SSV Normandy, March 17th, 2183
Commander Shepard and his crew were on their way at last, the relay sending them rocketing towards the relay closest to the Knossos system. As quick as the ship was, it would still take at least a day and a half, if not a little more than that to reach the planet where Doctor T'Soni was said to be on. Light could only go so fast, after all, and they were still a fair bit heavier than that while crossing the galaxy.
It gave plenty of time to Nate to engage in one of his preferred activities in these quiet spaces between actions; walking around his vessel. People often knew him as 'Walkabout' Shepard, for his predilection of exploring the ships he was stationed on. But he'd always liked to know how things worked, even as a kid on Mindoir. How the ship was controlled, how it powered itself, what fed its weapons and kinetic barriers out into the rest of the world. It gave him some sense of security, he'd found.
He'd talked to several psychologists as he'd grown up, both civilian and within the Alliance military, and most had pinned it to be a mechanism to control anxieties about his surroundings stemming from the chaos and darkness of the basement he and Allison had taken refuge in during the batarian attack on Mindoir. He, like they, saw little harm in continuing the practice, as long as it didn't pull him away from his other duties or impact his mental health significantly.
There weren't many places that he could go on a ship this small, though it certainly wasn't the smallest ship he'd been assigned to. But he was always drawn to the soothing hum of the engineering room. In another life, he might have been working alongside Daniel and Lieutenant Adams in here. But he had an aptitude for combat that had guided him into the combat engineer role in the Alliance Marines.
Stepping into the room, he took a second to close his eyes, listening to the pulsing thrum of the engine core as it carried them across the stars.
"Something I can help you with, sir?"
He opened his eyes to look at Lieutenant Adams, who looked over at him quizically, Specialist Duvinian, Daniel, and Eleanor looking over at him as well. "No need to worry about a surprise inspection. Carry on."
Adams nodded. "Do you… show up to these parts often, sir?" he asked.
"Apparently he likes to check whatever ship he's on thoroughly," Daniel replied with a slight grin. "It's a good thing he's good company to be around."
"I'll take your word for it, Theisman," Adams replied. "Duvinian, has he got that power surge under control like I asked you guys to fix, or was the wait for a conversation to finish?"
"It's under control for now, Lieutenant," Duvininan replied. "The problem is the stealth system tests, we think. It's not just storing excess heat, it's shunting all the energy we usually put towards other systems toward the stealth system itself and the power core. We might need to look at new power couplings if we use the stealth system for long enough."
Adams sighed. "The joys of previously theoretical technology. Someone had to have it be their headache. It just had to be us."
"Well," Nate said with a slight smile, "I've gone over the crew dossiers since we've left. You served on the deck of basically every kind of ship we've put out, and Captain Anderson hand-picked you from the Tokyo to serve here. If there's anyone I trust getting this system working, it's you and your crew."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, sir," Adams replied with a slight smile.
His gaze darted over to the door that Nate had entered the room from, and his eyes narrowed. "Excuse me…" Adams began to say with a weary sigh.
Nate looked over and saw Tali standing there, somewhat hesitantly. "My apologies, Lieutenant," she said to Adams. "I was simply looking for Commander Shepard."
"Come in," Nate replied, Tali stepping towards him. "What do you need?"
"I understand we've been busy getting underway," Tali began, her posture one of hesitation, "but I wanted to properly apologize for shooting you in the face. Even with you shrugging that off, that was hasty of me."
Nate nodded, noticing from the corner of his eye Adams' apparent befuddlement. "I appreciate the apology, Tali," he replied with a slight smile. "Though let's try not to make a habit of it, shall we?"
Tali was silent as she nodded. All he could really see were lit-up, pale eyes within her suit's mask, the rest of her face obscured either by opaque material or some other effect projected on. Nate idly wondered if she might have been blushing under there.
Then, Tali looked up at the power core, her eyes going wide. "And… did I hear that this ship has a stealth system?"
Adams sighed again, turning away as he muttered, "This is what we get for open access to the cargo bay…"
Nate, on the other hand, found his smile growing slightly. "I don't quite know how it works fully, but I can give you a layman's overview." he paused as he looked over at Adams. "Do you mind if I talk about the stealth system, Lieutenant?"
"If you say something too sensitive, Duvinian or me will tackle you," Adams said as he returned to a console. "Just think before you say anything."
Nate nodded. "Alright, Miss Tali." he began as he stood beside her. "The biggest part of stealth systems is that we can only mask emissions. I'm not sure what kind of media you have available to you, but the idea of a ship just magically disappearing from view isn't quite how it all works."
"Still a tall order," Tali remarked. "There's plenty of ways any ship could track you by emissions. EM transmissions, mass effect field ripples, and even excess heat is an issue. How does your system compensate for all that?"
"As far as I can tell, a series of internal heat sinks, power shunts, and a very finely tuned mass effect field generator." Nate paused. No one threatened to bowl him over. Yet. "Problem being, of course, you can only hold that sort of power inside for so long. If we go for more than a few hours, we risk cooking ourselves or short-circuiting some vital system."
"The power system does sound like it needs some sort of further work," Tali said, cupping the chin of her helmet. "What systems does the excess power go towards?"
"The stealth system itself requires the bulk of the power, and the mass effect drive and power core are designed to take on extra power loads under stealth conditions."
Tali hummed softly. "Not enough redundancy. If there was a way to spread out the power to other systems, I could give it a try. It would likely increase your time under stealth as well. By how much, I can't tell you at the outset."
Duvinian regarded Tali with slightly narrowed eyes. "We've spread out the power draw as safely as possible. There's nowhere else for it to go without frying systems or risking revealing us."
"There's being safe, and there's getting out of danger alive," Tali said, an almost challenging tone to her voice. "Any stealth system is a risk. Besides, I've worked on ships outside of any dock my entire life. If I'm going to be along, I might as well help where I can."
Duvinian regarded Tali for long moments, then looked at Daniel, Eleanor, and Adams. "Alright," she said slowly. "I'm sure you can guess that this is not going to be a quick process if we decide to try any of your modifications."
"There's no reason to rush something like this," Tali replied as she walked over to the group. "Could I get a look at what the power interlinks look like?"
"Well…" Duvinian looked over at one of the service hatches. "Theisman, follow after us."
"Yes, ma'am," Daniel replied, the conversation picking up again as Duvinian began to introduce Tali to the brand-new DXR-4716 power interlinks as they disappeared into the maintenance shaft.
"So, Commander…" Nate heard Adams say. "Are you sure about this? We can't exactly vet a quarian who's only just gotten on board. Can we be certain she won't accidentally cripple the ship?"
"Well, Lieutenant," Nate said with a quiet sigh, "I'd like to think that I'm a practical person. If the quarians are known for anything, it's their ingenuity in either keeping a ship running or making improvements to established hardware. If she can provide our ship with just that much more of an edge, it might make the difference in catching Saren off-guard or getting blown into plasma by his ship. Besides, she's under the supervision of two of our ship's engineers. I think they'll keep her from messing anything up too badly."
Adams nodded slowly. "For what it's worth, sir. I hope you're right."
He paused for a moment. "And what's this about her shooting you, if I may ask?"
Nate sighed quietly. He got the feeling he'd be explaining this one for a while.
. . .
Ashley took a seat at the table on the crew deck, tearing into the ration pack before her with practiced ease and putting a little water into the pocket with her food. It was interesting to be on ship detail, especially on a ship that was this… quiet.
Someone took a seat next to her. She glanced over to see Lieutenant Alenko. "Sir," she said as she broke the heating element in the ration pack, waiting for her lunch to heat up.
"Sergeant Williams," Kaidan replied, beginning to prepare his meal. "How's life on the ship treating you?"
"It's a little smaller in here than I'm used to," Ashley said with a shrug. "I only ever served on the von Braun for a little while before I was stationed on Eden Prime."
"That big, huh?" Kaidan said. "What were you doing on a carrier?"
"Mostly ship-to-ship boarding actions out in the Traverse, whenever pirates vessels or even task fleets struck out from the Terminus Systems."
"Sounds pretty exciting." Kaidan was silent for a moment. "Any particular ships stand out?"
"Well, there was one time when we had one of our squad members stomping cause a hull breach that had us putting emergency respirators on the captured crew. That was a mess of a vessel." Ashley replied.
As Kaidan's brow rose, another voice pipped up. "You talking about impound duty? Mind if I join in?"
Ashley looked over from Kaidan and felt her blood run just a little colder as Vakarian, Officer Vakarian, whoever the hell he was right now, sat down in front of them, tearing into an Alliance ration packet. "I hope this one has the little… chewy, sugary fruit pebbles," he said absent-mindedly as he looked through it. "Whatever they're called, they're good."
"I thought that sort of food would give you a stomachache," Ashley said, trying to keep the coldness from her voice. Specialist Duvinian she knew at least had a reason to be here, much as Ashley put up with it. But this deadbeat cop the Commander had decided to pick up from the street after one mission together… she just couldn't get it.
"You don't get far on the Citadel without a Larrison's Converter implant," Vakarian replied, pausing for a moment as he waited for his meal to heat fully. "You humans make it almost seem easy to just break a few laws when you come up with this sort of stuff. I can eat lo mein with my partner over a stakeout, he can eat turian rik'tivavi at my favorite restaurant… it's almost as good as medi-gel."
"I see," Kaidan said, his tone indicating he could feel the tension that had settled on Ashley. "So," he said to Vakarian, "you mentioned you were on impound duty?"
"For a little while there." Vakarian shrugged. "I don't think any of my ships would have been quite as big as Williams' would have been, but I've seen a few things in my time there. Creative smuggling compartments. Slaves off to batarian-run markets in the Terminus Systems. And some of the most gaudy, shitty decorations I think I'll ever see."
"You had batarian slaves running through the Citadel?" Ashley said incredulously. When it came to the batarians largely in general, and the Batarian Hegemony specifically, slaves were, in all terms, pretty low on the list of reprehensible accomplishments their people were known for.
"They never said anything officially about it, of course." Vakarian shrugged as he began to eat, those mandibles moving in time with his chewing. "Not that they really ever do. Or could anyway, after they walked out of the Citadel over human expansion into the Skyllian Verge."
Ashley hummed quietly. She knew her history. She didn't need a turian to teach it to her. So, she ate in silence. Kaidan, wisely, didn't try and break that silence at the moment. Vakarian, as well, seemed content to eat a meal that shouldn't have been his.
Finally, however, as they began to finish up, Vakarian fixed her with that stare that Ashley had always associated with predatory birds. "I might not have been a popular cop, but I was a good one, Sergeant Williams. You've got something to say to me. What is it?"
Her jaw clenched, and she almost felt… relieved. She could finally stop tip-toeing around the situation. "I don't trust you," she said.
Vakarian leaned back where he sat, idly chewing on a few of what, several centuries prior, would have been called Skittles. "I'm no psychologist, but why?" he said levelly.
"You weren't just a cop. You were a deadbeat one, who didn't care about the rules or any sort of command structure. A maverick on a military ship. And while I can't begrudge the Commander for a big heart, I can't let that big heart put this ship in any sort of danger." Ashley said, a harsh edge to her voice.
"I got it." Vakarian scoffed. "If you were going to be worried about anyone, it'd be the krogan brute of a mercenary we're rubbing shoulders with. If we don't give him a target soon, at least I won't rip up the bulkheads in frustration. And as much as the quarian is endearing, I can't help but feel uneasy about her poking around a ship that isn't older than my great-grandmother."
He leaned forward again. "But I don't think this is about the krogan or the quarian somehow, is it? You've got a question on your mind. One that I've heard before."
Ashley's fist clenched under the table. "Did you have any family in the First Contact War?"
Finally, it was out. And then, she thought she could see a gleam in the turian's eye. "Williams… that's right."
The words seemed to replace her blood with lava as she realized what he meant, churning through her veins and staining her face with magmatic intensity and making it almost difficult to hear the turian continue. "I did have family, parents and uncles and aunts, that were there at the Relay-314 Incident. Your grandfather is respected for his tenacity and wisdom, even if that came down to surrendering so that his men might live."
'How dare you bring Grandpa up like that!' she silently raged. "You might praise him for surrendering, but you didn't exactly give him a choice. And you don't get the picture of how it stained his entire family." she managed, somehow, to say without even so much as a quiver in her voice.
"Your people were taking completely unnecessary risks out there, Sergeant," the turian replied. "Seeing as we're talking about history, I'd encourage you to look up the Rachni War. We were opening mass relays, same as you, and found one that sent alien monsters crashing into Citadel space. It's the entire reason the krogans were uplifted, and then they started a war with us too. Trust me, what you were doing was dangerous, a complete violation of intergalactic law."
He stood. "I'll give you your space, Sergeant. Maybe we could meet each other on better terms later."
With that, he walked away, the magma in Ashley's veins cooling as she took measured breaths. "Damn it," she muttered quietly.
"I'm sorry to hear about your grandfather, Sergeant." Kaidan finally spoke up with a sober voice. "I wondered where the name was familiar."
Ashley was silent, and Kaidan continued into that silence. "For what it's worth… I think his reputation is a load of bullshit. Just because he was the first person to come up against an alien force and surrender to them doesn't mitigate the fact that he did his damnedest to save lives. I think he's a hero for that."
Ashley gave a choked chuckle. "Well, sir, at least I know you think that," she said, shaking her head slightly. She was quiet again for a moment, her gaze becoming pensive. "War is our scourge; yet war has made us wise…" she mused.
Kaidan arched a brow at the intonation of the words, measured as they were. "Is that a poem?" he asked.
The blush she gave him was a slight thing in comparison to before. "Yeah, it is. It's by a guy named Siegfried Sassoon, back in the 1900s of Earth history. It was a favorite of my grandpa's. It's basically what introduced me to poetry. The framed poem hanging over the fireplace…"
She shook her head. "I can't help but wonder if that line is actually true, sometimes."
It was silent between them for long moments as she grappled with her emotions.
. . .
A section of the cargo bay, for the moment, had been partitioned for quick and dirty bunks for what had been the Marines of the 232nd Brigade of the 2nd Frontier, at least until they could fully figure out who was bunking where and when.
The squad of soldiers was as at rest as a military group could be, checking weapons and armor, and chatting amongst themselves. Though some of their conversations were hardly ones that one would expect out of a bunch of Alliance grunts.
The little barracks fell silent as heavy footsteps approached before the light of the door was blocked out by a looming figure in scarlet red light armor.
Sergeant Korrapati looked at the krogan in the doorway with a cool, collected gaze. "Is there something you need?"
"If I am to go into battle at someone's side," Wrex replied gruffly, "then I want to know what my allies look like. You didn't exactly build this for krogans to step into. Come out and let me inspect you."
Korrapati looked over at the rest of the squad, silently conversing with them in a way that Wrex wouldn't be able to hear. "And what if we decide not to?" she asked.
"Then I go into battle without vital knowledge. Would you want to get into a fight without knowing who's friendly to you and what they're capable of?" Wrex said.
It was sound logic if nothing else. Korrapati nodded towards the door. "Come on. Let's not make the krogan cranky."
The squad made their way into the rest of the cargo bay, silently forming a line and standing at parade rest before Wrex, who stood head and shoulders over all of them. Even unarmed as he was, he cut an imposing figure as he slowly walked across the line, studying them intently, back and forth, back and forth.
"So," Private First Class Langley said as Wrex paused in front of her, brushing a strand of fire-red hair out of the way of brilliant blue eyes to better regard his deep red eyes, "what exactly are you getting out of a visual inspection? Wouldn't you want, I don't know… an actual conversation about our weapons? Training? Anything?"
"There's a lot you can tell by just looking at a warrior. The weapons and training are only an extension of them," Wrex replied before smiling slightly. "You've got a fiery spirit in you. You'll be fun to work with."
That was all he said as he walked away from her, Langley muttering something in German before PFC Ikari, who stood beside her, nudged her gently. He continued for a moment before pausing in front of two soldiers in particular, leaning forward slightly before taking a few sniffing breaths. His eyes narrowed. "You two aren't human."
"What makes you say that?" one of the soldiers in question asked, her brow arching slightly. If anyone were to look at her, they'd be hard-pressed to see what Wrex was talking about. She was Asian in appearance, with brown hair and equally brown eyes. Completely normal for a human.
"Humans all have a smell, even through whatever fake scents they wear," Wrex replied. "You two, though… you're close, but off just enough. Who are you?"
"Private Ayanami." was the only answer she gave, her tone cool and calm.
Wrex looked over to the man beside her. "And you?"
"Private Nagisa," he replied. Like Ayanami, he appeared Asian as well, with brown hair paired with black eyes. Whatever Wrex was smelling, it was something more than skin-deep.
Wrex hummed softly, looking over at the others he had passed. A few were looking at him before looking away from his gaze. Almost all of them betrayed a look, carefully hidden though it was, of… anxiety. Fear, perhaps?
'They're hiding something.' Wrex realized. What it might have been, well, that would be for Shepard to handle.
He walked over to Korrapati, pausing and studying her for a moment. His eyes met hers. A brilliant, almost emerald-like green. "Strange eyes," Wrex remarked. "Most humans I know don't have those."
"A genetic mutation from my homeworld," Korrapati replied. "Rare, but easily explained."
Wrex was silent for long moments as he considered Korrapati, who regarded him in turn. What he was looking for here, no one could really tell. "Alright," he finally said. "I got what I want. Go back to whatever you were doing."
He walked away, leaving the squad somewhat confused as they filed back into the little barracks.
"What the hell was that all about, Nyn?" Private Marlowe asked Sergeant Korrapati. "I mean, I get inspections, but this…"
"Perhaps it's a part of his culture," Korrapati replied. "The krogan people's way of ensuring that their compatriots won't stab them in the back."
"I wasn't aware the krogan had a culture like that," Marlowe replied as she sat down next to Privates Krishima and Yamagishi, starting the video game she had on her omni-tool again. "Aren't they supposed to be wandering mercenaries or something?"
"Well, Mariah," Private Horaki said meaningfully, fixing a gaze on her with brown eyes under brown hair in a braid, "Daniel did tell us that Wrex would be different."
Marlowe shrugged. "I guess so."
Ayanami looked concerned, her look shared with Nagisa. "Do you think he might go to Commander Shepard and expose us?"
"What's there to expose, Wondergirl?" Langley said. "He thought you smelled weird? You look completely human, Rei. There's no way you'll be pinned as anything but human. You too, Scribble."
"Even still," Korrapati said, drawing the attention of the rest of the squad to her, "there will come a time when our secret must be revealed. It is something we all must be prepared for."
The atmosphere became somewhat tense before Ikari shrugged. "Honestly, I'm ready for whenever that happens," he said. "We've been sneaking around enough, lying to everyone around us, on this chase already. It'll be good, for us and everyone else, to be open about what is threatening them."
"Then we must be prepared to fight the war that will come of all this," Korrapati said quietly.
. . .
Nate made his way to the helm of the ship, Joker at his station as always. The pilot glanced over at Nate as he stopped by his seat. "Hey there, Commander," he said glibly. "So, do you really want to know the ship better, or are you just a fan of pacing everywhere?"
As Nate arched a brow, Joker explained. "See, while I'm letting the ship take us to the Knossos system — which, by the way, the Council sent a text message saying that our resident asari Indiana Jones is on the planet of Therum — I need something to do up here. So, one of the things I was doing was flipping through camera feeds. I caught you going towards one of the weapons bays and followed your progress. You made a real clean sweep of the ship, sir."
"Thanks," Nate said somewhat hesitantly. "I don't see you around the ship often. Do you just prefer staying in the pilot's seat?"
Joker scoffed. "Well, even if I didn't love sitting in the pilot's seat as much as I do, it's kind of hard for me to get up and walk around anyway."
"Why's that?"
"I've got Vrolik's Syndrome. Can't blame you if you've never heard of it, because it's pretty rare. We still don't even know what causes it. Best guess any of the doctors I've seen is that it's some sort of genetic freakout caused by families undergoing long-term space travel. But it's treatable, at the very least. Even if it doesn't have a cure."
"And what is Vrolik's Syndrome?"
"Well, it's basically an inherent brittle bone disease you get at birth. Doctors classify my case as moderate to severe. I was born with fractures in my legs, my arms, my hips…I was breaking bones in the womb. If I'd gotten this even 50 or 60 years ago, I wouldn't have made it past the first year. Now, with the joys of modern science, I've been made a productive member of society."
"I'm surprised that they let you into the Alliance military, then," Nate replied. "If you're at risk of breaking a bone during a high-g maneuver…"
"Yeah, it was a real fight to get in," Joker admitted. "That I managed to get accepted was a miracle, and I'll completely admit that. Probably the worst time of my life, still."
Nate, being what the pilots and helmsmen of the Alliance military liked to call a 'ground pounder', still had some vague recollection of how pilot callsigns worked. "Is that how you got your nickname?"
Joker scowled for a moment. "Well, that's one way to think of it, yeah. I had a flight instructor at the academy who noticed I never smiled. She called me Joker, and the nickname stuck. Didn't make me stop working hard at it though, even if the world doesn't hand things to you for grinning like an idiot. By graduation, I was the best pilot in the academy. Better than the instructors, even."
By now, a seemingly signature grin had returned to his face. "You can guess who was smiling then. It wasn't the people who'd been beaten by a sickly kid with creaky legs."
"So you won't break your legs flying the ship, I'd hope," Nate said with a slight grin.
Joker rolled his eyes. "I don't fly this ship with my legs, Commander. As long as I'm sitting in this chair, I'm going to be just fine. I just have to be real careful when I get up and take a piss to make sure Doctor Chakwas doesn't catch me without my leg braces or crutches."
Before Joker could continue, he looked down at his extensive console. "We'll be dropping out of FTL over Therum in about 10 minutes, sir. I hope you're ready by then."
Nate turned away. "We'll let you know when we need to drop."
. . .
In the cargo bay several minutes later, next to the Mako IFV, Commander Shepard had an imaging drone hanging in the air between him and the gathered 'ground forces' that were the Marine complement, Kaidan, Ashley, Garrus, and Wrex. Daniel had been pulled away from Duvinian and Tali's side to be here due to his experience, slight though it was, with prothean tech, Eleanor replacing him in the guts of the ship.
The imaging drone displayed a hard-light map of a large area of the surface below them. Therum was a remarkably active planet geologically speaking, with several overt lakes of magma dotting the barren, rocky surface.
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen," Nate began, "Nova Yekatarinberg has pointed us in the general direction of where Doctor T'Soni went. Her dig site is in this area. Now, we're going to be dividing our ground complement into two forces. I would expect at least some enemy contact, as the doctor is the daughter of an associate of Saren's. It wouldn't surprise me if she's looking to secure her daughter, maybe tie up potential loose ends."
He scanned the group before him. "I will be leading Team Alpha in the Mako, and I'll have Lieutenant Alenko, Lieutenant Theisman, Mr. Vakarian, PFCs Langley and Ikari, and Privates Ayanami and Nagisa. We will be making our way towards T'Soni's location and extracting her. The rest of you will be led by Sergeant Williams in Team Bravo, circling in the Kodiak shuttle overhead to offer any support we might need, whether that's a combat drop or air support, and to ensure that Doctor T'Soni makes it to the Normandy if our ride is compromised."
"Any questions?" he asked.
A hand shot up from among the gathered marines. It was a little strange to him, but a part of him could figure out who it was. "Private Marlowe?"
"We still have arrestor packs available, right? D'ya think we could fit one on the krogan?" she asked, her tone entirely serious.
Wrex looked over at Marlowe. "I can make it just fine without one, kid. Just make sure I don't burn up in orbit."
Marlowe grinned. "Oh, you'll make a hell of a crater if we drop you then, won't you?"
Wrex grinned in turn, and Nate wondered if putting those two together was really a wise idea and how well she would get along with Joker when they met. Questions for later. "We should be over the drop site any minute now. Get to your assigned stations, and be ready to enter combat."
"Oorah!" was the cry given to him by the gathered marines, and the bay was a hive of activity for several moments as people put on helmets and went toward their assigned vehicles. Nate climbed into the side hatch of the Mako, the inside of the vehicle somewhat familiar with how cramped and utilitarian it was. The main seating area was low and a tight fit for six, with only the two seats nearest the pilot area getting any sort of headroom. It would have been an interesting challenge fitting any sort of krogan in here.
As he climbed into the driver's seat, Kaidan followed after him, sitting in the shotgun seat, as the others filed in from the rear hatch. As Nate began starting the engines and other systems, going through a checklist on his omni-tool, Kaidan looked over at him with a patient, somewhat amused expression. "I didn't know you were certified as a Mako driver, sir," he said.
Nate was silent for a moment as he booted up the vehicle's onboard Virtual Intelligence, or VI, a highly specialized intelligence model that was still safely in the zone below any true artificial intelligence. "Technically, I'm not," he admitted. "But I got some driving experience on Elysium and some other shore leaves, and I spent time doing field repairs on it when I was on the Ben Davis. I think I can find my way around."
"I'll take what confidence I can from that explanation, sir," Kaidan replied with a slight smile as he considered the gun controls for the 155mm turret on the top of the IFV.
Nate grabbed the wheel, considering the pedals at his feet. Right internal for acceleration, left internal for braking, and both external pedals, narrow and comparatively far to the sides, for micro-jet thrusters. Easy enough.
He opened a comms channel to the Kodiak that would be accompanying them. "Williams, everyone ready to go?"
"The krogan is taking up enough space for three people, but otherwise, we're good to launch on your mark," Ashley replied.
"Good copy," Nate replied. "We'll operate on this channel, 23.19. Normandy will be on channel 24 even. You'll be leaving the bay 30 seconds after we do. Let's avoid crashing into each other."
"Copy that," Ashley said. "See you planetside."
Nate switched to the Normandy's channel. "Joker, we're ready to drop. Get us to about a 50-meter height and we'll take it from there."
"You got it, sir," Joker replied. "I see you also like to live dangerously."
"Well, Joker," Kaiden chimed in, "he's not an international man of mystery just yet. And maybe we should keep it that way."
Nate, puzzled, looked over at Kaidan as Daniel, of all people, began to chuckle. He shook his head. He'd ask after the mission. Right now, there was a mission to complete, the cargo bay doors opening towards a ruddy, clouded sky on the display screens. "Prepare for drop," Joker chimed in.
Nate watched as the ground, barren and rocky with a deep red, almost rust-like hue, came into sight. "Here we go," he said, as much to himself as to his passengers, and stepped on the gas.
The Mako roared to life, finding traction on the metal deck after a second and soaring out of the bay into the open air. Nate found the drop rather… exhilarating. But, even still, they needed to land without becoming a fine paste inside the vehicle. After a second or two, he kicked on the micro-jets, eight small, yet remarkably powerful thrusters on the sides of the vehicle slowing their descent until they impacted the ground, the rather robust suspension causing them to bounce once before coming to a stop.
They idled there for several seconds, most of the passengers groaning to some extent or another. "I hope that doesn't become a habit," Garrus said as he shook his head.
"Points for speed, though," Ikari replied. "I think that's one of the fastest deployments I've ever done."
Nate smiled slightly. Not bad for a first time. "Let's get going."
With that, he accelerated out of the dead-end valley they were in, rolling alongside a river of magma. It was largely silent for a little while. Then, the comms chimed in. "Commander," Joker said, "sensors are picking up some weird readings. Really weird readings. Off the damn charts kind of weird. It looks like they're coming from an underground complex a few klicks away from your position."
"Patch the readings through to us," Kaidan replied. "We'll follow the breadcrumbs."
"Good copy, Hansel," Joker replied. "Sending you… hold on. I've got several bogeys coming your way. Identifying them now."
The Mako's sensors began to beep at them as a ship passed overhead, largely purple with smooth curves and lines, a 'head' suggesting something like a truncated reptile or bloated bug. "Conforming those are geth dropships!" Joker said as the ship dispensed two large, folded-up objects in their path before flying away. Objects that unfurled into pale white quadrupedal walkers with a glowing 'eye' that began shooting plasma at them.
"Hang on!" Nate said as he began to swerve the Mako out of the way of the shots. "Kaidan, light them up!"
Kaidan answered by sending a hail of metal from the coaxial machine gun, whittling down the barriers on the leading walker as they blazed past it, Nate looping around as its barriers popped. The main gun thrummed as it fired, a buzzing growl preceding the armature flying back as so much scrap from the impact.
Nate braked hard into a turn, the wheels skidding as he turned the Mako to face the remaining armature, giving Kaidan a chance to fire for a few moments before gunning it towards the mech, kicking on the booster engines on the rear of the vehicle.
"Commander…" Kaidan said warningly, even the armature seeming to hesitate. Then, at the last moment Nate could manage, he slammed down the booster pedals, lifting the Mako up… and over the armature, slamming down into the dirt and causing a plume of it to billow up around the Mako.
"Take it out!" Nate said firmly, the turret swiveling around and firing one, then two main cannon shots.
It was silent for a moment as the dust began to clear, the cameras mounted on the back still obscured… then, showing the mangled heap of metal and sparking machinery that had been the armature.
"Of all the things I figured you for, Commander," Garrus called from the passenger compartment, "a speed demon was not one of them."
"It's not every day that I get to go driving in something like this. You've gotta have fun when you can, after all," Nate said with a smile as they got going up the road, crossing over the magma river on a rocky natural bridge.
"Heads up, Commander," Korrapati's voice cut in. "That dropship landed a squad of geth infantry and several heavy turrets in front of the gate you're about to reach."
"Good to know," Nate replied as he pressed the brakes, gently rolling up the slight hill and pausing right at the bend that led to the gate. "They've got the place pretty well locked down, it looks like," he said, peering at the radar readout, and the several red diamonds that surrounded the gate.
"There's another path we can take beside us," Kaidan mentioned as he zoomed the radar display out. "It should get around the worst of the defenses."
"Yes," Garrus said, "I don't think we have time to waste fighting every geth we see instead of finding Doctor T'Soni."
"Let's get going then," Nate said, turning the Mako into the shortcut.
And so they continued their rather dangerous trek, sweeping through what pockets of resistance there were, armature and infantry-bot alike. Sometimes, the ride was darkened as they passed through artificial tunnels running through otherwise impassable cliff faces. There were signs of industry scattered about, several nominally abandoned mining camps serving as little barnacles of heavy resistance that were, eventually, swept aside.
Soon enough, however, they came to a craggy rift in a wall that was too narrow for the Mako to pass through. Nate parked the Mako, then looked back at the others. "Time to dismount. We're on foot from here."
"Hopefully we aren't too far from where we need to go." Private Nagisa replied as they began to file out of the rear hatch.
"We're about half a kilometer away from the site of the readings Normandy picked up," Nate replied as he set the VI to sentry mode before exiting himself.
As he stepped onto the hard ground, the filters only mostly keeping the tang of sulfur and what were likely other gasses from seeping through his helmet. Before they moved, he keyed the Kodiak circling above. "Bravo, this is Alpha. Do you see anything waiting for us at the top of this hill?"
"We'll circle around, get a good look," Korrapati replied. It was silent for a moment. "Look's like you've got a light walker up ahead. Want us to take care of it?"
"We'd certainly appreciate a heavy gun in the mix, seeing as the Mako can't go any further," Nate said. "Give'em hell."
The squad made their way into the twisting, maze-like canyon stretch, most only glancing up for a second as they heard the Kodiak quietly roaring overhead, its guns twin growls as the site before them went up in a drumbeat of explosive power for several seconds.
"Target eliminated," Ashley said with no small amount of satisfaction. "If there's anything still walking around down there, you should be able to deal with it. Want us to land when you've secured the area?"
Nate paused at a bend, watching as several geth infantry-bots turned and retreated towards the small outpost that Bravo had just lit up. He waited for a moment as he considered. "Keep circling for now." he finally said as they began to move up. "Keep an eye on us as we descend. There's likely a way down if Doctor T'Soni found the ruins here. If someone tries to sneak up behind us, let them get in a little ways, then land and follow them in. If we can trap whoever tries to sneak up on us, the fight will be over in moments."
"Bold move, Shepard." Wrex was heard to say. "Hope you've got the quad to make it work."
"We can make it work," Nate said firmly as they emerged into the rather ruined outpost's grounds. The guns had done their work, mangled, smoking metal and the sparking remains of those geth units caught in the crossfire making the air click and crackle like a malfunctioning metronome.
The ruins were attended by about half a dozen geth that had been stationed at the maze. And, emerging from the ruins…
The three armatures were geth, there was no question about that, but where the usual geth infantry was clearly artificial, bipedal, armored, and metallic, these ones were… sinuous, muscley, almost as if someone had skinned one of the geth. They moved on all fours with a fluidity and grace that seemed almost impossible for the other geth, their shifting heads lending them an inquisitive air.
One of these stalking geth spotted them, the others turning to face them. The fight was on.
Langley and Nagisa immediately threw up biotic barriers, the colors shifting prismatically as geth plasma rounds hit them. The squad ducked into the proffered cover in short order, sending fire and drones downrange at their enemies.
As useful as it was, however, the action marked Langley and Nagisa as targets. One of the sinuous geth, its gray and black skin glowing with an inner blue light, pointed at Langley as it finished leaping from one perch to another. The kinetic barriers overlaying her flash brightly before vanishing, Langley only able to offer a startled yelp before another flexile geth launched… something from a nozzle in its face, smacking her in the shoulder with enough force to send her to the ground.
Her armor began to smoke, and she began to shout in pain, as her biotic barrier wavered, then vanished.
'Damn it!' Nate thought as they huddled behind Nagisa's barrier, the regular geth infantry now well into cover. They were clustering around the remains of a large storage container. If they could…
"Commander!" Kaidan shouted, drawing Nate towards a stone tower that the man sent a wave of gravitic power through, the wild energy lifting the stone free for a moment before it landed with a remarkably heavy thump. "Throw it!"
That was a tall order, but it was crazy enough that the geth might not expect it. He reached out, feeling the wave of dark matter energy crackling through his body like a bolt of melodic lightning before it blazed out from his outstretched fingertips, wrapping around the boulder as superficial cracks formed from the strength.
He could feel the weight of it through the connection, straining his mind to lighten the load just enough…
The boulder moved, scraping forward for a moment before it flew, obscuring the sun for brief moments as it soared into the container, blowing through it, and the geth behind it, as if it were a strong wind.
Langley, back on her feet with pitted armor and what was surely a grimace of pain, reached out toward the offending flexible geth that had struck her and lifted it with gravity into the air, the flailing armature now an easy target. The process repeated again, and again until, at last, it was silent again.
"What the hell were those?" Ikari asked. "Are they more advanced geth?"
"We could take one of them aboard," Daniel replied. "Maybe Tali could give us some insights."
"Not a bad idea," Nate replied. "Tag one of them for later. In the meantime, let's get down to the dig site."
The path down, somewhat unsurprisingly, was a massive shaft with a tubular metal gate to their right, a ramp leading up to the opening. Nate keyed the comms for the ship. "Normandy, this is Alpha lead. We're going into the earth. Expect no clear communications from us until we get a clear signal."
"Copy that, Commander," Joker replied. "See you topside."
As they walked up the ramp, Kaidan looked over at Nate. "I gotta say, I'm impressed," he said. "I'll admit, I was having some second thoughts about that boulder."
Nate's brow furrowed behind his helmet. "What do you mean?"
"I was running on instinct when I cut into that rock," Kaidan admitted. "I made it large enough for an L2 to lift and throw. I wondered if I made it too big. But even still, you managed it. For an L3, you're pretty damn powerful."
As they reached the door and opened it, Nate thought he could hear Kaidan murmuring something, likely to himself. "I wonder what he might have thought of that."
"What was that?"
Kaidan's head whipped back around to him. "It's…" he trailed off and sighed. "It's a complicated story for when we're back on the Normandy. Let's make sure the good doctor gets to safety."
Thus, the squad went down, and down, and down a long slope. After long moments of walking, they emerged into a vast, well-lit cavern, their path now a winding trail of scaffolding. Their path, thankfully, seemed to be clear. They must have drawn out whatever forces were in here with their close air support.
As they made their way into the complex proper, Daniel hummed softly. "This cave… most if it isn't excavated. I think it formed around these ruins afterward."
"Gotta wonder what the world must have looked like, then," Langley said offhandedly. "Maybe it looked a little better than it does today."
They made their way towards an elevator, finding what must have been the prothean structure in question, oval recesses or windows leading into its interior blocked by bright blue kinetic barriers. As Daniel said, the great, square-tiled structure seemed to meld into the rock, going down for what seemed like miles.
As they reached the elevator, Langley looked over the side, then over at Ikari. "Hey, Shinji. Dare you to spit over the side." Ikari was silent in his reply, save perhaps for a roll of his eyes behind his helmet.
They entered the elevator and waited out the rather remarkably long ride down. As they emerged they slowly made their way across yet more scaffolding, more of the massive prothean structure in view. "Y'know," Kaidan remarked, "I can't help but look at this thing and see a tiled bathroom floor."
"It's been ages since I've seen one of those," Nate admitted.
"Those are some strange-looking bathroom tiles, then," Garrus said as they found their way to yet another elevator.
Another long ride down awaited them, but as they reached the bottom, one of the rails began to spark as the car began to shudder, the scaffolding that surrounded them becoming more twisted and wrecked. They must have been getting close.
"Weapons up," Nate said as the doors opened to a ruined catwalk. "There might still be some trouble down here."
As warranted as their caution was, their descent from the ruined catwalk to the stone below was left unchallenged. "Spread out," Nate said. "Maybe there's some way to access the structure that we can find out here."
In the moments after, they weren't all that successful in finding anything that might have looked like, or even was tangentially related, to an 'off switch'. Nate, Daniel, Kaidan, and Garrus did, however, find who they were looking for.
"Uh… hello?" a voice, feminine, called out from one of the alcoves. "Can somebody help me? Please?"
As Nate and the rest of his team approached, they found, as expected, a feminine asari, dressed in a green and white, gloved uniform. She sighed in obvious relief, looking expectantly at them with bright, pale blue eyes. "Can you hear me out there? I'm trapped. I need help!"
"We can hear you, doctor," Nate replied, looking around before he took off his helmet. "Is there a way to turn this off from our side?"
"Probably not, no." Liara T'Soni admitted. "It's a prothean security device, so I doubt they installed a shutdown switch on the outside. And, as you can plainly see, I can't exactly reach the off switch from where I am."
Kaidan walked up beside Nate, leaning over to whisper in his ear. "Are you sure we can trust her, sir? She's still Matriarch Benezia's daughter. We might have fought through security instead of a kidnapping."
"Only one way to find out," Nate replied before turning his focus back to Liara. "Your mother is working with the rogue Spectre Saren. Who's side are you on?"
Liara, even through the rippling of the kinetic barriers, was obviously immensely puzzled. "Side? What are you talking about? And my mother working with a rogue Spectre? Is that… even possible? I haven't even spoken with my mother in years!"
"I think she's good," Nate said quietly to Kaidan, who nodded and stepped back.
"Alright," he said to Liara, "stay calm. We'll find a way to get to you."
"Thank you," Liara replied. By this point, the others in the squad had made their way over to them as she continued. "There's a control beside me. It's how I activated the barriers. But you'll have to find another way inside to reach it. I have to admit… I'm not sure how you'll get past the defenses."
"We'll find a way," Nate said firmly. "It might just get a little… shaky in here."
"Do try your best to preserve the structure." Liara fretted. "It's more ancient than any of us, and I'd still like to see what secrets it still holds."
"I can't guarantee that, doctor," Nate replied. "I'm sorry."
With that, the squad stepped away from Liara, looking around the rather spacious cavern. "Alright," Daniel said, "what are our assets?"
"Unfortunately," Garrus said, "I don't think we're carrying enough explosives to breach the wall beside the doctor."
"What about that?" Private Ayanami said, pointing to a large piece of machinery. It looked as though it had been propped up on legs, but whatever attack had come through here had sent it to the ground. Aimed underneath the alcove where Liara was. "Perhaps it's some sort of mining equipment we could take advantage of?"
"Well, let's find out," Nate replied, making his way over to a control panel next to the machine.
It was easy to access the controls, and Nate scanned the specifications with an intent eye. "We're in luck. We've got an industrial-grade mining laser here. Looks like we have… a little over a petajoule of sustained maximum power."
Daniel whistled softly. "As much as I'd hate to damage a ruin like this, it'll probably be the quickest way in."
"Well, as the saying goes," Nate said as he began the activation process and manual safety override, "better to ask forgiveness than permission. Get back."
The rest of the squad began to back away as Nate set the laser to 'wide-bore' and threw the switch, as it were.
In an instant, a shaft of blazing white light flashed on like a deadly spotlight, the ground around where it impacted glowing red, then white as the stone melted, then vaporized. Thus it was for long, almost agonizing seconds before the beam finally shut down, several clunks and cracks within the machine itself telling Nate that it probably wasn't going to be used again anytime soon.
Nate and the others waited for a moment as they watched the ground cooling, waves of heat only somewhat obscuring the alcove that was directly beneath Liara's. If there had been a barrier there, the melted bottom edges of the structure made sure it wouldn't be appearing anytime soon.
"Was that the mining laser?" Liara said incredulously. "Oh, goddess… well… I guess it can't be helped."
Their passage having sufficiently cooled, allowed the squad to step through, coming to a console on what appeared to be an elevator platform. Nate took a look at the hard light display, then glanced back at Daniel. "Want to give this a try?"
"Let's see what I can do…" Daniel said as he made his way to the front, studying the control panel for a moment before slowly reaching out and touching it.
As his finger brushed the rectangular slab of green hard light, it flowed up to a flat metal plate above it and unfurled, showing the tower that they stood in, different alcoves depicted as outlines, the one they must have been in front of filled in with light.
Daniel tapped the alcove above the glowing one. As they slowly began to ascend, Langley looked over at Daniel. "So," she said, a grin evident in the tone of her voice, "have any visions related to transportation?"
"Not yet," Daniel replied offhandedly as they rose to Liara's alcove, stopping. "I'll let you know when I learn about the transit apocalypse."
Nate made his way over to Liara's side, to the console on her right, as she looked over at him with resignation. "If there was a way to free me without damaging a timeless, priceless relic of an ancient civilization…" she sighed quietly. "Well, I suppose I wouldn't be in this situation, would I?"
Nate waved Daniel over once again. "We have to get you out of here before more geth arrive."
"Yes, you're right." Liara nodded slightly. "As fascinating as it is to see geth beyond the Veil for the first time since before I was born, I think I've seen more than enough today."
She nodded slightly over to the console Nate and Daniel stood in front of. "The button farthest from you, the one pulsing green and blue. That should deactivate the security system holding me."
"How unusually simple for prothean tech," Daniel said, pressing the button in question.
The bubble around Liara buzzed with building intensity, then simply vanished from existence, unceremoniously dumping Liara onto the floor. She picked herself up and dusted herself off perfunctorily, and turned to face her liberators. "Thank you."
"Any idea how we might be able to get out of here?" Garrus asked.
"The elevator you got on should link up to a larger one that can take us to the surface," Liara replied. "It'll be a tight squeeze for a moment, but that should pass."
She was entirely correct, the squad moving to the center of the now quite large platform that had crates scattered about it as Liara paused at a console. After a moment, she sighed heavily, turning back to Nate. "I… I still can't fully believe all this. Why would the geth come after me? What does Benezia have to do with it?"
"Those are all good questions," Nate replied, unholstering a pistol he'd brought along. "But right now, we focus on getting you out of here. Because there's something me and Lieutenant Theisman need."
"What is it?" Liara asked as Nate held the pistol's grip out to her, and she took it hesitantly, as if holding one of the artifacts she usually worked with.
"Both he and I were given a… message by a prothean artifact found on Eden Prime. We were told you'd be able to help decipher what's in our minds."
Liara's brows rose. "A message from the prothean people?" she stammered slightly, a blush coming to her cheeks. "I-I'd be happy to help."
"Another part of why you're so important is that Saren's searching for a prothean object called the Conduit," Kaidan added. "Being an expert on protheans, we figured you might be able to point us in the right direction before he gets you to do the same."
"The Conduit?" Liara began.
Before she could continue, a rumble of moving earth rippled through the tower. It passed after only a moment. "What the hell was that?" Nagisa asked.
"The mining laser must have triggered some sort of seismic activity," Liara said, turning to the elevator console behind her and typing on it with one hand. "The ruins needed a lot of stabilizing to be accessed."
After a moment, the elevator began to rise as Ayanami ran Liara through a quick gun safety pointer. "Can we get a signal down here?" Nate asked.
Liara gave a quick nod, and Nate called the Normandy. "Joker! We're emerging on the surface shortly. We're going to need a quick evac as soon as you can make it!"
"Aye, Commander," Joker replied, all business, "secure and heaving to. ETA 8 minutes."
"Hell of a margin for error," Kaidan remarked.
"Bravo, this is Alpha lead," Nate pressed on regardless, switching channels, "we'll be emerging onto the surface soon. There should be an opening where we'll emerge. If you feel confident, drop in as soon as we open the way."
"Copy that," Ashley replied. "Be advised, a hostile squad entered the complex and is headed your way. They might stop your elevator. We'll land and close them in."
Nate closed the link, looking over at Liara as she adjusted her grip on her pistol again. "First time with a gun?" he asked quietly.
Liara nodded silently, fear shining through her eyes.
"Don't worry about shooting if you don't need to," Nate said as calmly as he could. "If I need to protect you, I'll throw a biotic barrier in front of you."
Liara smiled slightly. "Oh, good. I can manage biotics myself if need be."
Then, their platform stopped at an upper level, still some ways away from the surface, as the barriers around them flickered out.
The squad took cover as best they could, Nate sticking with Liara as she cowered behind one of the consoles. He peeked around the console to see several geth surrounding a large krogan in silver armor with an uncovered head of vibrant green skin. In one hand, he casually held a shotgun. In the other… was an intricately carved metal hammer that would likely have made Thor jealous. 'That's going to hurt when he gets close.' Nate mused grimly.
The krogan paused where he was as the geth spread out. Behind them were other soldiers. Humanoid, wearing…
Nate recognized that armor, the specialized two-visored helmets, and he fought to keep himself above the now-roiling tide of rage, memory, and all-too-suffocating fear as his mind named the newest foes they faced. 'Batarians…'
The krogan seemed to be in charge, stepping forward one more time. "Surrender," he called out. "Or don't. It'll be more fun that way."
"There's no time for this," Nate tried. "The ruins are falling apart. You keep us here, we both die."
"It's exhilarating, isn't it?" the krogan grinned. "Now, hand over the doctor, with our thanks for clearing the way. You might even get to live afterward."
'Whatever you want," Liara called out, Nate impressed by the firmness of her voice, "you're not getting it out of me."
"I think she's made it clear where she wants to go," Nate said.
"Cute," the krogan said as another rumble, somewhat stronger this time, made the room shake, "but Saren wants her. And Saren gets what he wants."
He hefted the hammer as he advanced. "Kill them, and spare the Asari. If she dies though, it is how the bullet flies."
The soldiers advanced, the krogan beginning to charge. "Bravo, now!" Nate shouted into a link.
The world became a hail of gunfire and biotics, Nate focussing what fire he could on the krogan before gathering his strength into a biotic throw aimed squarely at the krogan's chest. It sent his foe flying back, the krogan landing on his feet and stumbling back for a second before steadying himself.
The krogan tried to charge again, but as Nate noticed from the corner of his eye Liara stretching out her hand, a tiny point in space became deepest red… before an ungodly tearing sound preceded a sphere of blackest black, drawing the krogan back once again as crates, geth, and batarians began to collide into each other, the krogan standing strong against the whirlpool grasp. At last, however, Liara let the singularity go, bodies and boxes tumbling to the floor behind the krogan, seemingly unfazed.
The krogan grinned, raised his shotgun…
Then from behind him, several shotgun blasts rang out, drawing everyone's attention to the crimson krogan that bowled over the remaining trio of batarian soldiers.
As the rest of the squad filed in and caught the enemy in a vise, Wrex charged towards the krogan, letting his shotgun likely cool down as the enemy krogan began to sweep out his hammer.
Wrex took a knee, letting the blow clatter off of his domed armored shell, raising to land a solid uppercut, supercharged with biotic power, on the krogan's chin.
He stumbled back, swinging his hammer wildly in front of him as he struggled to get his shotgun out in front of him. Wrex stepped into a swing of the hammer, catching it under his arm as he aimed a shotgun that was heavier than some squad-carried heavy weapons squarely at the dazed krogan's head and fired again and again, breaching barriers, then flesh, then bone and brain.
Finally, the noise of it all stopped, and the krogan, his silver armor around his stump of a neck now splattered with red, fell back as his weapons slipped out of his corpse's hands.
And thus, the fight was over, those involved emerging from cover to get a feel of the scene. Many were drawn to the dead krogan, and the hammer that Wrex now picked up. He studied it intently, then dropped it next to the corpse. "Good fight, Lukotz Gurul." was all that Wrex said before turning and leaving.
Marlowe, curious, picked up the hammer, took a quick scan of it with her omni-tool, and placed it back, turning to see Nate hoisting a batarian corpse over his shoulder. The action caught everyone off guard. "Uh, sir…" Ashley began as the cavern began to shudder again, the worst shaking so far.
"No questions right now," Nate said, a bite to his voice that no one there had heard before. "Move!"
The rumbling only intensified as they all beat a hasty retreat from the ruins, the walls and ceiling crumbling down around them, the dashing becoming panicked for some as they sprinted up the long, upward tunnel…
And into the open air, the squad slowing down one by one as a plume of dust rose from the entrance like the breath of a dying dragon.
It was still for a moment before Marlowe looked over at Wrex. "So, big guy," she said between panting breaths, "was all that finery on that hammer just his name?"
Wrex pulled off his helmet, gulping in one deep breath, then another, before looking over at Marlowe. "That was not a simple engraving," he said firmly. "That was his steel chronicle. An heirloom passed from parent to child detailing family history, great feats, and honored ancestors, etched on any weapon that's important to the family. Now, his chronicle is at an end."
"Come on," Nate said, walking back to the shuttle with the dead batarian. "Let's pick up the geth unit and get out of here."
As they walked towards the shuttle, Daniel peeling off with Ikari to go get the geth unit in question, Garrus chuckled.
"Something funny?" Wrex asked archly.
"It just figures most of your writing happens on your weapons," Garrus replied. "Probably the only time you mercs decide to write."
"Careful, uksalki," Wrex said with a slight grin. "We're actually starting to work as a team. I'll be a part of the squad spirit, and it might get a little cranky hearing that."
Garrus was silent for a moment, then looked away. "Spirits… just what I needed."
