level of modification the Reapers conducted on you during your 'Saboteur creation'," Endellion blinked at the duvet around her.
"I wasn't that much different," she said. "Sure, I had always been skittish, quiet, never wanted trouble and did everything to avoid it. I had my short outbursts every now and then but overall," she surrendered a small, emotionless smile. "Nothing that made me say 'Huh, do I do that?' ...given the circumstances,"
"Then perhaps they program the Saboteurs by their most dominant emotions. Perhaps that is why you have survived so long, because you are no longer quiet and afraid-" I began. Endellion cried a sarcastic laugh. My words froze to listen as the woman shook her head.
"No longer quiet and afraid. No, Raisha," she raised her stare to mine, expression blank. "Now I'm loud and afraid. How can I not? I have over 50 people depending on me. What if I fuck up, what if someone turns on me, what if the Reapers plant a Saboteur within the team and I don't notice?" she shuddered at the last thought. A frown dropped as the memories surfaced. It had only been a day after Gideon had come into our care. Endellion demanded a Saboteur test as soon as they boy awoke. None could not fault her for it. The boy passed the Saboteur eye-test. He was human from what we could tell.
"Endellion, I am not expecting you become a great war hero with an army at your back within a day. Becoming a leader takes time. You will make mistakes, you will question your motives, yourself, you will be afraid of the opinions of those around you. But you will grow. You can do nothing else," I said, parting my wisdom. Endellion answered with a weak smile.
"An army at my back... if the Reapers come, it may yet come to that. If I survive long enough to do that," Endellion said, rubbing her eyes with the heel of her hand. My hand patted her thigh, planning my next words.
"You will survive, Endellion. You are too bull-headed for death to deal with," I answered. Endellion coughed a laugh, giving a more genuine smile.
"Jorgal Raisha cracking a joke? I think you've been around Val too much," she scowled, although no malice appeared in her expression. My lips pulled up, relieved that my words perked her, even if just for a minute. She walked the road to recovery.
"Indeed, however I am cautious about repeating anything Valérien has said. I knew his reputation. Speaking of which, Valérien has been eager to speak with you. Mat'al has put him off limits to you, however, after the last little... scuffle," Endellion's expression dropped, becoming flat of all emotion.
"I don't want to deal with Val yet. I'm still too pissed at him," she grumbled, a glare pinning her eyebrows down. "Puts me in command and then questions every little thing I do just because he doesn't like it... bastard," she hissed.
My tongue remained still, despite the words wishing to rise. A mental note to sit Valérien down and have a stern word with the turian formed. He needed disciplined before he caused Endellion any further near misses. Could Endellion walk into a Reaper that terrified her without a severe shove? No, I don't think she could.