A/N: Thank you ela11, tlcinbflo, jediserenity82, Vorcha Girl, skywalker-hiddleston, Kirabaros and Jules Hawk for your lovely reviews! They made my day as always! Enjoy!
Vorcha Girl - thank you for being my wonderful beta!
Chapter 31 The Conduit
Shepard slowly drifted to wakefulness through the hazy fog of sleep. Something was different; it smelled different and there was a weight laying across her stomach. She breathed in again.
Hints of ozone; a spicy cologne.
Kaidan.
Her eyes popped open and she was wide awake within seconds as memories of the past night came flooding back to her mind. And what a night it had been. They had gone more than one round before they had dozed off together, exhausted but happy. How could she have forgotten that she had slept with her lieutenant?
Nick glanced at her alarm. They had nearly an hour before they were on duty again, but he should probably leave her cabin before everybody else was up and about. With a quiet sigh of regret she carefully untangled herself from Kaidan's embrace, trying not to wake him yet.
Their clothes still lay on the ground where they had been hastily discarded the previous evening. She gathered her uniform together to put everything in the laundry hamper and retrieved a fresh set of clothes from the closet before heading under the shower.
Not ten minutes later she sat on the edge of her desk watching the marine in her bed sleep peacefully. His generally pristine hair was tousled, his jaw slack. He looked so relaxed. Her heart stuttered. Nick knew she was in deep trouble. She truly didn't care about fraternization regs anymore; she just wanted Kaidan. Nobody had ever made her feel so relaxed or taken her outbursts of anger with the stride he had.
She would have to wake him soon, but for now Nick decided to enjoy the view she had of his naked form sprawled on his stomach. She licked her lips as her eyes traveled from his broad shoulders down to his narrow hips.
What a sight.
The object of her observations stirred slowly and then rolled on his back, opening his eyes. For a moment he lay still, staring at the overhead. Nick watched as Kaidan pulled his eyebrows together in a brief frown before his face relaxed again and he sat up.
"Morning." His voice was rough with sleep, but the crooked smile on his face made her insides do a flip.
"Morning." Nick pushed herself off of the desk and kneeled on the bed. She leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on his lips. Kaidan responded by slipping her the tongue and deepening the kiss. She moaned softly.
"Bridge to Commander Shepard, we're five minutes out from the Mu Relay!" Joker's voice rang through the cabin.
They pulled apart slowly, exchanging equally amused and annoyed glances.
"If he keeps it up like this I'm going to kill him," Kaidan whispered, running a thumb over her cheek.
Nick sniggered. "That might not be the best idea, Alenko. But it's tempting, that's for sure."
"At least he didn't interrupt us last night," Kaidan replied, amber eyes gazing at her intently. He took a deep breath. "I guess you'd better get going then."
"And you'd better get dressed and out of here before the morning rush starts. Otherwise we'll have a lot of explaining to do. Hop to it, marine!" Nick gave him another quick kiss before standing up and heading towards the bulkhead. Just as she reached it she cast a quick glance over her shoulder. Kaidan was watching her, but hadn't moved otherwise. She raised her eyebrows. "I'll see you in the helm in five minutes, Lieutenant."
Nick turned away with a grin and left. She knew he would be there.
Kaidan watched the bulkhead close with a quiet whoosh. He dressed quickly and went to his sleeping pod, grabbing a fresh uniform and his shaving bag. Four minutes was not a lot of time to shower and shave, but he could do it.
On his way out he cast a rapid glance at Ashley's pod. It was empty. Kaidan groaned inwardly. Knowing Ash she would have noticed right away that his sleeper pod was empty and then jumped to conclusions.
Great.
Five minutes later Kaidan stood outside the bulkhead to the helm, hair still damp from the shower, with two coffees in hand. He had even managed to make Shepard the quick version of his 'special', as she tended to call it.
Ashley and Liara were already there, both watching the mass relay approach at great speed. As he stepped inside Ash turned her head towards him and a grin immediately spread over her face.
"Sleep good last night, LT? Saw your pod was empty already when I got up." Her tone was teasing.
Shepard turned around at the mention of his rank, her eyes meeting his as a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.
"Never better," Kaidan replied, keeping a straight face as he walked past Ashley and handed Nick her coffee before taking the co-pilot seat. He powered up the console, ignoring the stares of the women as they burned into the back of his head. Kaidan kept his eyes locked on the terminal in front of him, watching the system diagnostics as the mass relay flung them toward their destination.
The Normandy dropped from FTL and instantly a number of hostile vessels appeared on his screen. "We have company," he informed them. Kaidan swallowed when he saw the sheer number of geth vessels orbiting Ilos. So many! He swiftly checked the stealth system; they were running silent.
"Have their sensors picked us up yet?" Liara sounded tense.
Joker snorted. "Stealth systems are engaged. Unless we're close enough for a visual they won't have any idea we're here!"
"Picking up some strange readings from the planet's surface," Navigator Pressley interrupted.
Shepard nodded. "Joker, take us down and lock in on those coordinates."
Pressley replied in the negative, telling them the nearest landing zone was two klicks away.
Kaidan frowned. "We won't make it on time if we go in on foot."
He looked at Shepard, who returned his gaze worriedly. "I agree. Pressley, can you find something closer?"
"Negative, Commander." The answer was prompt.
Kaidan watched as Shepard narrowed her eyes, scowling at the planet in front of them. "Drop us in the Mako."
The navigator spun around. "Commander, you need at least one hundred meters of open terrain to pull off a drop like that. The closest I can find is twenty!"
"Twenty meters!" Ashley exclaimed, voicing Kaidan's thoughts. "We need another landing zone."
"There is none!" Pressley snapped.
"The descent angle is too steep," Kaidan threw in.
He was just about to say more when Joker cut in.
"I can do it," the pilot stated.
Shepard looked at him. "Joker?"
He turned around and repeated firmly, "I can do it."
Kaidan watched as Nick looked out of the window at the approaching planet. He saw the muscles in her jaw twitch and she briefly closed her eyes. Then they snapped open and she turned her head to look at him.
"Alenko." Her eyes lingered on him for a moment before wandering further until they settled on Garrus, who had followed shortly after Kaidan. "And Vakarian. Suit up!"
Kaidan hurried to get up as Nick turned to look at Liara. "Sorry, Liara. You'll have plenty of opportunities to research the prothean ruins here after we've dealt with Saren. And I can't risk you getting distracted by some prothean artifact while the geth are busy shooting at us." The last sentence had a light, teasing note to it and Kaidan was aware that Shepard was trying to break the tension.
Today, there was no banter as they stripped down to their skivvies and quickly pulled on their underarmor, only the rustling sound of the fabric, followed by the sound of buckles and fastenings being closed.
As soon as Shepard was done, she turned her back to Kaidan and glanced at him over her shoulder. He stepped closer, slowly running his hands along the closures of her armor. Memories of the past night flooded through him and his breath caught in his throat as he thought of the soft skin underneath.
He rested his hands on her hips longer than was appropriate before the mandatory double pat on her shoulder.
"You're all set, Commander." His voice was rough.
Nick flashed him a smile thanking him, and signaled for him to turn around so she could return the favor. He wondered if her thoughts took the same turn as his did when he felt her hands run along his shoulder blades and down his sides. She gave him a light squeeze when her hands reached his hips, and then double-tapped his shoulder.
"Good to go, Lieutenant."
The comm crackled. "We're approaching the drop zone, Commander. ETA two minutes."
"Thank you, Joker," Shepard answered, grabbing her prefered weapons and a number of grenades. Kaidan holstered his pistol and joined Garrus who had been finished before either of them as he always wore his armor. She motioned at the Mako. "Here we go, people."
They mounted, taking up their usual seats without Shepard having to say anything.
She opened a comm channel. "Joker, we're all set!"
"Aye-aye, Commander, ETA 30 seconds."
She started the Mako and the M-35 shook slightly as the engine droned, jostling them in their seats.
"Ten seconds, Commander." Joker's voice warned over the comm as the cargo ramp opened ahead of them.
Shepard played with the gas, revving the engine.
"Five … four … three … two … one … go!"
The Mako lurched forward and Kaidan gripped the handle overhead. He shot a quick glance with Garrus only to see the turian gripping the handles firmly with both hands, mandibles fluttering in annoyance, before he assumed the correct position for the impending free fall.
The feeling in Kaidan's gut changed as the Mako went from a forward motion to free fall. It lasted mere seconds before Shepard activated the microthrusters slowing their descent. The impact on Ilos' surface jolted through his body and before he had a chance to recover the Mako surged forward as Shepard put the peddle to the metal.
Garrus swore loudly. "Dammit, Shepard! When are you going to learn the right timing for those thrusters?"
"Shut up, Vakarian," she snapped. "Look ahead!"
There, maybe thirty meters in front of them, they saw a number of geth entering an underground bunker, the gates closing behind them. Shepard urged the Mako forwards.
They weren't going to make it.
"Shepard," Kaidan warned. "No way we're gonna make it!"
She swore profusely and slammed on the brakes, causing the Mako to skid as it came to a stop just meters in front of the closing gate.
"Dismount!" Shepard ordered, unfastening her safety buckles and grabbing her weapons. She scrambled out of the vehicle, running towards the gates. They snapped shut in front of her nose. "Fuck!" she exclaimed, running her hands over the gate, searching for a control panel. After a short moment she stepped away from the wall. "Lieutenant!"
Kaidan had already activated his omnitool. There was nothing here, no control panel, nothing. At least not on the outside. He gave them the information.
Nick swore again, hands on her hips, glaring at the offending gate.
"If Saren got in there has to be a control panel somewhere," Garrus threw in.
Kaidan took a step towards Shepard. "Garrus is right, Shepard. We just have to find it," he said to her in a low voice. "And the sooner we move, the better."
Kaidan glanced around. Something was unsettling about this place. The ruins were full of vines creeping along the walls, large trees, and roots which gnawed at the stone. It was a lush world, but something was missing. He listened again as they slowly passed the Mako. Wind rustled in the leaves, but there was no sound of any animals. No birds, no insects. Nothing.
"Feel like I'm walking over somebody's grave," he muttered.
Garrus and Nick both turned to look at him, looking curious.
"Well, the protheans have been extinct for 50,000 years," Garrus stated.
Kaidan shook his head. "No, not only that. I mean, listen. There is nothing. No birds singing or insects chirping. There is n- "
A geth trooper suddenly stepped around a corner, followed by another, and Kaidan Threw them back before the others had time to aim at them. He drew his pistol and followed Shepard past the smoking bodies, picking their way carefully through thick ferns, over the roots and tendrils covering the ground, and weaving between fallen rocks.
Another geth appeared in her path and she blasted it backwards with her shotgun.
Nick frowned as she came to a clearing littered with fallen blocks and went into cover behind a pillar. Kaidan stepped next to her, opening his omni-tool while Garrus knelt down on one knee on the opposite side of the path, sniper rifle in shooting position.
"At least six tangos," Kaidan said. "No, wait. Two more just powered up."
"Let's even the odds," Shepard responded with a cold gleam in her eyes as she holstered her shotgun and traded it for her sniper rifle. She mirrored Garrus' position and the first two geth that ventured from cover fell to well-placed sniper shots. A third peeked around a barrier only to be fried by an Overload.
Nick switched weapons again and ordered them to advance. They sprinted for the next cover, popping out only to take out any geth troopers coming their way, when the familiar sound of an active geth armature reached Kaidan's ears.
He scooted to edge of the block and glanced around it. There. Not just one, but two geth armatures stood there. The first advanced slowly, it's head moving from one side to the other as it searched the perimeter. Kaidan's heart nearly stopped as Shepard broke cover and began firing at the first armature with her shotgun.
The geth's head swivelled in on her position and Kaidan Overloaded its shields. He immediately followed up the tech attack with a Warp and the armature crumpled to the ground. Shepard stood there, staring at the geth remains with an open mouth, seemingly oblivious of the second armature heading their way.
"Shepard! Get to cover, dammit!" Garrus' voice rang out.
Kaidan silently agreed as he waited for the hot, prickling sensation at the base of his skull to cool down, glancing at Shepard who still stood in clear sight of the geth.
Damn stubborn woman.
He frowned at his omni-tool. The fabrication unit still wasn't finished priming the next tech grenade. He was aware of Garrus changing positions, unable to get a clear shot at the geth, and he watched as the armature's siege pulse shot towards Shepard. She rolled to the side in a perfect combat roll, evading it at the last moment.
The heat at the base of his skull was gone and Kaidan flared as he gathered his biotics, Lifting the geth off its feet.
"Wow!" Nick exclaimed with awe in her voice, lowering her shotgun a fraction before coming to her senses and shooting at the confused armature floating in mid-air. It crashed to the ground, smouldering, and filled the heavy air with the smell of fried circuits. She looked at Kaidan with a heated gaze when he stepped next to her and whispered, "That was pretty hot, Lieutenant."
Kaidan felt his cheeks burn at her comment and Garrus' quiet laughter behind them.
They continued their way through the ruins, following the stairs to a lower level and encountering a large number of geth hoppers before moving through a trench leading them deeper into the complex.
"Liara would've had a field day down here," Kaidan ventured, glancing at the statues they passed.
Nick let out a short laugh as she followed his gaze. "That's why I left her on the Normandy. We would've never gotten her away from all this."
"Maybe we should've left you on the Normandy, too, Shepard," Garrus teased. "You seemed a little distracted taking out those armatures."
Kaidan smirked as he watched Shepard cast an embarrassed glance at the ground, muttering something unintelligible under her breath as she purposefully strode through the trench in front of them, shotgun at the ready. They climbed the ramp at the end of the trench, followed a winding chasm and found themselves overlooking an open courtyard.
Shepard dropped to a knee and pulled her sniper rifle at the sight of a geth destroyer below. Garrus followed her example.
"Kaidan," she said quietly as she peered through her scope. "Can you take care of those shock troopers at one o'clock?"
"On it," he confirmed, Sabotaging the three geth shock troopers and taking them out with his pistol as Shepard and Garrus focused on the destroyer. As soon as it was down Shepard jumped the barricade, instantly drawing fire from an elevated platform. She scrambled for cover.
Kaidan looked at the platform and saw two more shock troopers focusing their weapons on Shepard. He unleashed a Throw and sent both geth careening off of the platform, while Garrus took out the remaining troopers in the courtyard.
A short time - and a no small measure of geth - later they found an active elevator going deeper into the facility.
Garrus clicked his mandibles. "This place still has power! It must be running off its own generator."
"I bet this leads to a command center for the whole complex," Kaidan replied, looking around. "Maybe Saren's troops sealed the doors from here after he went in."
Garrus agreed. "It'll have a security lockdown."
"For sure. We'll just have to disengage it to get inside that bunker." Kaidan shrugged. He wasn't worried and he didn't know why Garrus was. Garrus was good at hacking, but he knew he was better.
Shepard turned around to them just as the elevator doors slid open. "You seem pretty confident, Alenko." There was a smile playing on her lips taking away the sting those words could have held otherwise.
He smiled back and shrugged again. "I know what I can do." A suggestive undertone slipped into his already husky voice and her smile widened.
"Spirits, can you two knock it off for five minutes! Battlefield flirting is one thing, but you guys are taking this to a whole new level." Garrus sounded more amused than annoyed as he looked from one Alliance officer to the other.
Shepard and Kaidan both blushed as they stepped off of the elevator. They advanced slowly, more hostiles showing up on their HUDs. Ahead they could make out a large chamber.
Shepard brought her sniper rifle up to her eyes and scoped out the visible part of the chamber. "I see at least two destroyers and one juggernaut."
"There's bound to be more," Garrus remarked drily.
"No kidding, Vakarian!" Shepard snorted, lowering her rifle. She moved slowly forwards. "Alenko, can you Sabotage that juggernaut?"
Kaidan hesitated, and then nodded. "If I go a little closer yet, then yes."
"Do it!" The order was spoken softly as she aimed her sniper rifle and shot. Kaidan sent out the Sabotage, successfully shorting the juggernaut's weapons.
It proved to be more difficult than they had expected, the pillars of a gallery blocking their view as more hostiles showed up on their HUDs. Shepard motioned for them to get to the high ground and they raced up to the gallery where they dove into cover behind the balustrade.
He ducked low while his amp and his omni-tool cooled down, wondering why the armatures he had seen weren't active.
"Fuck."
Kaidan cast a short look at Shepard, who had uttered the word and then glimpsed over banister.
A geth prime.
A red dot in his HUD moved under the gallery towards the ramp leading up, followed closely by a second unit. Kaidan scooted to the side, pulling his pistol, and shot the first geth shock trooper in the head as it came in sight. The following rocket trooper ended the same way.
He returned his attention to the geth prime as Garrus Overloaded it and Shepard shot its head off. The large geth platform collapsed.
Kaidan looked at Nick. She was leaning against the balustrade, eyes closed, breathing in deeply. As if she felt his gaze she opened her eyes and returned his gaze.
"Move out," she ordered after taking another breath.
They searched the security station for a command console and found it on the upper level in what was apparently the command center of the complex. Shepard eyed the console and Kaidan expected her to ask either him or Garrus to hack it. To his surprise she stepped closer to one of the terminals in the room and activated it.
Nothing happened.
Garrus cast a glance at his omni-tool. "We should get going if we want to reach the Conduit soon. Saren has quite the head start."
Kaidan could see the disappointment in Shepard's eyes as she turned away from the console in front of her, when a flickering light floating mid-air caught his attention.
"Hold on, something's happening!" he exclaimed.
Shepard spun around on her heel, standing right in front of an obviously damaged hologram. A message started playing, but it was a language Kaidan couldn't place and he mentioned as much.
"It's probably prothean," Garrus replied. "The recording must be at least 50,000 years old."
Kaidan nodded. "Of course. No wonder we can't understand it."
"The message is all broken up," Shepard threw in quietly, her eyes closed as she obviously listened to the hologram highly concentrated. "I recognize some of the words. It's a … warning against the Reaper invasion."
"You can understand it?" both men asked, surprised.
The commander nodded.
Kaidan stepped closer. "Maybe," he began, "the Cipher on Feros transferred a basic understanding of the prothean language into your mind?" His eyes locked with hers and he saw something akin to fear flash through her blue orbs.
Garrus clicked his mandibles as the hologram continued speaking. "What's it saying? Anything useful?"
Nick had a strained expression on her face. "Something about the Citadel being ... overwhelmed, I believe, and …only hope, followed by," she closed her eyes. "An act of desperation. Umm, it mentions the Conduit." Nick opened her eyes again and looked at her squadmates."It's badly damaged, I'm only getting small tidbits. The last thing I could understand were the words 'all is lost' and 'cannot be stopped'. We should get back to the Mako and see if that gate is open now." Her voice was grim, as was the message.
They met no further resistance as they returned to the Mako. Apparently the controls had worked, for the gate to the bunker was no longer closed, but led downward into a long chasm.
Kaidan eyed the entrance apprehensively; it gave him the shivers.
"Who votes we take the Mako into the creepy underground bunker?" he asked, trying to keep his voice light.
"I do," Garrus replied, sounding about as enthusiastic as Kaidan felt.
"And so do I. The extra firepower may come in handy," Shepard responded and climbed into the waiting vehicle. The other two followed quickly and the Mako moved forward, passing through the open gate.
The roughly hewn rock was soon replaced by high, smooth walls, interrupted by horizontal protrusions. High above them were bridges connecting the walls either side. Water flowed through two shallow channels at the floor of the chasm. The tingling unease Kaidan felt grew stronger. He shifted in his seat uncomfortably, checking the read-out of the Mako's scanner as they sped through the bunker. It showed nothing.
"I'm surprised there's no trap or ambush set up. Maybe they were in too much of a hurry?" Kaidan muttered.
"Or we just haven't run into it," Garrus declared.
He let out a grunt of assent and stared out the virtual windows at the … things on the wall.
"Those things on the wall, are they some kind of container? Maybe even stasis pods?" he wondered out loud.
"Possibly," Shepard answered, casting a quick look at him. "I imagine they tried to stay alive through cryogenic freezing."
"Don't think it worked out," Garrus put in.
"Yeah," Kaidan agreed. "This bunker became their tomb."
They fell silent for a while as they went on, the only resistance being a handful of geth rocket troopers, until they saw a shining barrier in the distance. The Mako came to a halt in front of it and they disembarked, only to find a similar barrier blocking the way back as well.
Shepard swore under her breath and marched towards an elevator to the right.
Garrus looked around. "If this was an automated trap, why didn't Saren trigger it?" he mused.
"Good question," Kaidan replied.
The elevator opened to another high room filled with stasis pods, a console visible in the center. They followed the walkway downward to the terminal, and Shepard activated it. Another hologram appeared.
"You are not prothean. But you are not machine, either. This eventuality was one of many that was anticipated. This is why we sent our warning through the beacons."
"This looks like a VI program. It's pretty badly damaged," Kaidan stated quietly. Then he started, suddenly confused. "Wait a minute? How come I can understand you?"
"I have been monitoring your communications since you arrived at the facility. I have translated my output into a format you can comprehend," the VI explained. "I do not sense the taint of indoctrination on you. Unlike the other that passed recently. Perhaps there is still hope. My name is Vigil. You are safe here, for the moment. But that is likely to change. Soon, nowhere will be safe."
The Vi continued, explaining that they had to break an ancient cycle in order to defeat the Reapers. It pointed out that the Citadel, the center of galactic civilization, was in reality an enormous mass relay, "one that links to dark space, the empty void beyond the galaxy's horizon".
The Citadel, so Vigil claimed, was the Reapers gateway into this galaxy, maintained by the keepers.
Kaidan watched as a flicker of surprise passed over Shepard's face before her Commander-mask fell back in place. It sounded so ...outlandish. Giving himself a shake, he focused on Shepard's conversation with Vigil.
"The one you call Saren will use the conduit to bypass Citadel defenses and Sovereign will open the relay, beginning the cycle of extinction again."
Shepard's face darkened. "What do I need to do?"
"Take a copy of my data file when you go and upload it to the Citadel's master control unit. It will corrupt the Citadel security protocols and give you temporary control over the station and give you a chance against Sovereign. Follow Saren. He will lead you to your destination."
After asking for some more background information Shepard turned and looked at Kaidan. "Alenko, grab that data and let's go!"
Kaidan nodded and opened his omni-tool to copy the file.
"The one you call Saren has not reached the Conduit. There is still hope if you hurry," Vigil said as they turned to leave.
Shepard nodded curtly.
When they reached the Mako the barriers blocking the way had vanished. Shepard was just about to climb into the vehicle when Kaidan called out to her.
"Shepard?"
She stopped and faced him, letting Garrus get into the Mako first as Kaidan stepped closer to her.
"You know you don't need to do this alone, right? We're here with you," he said softly, recalling the question she had asked Vigil.
A smile crossed her face and she reached up to touch his. He closed his eyes briefly at the gesture.
"I know," she whispered, slowly pulling her hand away and getting into the Mako. Kaidan followed her, quickly climbing into his seat.
The Mako leapt forward as Shepard accelerated, driving through the bunker at a breakneck speed. She stopped briefly to give Garrus a chance to line up shots with the cannon when they met heavier resistance.
At long last they arrived at the top of a slope leading downwards, behind which they could see the now active Conduit. Shepard slowed the Mako to a halt, gazing at the geth forces assembled below them.
"Garrus," she without turning her head, "can you get a clear shot on that Colossus at two o'clock? Let's even our odds."
The turian confirmed and after a series of shots the first colossus went down. The Mako inched forward, giving Garrus opportunity to aim at the second one. It crumpled. To their dismay the light of the Conduit suddenly changed. Shepard no longer focused on evening the odds. She accelerated to full speed, dodging and weaving through enemy fire as best she could.
"It's the Mako that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsec," Nick said looking at him over her shoulder just before the Conduit's energy took hold of the Mako, catapulting them towards the Citadel in the blink of an eye. Kaidan heard the relief in her voice and laughed, both at the comment and at the fact they had made it on time.
They were going to stop Saren.
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