Please read...
SOO...it's been...quite a while... I can explain...
Basically, I have an even worse case of writer's block and just a bunch of shit going on in my life, like bad shit. It all kinda stalled this chapter. Not only that, but there was originally a second part that was supposed to be in this chapter. But I felt it was such a let down compared to this part...that's why I completely cut it.
I believed the second part was terrible. And I couldn't bare to continue it.
That's why this chapter is so short, and I apologize for that.
That being said, for whatever reason I thought the last chapter was pretty good (in my amazing opinion). But I got a lot of negative reviews, so I went back to look at it.
People are getting tired in the jump in POV. And admittedly, I think i have been going wayIoverboard with it. Again though, there aren't many reviews and I have to essentially base the opinion of a bunch of readers on like...20 review submissions. But the longer, more thoughtful reviews state they're tired of the constant POV shifts and heavy use of cliffhangers.
So yeah I've been looking back at this writing and experimenting essentially.
Another thing too is that I have always tried to aim for around 10,000 to 12,000 words per chapter and the thing is...
THAT IS A FUCKING LOT. A LOOOOOT.
I think for future sake, for my sanity and to keep balance with my ever busier schedule and shitter life I think my chapters have to be...smaller. Smaller but a loooooot more focused. Less POV shifts, and viewed on one or two storylines instead of constantly jumping from one to the next.
Not only that but I had a friend tell me that these constant POV shifts and jumping from one story to another is kinda (though not intended by me) seemingly a lazy way of writing. And it takes away a lot from each story since it doesn't develop one in particular.
Of course the ups with this is that chapters will probably be updated sooner and will probably be better edited since it's a lot smaller and easier to deal with. The downside is that for some people waiting on certain story-arcs...it may be a minute to get their turn.
The positives with the long chapters is that story-arcs keep going, and funnily enough, I get less writer's block. But there'll probably be a lot more mistakes and will take a lot longer ot update. idk.
For now I'm gonnna experiment with the shorter, more concise chapters. Maybe around 5,000 to 7,000 words. If not less. Please if you have any thoughts, opinions, ideas, suggests, prefrences, etc... please TYPE A GODDAMN REVIEW FOR FUCK'S SAKE.
Anyways, I hope ya'll enjoy this chapter. And again, sorry for the very late update.
REVIEWS ANSWERS:
Mallahawk25: That's actually a good suggestion. I'll take it into consideration. I guess the lower echelons, like the ground marines will continue to refer to them as 'Elites' since its slang, and higher echelons will call them by their proper names.
Julius Maximus: Yeah. I always had a problem with run-on sentences so that's why I keep them concise to sorta battle it. But I'll keep your suggestion in mind.
oxyd2013: So...I mean there is a lot of inspiration from books and movies and otehr video games... I mean nearly all the background transmissions were directly from COD MW2. Other then that, I get what you mean and I'm trying to change it.
Atazs "subplot you seemingly forgotten about." lmfao... be patient.
Carlossxvx: ...What?
Ferox Pretretorius: Yeah, I accidentially got their speed wrong. My bad. but thank you.
ANyways...enjoy...
Surface of Thessia
Five-hundred meters from Temple
Operation SUN GOD, August 30th, 15:06
He looked around, weapon raised, tried to scan every corner of the oval-shaped entryway he was in.
The voice was quiet again. He slowly began to walk toward the light.
What do you hope to accomplish…?
He knew better to respond to...whatever that thing was.
He walked down a few more meters, slowly. He continued to scan the walls of metal and black wires.
Something along the walls stopped. The wires transformed into shadowy, humanoid figures. With the blackened static of the HUD it was hard to tell what they were.
There was nothing on his motion tracker. He turned on the weapons light.
He was in the heart of the Reaper. No more metal. No more wires. Pure dead, metallic remains of whatever species this Reaper consumed. They might have looked human-like once, but now they were a biomechanical unnatural mass of appendages, torses, and pale blue flesh.
It wasn't the most horrifying thing the Chief had seen. And if the intel about the Reapers were true, then these bodies had to be at the very least fifty-thousand years old.
Defeat me, and two more shall rise…
We are legion.
And your legion is getting its ass kicked, pal. The Chief wanted to say.
He continued to scan the room while pushing forward. The light grew into a cataclysm of passageways and small service tunnels. It's only now the Chief noticed he could hear something. Metal scraping on metal. He looked above. The red light was coming from a chamber covered by what looked like a sickly yellow transparent sheet. Based that was the source of the light, sliced apart as it traveled through more sheets and encompassing ridges, wire tubes, and service ways.
It took a moment to realize the Chief was viewing this through an approximately one-hundred-five-degree angle. This must be the spine of the Destroyer… It was hollow.
Empty. He knew from the analysis reports, at least from the UNSC, that it was assumed the spine would be crafted out of some highly-dense, flexible, super metal. Unknown what. The Chief utilized the magnification on his HUD and tried to spot wherever that light was coming from.
At the very end of the hollow spine, maybe one-hundred meters above were red signal lights surrounding a large black orb surrounded by blue and purple wisps of light that seemed to originate from the sphere itself. It was about twelve meters in diameter.
The Chief took a step forward and noticed the outline of a similar orb right behind it.
He looked down to the various service tunnels lining up along the walkway his feet. He saw moving mechanisms a few meters down. Moving gears and shifting components.
Access points to the legs.
This was all important, and from a layman's perspective, it all looked very breakable.
The Chief unclipped the Asari-made X4 charges from his holster. Remote detonated. The team got an info brief on what buttons to press. Like C4, it only goes off by an electric current.
The Chief reached down and planted the charges along the passageway.
"This is Sierra-117 to Blue Team, hal copy?" The Chief said on comms.
No response. Just dead static.
We are merely the pawn… The voice said.
He looked up. More than likely, the orbs move up and down the spine, expanding and decreasing in size. He might get himself killed if he jetpacked up there.
Well, there was always another option…
He looked down at his shotgun, unloaded the usual buckshot and switched it out to slug rounds. He aimed it up and fired.
The sickly yellow sheet ripped apart immediately. The fibers raced back to the edge of the metal. He pumped the foregrip and fired another round. The slug hit the orb, and he saw some blue and purple wisps disappear. Yet a second after they merely came back.
He wasn't sure if it was even doing any damage. It was dark energy, nothing similar to plasma or hard light. It was an entirely different state of matter.
So he decided to aim at something else. At the tubes and wire ways that were lined up along the inner wall of the spine.
One slug round. Wires ripped apart, releasing sparks and tides of some sort of yellowish-black liquid that splattered on the Chief's armor. He aimed at other wire groupings. More yellowish-black liquid came pouring down.
There was a rumbling sound deep inside the Destroyer. He felt a gravity shift. Looks like he was doing something right.
"Sierra-117 to Blue Team, come in." Still no response.
There should be no other entry point Blue Team could've come in from. And there was still nothing on his motion tracker.
Time is running out… The voice responded.
The voice scratched his ears. This had happened before. With...with the Didact. With the Flood. It could be this voice, the mind of the Reaper Destroyer, had hijacked his comms.
Still, where was the rest of his team?
He pushed forward, further into the darkness. He turned left down a secondary service way. The HUD outlined a figure kneeling over a group of wires. The IFF tag identified her as Linda.
"Just doing some remodeling… I don't like their interior design." Linda quietly said out loud. Her voice echoed through the service way. "Hear the voices too?"
"What are yours' saying?" The Chief asked.
"That they're winning the war," Linda muttered. "And other children's stories too, like the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus."
She was so quiet the Chief's audio sensor had to adjust to pick up what she said.
"Um…" She laughed uncomfortably. "All I found was what looked like a kinetic barrier generator. I ran a trace scan of the wire systems...This looked like a weak point."
"I planted X4 charges on what looked like the main joints for the legs." The Chief looked down the hall. "We need to find the rest of the team and get out of here before our friend decides to bring in reinforcements."
Linda nodded, and without another word she got up and followed John as they pushed down the hall.
"Heard what they called you…?" She asked.
"Yeah…" They turned a corner… How big was this thing? "More stuff to file with HIGHCOM."
"Hey…" Linda slowed down. "You okay by the way?"
The Chief didn't say anything.
They walked down a few more meters.
"You know what Fred said, John… And you know coming from him he means it." Linda turned around, checked the rear. "I may be quiet, but I'm not stupid."
"What are you trying to say?" John sounded more irritated then he meant to be.
"Someone's gotta step up… I can't. Kelly can't… Fred…" Linda's voice was still nearly indistinctive from the echoes of the machinery. "Fred can't lead with you here…"
"I'm fine…" The Chief stopped. There was movement on the motion tracker. IFF said friendly. "Well, mostly fine."
"Remember what Mendez said…" Linda gulped. "Maybe we need to integrate more. Have a backup."
"Who? ...Are you suggesting we stick closer to the Normandy crew?"
"We all know who's really in charge… But, well, Shepard seems to get the job done."
Maybe.
The Chief didn't say anything.
"We need to hurry. Find the rest of the team and egress out of here so I can blow the X4." He finally ordered.
…
Oh my God.
He couldn't stop gripping Liara's forearm. Shepard seemed to nearly crush it under his grip.
They were completely exposed here. Samara was already climbing the ladder, followed by Wrex. But it was a fifty meter climb. No way they could make it up fast enough.
For a moment, maybe longer, he had no idea what to do. His mind blank. He felt dizzy and nauseous.
He felt like he was suffocating.
"Shepard!" Liara screamed. She put her hand on his shoulder. "We need to go! NOW!"
"You go!" Shepard ordered. He stepped forward and brought out the black widow weapon block. It transformed into the weapon. The AP rounds wouldn't do much against a full-sized Reaper, but...it was better than nothing. "I'll cover you!"
"Normandy to shore party, coming in for firemission. West to east. Danger close." Joker said on comms.
The Normandy won't be able to completely knock it out.
"Don't come after me!" Shepard warned. He fired rounds in steady bursts while advancing forward.
He had no idea what Blue Team was doing. They disappeared inside the Reaper Destroyer for only a few minutes at most. It was briefly stunned, then kept moving as if nothing happened, turning its attention back to Shepard and his team.
Tali and her squad continued to lay down fire. Mini-nukes and sporadic rays of blue light bounced off the Destroyer's kinetic barriers. Someone fired two nukes in a row, briefly stunning it. Shepard sprinted about two hundred meters away from the wall, vainly firing the black widow. He watched each round be absorbed by the kinetic barriers.
He continued to circle around the Destroyer, making sure to stay away from the legs.
Liara stayed near the wall, but Commander Shepard could see her hesitation. Her body leaned toward the Reaper like she was about to join him. Before she could even move, Wrex grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward the ladder.
Shepard threw an incinerator charge from his Omni-tool. He unclipped a sticky grenade and threw it. Quickly switched to disruptor ammo. Fired round after round after round.
The Destroyer turned towards him. Shepard ran under its legs, tried to stay away from its main cannon.
Hopefully, Joker would be directly on target with his strafing run.
If he'll even make it in time.
It's in these moments that everything feels...blank. Shepard didn't think about death, didn't really think about anything. Not even about Liara. Any action was instinctive, built through years of training and combat experience. He didn't think about the next moment. No...heroic thoughts… Just simply pure instinct that drove anything else.
His chest fought against the confines of his armor's bodysuit. The sweat dripped down his face. Ankles hurt. Knees felt old and broken. His feet were numb.
But most of all he was scared, and…
And exhausted.
The Destroyed stopped moving for a brief moment. The world became nearly dead silent, save for the distant echoes of the war.
The Destroyer shifted its weight on the six legs. Something ruptured in the lower crescent of the body. The metal cocoon ripped apart. Electronic red and black smoke spewed out and spread across the no man's land.
"SHEPARD! GET OUT OF THERE!" Liara screamed on the comms.
"YOU THINK?" Shepard's mouth ran faster than his brain. He began to sprint towards the wall as the Reaper destroyer screeched as it crashed down.
It fell forward, breaking the molten glass into thousand of shrouds, glistening in the reddish-orange sun and came raining down.
The shockwave knocked Shepard to the ground. He turned around, saw the remains of the Reaper Destroyer covered in fire.
He could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins. The unsteady breathing as his lungs begged for air. Someone walked to him. Held their hand out. Shepard looked up to find Liara covered in sweat, breathing just as heavy as he was.
"Yeah, I think so…" She said in between pants.
She helped him up, and soon enough Wrex joined them. Shepard could feel his entire body shake.
"I think you got him, Shepard," Wrex said.
They turned to the wreckage. Something was slowly emerging from the burning rubble, ripping away red metal sheets. The smoke formed around a dark figure that slowly walked forward. The Master Chief emerged from the smoke, armor covered in soot and liquid eezo that slowly dripped down. He was shouldering a shotgun.
Following him were three more individuals holding the same type of shotguns. Covered in ash, soot, and liquid eezo, they walked calmly and proudly. They were triumphant.
And Shepard didn't care.
"Where they hell were you!?" Shepard yelled. He folded his weapon, and angrily strode up to the Master Chief. "We could've been killed out there! Two gunship crews are dead!" What happened?!"
The Chief, nor the rest of Blue Team, said anything. They merely stared at Shepard, and he wasn't sure what facial expression was going on underneath their helmets. Confusion? Anger?
"We were delayed...sir." Fred said as he walked near the Chief. "Like I said on comms, something was wrong with our IFF tracker-"
"What delayed you?" Shepard interrupted.
"Heavier enemy presence than expected…" The Master Chief replied.
That didn't make any sense. They signaled they were ready. They were clear. He was...he was...had to be lying.
"THERE WASN'T ANY ENEMY RESISTANCE. WHAT HAPPENED?!" Shepard screamed. Maybe he was cooling down from the adrenaline rush. Maybe he was genuine. But he was certainly scared. Scared mostly by them.
Liara joined his side. The Spartans, the hulking super soldiers, didn't say anything. But he could tell, even underneath the helmet, no one was meeting his eyes.
"Commander, this is Normandy. Got new contacts on channel, requesting a direct link." Joker interrupted.
"Put it through," Shepard said through gritted teeth. He turned towards the wall. Samara was at the top, waving to them below.
"This is Shipmaster 'Vadum, Shadow of Intent, we have entered into higher orbit and are ready to deploy corvettes over your position." A deep and articulate voice said through the commlink. "The Shadow of Intent will distract these bastards as long as we can, but alas there is limited time."
Shepard took a deep breath. "Roger that, Shipmaster. Begin broadcasting on the general channel. Asari teams will pop IFF signals. Civilians will be ready to evac. Do what you can."
Shepard cut the line and looked back to the Spartan team. They were exactly as they were. Perfectly still.
"We should keep moving…" was all the Master Chief could say in that confident, almost monotone voice.
He seemed almost...dazed. He cautiously and deliberately stepped around Shepard, careful to not trip over the obstructing glass shards. The rest of his squad slowly followed him. Shepard didn't know what to say. He merely watched them as they continued.
"They're not wrong…" Wrex said as he approached Shepard, careful to avoid Blue Team. "And give 'em credit. They did just take down a Reaper…"
Shepard took some deep breaths... As the adrenaline emptied from his veins, he didn't feel good. Nauseous. Dizzy…. And again, exhausted.
He needed sleep...
Liara grabbed his hand, urged him forward.
"It's okay… We're almost there…" Liara said…
The walls looked infinite.
...
The bloody sky was now interrupted by streaks of electronic dark purple and blue light. Former Covenant, now Elite corvettes entered low troposphere, and a series of low orbit drop pods and Phantoms began to deploy to the surface below. A single pillar of white light erupted from the belly of the Corvettes unto the surface below. Two-way gravity beams.
It took them a while to securely traverse the ladder. While of course there were other entry points located around the temple, it would take even more time to scout those points and even more time to fight through whatever Reapers were present there. However, it also meant their only way of exfil would be by either the Normandy or their Condor support ship.
"This is Spartan Miller to Blue Team. IFF tags read you're near the target. We'll work with Elite teams and begin payload deliver." Miller reported.
No one in Blue Team responded back. Simple acknowledgments through green lights on the Chief's HUD. They were on a direct line with the Condor. No one in the Normandy crew could hear them.
Tali's team, including the Asari soldiers they had gathered, had joined them. After about fifteen minutes as groups of people went up the ladder while others provided overwatch, they were on the Temple floor.
And it seemed entirely deserted. So quiet, the distant sounds of war were drowned out. The echoes of footsteps on metal floors were amplified in arches and curved surfaces that were above. The Master Chief checked each corner and crevice, but again so far it was quiet.
They walked along a curved path, leading towards what looked like the front of the Temple entrance. It was a open-ended balcony that looked out towards the city. Curved, circular steps lead towards a massive entrance. The entrance was blocked by a blue static shield. Beyond the shield, the Chief saw the Statue directly ahead. Blue Team and Shepard's crew stacked up, watched their sectors of fire.
Doctor T'Soni walked over to a holographic console next to the door and accessed it with her Omni-tool.
Shepard looked back to Tali's team, including the squad of Asari soldiers. "Tali, have your squad secure the outer perimeter. The rest of us push in. We're going to find out what happened to Feros team."
"Very few believe in the old religion anymore. This more serves as a Temple instead of an actual religious site." Liara said to no one in particular. She looked to Shepard… "I remember when my Mother used to take me here… To see it like this…"
"We can fix this, Liara…" Shepard merely said.
"...This is military grade encryption…"
"You wouldn't expect that from a museum."
"Especially since so few believe in the Doctrine anymore." With a wave of Liara's hand, the shield went down. The Temple was open.
Shepard's squad pushed in first, slowly. Blue Team followed
It was the Master Chief that saw it at first. All the blood smeared all over the floor and lower part of the walls. The mauled and shredded human bodies cladded in black armor. They were lifeless and still. More blood covered their faces and bodies. In the dark shrouds of blue and purple mist-like light, it would've been impossible to see them from beyond the entrance.
"Keelah…" Tali said. She kept her eyes on the dozens of bodies as if they would move again. Liara placed her hand down.
The blood was mostly dried.
"Stay sharp." The Chief said. His team took their sectors of fire. The soft blue light made it hard to see. They all switched to night vision.
He noticed various ancient artifacts spread about the Temple. Each one was held on display, either encased in glass or on a pedestal. They had faded drawings on each one.
"Maybe one of these artifacts well tell us what we're exactly looking for," Wrex said.
"Humans?" Fred asked as he looked at the dead.
"Yes, Feros Commando Team…" Liara answered. "We helped them a long time ago. They're from a human colony, Feros…"
"That Asari should be around…" Wrex commented. "She's the leader. She's probably the one that ordered them to Thessia."
The Statue sat peacefully, surrounded by evenly placed spires and those curved partial pillars, making it seem like the walls were soft curtains. The face looked straight into the air and was surrounded by two other Asari statues. Their bodies were morphed in with the wall.
Blue Team stayed on the left side of the room. As they pushed towards the Statue, the bodies turned from Human to Asari. The blood from red to dark purple. These Asari were wearing bright white clothes with thin colored lines. Scientists.
Kelly leaned over one of the bodies. She turned it over, observed the injuries.
"Slash marks all over their bodies. Can't identify weapon type." Kelly said.
The Chief noticed something intermixed with the blood. Thin grey lines spread about.
Ashes.
"I can definitely say this ain't Reapers." Wrex said. "If it's already been three days they would've taken all the bodies...Not only that but Reapers retain their positions. They don't assault and completely abandon."
"Unless they moved most of their elements outside," Shepard said. "That doesn't make sense either. It's not like the Reapers are lacking reinforcements out here."
"Who sealed this place off?" Fred asked. "If the Reapers broke in, then why close it off?"
"Most likely the commando team cut it off prior. Probably to stop the Reapers from overrunning them." Liara answered. "Look at the ashes."
"Maybe the Reapers found another way in?" Shepard asked.
"Chief, look at this," Fred said.
The Chief cautiously walked to Fred. He was standing in front of an artifact. A simple rock sheet with incisions and ancient ink. The Chief looked at it…
"Can you tell me anything about this?" The Chief said, turning to the Asari doctor.
It took her a minute to take her eyes off all the bodies and blood. She took a shaky breath and walked to two Spartans.
"Um...ancient Athame based Asari mythology…. Goddess, it looks like the structure under the statue."
The keyship of Thessia shadowed what looked like ancient Asari workers. The lightly detailed keyship itself was painted in red. There seemed to be a figure directly under it, arms raised towards the sky. While its entire body was human, its head was angular. A flat face. Oval shaped eyes. An elongated back head that formed into a single cone.
"Before the Goddess Athame, there were the Asari guides Janiri and Lucien." She motioned to the two other statues connected to the walls. "It is said Athame had descended upon Thessia from the heavens, called upon to enlighten the Asari race."
And the Chief assumed the keyship was the 'heavens.'
Shepard's team was still focused on the bodies.
Green lights shot up on the Chief's hud. Section cleared. No contact.
"Sir…" The Chief said. Shepard's attention was shifted to him. The Chief motioned to the Statue. "If no one's alive, there's nothing we can do for them. We have to keep moving."
Shepard walked forward, carefully and quietly. The Chief had seen the look on his face before. It's… 'shellshock.'
Commander Shepard slowly approached the statue. Weapon lowered. He couldn't help but stare at the bodies surrounding it. Blood covered the console that stood in front of the statue and the small stream that surrounded it.
"Liara, try to access it," Shepard said.
"Goddess…" Samara said as Liara approached the console. "The Justicars have based the entire code on the Athame Doctrine… To see it defiled…"
Liara stepped toward the console, and a green holographic interface appeared.
"Sierra-117 to Sierra-Mike, status on Condor dropship?" Spartan Miller said on the team comms.
"We're ready and standing by, Sierra. Give us the go ahead and we'll drop off the payload."
The Chief cut the horn.
"There's an encryption here….I can't seem to access it…" Liara said, distraught.
A single symbol appeared on the holo-display, replacing everything else. Blue Team recognized it.
The Reclamation.
The Master Chief stepped forward. Liara instinctively stepped out of the way. John placed his hand on the console… The base of the statue began to move.
"...How did you…" Liara began.
"We should move." The Master Chief answered.
...
Shepard had never seen anything like it before.
The statue had broken apart into several pieces, morphing into the curtain-like wall. It left nothing but a large gap and a platform. A platform hovering on empty space.
The descent was silent. At first, it was merely darkness. Then blue streaks of light intersected the grey walls, covered by translucent panels of glass. There was only faint dark light from those blue streaks. The wall immediately parted to reveal the ravines and caverns of glass and blue light. Ravines where the grey metal and earth of Thessia intermix seamlessly.
Below was a pool of blue light. Right where they were heading to.
"What is this place?" Liara asked… Out of all people, the Prothean expert asked.
"It doesn't matter…" The Chief responded. "Wherever we're heading, we gather what we can, and exfil ASAP."
When they were walking through the Temple… Blue Team didn't even hesitate. Not one of them… Maybe that was the benefit of being so...inwardly.
But it seems whatever wiped out all of the Zhu's Hope colonists...weren't Reapers.
"This is Spartan Miller on all channels, hal copy?"
Spartan Miller… He was part of the three-man condor crew that was launched from the Normandy.
"This is Shore Party, send traffic," Shepard responded
"We're dropping off a package that'll hopefully help you extract whatever the hell's down there. ETA: sixty seconds."
The Master Chief had mentioned something like that. That's why he had the rest of Blue Team stay on the surface. Shepard, however, didn't want to risk any of his team. That's why he wanted to go alone… Expect Liara of course refused to leave his side.
Shepard didn't have much time to think about it, but as the elevator continued to smoothly glide down to their destination there were many odd things about this mission.
This mission was already sketchy from the start. Lord Hood didn't even want Shepard and his team here in the first place. And it's so strange the Spartans had their own support chain completely separate from the Normandy. Shepard had absolutely no oversight. Never did. The Master Chief was pushing them further and further, giving them no time to ask questions.
Blue Team was entirely autonomous. They really wouldn't follow his orders.
Now, what the hell could Miller be dropping off that could help them?
Liara, maybe thinking the same thing, maybe not, accessed her Omni-tool. She typed in a text message. Sent it to Shepard and the Normandy.
EDI, Blue Team's transport is dropping off some sort of package. Have Tali and her team scan the contents, and send it up to the Normandy for analysis.
Shepard stepped away from Liara to the Master Chief. He looked with the Master Chief at the Ravine.
"What do you know about this place?" Shepard asked. "What does the UNSC know?"
No answer.
They seemed to almost reach their destination. Shepard could finally see some sort of floor down below.
"Shepard, the Condor is dropping off the package. Once the elevator comes up, we'll send it down." Wrex said over comms.
Shepard acknowledged. The elevator stopped in front of a long walkway, encased in distant walls of glass and a similar infinite ravine down below. Ahead, maybe about two-hundred meters was a pillar of white light.
The Chief walked forward, weapon raised, scanning all corners. Liara and Shepard followed suit.
The walkway was poorly lite. When they covered maybe about one-hundred meters, Shepard began to spot more Human bodies and blood. More colonist soldiers.
"Goddess… They were able to get down here too." Liara commented.
Shepard didn't even raise his rifle anymore. Liara followed closely behind him.
Shepard could see a few more bodies next to the pillar of light. One of them was an Asari with green skin.
The Chief directed his weapon at her. "I've got movement."
Shepard was awakened from the trance. He stepped to the Chief's right and raised his Mattock.
"Coming from the console." The Chief added.
They reached the pillar of light. It was in the center of this circular room with two other similar walkways connected to it. A console fully surrounded the pillar.
Shepard looked up. The pillar continued, disappeared into blue mist contained in an infinite ceiling.
Shepard noticed the Asari moving, coughing.
"She's alive." Shepard opened up his Omni-tool and prepared medi-gel.
The Master Chief reached the Asari first, weapon still raised. Shepard rushed over to her side, kneeled down. He recognized the Asari. He knew her. Shiala.
Her black armor and chin were covered with wet purple blood. There was a putrid smell coming from her body. She gripped her side. Her skin was a lighter shade of green then Shepard remembered it.
"Commander Shepard…" She said, smiling. Shepard could see the faint tattoos surrounding her eyes and cheekbones. "Good to see you again."
"Shiala…." Shepard said. Liara also kneeled next to her. She waved her arm, and began to distribute whatever medi-gel she had along with beginning analytics of her wound. "What happened…?"
"We...we reinforced the science and Temple security team here…." She groaned in pain.
The Master Chief looked from her to the console. He lowered his rifle, quietly observed the pillar of light. The holographic interface transformed into the same symbol in the Temple.
"That symbol...The scientists said it never appeared before…" Shiala coughed. "Humans were able to completely access all the systems… Our team was ambushed…"
The Chief stood there, staring at the symbol. Shepard realized he was on a private comm channel with Blue Team and the Condor.
"What are you saying?" Shepard asked the Chief.
"...This place...this place," Shila continued.
Liara stayed at her side. Shepard stood up and stepped forward towards the Chief. "What the hell IS THIS PLACE!?"
"Shepard." Liara tried to plead. She turned back to Shiala. "Why did the Reapers abandon this place? Who attacked you?"
Shiala coughed up a small amount of purple blood. "...Wasn't the Reapers...wasn't Cerberus either… Something much worse…"
"Shepard!?" Wrex screamed on the comms. "Blue Team forced the package down the elevator. We tried stopping them, but they turned on us!"
"SHEPARD!" EDI interrupted. "We've detective large amounts of lithium triteride and fusion energy encased in nine separate hafnium-based containers."
"What's in that package!?" Shepard said. "What the hell are you doing!?"
"Shepard...I've just calculated the energy output…"
"They killed all the Reapers outside the Temple… The Reapers retreated…" Shiala whispered.
"The potential fusion power in this could rip a planet in half." EDI finished.
Shepard stepped away from the Chief. He unloaded his rifle and loaded in a new heat sink. He cocked the weapon and aimed it at the back of the Chief's head.
"Master Chief Petty Officer, ANSWER ME!"
Shiala gripped her wound, "their weapons are like nothing we've ever seen."
There was a small echoey noise. Shepard looked away for a brief moment. The elevator was coming down.
"WHAT WERE YOUR ORDERS!?" Shepard yelled.
Shiala looked to Liara one last time. "...They're...still….here… We...tried..."
Shepard could see her body went limp. Her head leaned forward and off to the side. The heartbeat monitor on Liara's Omni-tool flatlined.
Liara slowly stood up. Her body was shaky. Her face dead. She backed up to Shepard's side.
"WHAT WERE YOUR GODDAMN ORDERS!?" Shepard screamed again.
The Master Chief turned his head. He was quiet and sullen. "I have to move the payload to the main energy pylon here. I'm sorry, sir."
Payload?
He slowly stepped around Shepard and Liara. Shepard put his hand on his armor. The Chief merely shrugged it off as he continued walking.
"As your commanding officer, I order you to stand down!" Shepard raised his rifle up again. He unclicked the safety. It echoed in the hallway.
"I have my orders, sir." The Chief responded.
"DON'T DO IT!" Shepard tried to order.
"Do you have any idea what you're doing!?" Liara added. "You'll kill hundreds of millions, if not billions of people! You have to realize this!"
"YOU KNOW THESE ORDERS ARE WRONG!"
Does he? Does he have any idea what he's trying to do?
He wanted to scream what was the UNSC trying to hide. Ask him what did he know. But Shepard knew he wouldn't get a response.
What Shepard saw a couple of days ago…. The tears that flowed down their cheeks. The love they had for each other, did it extend past themselves? To those bodies that littered the Temple room and this hallway?
All they saw was a mission. And they won't stop.
Liara panickily looked at Shepard. He could see she was trying to think of something, and when she did she turned back to the Chief.
"What about Cortana?! What would she want!?" She pleaded.
That made the Master Chief stopped for a brief moment. He stared straight forward as the elevator came down. Shepard could see a large black box on the platform.
"My orders were to destroy this artifact. Whatever the cost." He replied.
"Whatever the cost!?" Shepard repeated. "Jesus...you're nothing more than a GODDAMN MACHINE!"
The Master Chief remained motionless for another moment. He took another step.
"DON'T!" Shepard ordered. "That is an order!"
"Does Captain Lasky know about this?" Liara said. "There can be another way."
"...There's not." He took another step.
Shepard shouldered his rifle, aimed down the sights at center mass. "I'M WARNING YOU! DON'T MAKE ME DO THIS."
...
At any and all costs.