A/N: Thank you to drapeaubateau, SerenityFalconNormandy, Impslave, Jules Hawk, Vorcha Girl, jediserenity82 and ela11 for your reviews! They made my day as always. Also, welcome and thank you to any new followers. Enjoy!
Chapter 42. The Collector Base
The Omega 4 relay, surrounded by a sinister reddish glow, came hurtling closer as Shepard stood behind Joker's seat.
"Time to see if the Reaper IFF was worth all the trouble. Take us in," she ordered firmly. Nothing in her voice gave away that she was wondering if she had just sentenced them all to a sudden death.
She cast a glance over her shoulder at her team assembled just outside the helm. Everyone had their eyes fixed on the relay as bursts of red energy crackled along the hull as a power surge propelled the Normandy towards the galaxy's core.
Tightening her grip on Joker's headrest, Shepard watched as the Normandy shot through the relay on the other side - and emerged in a debris field.
"Shit!" Joker exclaimed, maneuvering them around chunks of metal and the remains of ships..
"Looks like we found all the other ships that tried getting through the relay," Garrus stated, stepping closer to look out the window.
"Keelah!" Tali added quietly.
Nick furrowed her brow as the Normandy barely avoided being caught between two large wrecks as EDI informed them of an energy signature at the edge of the accretion disk.
"Take us in for a closer look. That might just be the Collector Base," Nick told Joker quietly, her eyes glued on a large wreck drifting by. It missed hitting the Normandy by inches. "Nice and easy."
They cleared the debris field only to come across an old friend - the Collector ship that had destroyed the original Normandy and the colony on Horizon, though this time they were prepared. The Normady swerved to the side, avoiding a direct hit by the Collector ship while the Thanix Cannons charged. Nick clenched her fist in anticipation as the cannons fired the first time, waiting for it to hit true. Ordering Joker to get in close to finish them off she prayed to all known enteties that their shields held as the Collector ship fired another round.
"Give 'em hell," Nick told Joker after he successfully evaded another attack. A manic grin spread on her helmsman's face, and he slammed his fist down on the controls. Grim satisfaction spread through her as she watched the Collector cruiser break apart after another direct hit.
"Take that, you sons-of-bitches!" Joker called triumphantly, but it was short-lived as the Normandy was caught in the shockwave of the exploding Collector ship, causing the mass effect field generators to fail.
The warning "All hands brace for impact" came immediately before the Normandy crashed on the Collector base. Nick was thrown to the ground through the impact, the sound of metal grinding over stone filling her ears. There seemed to be no end of the screaching sound of mistreated metal as the Normandy slid over the rocky surface.
I hope we can make it back, Kaidan, she thought, a wave of fear and regret surging through her. She wondered how badly this would damage the Normandy. Maybe she should have insisted on more upgrades before rushing off to rescue her crew.
Would they be able to get off this rock again? Would they make it back through the relay?
Finally the Normandy came to a halt, and the unholy sound of metal on rock was replaced by silence. Nick breathed heavily, her ears ringing and her heart thundering.
"Joker, are you alright?" she asked, worried for her friend after the crash.
EDI gave her the damage report. It was extensive and would take a while, but it wasn't impossible. And they appeared to be undetected from enemy forces for now. Apparently the Collectors hadn't expected anybody to get this far and had little security set up, which was fine with Nick. It gave them time to do the necessary repairs.
She looked at her team as they gathered around the table in the briefing room.
"Well, this didn't go quite as planned, but here we are," she began, a grim expression on her face. "We don't know when the Normandy can get us back through the relay, or if she can get us back at all, but that isn't our problem right now. Our primary objective is to stop the Collectors, and for me that's pretty much the same as destroying this base. EDI, bring up the scans!"
"Looks like there are two main routes," Jacob commented. "It might be a good idea to split into two teams and then regroup in that central chamber."
He looked at the others expectantly, but Miranda was already shaking her head. Shepard nodded, letting Miranda point out that both routes were blocked. They had to get somebody inside to open the gates for them.
Nick sighed. "Much as I'd love to just blow those doors open, I don't want to give our presence away one second earlier than necessary. That means we need a distraction, or an alternative. This isn't a fortress, so there have to be other ways in." She squinted at the schematics in front of her. "Here, this ventilation shaft looks big enough for a single person to crawl through. I know it sounds like something from a goddamn movie, but we can't be too picky right now."
"Sounds like a suicide mission," somebody muttered under their breath.
"This whole thing is going to be a suicide mission if we don't find a way to take out this station," Shepard pointed out. "Whoever goes in there should be good at tech to hack security, and preferably not too big. We don't know if there are any choke points on the way." She looked back and forth between Tali and Kasumi with an apologetic smile. "Kasumi, are you up for this?"
The thief gave a quick nod, and Nick continued, "Tali, Legion, I want you two to stay here and help Joker and EDI get the Normandy prepped. The rest of us will form two teams and head down the two main passages. With some luck that'll draw the Collector's attention away from you while you hack your way into the station and open the doors for us. Miranda, Grunt, you're with me. Garrus - you lead the second team," she said before anyone could make any suggestions.
"There's no room for mistakes. We don't know what we'll find inside this base, but whatever it is, it's not going to be easy. Once we're in they're going to throw everything they have at us. The Collectors kidnapped our crewmates, they abducted hundred thousands colonists, but that ends today." Anger seeped through her voice as it grew stronger with every word. "It's time for some payback. Let's bring our people home!"
Getting to the main chamber proved more difficult than expected. The ventilation shaft had several choke points that had to be manually unlocked, and Collector forces tried their best to stop them as Nick and her team made their way along the winding passage, rushing from one valve to the next.
"Shepard," Miranda called out suddenly. "You need to see this."
Nick turned away from Kasumi as she hacked the door for them to enter, and walked over to Miranda. The Cerberus officer gestured into a vast cavernous room full with Collector pods, and they slowly entered. Large pipes lead away from the pods, converging towards a spot in the ceiling of the chamber.
Revolving slowly around her own axis, her gaze swept along the walls covered in pods. All were linked to the large pipes, and Nick felt her hair stand on end. If the Collector ship had felt wrong, this place felt even worse. She swallowed, gripping her sniper rifle tightly as shiver after shiver ran down her spine. She drew a deep breath, and nearly gagged at the sweetish, fetid stench that filled the chamber.
Focus.
"Shepard!" Garrus called, waving her over to one of the pods. "This looks like one of the missing colonists, possibly from Horizon!"
Turning on her heel, Nick went over to Garrus and peered through the transparent cover of the pod. Inside was a young woman wearing a badge that read "Horizon Home Defense Engineers".
The crawling sense of foreboding increased as Nick reached out to touch the pod's surface. She narrowed her eyes, discerning a slight movement from the young woman, but it was so short that Nick wasn't sure she'd really seen anything. She heard Mordin call out that there were more, but she kept her gaze fixed on the pod in front of her.
"Fuck!" Nick muttered under her breath when what looked like tiny, black larvae suddenly crawled all over the colonist. They had appeared out of nowhere. The woman's flesh took on a mottled look, and began dissolving at an incredible speed. The engineer's eyes popped open just as a piece of her flesh melted off her bone. Shepard stood momentarily frozen in horror at the scene in front of her until her brain registered what she was seeing.
"Get them out of there! Hurry, they're still alive!" she barked in time with a scream from within the pod, desperately trying to open the lid while the young woman inside continued to scream and pound at the lid from within, leaving bloody streaks. Nick dug her fingers into the crevice where lid and corpus joined, and pulled with all the strength she could muster. Clenching her eyes shut she strained every muscle in another futile attempt to rescue the colonist, barely noticing that the woman's screams had turned to choked sobs and subsided as her flesh and bones were liquefied.
A strangled cry of frustration escaped Nick. This colonist, whoever she was, was lost.
Around her the team had succeeded in opening several other pods while Nick turned to the next one feeling sick to her stomach. This time she heard a satisfying hiss as the lid opened, and one of her crew members toppled out. She quickly laid him on the ground and moved to the next one.
Finally, there was only one pod left. Nick reached it just as the lid unsealed, and Dr. Chakwas slid into her arms.
"Doctor? Doctor, are you okay?" Shepard asked urgently. She glanced around. The abducted crew mates were all standing on their own feet again, though everybody was visibly shaken.
The doctor straightened up slowly. "You came for us," she said. "I knew you would, but -." She shuddered before continuing, "The colonists were processed. These little … robots turned their bodies into a gray liquid and pumped it through these tubes." The doctor's gaze drifted to the large pipes running across the ceiling to the large chasm.
Shepard furrowed her brow glancing up at the tubes as well. "What is the purpose of this all? Why are they turning humans to … mush?"
"I don't know," the doctor admitted. "But I'm glad you got here before this happened to us."
"Yeah. Me too, but now we have to finish our job here." Nick opened a comm channel. "Joker? Can you get a fix on our position?"
"Roger that, Commander," came the prompt reply. "The tubes lead into the main control room right above you. The direct route is blocked by a security door, but there is another chamber that runs parallel to the one you're in -."
EDI interrupted the helmsman, pointing out that the thermal emissions of the neighboring chamber suggested it was overrun with seeker swarms. "Mordin's countermeasure cannot protect you against so many at once," the AI concluded.
"There has to be another way," Shepard insisted. She looked at the biotic squad members thoughtfully. "What about biotics? Would it be possible to create biotic barrier large enough for a small strike force to keep the seeker swarms away? A biotic bubble?"
"It's called a biotic field, Shepard," Miranda commented, but Nick waved her comment aside.
"I don't care what it's called, I just want to know if it's possible."
Samara stepped forward. "Yes, I believe it is possible, but it is a very draining process. The group should be small, and move swiftly."
Shepard nodded. "That's decided then. We split up again. A small strike force goes through the seeker swarm infested tunnel to open the security doors, and the others provide a diversion by going through the main tunnel. Jack, I want you to maintain the field. You feel up to it?"
"What kind of fucking stupid question is that? Of course I feel up to it," the young biotic bristled.
"Perfect. Joker? Can you get close enough to this location to pick up Dr. Chakwas and the other crew members?" Shepard threw a short glance in their direction. There was no way the were in any condition to fight; the only logical decision was sending them back to the Normandy.
"Aye, Commander, though I'll still have to land a bit back from your position," he confirmed.
"Mordin, you escort the doctor and the others back to the Normandy."
After assigning the teams, Nick lead her small strike team to the neighboring tunnel. On her signal they gathered behind Jack who created a biotic barrier large enough for the small group. Soon after entering the tunnel they realized that the seeker swarms interfered with the radio contact with the diversion team.
Nick swore loudly as she received only garbled chatter.
"Move out," she growled to her team, and they made their way deeper into the tunnel. Nick eyed the seeker swarms buzzing around them warily, but apparently the biotic field combined with Mordin's countermeasure successfully hid them from their attention. She ignored the tingling sensation between her shoulder blades she forced herself to focus on the path, but was certain every step they took was being watched.
Almost immediately Collector forces attacked them, forcing them to seek cover. Shepard knelt behind a half wall, and threw a quick glance over her cover. She swapped her shotgun for her sniper rifle, and lined up her shot, aiming at a Collector landing further along the path.
"Take out the other Collectors first, then we'll get rid of Harbinger," Shepard instructed, keeping her eyes on her target. She exhaled, and fired. The Collector staggered after the first hit, and she fired again, a small satisfying thrill running through her as the tango crumpled.
The air smelled increasingly of ozone and expired thermal clips mingled with the sickening sweetish odor of the Collector station. It became hotter and more humid as they went deeper into the base, the heavy stench of the air making it difficult to breath.
Finally they could see the doors they were trying to reach at the end of the passage, but Nick guessed it was roughly a hundred meters with only one possibility to take cover. She cast a worried glance at Jack. Sweat was dripping down the young biotic's face, but her barrier was still strong.
Another wave of enemy forces moved between them and the entrance, and Shepard scowled at the sight of husks and abominations.
"Jack?" she asked not taking her eyes of the hostiles in their path. "Can you keep up the barrier much longer?"
"The sooner we get there, the better," Jack grunted. The strain on her was obvious. They would have to move fast.
"Okay. We run for the cover, catch our breath, and then push for the entrance. Keep your eyes peeled!" Shepard ordered, pulling her shotgun. "On my order … three … two … one … Now!"
Breaking cover they moved as fast as they could towards the minimal cover ahead, the air filled with the short barks of Miranda's heavy pistol and Zaeed's assault rifle. Nick caught the first abomination in her way with a blast of her shotgun, the second one she kicked as it tried to scramble to its feet, snapping its neck.
A sound from behind caught Shepard's attention, and she cast a look over her shoulder to see Collector forces advancing behind them.
"Tangos on our six! Move, move, move!" she urged her team forward, jumping the half wall in her way and swapping weapons. She whispered to her sniper rifle as she zeroed in on the first Collector, aware that Jack and the others had passed her. She took out two more hostiles before shouldering her weapon. She had to move; if she stayed she would be outside of the barrier. Nick pulled her shotgun again, and caught up with Jack and the others.
Reaching the doors Shepard turned and fired at the nearest Collector. She felt the air shift as Miranda Threw back another hostile, concentrated dark energy flying past her head before it hit the Collector. Jack stopped, and Nick could feel the air cracking as she gathered her power, detonating the barrier in a massive biotic blast.
Ears ringing, they stumbled through the open gates. Zaeed punched the door controls, closing them before more Collectors showed up when Garrus' radioed them because the diversion team was pinned down at the other gate. Nick sprinted to the far gate, and opened it, allowing the second team to join them.
"You okay?" Nick asked Garrus, noticing he was clutching his side.
"Just a scratch. Nothing medigel won't fix," he told her. Nick gave him a grin and an encouraging pat, and opened a comm channel to the Normandy. Dr. Chakwas and the others were safe, and EDI gave them instructions on how to reach the base's main console before Joker warned them about a large number of hostiles gathering outside the chamber.
Swearing, Nick picked a small team to go with her, and ordered the others to bunker down under Garrus' command.
Some time later, Shepard and her team moved towards the central chamber. All tubes from the pods earlier also lead here and EDI informed them that the tubes were feeding into a super structure emitting both organic and non-organic energy signatures.
"Given these readings it must be massive," the AI continued. A short pause followed before EDI continued. "If my calculations are correct it must be a Reaper."
Nick narrowed her eyes as the superstructure came in view. It vaguely resembled a skeleton - skull, shoulder blades, spine, ribcage. All tubes led to it, and she watched as something - the processed human material, she thought briefly - flowed through the tubes into the obviously unfinished Reaper, feeding it. She shuddered, unable to tear her gaze away from it.
It was massive.
Oh my fucking God, Kaidan, if you could see this ...
"Not just any Reaper, but a human Reaper," she said, her voice oddly hollow, chasing her previous thought away. She was glad Kaidan couldn't see this, that he was safe and not in this hellhole with likely no chance of returning. Absently, she asked about the possible reasons for the Collectors to build a Reaper, a human one at that, but only listened with half an ear as EDI answered her questions. Her thoughts revolved over the number of humans that had already given their lives to create this thing, and how many more would die if she didn't destroy it.
Would just destroying the base be enough, or would this unfinished Reaper survive that? Cold fear gripped her heart. She couldn't leave the smallest chance of survival for this abominable creation.
"We have to take it down. EDI, does it have any … structural weaknesses?"
"The tubes injecting the fluid are a weak structural link. Destroying them should cause the supports to collapse, and the Reaper to fall," EDI let them know.
The whirring sound of an approaching platform announced the arrival of hostile forces.
"Fuck! EDI, give us a minute. We've got incoming," Nick called and rushed to the nearest cover, readying herself for another firefight. Harbingers voice resonated through the chamber, and she grit her teeth. She wasn't going to be intimidated. Not by an oversized zombie skeleton, and not by a mutant Prothean.
Miranda cast a Warp at two Collectors standing close to each other, and Shepard immediately followed up with Carnage. A grim smile spread on her face at the satisfying explosion, but it quickly turned to a grimace when she saw further platforms arriving.
"This is going to get interesting," she muttered, sniping another Collector that had been stripped of its armor by Samara's Reave. Nick glance up at the couplings, and shifted slightly, aligning her next shot with one of the links.
They fought back wave after wave, and Shepard used every opportunity to shoot the injection tubes connecting the pipes to the Reaper. The air was acrid with smoke and the revolting stench of burning bodies mingled with the sickening smell leaking from the tubes by the time the last coupling was destroyed.
"Garrus? How are things at the door?" Shepard asked, watching the Reaper construction fall into the abyss.
"Holding, but we have to get out of here soon!" he replied, gunshots filling the air.
"We're in position. Hightail it to the Normandy!" Garrus affirmed her order and passed it on, rallying his team to fall back. Nick opened a comm channel to the Normandy, and began rigging the main console. "Joker, prep the engines. It's time to blow this place sky high!"
"Aye, aye, Commander! Uh, you've got an incoming call from the Illusive Man. EDI's patching him through," the helmsman responded.
Shepard grunted in confirmation.
"Shepard, you've done the impossible," the Illusive Man congratulated her. She cast a short look over her shoulder, and focused on the console again.
"I'm just getting started," Shepard replied, double checking the connections on the console. So far everything looked good.
"You don't have to destroy the base," he informed her. "Imagine what we could learn about the Reapers with the knowledge from this base. I'm looking at the schematics EDI uploaded. A timed radiation pulse would take care of the remaining collectors, and leave the technology intact."
"You're suggesting we keep this? No way."
"This is our chance, Shepard! They were building a Reaper, and the knowledge here could save us," the Illusive Man said in a placating tone that made Nick's hackles rise.
She stood up and wiped her hands, turning around to look at the Illusive Man's holo. "How so?"
"The Collectors were working directly with the Reapers. It is highly likely that the information on this station could give us valuable insight on the Reapers. We shouldn't squander a chance like this!" There was a hint of exasperation in his voice.
Shepard looked from the now useless tubes dangling from the walls to the countless pods. Anger surged through her as she thought of all the innocent lives lost to construct this Human Reaper. There was no way in hell she was going to save it.
"Next thing you'll be telling me we should build our own Reapers," she replied coolly, and slowly returned her gaze to the holo. She listened to the Cerberus leader talk about how he his goals were to save humanity from the Reapers, and how it could help save lives.
"Imagine that lives that could be lost if we don't!" he emphasized again.
No, this place had to be destroyed, and the way the Illusive Man tried to sway her decision into saving it just strengthened her belief that this place had to be blown to hell.
"No," Nick replied firmly. "This place is not worth saving, not even for possible intel. If I have to rely on technology that involves the sacrifice of sapient lives, then I'm not trying hard enough to find an alternative. We'll fight and win without it. I won't let fear compromise who I am." She turned away and returned to the console. "And now excuse me, but I have a job to finish."
"Miranda, do not let Shepard destroy the base!" Silence. "I gave you an order!"
Steps approached, and Nick glanced up to see Miranda standing next to her, holding a detonator in her extended hand. With a grin Nick took it and set the timer on the detonator, while listening to Miranda calmly tell the Illusive Man she resigned.
"Alright, we have ten minutes before the reactor overheats and blows this place to smithereens. Time to leg it!" Nick let them know, and they made for the exit.
Before they had taken more than a few steps the platforms shook and a deep, multi-toned sound filled the air. They turned around in surprise, coming face to face with the unfinished, but obviously not dead, human reaper.
"Well, fuck!" Nick groaned, pulling her sniper rifle and dropping behind cover.
Time seemed to be against them as more and more Collector forces appeared. Nick ground her teeth. She was not going to die here, not like this, not so close to getting back to the Normandy and out of here. While Miranda and Samara kept the arriving hostile forces in check she dealt with the Human Reaper larva. At last it fell, and Nick mobilized her team for a sprint to the Normandy.
The unholy buzzing of seeker swarms filled the air, and Nick ran as she had never run before, following Miranda and Samara, who had both been closer to the exit. The Normandy rose before her, and she doubled her speed, no matter that her legs and lungs were on fire. Her mind barely registered Joker standing at the open hatch with an assault rifle. Feeling oddly weightless she jumped just as the ground under her feet crumbled. Too short. The thought flashed through her mind mid-air, but she somehow caught hold of the Normandy. A sharp pain tore through her shoulders as she dangled at the open hatch until several hands grabbed hold of her and hauled her into the Normandy.
"Get us out of here!" she ordered, getting to her feet. Adrenaline continued to rush through her veins as the Normandy accelerated, together with a sense of triumph.
They had made it.
A/N: Reviews are most welcome! :)