Indira's report spelled out the Intel's team performance, coffee soaking my tongue. Intel productivity had increased by 458% since Gideon and 'Kala' started work. While the AI made everyone more than a little nervous, it helped, regardless of our opinions. The report stated, and I quote; 'The AI has highlight previously unrelated incidents months apart for further investigation. We've contacted the appropriate armies and they have dispatched teams have to assess the ground conditions. The damn AI has stopped 4 potential colony strikes already. No sign of any physical Saboteurs though, just their trail'. At least we found a use for Gideon at last. The boy holed himself up with the intel team, transferring data to the AI to prevent it from interacting with the outside galaxy. We didn't need to give it an opportunity to hijack more than what she had. That mech in particular.
The mother in me disagreed. My common sense told me to shackle the damn AI as much as possible. My instincts said how much Kala and Gideon worked together, how much effort she put in to keeping him safe on that forsaken planet. Keeping the mech near Gideon should something happen set my mind at ease. Gideon would have died from the geth Saboteur, multiple times. My finger swiped the report away, my attention turning to the message the Council had sent. Our sudden increase in hits had caused questions. After all this time since working for them, batting such questions away was easy. We developed and updated the VI to sort through the noise. It may have satisfied them, since they had released the funding they withheld after Gideon stole the Starquake. Speaking of which, it was now clear how he freed the ship.
My tongue clucked at a message sitting in my inbox. With the intel team back into full swing, my attention could return to getting back to work. And what better way to start than this. Shepard emailed me to say they had tracked down a Saboteur and needed advice on how best to deal with it. We were en route to this uncharted world. Shepard had given little information, other than they suspect they've run into a Saboteur. A grumble ripped free, was it that difficult to give us more details about them? No, this was Shepard, he was a bloody idiot. Back on my feet, my armour awaited.
No matter my feelings, no one would deny that the sound of the shields powering on brought a sense of security. As the gauntlet snapped shut, my attention could return to the problems at hand. With Gideon busy with Kala, any fears he would press for another adventure outside with a training mission vanished. Mat'al had requested time, so for now, the XO position remained empty. To have a Spectre in that position… no, the Council held enough over my head as it was. Raisha was awake, if quiet. We had our resident psychologist, Lynetlia, would work with her with Saere. With luck, she'll talk soon.
As we approached the system, the CIC beckoned. My hands tied my hair back as the elevator coughed me out onto the fourth floor. A quick glance around assured me all remained normal. Val's voice droned above the din of activity, the mass relay vanishing behind us. Everything would be prepared, no doubt. A hand rubbed my chin as my eyes studied in the upcoming planet, a forgettable little world that one would have thought was teeming with life… had it not been for the slight tectonic problems. To have a day without an earth rupturing earthquake remained unheard of, magma pooled up in random locations without warning. It was a geologist's nightmare, and the relief that I didn't have to worry about it beyond basic survival washed over me. The craggy waterfalls and blooming greenery lulls you into a false sense of security, you could not trust it.
"I don't like this, Dell," Val grumbled. My eyes skimmed him. "The coordinates Shepard gave us is a Cerberus facility. There's nothing else there,"
"Maybe they cornered a Saboteur and called for reinforcements. Shepard is part of Cerberus," I reminded. Val's mandibles clamped shut.
"Yeah, I know. When we land, we run in, get the details, kill the Saboteur and then run out again. No fooling around," Val said as he tapped on his omni-tool.
"We?" I said. Val pulled his plates down as he spun to me.
"I am not letting you go anywhere near a Cerberus facility without me. Spirits, Dell, they can't be trusted!" Val snapped.
"I know, Val," I sighed. My hands found his head, although it failed to stop the clicking mandibles. "But I need you here. Do you want Shayan to lead the ship?" Val's mandibles snapped shut.
"…No," he growled.
"I'll have the Spectres with me, and Indira. Don't worry, I'll be careful," I said. Val snarled as he diverted his eyes away. His fists quivered by his side. He yanked close, hand buried in my hair. His metallic scent filled my nose.
"The Starquake will be on standby. Anything happens and we blast the place to hell," he said.
"I expect no less," I smiled, squeezing the hug before breaking away. "Anything goes wrong and things get too hot, drop a call to Julian. He'll be over in a heartbeat," Val nodded, a forced, jerked movement. My hands squeezed his as the Starquake entered orbit around the planet. Satisfied, my body turned as my journey took me to the cargo hold.
My eyes skimmed my omni-tool in the elevator, scanning the crew for the mission. Full combat crew, all Spectres and Algenis, the usual. At the weapons bench, the crowd finished gathering their weapons. The Locust and Carnifex clicked onto my hips, the blades slid into the boots. One can never be too careful. Bralem prepped the shuttle to leave, the bodies filed inside. After a quick headcount, my feet hopped into the shuttle. The shuttle doors secured, the engines roared as we found ourselves in the stars. In the cockpit, the planet reared before me, a green marble. Radio chatter silenced as we ionised through the atmosphere. What awaited us was a landscape of craggy plateaus, water pouring off the tops in rainbow lit waterfalls. The vegetation covered the area, but looked new and short. No towering trees, no dense pockets. A frown creased my mouth as we rounded a valley, a brilliant silver building sticking out of a cliff, water pouring into turbine shoots.
The Cerberus logos littered the walls, sending shivers down my knees. The seriousness of our situation hit us. It was too late to long for Val's company, but at least Asshole number 2 would be here. The shuttle landed on the roof landing pad. Cerberus troops rushed from the building. Guns clicked around me. My hands pushed past my team as the door opened. The Carnifex popped free and my arm straightened as the pistol aimed at a bulky soldier. Cerberus soldiers circled us, but weapons remained in their holsters. The Carnifex dropped to my hip.
"Where is Shepard?" I asked.
"Inside, he is wary of leaving the Saboteur alone," the soldier before me said. A scowl lined my face.
"Fine, take us to him," I ordered. The Cerberus grunt flicked his head to the side as my crew piled out. Time to see if Cerberus could play nice with aliens.
We marched in formation, eyes on the numerous guards around us. My focus remained on the man in front. The facility opened into white walls of metal, machinery, glass and holograms littering the rooms and corridors we passed. The Carnifex remained at my side and in my grip, to show them I did not appreciate the masses of Cerberus grunts. As the halls behind me drifted into memory, the security ramped up. They wanted to remove our weapons. A quick pistol to the underside of the chin killed that idea. Then they tried to ask my team to wait outside. A full team of angry people killed that idea too. We passed with no other interruptions. They led us deeper, delving into the belly of the beast, into the labs beneath the rocks. We stopped in a corridor, just before a two-floor high window into the room beyond. My muscles tensed as a hologram appeared from a ball in the Grunt's hand. The Illusive Man appeared.
"Captain Shaik, long time no see," the Illusive Man greeted. A frown creased by face, my arms folding.
"Where's Shepard?" I demanded.
"Unfortunately, Shepard was called to another missing colony. He cannot join us," the Illusive Man said. My frown deepened.
"He was never here," I concluded.
"I am relieved to see you are still as sharp as ever," the Illusive Man said, the hologram walking down the hall. My eyes glanced to the grunt as he nodded his head towards the hologram. My team and I followed, we drew weapons. "However, the message regarding the Saboteur is indeed correct. We have a Saboteur here,"
"Oh? You restrained it?" I asked, eyes scanning the walls as the windows approached. The sight that greeted me was a Volus in a tank with limbs stretched out. My eyes narrowed as the volus noticed me, the silver suited creature wheezing. My eyes drifted to the hologram of the human beside me, a puff of smoke leaking from his mouth.
"We found this Saboteur in a warehouse on Terra Nova, working for a Volus merchant company in the trades of agriculture technology. However, we had noticed many of the machines were set to cause crop failures on a planetary scale. As a human world would have fallen foul to this plan, Cerberus stepped in. Zaldia Alfaer, or Anasuya as we later discovered, denied such actions, but upon confrontation, its true identity revealed itself. It forced us to use mechs to restrain him, my troops could saw nothing around it," the Illusive Man explained.
"Sensory Overload," I concluded. "You appear to have it well restrained, by why leave it alive this long?" I asked.
"Because, Shaik, we have discovered some very interesting intelligence from it that may interest you," he said. A snort broke free.
"A Saboteur revealing information that may be useful?" I asked. "That'll be a first,"
"Indeed," he said. An electronic hum filled the air. My eyes flew upwards as a large claw dropped from the ceiling, lining up with the spine. I shuffled. Zaldia stared at the claw. It dragged in a gasped breath.
"This isn't covered by my health insurance!" it cried as the claw delved into its back. It was impossible to look away, to drag your eyes away from the writhing volus as Reaper cables rose up to protect itself. Brute force won. Zaldia let loose one last robotic roar before the spine pulled free, the blue lights lining the spine dying.
"Well, one Saboteur down," the Illusive Man said. "One to go,"
Every muscle froze. My head twitched towards the hologram, finding his eyes on me. My eyes widened. He knew. A screamed ripped from my throat as that claw thrust through the glass, flailing for me. My hands flung out, pushing myself against the jaws as it shoved me through the wall behind me. My grip failed, a tumble into a darkened warehouse awaited. I fell away from the claw, jaw clenched as my hands fumbled on my gauntlet. The hook-shot fired, it snagged a hold. My body jerked to a stop the hook snapping free. My back slammed into guard rail on a catwalk, winding me. Red hair slipped to the floor, collecting in a small bundle, telling me where the floor was. My body flopped onto it. As air dragged into my lungs, gunfire roared above my head. The stamping of mechs thundered in the echoing halls. My team was in trouble. Although my back ached something horrific, I was dead if my legs stopped.
Once back on my shaken feet, my body staggered to a door, Carnifex in hand. The door parted, chaos consumed. Bullets soared, brilliant bursts of light skimming past my shields. Instincts roared and my legs carried me through the hail, adrenaline quelling any complaints from injured muscles. A sea of Cerberus surrounded me, the corridors swelled with them. With survival on the forefront, Mar entered the field, incinerates flew, my Carnifex deafened me as it carved a path for me. Units with shields closed in, but they were not my concern. Stairs grabbed my attention, legs carrying me there. I couldn't have been more than a few metres away when loud clunk sounded nearby, an Atlas mech swung an arm. It sent me crashing through a glass pane. Darkness surrounded me, thoughts blurring. My arms pulled me up, staggering on my feet. The Atlas mech lined up a rocket. My legs wheeled around, but my vision failed. A banister slammed into my stomach, the momentum flicking me off my feet and over the edge. I didn't remember the landing.
When my senses returned, a headache pounded my sanity away. Water filled my eyes, stinging the dryness away. Something wafted towards me; smoke. That meant fire. My eyes snapped open, scanning around me. A cold chill settled over me. A small lab had replaced the darkened warehouse I expected. What caused the chill wasn't that they moved me – and was alive – but the fact they transformed the room into a shrine, with me lying on an altar. My body shot up, taking in the 'candles' around me; Cerberus heads placed with their jaws agape, blood dripping from every hole, a Reaper black metal spike mounting them in the air. Wires protruded from their eyes, flickering fire casting shadows around the room. Used heatsinks decorated the floor like petals. Above me, bloodied guns with the hands still attached to the triggers twisted on intestines. My eyes took in the area, finding me lying on a lab bed, raised on a platform of bodies, the bloodied white armour forming makeshift stairs with the remaining limbs.
Bile rose up my throat, my blood dropping to my toes. The distance from the 'alter' and the floor was about 3m. Scrambling to my feet, my legs made a mad leap for the solid floor. My feet just avoided the littering heatsinks and the bloodied limbs. The bodies smelt several days old, dragging my attention to my parched mouth. There was no time to worry about how long unconsciousness held me. Something was wrong, and this room stank of rot. The only door available to me was unlocked. It was unpowered, so my shoulder and feet pressed against the two sides to force it open. The dark hall greeted me, blood splattering every surface. The floor was slick, which made stumbling down the hall even worse. Light flicked around the corner, my feet found their drive and sprinted for it. The light flickered from a smashed, angled glass ceiling, a rock overhand visible through the blinding sun. The 3 story high room held more hanging bodies, more ripped limbs and dried blood coating the desks. There wasn't a soul alive… at first.
A scream ripped free from my throat as something slammed me to the wall. My eyes landed on the bloodied red mask of a quarian. My breath stuck in my throat, the quarian's hands clamped to the sides of my head. His ragged breaths hissed as his body quivered. My hands tried to push him away, to get breathing space, but he pushed himself closer. The mask was millimetres off my nose. One of his hands clenched a fistful of hair, the other trailed down my cheek. My eyes popped out my skull, every muscle freezing.
"Ah, Delly. Delly, Delly, Delly. My red rose, oh I've missed you," he breathed. My throat tightened.
"D-Don't call me Delly-" I said. He took a sharp intake of air.
"Why? Because of that bastard?!" he snapped. I flinched. "That bastard, that golden maned bastard stole you from me. Tried to kill me. I got back though. He bleeds like every other twisted beast. Bastard escaped before I bled him dry," he hissed. "He won't take you again, my red rose," he crooned, hand trailing again. "Never again,"
"Let me go," I said, finding my voice. His hand twitched.
"Oh no, never, never. My poor flower, you got hurt. I made you better," he wheezed.
"I swear to God, I will kill you if you don't back off," I growled. The quarian paused, hands freezing.
"You don't remember… me?" he breathed. My eyes narrowed.
"No," I said. The quarian froze, breathing in irregular drags. The hand holding my hair pulled tighter, a hiss breaking free from the quarian.
"She made you forget… Nyryntha, you cur, you made her forget!?" he roared. A migraine blinded me.
"Namacuix, control your Shell," Nyryntha demanded. My jaw dropped. Nama…cuix…?
"Rogue, gone rogue, Nyryntha, Palalrian. Failures. Must deal… with rogues," a new voice rumbled. Nyryntha and I fell silent.
"It appears Namacuix has suffered a corruption… Namacuix, reset your Shell's command prompts," Nyryntha said.
"Software overwrite… must overwrite software… Reaper Nyryntha malfunctioning," the Reaper cackled. The silence stretched out. The migraine eased, but the tendrils of Nyryntha remained on the edges of my vision.
"Under normal circumstances, Shell, I would allow the Ravager to conduct their duty with you. However, I cannot allow Namacuix to spread his corruption. I require you to escape and to locate another Saboteur to receive a status update on Namacuix's function. We cannot allow this," Nyryntha said. A frown creased my face, concern about the Reaper's sudden wish to relieve me from my headaches. A mental snort was her answer. Maybe a software rewrite would do you some good, Nyryntha. Namacuix hissed before me, seething at the Reaper in my head.
"A deal," Nyryntha said. My frown deepened. "I will aid you in escaping the Ravager, but you will locate another Saboteur for investigation," My tongue clucked as my skin flinched from the groping fingers. A deal with my Reaper… that had to be the worse idea in the world! You'll control me at the first opportunity! Nyryntha rumbled. That was my confirmation. My attention returned to the quarian before me.
"So, Namacuix, remind me. Who are you?" I asked. Namacuix froze, fingers twitching. He hissed. Both hands grabbed my head. A leg raised to push him away.
"Let me show you, little red rose," he wheezed. Wait, what?
My air froze in my lungs. Sound, images, short films of movement, smell, taste, emotions. The flashes of senses floored me, switching at such speeds it was impossible to focus on one. Collectors, krogan, asari, turian, the smell of rot and dank, too many bodies, hot and humid. My mind exploded from the array. It was impossible to focus on a face. Julian's face flashed before me, grey gone, scars non-existent. He looked younger. Then Namacuix, a quivering quarian, soft spoken but rambling about inane things. Zael. Zael'Nimos vas Rekar. My foot kicked out, shoving the quarian away from me. My breath rasped, mind reeling.
"W-What the fuck!?" I snapped. Namacuix cackled.
"I can show you more. Show you all the time we spent together. You. My rose. Only you spoke to me. Only you cared. Then the Collectors chose that bastard," he hissed. "He took you from me. My little rose, so scared, couldn't say no. I'll make him pay. Make him pay for every second you've been gone from my side!"
Ok, Julian's warnings about this guy were now very much appreciated. My eyes scanned for an escape route, but any direction way from this Saboteur was preferable. Time to make a break for it. Namacuix launched himself at me. My omni-blade swung out, smashing it into his face. The glass over the left eye shattered. A wide blue eye gawked, a trail of foam around his mouth. Marshal slammed into the quarian to put distance between us. My legs powered down the hall, ignoring the corpses littering the floor. He screeched behind me, crying my name, calling Nyryntha a murderous sow for erasing all records of him from me. My jaw clenched as a finger raised to my ear.
"Shaik to crew, can anyone hear me on this frequency?" I called. The radio hissed. A second cry was unheeded. How long had Namacuix held me?
A door lying half open sped behind me as my feet dived me through the narrow gap, twisting around another corner. The facility had a simple layout, but still, trying to locate the stairs to escape remained arduous. Through another doorway, my feet clanged on a metal walkway. My eyes skimmed the darkness. Marshal tore off into the darkness, giving light to the shadows. The light highlighted the burned out shells of the shuttles. A growl ripped free. Not getting off this rock this way. There must be a shuttle somewhere... My omni-tool glowed as muscle memory flickered through the menu. A galaxy map flooded the hall with light. The Starquake had retreated back to the Constellation, however the Normandy was in orbit around the planet. Had Val called Shepard to help? Or had he called to demand to know what the hell Cerberus wanted by backstabbing us? No, don't think about that, he was nearby and had shuttles.
"Shaik to Normandy, do you read? I need immediate assistance!" I called. Static hissed in my ear. My hails were unnoticed until my omni-tool pushed through whatever interference stopped communications. It was a weak blocking system from the looks of things.
"Shaik! It's Shepard, are you all right?" Shepard's voice crackled.
"No, I've got a maniacal Saboteur chasing me! I need to get out of here!" I called.
"We're on our way, got a lock on your omni-tool," he said.
Namacuix burst through a wall before me, face reformed and blue eye burning. The only escape route was to vault the safety railing. The grappling hook system fired a hook. It flung me upwards towards the highest floor. Namacuix cackled behind me, Reaper cables pouring from his limbs. Back on a higher walkway, my shoulder barged through another door, now on the top floor of the building. Light blinded me after the darkened hanger, but it only illuminated the body count. Had Namacuix done all of this? No, he had to stay the hell away me.
"I will find you, flower!" Namacuix cackled. "You've gotten so feisty!" My face scrunched up. Great, he was getting turned on by all of this.
An oncoming door approached, but the window beside it offered a quicker escape. My arms covered my face as my legs launched me through it. Back on my feet, my sense of balance fought to keep me upright on the cracked glass fragments. Stairs greeted me and atop of them was the roof landing pad. There wasn't a shuttle in sight. My eyes flew, trying to locate something to get me away from here, away from Namacuix and the madness that he promised. The edges of the landing pad dropped into an abyss of water and steam. An active volcanic tube pumped lava out into the gorge.
Movement spun my body around, Namacuix shambling up the stairs. His shoulders raised with each breath, his blue eye wide and wild as he grinned. The guns at my hips weighed on me, but the fear of sparking a fight with a madman didn't sound promising or in my favour. My eyes tracked down one arm as something moved. My eyes widened as a black orb with wire tentacles writhed in his grip. Red lights lined the gaps between the plates. Nyryntha hissed in my mind.
"What... the hell is that?" I asked.
"A Cryptograph," he cackled, "With some... modifications," That was a cryptograph… Wait, what modifications?
"Modifications?" My eyes scanned the horizon for help. Namacuix fell into a laughing fit, swaying and stumbling on the landing pad.
"I won't destroy you. But I will not let Nyryntha steal your memories of me again. My code is... perfect. I will give it to you," he said. My eyes widened. He... he would corrupt Nyryntha. What the hell would that do to me? Turn me into... him? Oh fuck no! Nyryntha rumbled in agreement. "Oh my rose, I'll never let you go. I had heard from the others you had become fiery. You are shining like a bonfire!" he stepped forward. My foot stumbled back. "I want it… all of it… all of you," he breathed.
"How about no," I balked. A glance behind me gave me hope. A shuttle glittered in the distance. My eyes turned back to Namacuix. His eyes also found the shuttle. His mad laughter had died. He focused to me.
"No… it's him. It's him!" he hissed. My body trembled as the shuttle dived.
"No, it's not," I grunted, preparing for a running start. "Julian isn't here," Namacuix swayed.
"They'll take you away… they'll steal you from me! I won't let them steal you from me!" he barked.
He threw the cryptograph. The tentacles found holds, the orb flung towards me at speed, tentacles reaching. There was no time, I spun, sprinting for the edge as the shuttle door opened. Namacuix screeched behind me as Shepard appeared before me. The shuttle was my sole focus. My senses ignored the gunfire around me as my feet jumped off the banister to leap the distance. My arms reached out. A black cable passed by my vision. Something crackled behind me. Something clamped into my spine at the neck as the walls of the shuttle surrounded me. Pain flooded me as y body crashed to the floor. My screams ricocheted around the shuttle as bullets chased me in. Electronic vibrations underlay my voice. A white hiss droned out the gunfire, lightning dancing through my body. My hands found the cable on my neck, but the others secured around me. The shuttle door snapped shut, the engine boomed.
"Get it off!" I screamed. "Get it off me!" I screeched, my voice underlain with heavy robotics.
Hands found me, the cables yanked and pulled, omni-blades sliced the cables. The cable on the back my neck yanked free. The hiss ceased, swearing filling my ears as Shepard tangoed with the cryptograph. He cried 'open the door, open the damn door'. A wind rushed in, deafening me. My muscles locked, every nerve stung and tingled, my spine ached. Everything trembled, my vision swayed. Hands snapped onto my shoulders, a croak escaping my throat. My throat closed. I couldn't breathe!
The Timeline, Saboteur Sheet and Galaxy Map have been updated for this chapter. Please see profile for link to Archive.
A/N: Some more editing news for those who don't keep track of my profile. Edits for the first book are done (and may God have mercy upon me, I don't have to look at the damn book for another year at least) and I'm getting mentally prepared for the second book. Unlike the first book which has already seen extensive edits, the second one hasn't been edited since it's completion last year. This means I need to; remove the abundance of 'I's, remove the abundance of '-ly' words, improve the grammar, improve flow, solidify characters, remove baggage, add important stuff etc etc etc... I'll see you on the other side.
The edits are also distracting me, while I may only have like 3 or 4 chapters left, only the next one is written, so I need to kick my backside a little. I've been complacent!
Also, please excuse Zaldia's line here. It was a dare from a Greek friend of mine!