"Captain, we need to get your out of here! Nyryntha's coming!" Lanster cried, the clockwork of activity disturbed by the Reaper appearing through the now yellow relay. Raisha bellowed out the orders, the rotary disengaging in preparation to storm the planet. My fingers squeezed on the console before me, my gaze flicking towards the approaching Reaper. No response from the ground. Teeth grit as the screens flickered in the CIC, our once clear view of the battlefield now a trembling mess of pixels. Nyryntha would not allow us to warn Dell and team to get herself to safety. All the instruments used to track the team flickered and died, the Reaper drawing closer.
"Mat'al, round up a team and prepare a shuttle! We cannot contact the ground team!" Raisha called over the radio. My jaw set.
"Aye, aye," I said, shoving myself off the console. With the entire combat team with Valérien on the ground, that left me with few options for a team should something happen. "Indira, grab Una, Narlin, Taedin, Kai, Kaan, Drutus and Marruns. Meet us down on the shuttle deck for deployment!"
"A-Aye aye, Mat'al!" Indira stuttered, frantic in her movements. With the Black Widow weighing on my shoulder, my eyes locked onto the elevator at the bottom of the hall. People dived into the elevator, yanking on armour on the way down. Others missed the elevator but scrambled down the engineering tunnels to reach the cargo bay. My armour stayed in the armoury, so while everyone grabbed the last of their equipment, the plated armour snapped into place. A scurry of feet and metal-on-metal clanging drew my eyes up. Gideon skidded beside me, gasping. His armour snapped my lips down.
"No," I said. Gideon's eyebrows upturned.
"But mum is-" he started.
"And what do you think Nyryntha will do if she gets her hands on you but not Dell, hmm?" I asked. Gideon quivered, teeth clamped down on his lip until blood pooled.
"T-Then take Kala!" he cried. My eyes trailed over the FENRIS mech standing attentive at his side.
"You are the AI Handler, Gideon. You need to remain with her at all times," I said as the final plate clicked into place.
"Fuck protocol, this is an emergency!" he snapped. A brow rose. "We have a Saboteur down there! You have no krogan to fight physical disablement and loading up the mechs for Sensory Overload will take too much time! Take her just in case! I can control her from here!" he tapped his visor. "If it is Tech Incap, then we only lose one FENRIS unit and we didn't even pay for it!" A snort escaped.
"Did you plan this, or was this Kala's plan?" I asked as heat sinks filled my belt.
"Both," Kala said. "Gideon rose concern with the Saboteur type before the ground mission started. With Nyryntha on the scene and no Saboteur in sight, we cannot risk assumptions," My tongue clicked.
"Fine. Gideon give orders to Kala from here. Move out!" I ordered.
The shambled crew jumped into the shuttle, Kala leaping in a moment after a quick word from Gideon. Una snapped the door shut before dropping into the pilot's seat, the engine humming under her fingers. The Starquake burst through the clouds over the limestone grassland. My heart skipped at the sight. The ground crew struggled to regroup as salarians and husks alike turned on them, the team buckled down behind cover. Injuries varied from light to severe. Dell lay strewn over a green salarian's shoulders 300m away from the team, unmoving. Nyryntha towered above the sparse landscape, the ground shuddering with every step as both salarian and Reaper drew closer to teach other. We identified the Saboteur. Indira tried to contact the ground crew, but nothing. Kala beeped by my heel, her yellow lights blinking.
"...et her b- …n't push for- ...sistance too great!" Val's voice crackled through the din. My finger pressed to my ear.
"Valérien, hold your position or fall back to a more defensible location! We're going after Dell before sweeping around to pick you up!" I said.
"...oger th-… olding po… tion. Get her bac-!" Val pleaded. My jaw set as the Starquake released a round to force the Saboteur to retreat.
The tactic failed, the salarian content knowing she carried precious cargo. She took cover behind Nyryntha's leg as the Reaper took notice of us. The 2km tall machine rained red hell upon us as the Starquake swerved wide around the red beam. Salarian husks clambered around Nyryntha's feet, clawing up her leg to reach the internal door at the base of the body at the rear. The salarian Saboteur took cover behind the bodies as Nyryntha turned to keep us in sight, from targeting one of the more vulnerable parts of herself. If we could hold her back, stop the Saboteur from entering the Reaper, we had a chance of rescuing Dell. If she did, then we would need to get a team onboard to rescue her before Nyryntha vanished, taking Dell with her. Any plan to stop the Saboteur from entering the Saboteur, however, soon fell apart when she took a ride up the leg with the help of a husk. My hand clenched as Una rose the shuttle off the ground, Lanster releasing us into the chaos. The Starquake took off, distracting the Reaper's attention from us. Marruns opened the shuttle door, popping a sniper off his back.
Before I could voice any complaint, understanding his plan, he fired. The husk carting the Saboteur and Dell up fell, but the Saboteur grabbed onto a hold until another arrived. The navy eyes turned to regard us, narrowing at our interference. With both hands full, she knew she was defenceless. She pulled herself up higher on the husk, shielding most of it from view while swinging Dell to cover her own head and hold on the husk. Marruns clicked his mandibles as he stared down the sight. My hand grabbed his sniper and shoved it away just as a bullet powered out the barrel. The turian snarled at me.
"Are you fucking insane?" I snapped.
"She'll survive a shot to the arm," he growled.
"Yes, and blow her whole limb off!" I said with a growl rumbling in my throat.
"Spectres get the job done, regardless of how you want it done. You don't want her captured, that's what we do" he said, turning back to the scene as the Saboteur reached the massive hatch. He growled. "And now we lost our opportunity,"
"I am not risking her bleeding to death from losing a limb, you dense motherfucker," I snapped. "Una! Take us in!" I ordered.
"Aye, aye!" Una called, swinging the shuttle around while my hands snapped the door closed.
With the cargo inside, Nyryntha's hatch closed, the massive door threatening to blockade us from rescuing Dell. The engines roared to max, the screeches of the salarian husks growing louder. Husks launched themselves off Nyryntha at us, others crawling deep inside to give us a warm welcome when we landed. And we would land, whether Nyryntha liked it or not. Una tipped the shuttle into a dive to squeeze in past the door, husks clawing at the metal around us. She had just enough room to pull the nose up before we collided into the hanger floor. Thuds echoed around us as bodies smashed into the sides of the shuttle as it skidded it a stop. The biotics let loose, giving us a clear space to open the doors and not get swarmed. The husks tunnelled via the door trying to get to us, giving us time to mow them down with gatling-style gunfire from assault rifles, shotguns and SMGs. A pile of corpses remained when the Reaper door closed and the onslaught of husks eased enough for us to clamber out of the shuttle.
Déjà vu from a previous visit to a Reaper dawned. The same cold metal interior, the same fogged ceilings and abysses, the same harsh angles and rippling headaches. My visit to Cassianus had been short, but it left enough of an impression to realise that these machines were living war machines. We could not stay long here. All the crew within this team would require RIT upon exit, anything less would cause more indoctrinated servants. Drutus took point with myself, the rest of the team falling into positions to watch all the flanks as we jogged deeper into the Reaper. Within minutes, we realised that the maps made of Cassianus from when Dell sprinted around the ship were useless here. Nyryntha's room design was nothing like it. We expected a room full of large containers of unknown contents, instead we found a gangway spiralling upwards. We abandoned the old Reaper Maps but pushed on.
Screams clung to the air, bursting the still like a sword to a balloon. My heart thundered, my feet quickened as the team rushed onwards. We had no time for careful approaches. But before we could gain ground on the Saboteur and reach Dell as her screams rang, a new danger faced us. We skidded to a stop as husks crawled up the sides of the abyss on the right side, a series of tiered walkways to the left as storage containers piled high above our heads. Broad shouldered monsters of ripped muscle pulled themselves up, massive tree trunk thick legs holding their weight as blue veined their skin, cables wrapped around the limbs and horns spiralled out their heads like dinosaur spines. Once we found one, hundreds of them bellowed from the depths. Drutus opened fire on the brute before us, but the bullets didn't slow down the monster. Cries of surprise roared as we scattered to avoid being gored. More joined the fray, the towering beasts driving us to all corners of the room. Only strict discipline and my cries over the gunfire and screams rounded the team back together, just in time for Drutus to release the Cain. Our biotics held back the blast, the beasts screeching in the scorching blast.
When the dust settled, the initial swarm of beasts had quelled, but more threatened to swarm us. With nothing else going for us, we sprinted for the nearest door to escape this room. Away from the screeching husks, something else pulled my attention. The silence. Dell's screams no longer rang through the empty halls. A tremor quaked in my knees. Had she escaped and fled or had something more sinister occurred? My eyes narrowed, the team pushing their way deeper into the Reaper. Kala beeped, the headlight flashing before she bounded onwards, her yellow light casting shadows as her head turned to assess the area. She disappeared down a narrow gangway, vanishing around a corner at the end of an expansive room. 10 seconds later, Kala sped back around the corner, legs scrambling for grip on the metal mesh walkway to re-join us. She spun around as we reached a platform just before the gangway. Kala's quick return drew guns up as we awaited whatever rounded the corner.
The green salarian stepped into sight, eyes dead as she regarded us. Guns clicked to prepare for open fire. The command never escaped. Sight vanished, hearing died, taste dulled and touch ebbed. Darkness surrounded me; no sound, no sensations, nothing. Nothing to ground me to reality, to where I was. When my senses snapped back, my sense of touch burned as nerve endings rocked to life. A metal clack drew my attention, in time to see Kala crash to the ground with the salarian Saboteur decked in black armour and cables. Her eyes drifted towards me. My hand touched the omni-tool, activating the emergency drone. My sight abandoned me, but fluctuated between darkness and hazy vision as Kala and the drone set to work. The rest of the crew staggered to their feet, releasing their own machinery to deal with the Saboteur.
The Claymore thundered in my hand, sending the Saboteur sprawling. Marruns and Drutus arranged the teams, sending Indira and Marruns in to deal with the Saboteur at close range. Kala shook herself off, leaping back into the fray. The Saboteur snarled, whipping out cables that ensnared Kala. The FENRIS mech released its own form of Overload, sending the Saboteur screeching and stumbling. Marruns charged close, omni-blade slipping between the Reaper plate the shoulder. Before the Saboteur could ensnare him with cables, Indira's biotics ripped the plate clean off, exposing the left shoulder and neck. Kala charged the Saboteur while Marruns struggled to slice the neck. The rest of us took pot shots when Kala and Marruns fell back, distracting the Saboteur enough that using Sensory Overload took more time and effort then was worth. A Combat drone zipped in, electrocuting the Saboteur. A defence drone hovered over Marruns' shoulder, Overloading the Saboteur at every opportunity. The plate reformed, but not before Indira took hold of some of the back plate and yanked it. The Saboteur flailed around like a rag doll, unable to resist Indira's biotic power. Indira slammed the Saboteur on the ground, letting Marruns leap on top of her with the metal blades in hand. With the turian on top, Indira pulled, yanking part of the back plate off. It needed Una to hold down the Saboteur before it ripped clean off, letting Marruns get to work. All the while, drones zapped the Saboteur, a venomous screech flailing through the air as it fought for survival. Too many drones, too many powerful biotics and one too many stubborn turians. Despite the cables wrapped around his neck, Marruns yanked the spine from the brain, the Saboteur flailing under the biotics. My senses dulled and ebbed, disorienting me, but the drones didn't have such problems. It ended when Marruns sliced though part of the pelvis, cutting the spine off. He dropped the spine on the ground, soaked in green blood.
"Saboteur dead. Now let's grab Shaik and get the fuck out of here," he said.
"Agreed. Move!" Drutus ordered.
Una grabbed the spine as we sprinted further down the hall. Kala took point, running ahead through the network of corridors and rooms. Without Dell's screams, we had no location. It didn't deter us. Kala paused about 100m away, looking upwards. My eyes scanned up, noticing the cables and pipes all led to a single point high above the abyss. Kala sprung left, aiming for a staircase winding upwards 3 floors. We followed, watching out for any husks that wanted to jump us. The husks never came. Down a hall, up more staircases and ladders, down even more expansive rooms, we reached a long, enclosed ramp heading up. A wide corridor with a door opened into the Reaper Core.
The closed core granted us a clear view of the core itself. Narrow faced with a pair of forward eyes and another pair on the side, the core spoke of an aquatic race. Four stumpy horns lined the skull, but the scaled texture shimmered in the dull light. Below this hung a curtain of cables reaching out to all sectors of the Reaper. My eyes found Dell, limp on the bed of cables, held up like a sacrifice. Her body glowed blue, the cables within her system alight. Indira threw herself across the distance, grabbing hold the cables before grabbing her blade at her hip and slicing through something behind her head. The Reaper rumbled, the whole room swaying as Nyryntha moved. She did not appreciate our intrusion. Marruns and I shot the cables at her arms, freeing her limbs while Una and Kai used biotics to snap the cables at her feet. The glow of her body ceased. Indira yelled in surprise as she launched away with Dell still limp over her shoulder, a swarm of angry cables in hot pursuit. We didn't stay to fight. We turned tail and sprinted from the core. The Reaper growled, the swaying destabilising our footing. With three biotics, one of which powerful, they decided running back down the network of corridors would be a mistake, would take too much time. Kala had drawn a map as we progressed. Indira used that to our advantage. Her biotics punched through a wall, granting us access to another room overlooking one of the deep abysses. Without warning, my feet vanished from under me, Indira, Una and Kai lifting all of us across the space to the platforms below. From there, Kala took point, leading us back towards the shuttle. Through the room where we fought the husks, all was still but when we crossed, their roars rumbled, scampering back up to greet us. We tore from the room with haste. When the shuttle appeared, we released we had another problem to deal with; opening the door to escape. The screeching of the bulky husks echoed down the halls, hailing a time limit. Kala jumped towards the door, staring at the panel beside it.
"Gideon put an omni-chip in my back just in case. Use it and I can mount a specialised program of myself onto the Reaper and open the door," she said.
"Kala, I haven't been hit hard enough for that to sound like a good idea. This is a Reaper, it could recode you," I said.
"Yes, but that's where the omni-chip comes in. Unless my server connects to it, it cannot harm my core processes. The chip carries a standalone, basic copy of myself with a specific task in place. There is no connection protocols in it for the Reaper to use to connect to me. When the Reaper realises they cannot use this to infiltrate me, they'll destroy it," she said. "Don't worry, the Reaper cannot infiltrate me unless I use the mech or my servers," My jaw swung, listening to the roars creeping closer behind us. Indira lowered Dell onto the shuttle, turning her wide eyes towards me. My jaw clenched.
"Fine, but if this comes back to bite us…" I warned.
"Understood," Kala said.
My hand searched her back until a back panel popped free behind the shoulders. Inside, a single omni-chip waited. Pulling the chip free, my fingers slipped it into a slot in the panel machinery. One good thing about the Reapers was that they share similar technology. Everyone boarded the shuttle, intent of staying away from the monsters heading our way. Kala sat down beside me as she waited, watching her yellow symbol on the screen turn. Nyryntha crackled, feeling the intrusion within her system. Before Nyryntha could react, Kala's basic code clicked, the locks holding the door caving as it lowered. The shuttle lifted from the ground. Nyryntha roared and attempted to close the door, but the code held long enough for the shuttle to squeeze free from the Reaper. The shuttle scuttled away to safety, the Starquake fired upon the Reaper to hold her attention. We braced. The ship swung round, cargo door lowered. She swallowed us as Una powered the engines to stop is crashing into the back wall. The shuttle landed hard on the shuttle deck. Kaan jumped off the shuttle, carrying Dell up towards the Med Bay. We waited to help extract the combat team. The air rattled with the Reaper's rumble.
"Reaper is retreating!" Lanster said. A frown formed. Retreating? Why would she retreat? Someone turned on the camera, giving us access to the camera view from the bridge. True to his word, Nyryntha pushed off the ground, black smoke trailing behind her as she took to the sky. Concern only grew.
"...ad me? Th- ...ings are everywhere!" Val called over the radio. My head shook, returning to the mission.
"Roger, we are on the way," I said.
Una raised the battered shuttle once more, dropping out of the ship and into the Reaper free skies. The shuttle turned towards the ground crew. Rosmeni held the salarians husks off them, but many of the crew looked too injured to do any heavy walking. Drutus opened one door, opening fire on the sea of husks. The rest soon followed. The shuttle inched closer towards the fallen team, close enough for some to carry some towards us. We made room as Rosmeni carried the shield towards the shuttle. Val grabbed Rosmeni and hoisted her inside as she shoved the remaining husks away. The shuttle rose high above the ground, returning to the original shuttle location. Only those fit enough dared drop onto the lower shuttle pad to recollect the shuttle from the scattering of husks and indoctrinated servants. We hovered close at hand to ensure they had covering fire. We only relaxed when the second shuttle took to the skies and returned to the Starquake. The shuttles landed, bodies piling out as we prepared to carry the injured up to the med bay after Dell. Valérien limped over, grabbing guns from those too weak to drop them off themselves.
"How's Dell, did you get her?" he asked.
"We got her, Saere is looking over her now," I said. His shoulders dropped, mandibles flaring.
"Spirits be blessed… how did she get through? We planned everything," he asked.
"I don't know. Tidy up and get to the war room," I ordered.
Valérien saluted, carrying the guns over to the armoury. From the corner of my eye, Kala trotted back to Gideon's side, the boy wrapping his arms around the mech's head. Walking past him, he murmured 'thank you, thank you', her tail wagged. My eyes scanned the injured crew in the elevator. Too close… far too close. Any closer and who knows how many people would have died. On the bridge, Raisha turned, blinking once. My head nodded back towards the war room. Raisha understood, giving Lanster the order to flee the system. While Nyryntha had fled the scene, we couldn't be sure how long she would stay away. Raisha fell in beside me as she tapped on her omni-tool to summon Indira and Shayan to the war room themselves. Inside the room, my hand pulled a chair back, lowering myself down on the chair. A sigh released as my hands scrubbed my face. Tension eased, a dull ache burning everywhere. My body couldn't keep up with these missions any more. Shayan arrived within minutes, Indira took a little longer with helping people to the med bay and tidying up the shuttles. Val was last, limping in with his mandibles pinned to his cheeks.
"The whole fucking place was indoctrinated. The whole place. We were leaving, we were so damn close to the shuttle when those husks attacked," he said, cursing as he lowered himself down onto a chair. "Dammit, it would've been fine without that damn Reaper,"
"We have her back, that's the main thing!" Shayan said.
"Why did she leave though?" I asked. Shayan's face fell. "Why would she abandon the chase? She had more than enough opportunity to destroy us and reclaim her. Why leave?"
"That is my main concern," Raisha rumbled. "There is no reason to let us live. Then there is these salarian husks. Until now, we have only seen human husks,"
"We're calling them Hunters," Val sighed. My eyes narrowed, lips parting. "Dammit, they are like predators. I've seen vids of husks, they just charge at you. These guys… they stalk you, find a weak spot and go for it. They're nothing like human husks at all,"
"Where did they come from? How long has someone been making salarian husks?" Indira asked, frowning. "This doesn't feel right, we've had no suspicion of Reaper tech here at all!"
"Agreed. Bring in Kala, she may fill in the blanks. We do not have the time to work it out ourselves, we need to flee. We must keep Endellion safe," Raisha ordered.
"Gideon doesn't have to hear this shit," Val grumbled.
"We are at war, Valérien. We do not have a choice," Raisha said with a snap. Val snapped his mandibles to his cheek as Indira called Gideon in. Within a minute, the blond devil tore into the room, mech at his heels.
"Y-You called?" Gideon asked, panting.
"We did. Kala, has there been any reason to suspect Reaper tech has been in this region from the information you filtered?" Indira asked. Val clicked his mandibles again.
"Reaper tech… no, nothing of the sort. Sure, typical signs of a Saboteur but other than that, no, no Reaper tech," Kala said, turning to face Gideon. The boy frowned.
"We are trying to find out how they formed these salarian husks. Without Reaper tech, there is no other way," I said.
"I've got a theory..." Gideon said, shuffling under our stares. A brow rose. He coughed under my gaze. "W-Well, I wanted to see how Nyryntha could gain so much ground on us. She was a day away and yet she caught up to us in hours. So, I plotted every system she's been in to date. She passed through this system early this month. She was 'stalled' by about 2 hours by the salarian forces here before moving on,"
"You are suggesting she wasn't stalled," Val said. Gideon dropped his gaze, shuffling.
"Yeah, the salarians who fought her were the ones at the base, and the relay changed colour, a colour we haven't seen. She's a Reaper, maybe she can reprogram the relays to drop her off wherever she wants to go. Nyryntha may have also dropped a Saboteur here and the equipment too," he said.
"She planned this. You think she backed off on purpose to make it look like we have gained ground on her, to lull us into a false sense of security?" Raisha asked. The silence fell heavy over us.
"She got us… dammit she got us!" Val snapped, slamming a fist onto the table.
"We got Dell back," Indira said. "She'll be fine. She always pulls through,"
"That still doesn't explain why she backed off," I sighed. "There is no reason for a Reaper to abandon the chase like this. We had her,"
"Maybe Kala did something," Gideon suggested. "You used her base hacking chip, yeah? Well, maybe it messed up some of her code. Maybe she wanted to get some distance, get herself sorted and then come back after us. I mean, they don't want to go the same way as Cassianus and Namacuix,"
"No, no they would not," Raisha said. "It is the only workable possibility we have. Indira, keep track of Nyryntha if you are able. Once we get word from Saere on Endellion's condition, we will decide how best to inform the Council of the situation. Until we know what Nyryntha is doing, we cannot plan anything long term. If she is bunkering down, it may be a good opportunity to strike,"
"Agreed. I'll get on it," Val said, pushing himself up with a wince. "I'll rattle a battle plan together, see if we can think of anything just in case we can strike against her. If we can destroy her, we can get back to-" his words died as the door opened. We frowned, heads snapping to the door. The warning glares dropped as we found Saere, datapad pressed to her chest. Her mandibles sat tight to her cheeks, plates tense on her face. She glanced down to Gideon as she stepped inside. Her eyes trailed back to Val. "Saere! Do you have word? How is she?"
"Sit down, Val," she said. Val frowned, opening his mouth to speak. Saere's eyebrows snapped down. "Sit. Down," she pushed him down. With an injured leg, he held no resistance. He landed in the chair with a thud. She sucked in a deep breath as she dropped the datapad on the table and placed a hand on either shoulder. My breath stuck in my throat. "I've examined Endellion. We… ran several tests and one test came back positive. We ran it another 16 times to be sure,"
"16 times?" Raisha echoed. Saere's gaze dropped.
"I'm sorry, Val. There's nothing I can do," she said. Val's mandibles flared.
"What do you mean? W-What is wrong with her? Can't… Can't we take her to the Constellation or-" he stammered. Saere shook her head.
"Val… We've run the tests so many times and they keep coming back. She's… she's brain dead, Val,"
"...What?" Val whispered.
"W-Well, s-she'll be ok then! S-She just needs surgery and-" Gideon burst out. Saere spun around, quick enough to grab the boy before he sprinted from the room.
"Gideon, Gideon, sweetie, you're… you're mistaking brain dead for brain damage," she said. "Brain dead is… when someone is brain dead they are… in a short while her organs will..."
"She's… gone?" Val asked.
"I'm sorry, Val. She's passed," Saere said.
The Fact Sheet and Saboteur Sheet have been updated for this chapter. Please see profile for link to Archive.
A new Sheet has been created: Reaper Forces. Please see profile for link to Archive.
A/N: So, this happened. Anyway, I've made a new sheet which may interest you! head over to my profile for the link to view it. I'll be piecing everything together soon, give me a few minutes XD Anyway, I'll see you in the next chapter!