The Starquake pushed through the dust encircling the inner solar system of the Helix Nebula. The thick purple musk made the bridge's upper cameras useless aside from a decorative smoky display. Before me, the computerised sensors pierced the cloud to reveal the obstructions awaiting us. Behind me, Raisha watched with narrow eyes, awaiting the visible appearance of Belan, or 'Undercurrent' to the hanar. Another run in with a hanar Saboteur didn't spark me with excitement. Our last fight with one proved how little of the internal workings of a Reaper-based Saboteur in a 95% water organism we understood. There was no guarantee we would even run into the Saboteur. Even if we did, we wouldn't be able to destroy it, not without holding it in a crate and throwing it into a sun. My mandibles clicked, noticing the burning eyes gorging into my back. My head shook, ignoring the krogan's probing eyes while my gaze trailed over the ground team. With Zeedra out, we had to pull Rosmeni in. Two Spectres were bad enough on ground missions to begin with; rumours flew like wildfire groundside, but spread worse among species like the hanar. Nosy bastards.
The dust cloud parted, revealing the glimmering blue star blinding all within its grasp. The ship banked, aiming for a small garden world covered in water with only bare patches of continent floating above the waves. As ocean dwellers, the hanar took to the seas while their drell caretakers farmed the land or worked on ocean stations. While small, the planet had bustling cities, welcoming to all international species from around the galaxy. Had. Even from here, the dark stain left behind from comet CR1331 burned in the din. Our destination, New Plentiful, had been on the cusp of the impact zone. Most of the city now lay flattened, only the city suburbs on the mountains missed becoming pancakes from the tsunamis and shockwave that consumed everything on the lowlands. Millions killed, millions more stranded with nowhere else to go. The comet had brought destruction to this peaceful planet. What better opportunity did a Saboteur need to get ground roots growing? This assumption didn't come by itself; a surge in black arms dealings followed just days later. Under normal circumstances, these posed little evidence of a Saboteur sneaking into a colony. The black market's claws reach to every pore in civilisation. But when those items are strange artefacts that cause dreams and headaches, it is a big give-away for Saboteur activity.
This brought concerns; it was too obvious. With Dell... with Dell gone, the Saboteurs may not have expected us to return to killing Saboteurs as quick as we did, but they now had plenty of time to get things prepared. The month we spent keeping Dell safe had led to one trap being built already, maybe even the base we raided last week had been a test to see how soon we would react to obvious data. Now everything we touched had the potential to kill us the second we arrived. It made me glad, just the tiniest bit, Gideon wasn't on board. He wouldn't fall into these traps with us should something happen. My shoulders shook out. We took no chances this time. All shuttles would carry a small selection of mechs, all ground teams would have krogan - if possible - and everyone trained in un-armed combat should the blades snap. The only thing we had little information on was mental assault, but we would worry about that another time.
The Starquake burned through Belan's atmosphere, aiming towards New Plentiful. With the state of emergency in place, getting through the tight security would have been a pain in the ass without the Spectres but they also didn't turn away ships. Any hand was welcome hands, even if they didn't mean well. New Plentiful dawned before us, a landscape of horror and destruction. Rescue workers had built a temporary dock up the mountain slope, away from the chaos. The shipyard filled to breaking point. Refugees fled the planet on any available ship; those bringing supplies in had security barriers in place to stop the desperate people scurrying away as stowaways. As the docking clamps snapped the Starquake in place, the on board cameras revealed a desperate array of people, all seeing the safety of a ship going anywhere but here. Only the mass effect security barriers held the sea of people back. Most were hanar and drell, but an range of other species mixed amongst them. My mandibles pinned to my cheeks as an asari dock officer mounted the dock. Raisha pushed herself to her feet, shoulders rolled back as she made her way to the airlock. As XO, I followed. The asari blinked at Raisha when we met inside the airlock, surprised by a female krogan's presence. She noted my 2 step distance back from the krogan.
"Captain, welcome to Belan. I wish it was under better circumstances. Are you here to transport refugees?" she asked.
"No," Raisha said. The asari's face fell. "Spectre mission,"
"Spectre-" the asari echoed.
"You need not know the details. Keep the refugees off my ship," Raisha said. My mandibles snapped, earning a pinning stare from the krogan. Her ship my ass...
"I... see. W-Well, we do not have the facilities to verify your Spectre claims but... I can tell you are a busy woman so I will do what I can," she said. Raisha nodded.
"Good. Valérien, prepare the ground team. I want you to start with haste," she said. My jaw slackened enough to speak.
"Aye, aye," I said, turning away from the airlock. Away from Raisha, my mandibles clapped against my cheeks hard enough to sting. The ground team collected in the armoury, checking their weapons. The air ached to breathe. They wondered the same thing; what would happen this time? Raisha wouldn't accept failure or retreat, not without putting me in danger of some prison time for defying orders. My Tempest snapped to my hip as we exited via the cargo hold.
The sea of people cried in agony when the cargo door closed, pressing closer to the barrier. Laegan shuffled beside me, eyeing the rest of the crew as the dock workers led us away from the crowd and down to a more secure exit onto the planet. We had to sneak out via the back door. We emerged onto Belan. Spirits, the mess... The once lush city, filled with trees and greenery, lay flattened by the air pressure, the lower parts of the city obliterated. From our perch on the mountain side, the coastline lay bare of all apart from streams of rubble. Who would've thought a comet would cause so much destruction? My head shook, dragging my attention away from the blight of the inhabitants. Finds leads on the Saboteur. Spirits, I had no experience dealing with the black market, that was Mat'al's job. With him gone, everything fell on me. Spirits, the krogan had experience with the black market, Savanor more than most. The massive krogan wandered off once we reached the refugee camp, eyes on the prize of a black market dealer. We had to watch our pockets as hundreds of eyes swung to the armed aliens marching through the maze of temporary, metal box containers. Iona caught my eye, mandibles waving. Mine snapped in answer. No, we wouldn't kill anyone. The krogan might, but no one could control those bastards. Male or female as it seems.
We stuck together, awaiting any news from Savanor. The refugee camp thinned, exposing a ruined plaza as we pressed deeper into the ruined city the tsunami swallowed. The ruins surrounded us, crumbling away from the shock. Metal spires of Prothean technology brushed the horizon, withstanding the trauma of 50'000 years. A simple tsunami wouldn't tear them down now. The square gave us breathing space, but also exposed us. If the Saboteur was here, we would be an easy target. If they had indoctrinated people, then we they surrounded us. My heart fluttered. Spirits, the situation was too unpredictable without clear leads, without an easy way to expose a Saboteur. If they didn't want us to find them, we wouldn't be able to find them, not without Dell. My mind wandered to other possibilities, other concerns; getting the mechs from here would be a pain in the ass, requiring a secondary team to run out with them while bypassing desperate people looking to make money to buy a ticket off this world. There was the close quarters to worry about as well; too many people jumping into the fray or caught in the cross fire. My head shook, eyes trailing around the plaza. A glint of metal caught my eye, furrowing my brow. In the distance, a metal statue stood on a small pedestal. It didn't belong there, too new and shiny, but maybe someone put it there to fill the space or maybe it was a religious symbol from the Prothean era the hanar used. The colour turned my blood cold. A dark blue-grey metal. My feet managed two steps towards it before the team noticed and followed. We reached the twisted metal structure, no real shape or sense to the metal spiral. My eyes drifted to the team around me. Rosmeni frowned.
"Looks Reaper-ish," she said.
"Agreed. Grab it and get it out of here. We don't need these refugees falling to indoctrination," I said. Rosmani nodded, lifting the 30cm tall metal object off the pedestal.
Within seconds, my blood turned cold. Eyes burned into my back. The team stood rigid, aware of the same sensation. With a nod, our stride lengthened. Flee the area, flee the prying eyes. Eyes scanned the area, finding people watching us from every crevice. Indoctrination had already set in, or close to. How many of these things scattered the area? Or maybe this was a- A loud bang erupted a few hundred metres away, snagging my attention. A heartbeat later, a swarm of people charged around a corner, screaming as terror consumed them. We rolled to the side, hearts in our throats as they charged past, thundering towards the temporary space port. My eyes flew back from whence they came. Savanor skidded around the corner, another Reaper relic in hand. His face twisted in concentration as gunfire followed him. We scrambled to our feet, sprinting ahead as he caught up.
"Blew it," he snarled. My mandibles clicked. "Met a black market dealer. Saw the Saboteur, stared too long. He brought the servants to life," he grunted as gunfire popped over our heads, a sea of coloured hanar sprawling on the ground, multiple guns in tentacles.
"Who?" I asked, ducking down a turn in the makeshift homes, a hail of bullets smashing into our cover. Savanor snorted.
"An old friend," he growled. "Silverio," my heart thundered. Silverio; the bastard who caused Dell's fear of zero-gravity. My teeth grit as we stared at the Reaper relics in our hands. They flew as we dashed down in another direction. With these, they could track them. Reaper tech called to indoctrinated servants. They couldn't track us, not if we wanted to survive.
"What was he doing, is he giving chase?" I asked.
"He was behind the dealer, watching. He recognised me when I entered, but didn't do shit until he knew I knew recognised him. I don't think he'll chase us. He seemed eager to get away," he said.
"Dammit. Ok, let's get further up the mountain and away from the people. If they are more indoctrinated servants, we might get away from them. That'll also make sure no civilians get caught in the middle," I said.
"Aye, aye," the team cried.
We meandered through the camp, hands on pistols as we waited for any sign of the Saboteur or any indoctrinated servants. Without the relics, the number of servants following us dwindled until we could outrun them. My eyes rose to the rising terrain, keen to put distance between me and the Saboteur waiting. If the Saboteur was fleeing, now wasn't the time to give chase. The last time we did that, Dell got spaced. We wouldn't make that mistake again. The cramped camp vanished, the maze of container-style buildings breaking to reveal the waiting mountain. We curled around away from the temporary dock, away from the hordes of people trying to escape there. The higher the vantage point we could get away from as many people as possible, the better. Upon a ridge overlooking the city, we snapped the snipers and binoculars out. Drutus watched the sides as we scanned the city for any sign of the Saboteur or their servants. The chaos only drove more people towards the docks. The destruction and cramp quarters of the refugee camp made scanning for the hanar impossible. Too many obstacles and too many places to hide. My mandibles snapped shut, knowing full well Raisha would not accept failure. With a sigh, my eyes gazed over the rubble. What the hell could we-
Screams drowned out the resounding boom. Our eyes flew towards the temporary dock, black smoke billowing from the temporary dock. Bodies flew the air as the shockwave knocked many to the ground. Rubble flew the air, falling on the flailing people on the ground. My heart thundered as the shockwave reached us. The massive, albeit, temporary structure buckled a quarter of the way down, the roof sinking into the building as people flooded out from the chaos. The screams only worsened, swarms of people crawling over everything in their path, fighting for survival. My eyes locked with Drutus, the turian snapping his mandibles as ships disengaged and pulled away from the dock. The Starquake among them. People chased them, screaming and pleading for help. My teeth grit. Was this the Saboteur making an attack on the ship, or was this something else? A coincidental terrorist attack or was the Saboteur plotting something? Spirits, if the Saboteur wanted to kill people, driving to them a single location was a damn smart move.
"Opinions?" I asked, voice strained. Iona growled.
"This smells trap all over it," she said.
"Either that or this is the Saboteur making an attack. They know we are here and they know we know their face. There is no point in hiding," Drutus said. "The Saboteur may drive off the ships so to slaughter the civilians,"
"Or baiting the hook for us," Rosmeni said. Drutus nodded.
"That too," he said.
"Great, so we have either the Saboteur carrying out their plan on slaughtering as many people as possible or they're luring us into a trap," I said through grit teeth. Another explosion summoned a stomach churning series of screams. "Spirits forgive, move out!" I barked, pulling the SMG out, legs sprinting over the uneven terrain.
We sprinted across the sparse mountainside, a sea of terrified people parting a path through the swarm towards the dock. As we got closer, smoke and flame billowed like towering columns of smog, swelling across the ground. We got about 100m away from the dock before heat forced us back. A second explosion ripped through the air, the remains of a starship flying to the clouds. We scattered as shards of metal rained down upon our general vicinity. Ezzo spread across the air, my skin dancing with blue sparks. My implants hummed at the excess material. My mandibles snapped against my checks, the refugees tumbling behind us as they escaped the fire, the explosions. Most lay burnt to the bone, others stumbled free with more minor injuries. Well, the dock was a goner, the only way out of this damn city without hiking miles of mountains and volcanoes to reach the next city, in not much better condition than New Plentiful. No sign of the Saboteur though... was this the Saboteur plan? Did a starship explode and cause all of this, regardless of a Saboteur? My mandibles waved. If it was, it was mighty convenient. Drutus glanced over, mandibles held still.
"No sign of the Saboteur?" he asked. My head shook. "Then it's either in the fire or waiting for us elsewhere. If we can't flee, then the Saboteur has time to plan,"
"Great. Suggestions?" I asked.
"Search the area. If the Saboteur is not here, then we have time to make plans with the Starquake to get resources," he said.
"Understood. Alright, split into teams and search the area. Any signs of Silverio, do not engage. Retreat to here and radio ahead," I ordered. A chorus of 'yes sir' rose. "I hate how hard these guys are to locate now," Drutus snorted.
"We'll survive, we'll adapt. Shaik helped but we couldn't have relied on her forever. It hurt her in the long term to scan for Saboteurs," Drutus said. A sound croaked in my throat. "Let's move," he secured an assault rifle in his hands.
We circled around to the back of the facility, or as close as we could with starship wreckage littering the site in crumbling, burning piles. The fire and explosions had consumed at least 3 ships, one of them a cruiser, although it was hard to say if there had been smaller ones caught in the tangle of eruptions. The fire burned so hot the metal melted and stained black, making any normal means of identification impossible. With the hulls turning into pools of molten metal, black smoke clogged the air. The ezzo worsened my comfort, my biotics fluttering as erupted material soared high. If there was anyone pregnant here, Spirits be merciful they got biotics and not cancer. A multi-spectrum scope snapped onto the Tempest, peering through the smoke at infra-red and x-ray levels. Infra-red proved useless, the flames so brilliant it blinded everything. X-ray proved more viable. Nothing moved within the building, not even survivors or any sign of life. We continued our circle, climbing up into a ridge the rose above the gouge removed to make room for the docked ships. The dock stretched for kilometre, the collapsed roof buckling the support structures and threatening to bring the whole building down. No sign of life here either. We shared a brief look, a concerned one, as we considered the possibilities. Heat rolled up the bowl of the docking bay, hitting us with a wall of hell. The whole geometry reminded me of a kiln.
A gravel crunch snagged my attention, Tempest straight in hand. Too slow. A second later, my back slammed into the downward side of the slope, roasting from the heat while a foaming green drell clawed atop me. The Tempest vanished from my hand, but it gave me a free hand to punch the maddened drell away, freeing myself from the clawing hands. It didn't save me from crashing and rolling onto the ground though. Heat soaked the air from my lungs, new breath burning the lung lining as flames fanned ever closer. The drell scrambled to its feet, flinging itself at me. The Predator at my hip snapped free, pumping 3 bullets into the drell before it fell still on the ground. Drutus let loose a warning call above me on the ridge. My eyes swung up. A stream of cables flew towards me. My legs tensed beneath me, hurling me out of the way to roll on the scorching ground and back onto my feet. The Tempest pointed as a hanar shambled towards me, dark Reaper plate surrounding it. Sweat dropped off my plates, threatening to blind me as the heat waved the air before me. My mandibles snapped shut. A scuffle dragged me gaze over my shoulder, to Drutus running sideways away from the area, a swarm of drell screaming towards him with wild arms. He didn't want to join me in the pit of hell. My gaze snapped back to the hanar, back to the Saboteur as he limbered towards me. A hand flew to my ear, but a white hiss greeted me. My jaw clenched. A sharp pain radiated from my hands, one hand twitching off the Tempest. The other held onto it.
"Why do you persist?" Silverio asked. "The war is over, you have lost. The Advocacy is dead," My teeth threatened to crack under the pressure.
"She would never forgive me if I stopped," I hissed. Silverio paused.
"She is dead. She is in no position to forgive or notice anything," Silverio said. Adrenaline pumped through my body, my eyesight tunnelling on the hanar. "She will never hear you. However, if you believe something awaits you after death, then I may be of service. If not, then the Advocacy's spawn will,"
"Again with this bullshit. The last Saboteur tried the same. I am not falling for this agai-" I snapped. Silverio chuckled, a cold chuckle.
"Oh, but we know where he is. He took the Advocacy's body, brought along a way for us to track him. Nyryntha is in hot pursuit. As we speak, she assaults Earth with Kenolie and Pangestu. With such a meagre resistance, surprise and two Saboteurs at play, it will not take long," he said.
"You're talking out your fucking ass!" I growled.
"Oh? Then why don't you check," Silverio challenged. My teeth ground together. "Or are you too afraid to see your intimate failure? She asked you to look after him, after all. To see yourself fail…" A heartbeat, a second, a third. The pain in my arm eased enough for my non-gun hand to raise and tap the omni-tool on, to get data from Earth. An image appeared, heart pounding. Nyryntha. On Earth. We suspected Gideon went to Earth to find Shepard, to-... Oh Spirits... My eyes snapped back to Silverio.
"You bastard..." I breathed.
"Well, you were the one who failed to protect him. We are just taking advantage of your ineptitude," Silverio said.
My heart crashed into my rib cage; urgency, anger, grief, desperation. All poured through my blood like a fluorine fire. Silverio... hurt Dell. He made her fear zero-gravity, of losing control of her limbs. That Saboteur... everything it did... Gideon needed help... why was... that Saboteur still walking?! Why!? Why did he live after everything he did to Dell!? Any sense of pain died, any hold Silverio had on me vanished in a blur of emotions, a rage consuming me. Adrenaline flooded me, a red haze knocking sense from me. A blink, the hanar stood before me, another blink, the hanar flailed under me. Third blink, my hands reached deep. A fourth, a metal plate ripped free, pink flesh spraying past. Pain fanned the rage, pumping the adrenaline harder. My hand plunged inside the Saboteur. An Overload erupted inside the watery monster. We rolled on the ground, my hands ripping and clawing like a maddened husk. Venom ignored, pain forgotten. Only death, only revenge, only this. He had to die. Had to die. No failure! Another Overload, my hand ripping pieces off the alien, a tentacle around my neck snapped free, exposing thin, translucent cables within the body. Biotics consumed me. The cables glowed blue, my arms flinging the hanar over my head. The cable tugged, the hanar screeched. Another Overload. A metal blade glinted in my vision, the press of cold metal in my palm. Chunks of jelly flew past my face, each image a still, a single peek into reality, a slideshow. Hacking, pulling, zapping. Hack, pull, zap. Destroy... make it die! Make this thing vanish! The blade cut down. Resistance pushed against me. My arm applied more force. It cut. A brilliant flash of light blinded me. Another blink, my eyes met the sky, billowing black clouds staining the blue. Another blink, hands grabbed me, dragged me back, dragged me away. No, no. It had to die! Make it pay! Make it know what pain felt like! A body flew past me, a dark haze of unseen form. Something hit me. Hit me hard. Things turned dark, but only for a moment.
When my eyes opened once more, the sight before me furrowed my plates. The bowl of the docking bay swept out before me, the fire easing as firefighters tended to the flames. A barren tree pressed into my back, a swarm of bodies around me. The sun danced on the horizon. No sign of the hanar, no sign of anything Saboteur or Reaper related. My head ached, pounding like a drum. Wait... no, no everything burned. My head flopped back, dragging air in to cool the pain stinging my lungs. It stung like a bitch. A hand found my shoulder. Laegan stared down at me, a frown on his face. My mandibles waved before sighing, eyes closing again.
"Are... you calm now, Commander?" he asked.
"Calm?" I echoed. Drutus snorted above my head.
"By the time I looped around to give you support, you were already tearing junks of the Saboteur. Made clean-up more of a pain in the ass," he said. My eyelids fluttered, face furrowing more.
"What... I... don't remember..." I murmured, squeezing my eyes shut as a thud rung around my head.
"We've given you some hanar anti-venom, but it will take time to clear it from your system. Spirits, you hit something inside that bastard. Whole thing exploded," Iona said.
"Exploded?" I asked.
"Looks like you hit one the generators at the base of the brain," Rosmani said. "You destabilised the generator, the safeties failed and a fusion explosion happened. Only your biotics saved you from third degree burns. You destroyed a good portion of the hanar. Looks like their spines are part of some translucent neural network or something, the science team will need to look at it,"
"Ah... was... was that the white light?" I asked.
"Yep. We had to punch your lights out. You went into a berserker rage," Shual smirked. "You threw Cathleen like a ragdoll. Didn't know turians could do that," Berserker... My eyes squeezed shut. Saboteur dead, Silverio was dead. Dell would thank me for that, right? Yeah, especially that hanar bastard. He couldn't hurt her or Gideon... Gideon...? Why... was something... Earth. Shepard. Nyryntha... Oh fuck!
Gideon!" I wheezed, pushing through whatever pain the venom inflicted, the minor burns rolling onto my knees. Shit, shit. How long would it take to get to Earth?! Where was the ship?!
"Commander, c-calm down," Alder said, reaching for me while my legs flailed for enough grip to push me up.
"Earth," I coughed, hands clawing up the tree, knees trembling. "Gotta get... to Earth!" A knee caved, my hands gripped the bark tighter.
"Why?" Drutus asked, frowning at the scene.
"Gideon... he's on Earth. Nyryntha's there. Right now!" I panted, knees holding for now. Eyes swung around the team. Cathleen pulled out her omni-tool, flicking through the interface. Her fingers twitched.
"There... is a few reports of a Reaper attacking Earth. Vancouver," Cathleen frowned. "Isn't that where the Alliance HQ is?"
"Yeah... Yeah I think so. I mean, that's where they took Shepard when they arrested..." Alder said, trailing off. A dozen pennies clicked.
"He went to Earth to get Shepard," Searte breathed. "Because he died once too...right? T-The intelligence report said that, right?"
"Yeah, Cerberus put him back together," Shual rumbled. "He's there to get him to bring back the Captain," My heart fluttered. Bring... was it... possible?
"Thought as much," Drutus said.
"W-Well we gotta go!" Searte snapped. "If Nyryntha is on Earth with Gideon, he's in danger! Even if Mat'al and Marruns are with him, can they keep him safe from a Reaper?"
"The entire Alliance fleet will be nearby," Rosmani said, frowning. "If he can stay out of their grip until they arrive..."
"We need to get him back," I barked. "If Nyryntha is now after him then... Spirits, Dell would never forgive me!"
"Ground crew to Starquake, we need immediate pickup," Phentos called.
"Is the Saboteur dead?" Raisha's voice asked.
"Affirmative," Phentos said. A pause consumed the group.
"Roger. Sending vectors for pick-up," Lanster said. "Captain says we need to get moving towards the Attican Traverse to follow up some-"
"We're going to Earth," I snapped. Another pause hung in the air.
"Autillin, we are not going after Kenolie. We do not have enough information or numbers to take-" Raisha began.
"Gideon there! And as we fucking argue about this, Nyryntha is attacking him! Check the news if you don't believe me!" I thundered.
"Even if Gideon is there, he has Delern and-" Raisha rumbled.
"No! We go! You may not have any love for Dell anymore, but I do! We're going to Earth!" I snapped.
"And that," Rosmani grinned. "Is a Spectre order," my eyes flew to the asari, the woman smirking. "The Council allowed Endellion Shaik to have free rein of the ship. They never said it extended to anyone who took over from her. Therefore, we can impose Spectre command on any order we wish," A long silence stretched. Long enough for the Starquake to gleam on the horizon as it found a save spot to transfer. Just as the cargo door opened, Savanor and Utren carried the box with the Saboteur remains and Phentos helped me limp towards the ship. Raisha rumbled over the radio.
"Understood, Spectre," she said, voice tight. My heart settled, although the thought of Nyryntha so close to Gideon...
"Thank you, Rosmani," I said. She snorted.
"Oh don't mention it. I just wanted to kick that krogan where it hurt," she chuckled. The cargo door closed behind us, the ship lifting away from the destroyed city and up towards the stars. My injuries weren't severe, just hanar venom doing what it does and minor burns. My jaw tightened, turning to the present worry. Hang on, Gid, we're coming.
The Timeline and Saboteur Sheet have been updated for this chapter. Please see profile for link to Archive.