Chapter 16: Feros II

Wrex was in the driver’s seat again, because again the Mako had only a Krogan sized seat in that spot. How, when it was at a human colony on the frontier of Alliance space, was beyond him. Not Quite, however. He expertly maneuvered over the rubble of the airborne highway built by the Protheans. He was clearly experienced in such matters, much more than Jon would be.

He had never really driven anything, not since Athena at least. Everything he possibly needed was in Concorde near by his home, including the subway to the CIT labs. The General of course had a private seat on it up by the driver, and had even drove it a few times to fill in for their sick days and vacations, and for something else to do that wasn’t watching crystals grow. A subway car was a different ball game than an IFV a kilometer or more in the air on a teetering construction.

He was working the main gun however, and Liara was working the front mounted repeater given that it was the pre-Therum spec. They fought though some resistance along the way, Jon giving them a pounding and Liara the heat, but it was light overall. The Exogeni security forces were eviscerated, their smoking grizzlies and bodies strewn about, but they gave the geth their own pounding and heat. It was much more than Jon expected for a small colonial corp security force. Every moment he spent on the planet, he only got more and more suspicious.

They picked up some comm chatter too, and Lira called it out, “More comm chatter, Sheppard.”

“Has there been any sign of movement. Lizbeth could still be in there. It’s only been a couple of days.” The voice said with a hint of hope.

It quieted for a moment and then replied to an unheard speaker, “She’s my daughter. I’ll wait as long as I have too.”

Whoever the woman was didn’t sound as if she was possessed by biological witchcraft. She also now had Jon’s sympathy, but the HQ itself was the priority. Wrex eased up to the door, and it opened to more road and rubble inside. He moved the Mako up and around bigger pieces of detritus on the way in.

The comm spoke up again, the mother waiting for her daughter, “We got movement, some kind of vehicle. Not the Geth for certain.”

“They are close, Sheppard.” Liara said.

“I’ll stop if you say so, but the Geth are the priority.” Wrex said.

A compromise, Jon chose, “Slow up,” He said before keying the mic, “Boss to nearby friendlies, how copy.”

The comm barked back immediately, “We read you boss.”

Then another voice barked as well, “Get back Juliana. Who are you, what do you want?”

“A geth exterminator.” Jon replied to Wrex’s snicker. Sheppard always had good jokes to him. Jon continued, “Please put Juliana back on.”

The mother came back on, “I’m here boss. My daughter, Lizbeth, in up there. In the HQ. Please, find her. Shes a smart girl, and I know she’s still alive.”

Jon said, “I can’t make any guarantees, but I’ll keep my eye up.” Wrex snickered again. Liara gave him a side eye smile though her helmet.

“Thank you boss. The HQ is just a bit further down the sky way.”

The other voice barked again to Jon’s annoyance, “Those headquarters are private property soldier. Remove the geth and nothing else.”

“Boss out.” Jon simply said.

Wrex took that as his mark, and began the Mako again up the ramp to the next stretch of the sky way. He said, “Keeps getting weirder if you ask me.”

Liara said, “He could just be a peeved square, as the colonist said.”

Jon felt a pit in his stomach grow some. The circumstantial evidence was starting to grow. There were always more rats in their holes. The winding ramp straightened out and took them up to the garage on the next level. The door was an obvious trap, so Wrex angled the Mako before he got to close to it, and then advanced until the geth sprung their ambush. It was heavier than previous resistance, and the corner nose of the Mako started taking a pounding as Wrex feathered the throttle to give Jon and Liara a firing angle.

They worked though the front line of defense, and Wrex cautiously worked the Mako out of the garage and back onto the sky way. Jon and Liara kept their fire up at the stiffer defensive lines. There were several armatures, and destroyers bolstering the dug in geth troopers. The range was longer, and it gave Wrex plenty of time to dodge and juke around. The geth plasma shots, reminiscent of weapons much older, and their missiles moved just too slow.

Comparatively, the phased bolts from the Alliance spec repeater moved much faster towards their static targets, and the cover the geth made didn’t last against a 155mm slug moving at an appreciable amount towards the speed of light. Jon would churn their cover, and their heavy units, and Liara would rake them over with the heavy weapon.

They worked their way towards the HQ like this almost autonomously. Jon called out as he blasted another target when Wrex poked from a cover, “Liara, you surprise me. The destruction you leave in your wake leaves me aroused.” And it really did. He loved women with perfect noses that knew how to kill. Blue and alien got him going even more.

“And why is that surprising.” Liara asked as another fighting position fell to their combined tactics. She needed not institution in them.

“You are a far cry from the damsel I found you as.” Jon said as Wrex moved to the next ruined cover he could use against the next geth foxhole.

“I know, Sheppard.” She smartly said.

“Wrong button huh?” Jon smirked out.

“Wrong button, Jon.”

“Okay. Not in my Mako you two.” Wrex snapped back as Jon blasted the next heavy, a destroyer atomized to bits from the compensated shot. Garrus hadn’t gotten his hands on it yet, for sure.

“Your Mako?” Jon asked with some curiosity in his tone, watching Liara rip away on the repeater.

“Yeah, my Mako. And no, Garrus isn’t ripping her up for spare parts. If it takes every paycheck I’m supposed to get from the Alliance to keep this buggy, then that’s what it takes. It’s my Mako. You have a problem with that, General?” Wrex almost spit.

“Well I was going to seize it anyway from the corpo dick wads running this place, but fuck alright man. This thing really mean that much to you?” Jon asked.

“It does. Heh heh. I can see every Krogan driving one of these things.” Wrex chuckled as Jon fired another shot.

Liara snickered as she opened back up, “By the Goddess, with the main gun?”

“Especially with the main gun. The Alliance calls it mutually assured destruction.”

“Wrex, you realize that only works if you haven't already pressed that button.” Jon replied as Wrex drove again.

“Gotta get Krogan focused on breeding again, even if we don’t get a cure. Give them something to lose. Then when every incident becomes a tank battle with your family on board, well then maybe it won’t start shit in the first place over some minor dings and deputes. Besides, thresher maws came from Tuchanka. Need to be armed enough to kill them, and this thing fits the bill without being overboard.”

Wrex stopped, and Jon fired the main gun at the last fighting position. Liara said, “That is surprisingly well thought out.”

“Surprisingly?” Wrex said with some mock offense.

Liara and Jon chuckled as the last geth position fell and the end of the sky way was reached. Wrex called out, “As far as this thing will take us.”

The entrance in was an a gate rather than a bay door. Exogeni clearly left it broken and jammed as it was to make it more defensible. It worked as long as a geth ship didn’t attach itself to the side, bypassing all defenses. There was still a bit of work to do with the Mako, however. Wrex angled around, and his gunners worked in what fire they could against the shots flying out from the door. He could almost see it. That Sister he had his eye on, their leader naturally, working the main cannon. Little Wrex going varrenshit with the repeater against the foes of clan Urdnot. A quick jaunt to a human style super market.

He smiled behind his enclosed helmet as the Mako came to a full stop. The lovebirds had their fun, and now it was time for him to get in on it. Without a word he hit the door release and casually got out. A little bit of fire was still coming out of the stuck gate, but it was landing no where near where he stopped. After a relaxing drive, it was time to take a stroll in the park. His job with the Alliance was probably the best he ever had. Almost like a vacation.

Liara and Jon followed, and Wrex charge up his biotics as he continued his casual step, both his barriers and for an attack. He aimed his walk for cover out of prudence sake, but shot off a crush at the first target he spied. It was a lob and arc up to their position, and ate the geth where they stood. Wrex yawned as the whelps caught up to the battle master. He needed a moment to charge his biotics again, so he grabbed a grenade and gave it a toss too at the last target making their stand.

The Alliance had cool shit illegal in Citadel space, like plasma ordinance. Powerful plasma ordinance. The throw dinged off the head of the Geth, and ate it just as the biotic attack did its compatriot. A green ball of plasma burst forth in a 6 meter radius, and part of the geth’s cover was melted along with the geth itself. It fell to the floor in a charred and malformed heap.

The fire team moved in with Wrex leading the slow charge. One more platform remained, a sniper down at the far end that had broken cover to take a shot. The disadvantage they carried, however, was their system of consensus. Every program on the platform had to achieve consensus on the shot, and that meant they needed to spend longer than they would perhaps have to taking aim. Their targeting laser didn’t help them, and only served to expose their position. Jon was at the rear, behind Liara, and he snapped a burst off at the terminus of the sighting line.

It was only thanks to his luck that his bad eye was on his left. He could be ambidextrous, when he had too, but he certainly favored a side and over a century of muscle memory and coordination was still very much in use. He expected he would be just as good with his left at the point he was now, as the shots sailed off. It would have take at least as long as a quarter century to truly adjust too, as four of the five shots connected.

The geth crumpled, and there was no more geth presence in the building garage. Liara turned slightly to him and said, “You surprise me.”

“Say my name.” He wanted to hear it from her.

“You are the General, Jon.”

“You are goddamned right.” He said as he marched off to the front of the pack.

Wrex chuckled as he took his new spot on the rear, “The most fun I ever had on a job, let me tell you.”

Jon scoffed as they started climbing the ruin to the entrance of the building in earnest, “Plenty of clouds out there to yell at, old man.”

Then Wrex laughed as the reached upper platform standing over the ruined road. Jon looked both ways, and saw a locked door to his right, and perhaps the way though to his left. There was a security barrier, what looked like a drop, and the main door covered with rubble and collapsed in.

He said, “Wrex, think you can get that door over to the right there?”

He nodded nodded marched off, “Tali gave me some upgrades to my omi-tool.”

Liara and Jon followed as he asked, “Liara, why isn’t it called an omni-tool, or om-ni-gel.”

“A spelling error on the original patent for omi-gel.” She replied as they got to the door.

Wrex began the simple door hack, able to use a tool and follow instructions. Jon said, “It stuck.”

The hack sounded off, and the door opened. Liara said, “Yes, and eventually the tools were called that as well. It started with the Volus company that filed the patent, who also manufactured omi-tools.”

The second door opened and Wrex blasted shots with his big gauge as soon as it did. Then he tossed another grenade before backing up so the door could close. It boomed just on the other side, some red spots forming on the alloy as the plasma eroded at it until it cooled.

He poked out again, and then turned back, “It’s dead. Armature. Looked like it was sleeping until I turned it into slag. Our sensors are cleared up too, so I guess they can do that too.”

“Good job. Let’s double back to the other side. So, they owned up to it.” Jon said and his moment of bravado was over and Wrex kept his point.

“Yes it became their distinct brand. They invented the gel to cut costs on their tools, scale production, expand their functions, I am no economist but I recognize genius when I see it. They were the only ones that sold tools for a while. Theirs could do everything a normal tool could, and had proprietary small scale manufacturing capabilities. Keep in mind this was thousands of years ago almost. I do not believe the company responsible for it even exists anymore, the Volus often merge or sell out their corporate holdings. Many now manufacture the gel, and tools that use it.”

Jon nodded, satisfied with the explanation. They got to the other side of the building and the only way though was down the drop. They were never get though that barrier, and it didn’t look like had any kind of activation on their side, obviously.

Wrex peaked back, and Jon motioned for him to move up. They dropped down one by one, and Wrex carefully walked though the ruin, leading Liara and Jon down the short path into another garage bay, the collapsed in main ramp meant to connect two sky ways.

There was a dead varren in front of them, and Wrex slowed up to take cover. He peaked his head out, and was met with a pistol shot in return. He quickly ducked back in, and a couple more shots flew past their cover.

“Lizbeth!?” Wrex yelled out.

“Stay away from me Krogan!” She spit back.

“I’m not with the Geth!” He said, addressing her obvious assumption. Wrex motioned with his head for the General to take the lead.

“He’s with me!” Jon yelled out as he slowly moved up and stepped out of the cover.

Lizbeth was still pointing her gun, but only for a moment before she put it back down, relief washing over her form.

“General Sheppard.” Jon offered.

Relief now crashed over her like a tidal wave, “The General, thank Atom.”

The Wrex and Liara walked out behind him, and she said, “Sorry, I though you were with the Geth. I saw Krogan leading them.”

“I could have been. Your mother said you were smart.” Wrex said approvingly. It was always nice to be taken seriously, and be given a little respect on top.

“She’s alive!?” Lizbeth said.

Jon said, “Yeah, but first what are you doing here?”

She huffed a deep breath, “It was my own fault. I stayed to back up data. Next thing I knew the geth ship latched to the side of the building, and the power went out, I was trapped, the way was blocked by geth.”

“What are the geth after?”

She looked around somewhat nervously, “Well...I’m not certain but I think it was for the Thorian.”

“Thorian?” Liara asked.

“An indigenous life-form. ExoGeni was studying it.” She answered.

Hmm. Mind control spore. It just added up furthEr, Jon though. He said, “Can you help us find this Thorian?”

“I might be able too, but not with those geth crawling around everywhere. We have to get past that field. I think the ship is powering it. I saw them running a bunch of cables.”

Jon nodded, “Alright. Stay put. We’ll find a way to get the barrier down.”

“Here, my key card, and seriously?” She handed him a card, and motioned to Wrex.

Jon heard before he turned and saw Wrex turned around and at the corner of the way they came. He said, “Wrex, as your friend, what the fuck are you doing?”

Wrex chuckled, “Taking a piss, and marking my territory whelp. You don’t smell the varrens around?”

“My olfactory sense are impeded by filtration systems.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Mine aren’t. Krogan noses are good, and so are varrens. Soon as we leave they’ll pounce on her for dinner. I recommend you hide down this hole. They’ll leave you alone once we leave. You already killed one too, so that helps.”

“Uh, sure actually. That makes a lot of sense. They came from Tuchanka, and would know Krogan scent instinctively.” Lizbeth replied.

“Uh huh.” Wrex said.

Jon shrugged, “Take us out Wrex.”

Wrex redid himself and walked though the damp ruin towards the working door glowing green in the dim light. Jon did notice a varren here or there giving them a berth as they passed. Lizbeth tucked herself away into the collapsed hall near to the drop, and fresher air. She kept an eye towards the exit for any varrens that didn’t get the hint.

Wrex thumbed the door, and immediately they could hear another Krogan up the top of the steps. Jon pulled Wrex back and took the lead up them. He was a bit quieter given that Wrex outweighed him by a large margin, though he imagined Wrex could be pretty quiet. He wouldn't be alive if he couldn’t be.

“Stupid machine!” Said the Krogan at the top of the turning stairs, perfect for flanking close to his rear.

“Access encrypted files!” He said again as Jon stepped softly up the stairs.

There was a bit of rubble on them, but the path was used daily as part of the HQ and mostly cleared. Wrex's steps were almost as soft, and Liara wasn't even a whisper. With the Krogan yelling back and forth with the hologram Jon saw, it wasn't hard to come up behind him quietly.

“I am unable to comply. Please contact your supervisor.”

The Krogan was tunneled onto the hologram trying to get what he wanted, negating the advantage of his wide field of view. A twitch one way or another and they would be discovered. It didn’t matter anyway, because the Krogan was already dead.

“Damnit, tell me what I want, or Ill bast your virtual ass into actual dust-”

“Please-” The hologram tried to say.

Jon opened up with his beat stick, and a full, mostly controlled, spray from it detonated the center of the large mass of the Krogan. The barriers took two shots before they fell, and the rest of the twenty or so rounds carved into his back. The Krogan roared in pain, tried to turn, but fell most of the way though the barrage from the sheer damage he had taken at once. Jon stepped aside a bit, and Wrex took the lead again so he could blast the body with his big gauge the twice that he could. Jon had ejected a thermal clip, the item glowing hot, and slotted another one in expertly despite the constraints of it. Then he unloaded again, the detonations sliding the mangled corpse across the floor and into the wall, flinging bits of the Krogan around as well.

The weapon began it’s cycle, and he let it happen rather than waste the thermal clip. The hologram was still standing, and now staring at them. It was a ghostly digital apparition, but took the form of a balding and dignified man in a suit and tie.

It said, “ExoGeni Corporation remands all staff that the discharging of weapons on company property is strictly forbidden. Welcome back research assistant Elizabeth Baynham.”

“Who are you?” Jon asked.

“The emergency administrative hologram. Do you require the assistance of the emergency medical hologram? We have spoken before.”

Jon said, “Maybe. First, what was the last user trying to access.”

the EAH’s eyes lit up as started calculating, “The previous user was attempting to access details on the study of Subject Species 37. The Thorian.”

“What did you give him?”

“I was unable to provide the previous user with any relevant data. He did not have proper clearance levels, and there has been no new data on the species. All sensors monitoring Zhu’s Hope have been inactive for several cycles.”

“They were experimenting on the colonists.” Liara said over the private comm.

“What else would a corporation do with colonists.” Wrex said.

“Where is the Thorian?” Jon asked. Probably at Zhu’s hope, we guess.

“Species 37 is located within the sub structure of Zhu’s Hope outpost.” The hologram answered.

“The heart of the colony.” Wrex said.

“What can you tell me about the Thorian? Everything you know.”

The administrative hologram answered, “The Thorian is a simple plant based organism that exhibits a sentient behavior uncommon with most other flora. Though the dispersion and inhalation of spores, it can exert control over other organisms, including humans. The Zhu’s Hope control group yielded interesting results. Before sensors went offline, almost 85% of all test subjects were infected with the species 37 spore.”

“And ExoGeni knew all along what would happen to those people.” Jon grumbled.

“It was deemed necessary to asses the true potential of species 37.” The hologram replied.

“We need to deal with the jamming so we can warn the crew.” Liara said over comms. Just what Jon was thinking as well. Wrex was keeping his eye up for anymore hostiles or ambushes.

Jon said, “What can you tell me about the Geth ship and the jamming field.”

“I am unable to give you much data. I am only an administrative hologram for emergencies, not a tactical or command hologram that would have data on the geth. They have effectively jammed all facility sensors. There are power fluctuations but I am unable to determine the source.”

Jon huffed and said, “Alright, lets move.”

“Going into standby mode.” The EAH said before blinking off.

Wrex took point and moved down the hall to the next part of the facility. There were some steps up, and their short band sensors caught hostiles in the next room. Their approach left them a perfect vantage to ambush, and the geth were perfectly distracted. A few of them were bunched over in front of one of their shrines. Wrex opened up, and Jon and Liara followed not long behind. Jon’s explosive force cut them down were they ere kneeling, and Liara followed up with a biotic attack that blasted what was left of them into scrap.

The walked down the steps into the room and Liara spoke up, “They obviously used the claws to latch to the side of the building. We will have to dislodge it to cut the power.”

Wrex added, “That armor is star ship grade. Nothing we have will do the job, unless we find some kind of flaw, or weak poin-”

“Jon?”

Jon was absentmindedly strolling towards the light of the shrine, behind supports dug into the floor and wall surrounding it. The light beamed, and the flash of it burrowed deep into his head. He grabbed the side of it in response with his off hand.

“THE CYCLE” The image of Sovereign forced him back a step.

“MUST” Death. Pain and death it seared into him.

“CONTINUE” Survival instead, it offered.

DECEPTIONS! LIES! DESTORY THE MACHINES! His blood red mind replied. REVENGE REVENGE REVENGE, it chanted.

Jon howled as he lifted his gun.

REVENGE

REVENGE

REVENGE

He pulled the trigger and didn’t let up the storm from it. The long burst connected with the glowing centerpiece of the shrine and shattered it, killing its light and sending its corruption asunder.

“By the Goddess, Jon!” Liara said as she grabbed him. Jon almost tried to throw her off, but he kept himself as he took heavy breaths.

“What the hell was that, Shepard?” Wrex said as his gun was up in case of ambush though the short ordeal.

“Sovereign. He tried to get into my head. I think the beacon protected me. I don’t know if I could have fought it off otherwise.”

“Through the shrine?” Liara asked.

“Yeah. That’s what the flash was. You didn’t see it? Feel anything?” He asked.

“It got brighter, but not by much. Certainly not a flash. Nor did I feel anything.” Liara said.

“Nothing on my end. Just saw you zoning out and going varrenshit.” Wrex added.

Jon took another deep breath, and he let it out with a couple chuckles, “He knows I’m a threat then. Gave me his full attention to try and indoctrinate me. Control me.”

“By the Goddess if Sovereign did that…”

“The whole fucking galaxy is doomed. You sure you’re still with us Sheppard?” Wrex said. The was light menace and an implied threat in his tone.

Jon smiled behind his helmet. He would do it if he had to, and probably succeed if the Krogan came at him with biotics. He was stronger than a Krogan, but not by a significant amount. With biotics and eight centuries of experience. he would be ripped in half just like a super mutant could do to him. No matter how many brothers challenged him, he always politely declined out of that fear. It didn’t win him many favors among the tribes, but those that heard him from trinity tower that one night, or apart of Athena, assured their brothers of the General’s strength. The Commonwealth tribe led by Strong always welcomed him on visits through to pick up glowing Children produce.

Liara cut though his errant thought, “We have to take brain scans when we get to the ship.”

“I understand. Only way we can be certain. If I wasn’t still with you, I probably wouldn't have blown that discount palantiri up.” Jon said. Have fun untangling that mess, he though.

“Palan what?” Wrex asked.

“Old Earth myth. Nearly ancient. Its how the bad guys communicated with one and other. Obviously the Reapers can use it for the same purpose. Hell, maybe the geth are unwilling in this.” Jon said.

“They could be under direct control of Sovereign though that artifact.” Liara said.

“They probably wouldn't be kneeling in worship if that was the case, unless this Sovereign has that much a stick up his ass.” Wrex countered.

Jon was done recovering from the ordeal, “Both could be true. Lets move. Hold our asses Wrex.”

“Heh, heh, heh. Gladly.” Wrex said, still menacingly. Jon understood that he couldn’t exactly be trusted at the moment.

Jon took point and worked the team down the hall to the next room infested with geth. He got one bust off, then another before moving into cover. They had a sniper and a hopper and they were both jamming the short bands. Jon grabbed some ordinance and tossed it around the corner at whatever.

“Get biotics in there. Liara go high, Wrex low.”

The both responded by charging their attacks. Wrex had a crush ready, and Liara a singularity. Jon moved out of there way, and Liara shot her attack first up high near the hopper. It tried to get away, but that only sealed it’s fate. Wrex came in second and lobbed his at the geth on the other end of the room in cover. It mangled it and them, and Jon entered the fray again with bursts at the platforms caught in their snares and stranglers. It wasn't long for the room to quiet down once again.

Jon moved forward again though the small battlefield and onto the next. There was a barrier up blocking off access to to the garage. Up the next stairs and their free short bands registered two contacts further up. He slowed the team’s pace and readied another grenade. Wrex like the plasma, but he preferred high explosive frags.

He poked just a bit out to get hid eye on them, Krogans, and tossed his ordinance not a moment later. The guards were talking, but still on the ball enough to notice the flying object before it reached them. They weren't on it enough, however. Jon snapped explosive shots at them both with his beat stick one after another as me moved into the next cover. Wrex took his spot, and added another blast from his big gauge just before the detonation occurred.

The combined firepower faster than the two Krogan could really react to it nearly chunked them to pieces. One more was behind them, but he didn’t last much longer against barrage. As soon as Jon saw the last get up he was opening fire and tearing chunks out of him as well. There were no more enemies, but the path was a dead end, and they would have to do the other way. A cursory check while Wrex and Liara held the other end of the hall gave up some prototype weapons designs.

He circled back around and down to the room with the barrier. There was another way though just opposite from where they came, and then another set of stairs. About half way up them the short bands jammed again and it was obvious geth were waiting to ambush in the next room.

Another grenade sprung their countered ambush, and secondary explosions hit the geth position as well as the grenade caught something else in it’s radius in accordance with his quantified luck. Jon leaned out and started suppressing whoever wasn't suppressed, and Wrex gave a couple blasts as he charged through and took another cover. Liara moved around him and launched another biotic attack. Some return fire made it though, but speed and violence of action continued winning them the day.

After the hard and fast fire fight was over, Jon took stock of the room. There was another claw poking though the wall from a bay door, and what looked like geth work terminals scattered around. There was also a human terminal sparking, but still functional.

Jon asked, “Wrex, think you can crack that ExoGeni terminal with your tool?”

“Probably not. Human systems aren't the same as everyone elses, and the programs I have are for are for everyone elses. A door using the old Prothean hardware is close enough to citadel systems, a human terminal is a different story, and I’m not exactly a hacker as you know.”

“I can try.” Liara said, “I became very familiar with human computational architecture at the dig site.”

“Go for it. Wrex, with me up these stairs. Our sensors are still jammed.”

Jon took his point again, and went up the walkway to the other side of the wall the claw was latched to the top of, the last remains of the floor that was over top the rooms below it.

A few more geth were waiting in ambush. Jon fired at the first twitch he saw, and it was a hopper taking a position to fire. He didn’t give the geth platform a change. With his superior reactions, he let lose a burst midair into it’s side, following it along it’s flight trajectory. It fell to the ground, and he took cover to avoid the returning geth fire.

Wrex had blasted a couple times before he did the same, and tossed a biotic atack down below into the room. One had tried to charge up and flank, but Jon was ready for such a move as it was the only place they could try to flank, meaning it wasn't really a flank at all. The bottom of the stairs became a small kill zone. A rocket from a red geth platform flew over his head. The machine was fast, but just missed being on target from the explosive barrage. A second trooper tried the same, and a shot splashed his barriers before that geth too fell.

Jon ejected the heat sink and slotted another in. He picked himself up and moved down the stairs, renewing his assault as he did. Wrex followed behind, and the remaining geth died like the rest, their programs retreating to their servers. It seemed like that was all, but their sensors were still jammed.

He carefully advanced, but it mattered not as he tried to check a corner. There was a geth destroyer folded up, deceptively small despite its actual size when standing. The position acted like a spring that it launched itself from. Jon had no time to react as the cold metal body slammed into his, and threw him back against the opposite wall. Wrex tried to react, and his big gauge put a hole in the destroyer with the second shot, but it didn’t scrap the platform. The destroyer knocked the shogun away and put its foot almost though the Krogan’s chest.

Before Jon could get a handle on himself and his weapon, the geth used it’s machine speed to pin him where he was against the wall by his neck, the geth’s off hand tossing his gun away as well. Jon focused solely on keeping the destroyer from ripping his throat out. He used his off hand to grasp the thumb of the machine, and dug into it to keep it from flexing and completing it’s objective. The geth used synthetic ligament to simulate organic analogs and muscle fiber, so it was about the same as if he started ripping an organic hand apart with his, except the machine did not react in the slightest or feel pain.

Jon grabbed it’s wrist with his other hand, and then heaved with his boot into it’s chest. The thing tried to grab his ankle, but it didn’t stop the force from caving it’s chest and pushing it back off him, nor it’s arm from leaving it’s socket. Wrex had collected himself, and even went into a rage. He steamed ahead charged with biotics, and tackled the large geth platform to the ground. With a roar he started tearing into it with his fists, ripping metal chunks from it until it stopped moving.

Then he stopped with a few heavy breaths as he picked himself up from the mangled robot.

“Are you two alright!?” Liara yelled.

Jon coughed a couple time while rubbing his throat. We would have survived losing it with medical attention, but the mission would be scrubbed and he would need carried off most likely.

“Yeah! We’re clear on this side!” He called back.

“You good Wrex?” Jon then asked.

“Yeah. Yeah. That kick hurt. Stopped one of my hearts even. It’s going again, so I’ll be fine.” He nodded out.

Liara made her way over and said, “I have the data from that terminal. Something about test samples from somewhere else. Nodacrux Colony. Here is the file.”

She sent it over and Jon opened it with his omi-tool. Immediately he spied the problem with it, confirming his fears and theories, “exogene. That’s way to many lower case e’s.”

“I suspect it is their brand. A unique way to spell it.” Liara offered.

“What are you thinking?” Wrex asked as he still rubbed the dent in his armor.

“Enclave. This is a stupid little code exactly like them to use. So cells can recognize each other. They used to capitalize them in weird places.”

“They really are worse then the Krogan. I did some digging about FEV when it first got around. Krogan and bio weapons don’t mix usually.”

“That is a bit of a stretch Jon. Didn’t you kill them all in Chicago and Montana from the histories?”

“Always more rats in their holes.” Jon simply said as if that explained things.

“Shit.” He then said after diagnostics ran on his HUD. “My seal is compromised. I’ll be exposed to that spore.”

“You are not having a good day.” Liara said. Jon chuckled in agreement.

“I got some duck tape in my kit.” Wrex said.

Jon then laughed at his luck, “You just have duck tape?”

“Heh heh. That House character had a big expo in the wards with human goods when the markets opened. The name was funny. Why name tape after a duck? Anyway the package said it was vacuum rated. Haven't used it for that, but I have used the tape. It works.”

Jon shrugged as he took the tape roll, “If it was sold by House, then it’s good for vacuum. He prides himself on maintaining high quality standards. His brand is based on it.”

“It is usually profitable to sell reliable products that work as advertised, and be known for that. It fosters long term, or even life time customer bases. Word of mouth does your advertising for you. Come to think of it, I do not think I have ever seen or heard one advertisement for House Industries goods. Every airwave is inundated with them from every brand.” Liara said as he wrapped around his neck a couple times.

Jon wrapped a couple more before the diagnostics read a seal, “His shit survived an apocalypse where many other things turned to dust. He really is at the top of the Alliance economy, and it’s not exactly unwarranted. You’re right, too. I’ve never seen ad for anything except product placement in movies for his casinos and resorts.”

“I still think you’re idiots for making him you’re top diplomat.”

“The Volus are the number one threat facing the Alliance. Well, past the Reapers about to be up our asses.”

“What does that even mean? One of you’re children could crush an adult Volus.”

“It’s the economy stupid.”

Wrex stopped a moment, thought, then said, “Ahhh. They'd crash your prices and whatnot, to force you to join or starve.”

“Yeah. Basically. We would be fools to not take part in the galactic economy once FEV got out and keeping the borders closed was moot. However that lets the Volus in to do what everyone and their brother knew they would do. House was the only one with the experience to navigate that threat to our sovereignty. He is The tycoon, and ran the Alliance’s first and only megacorp even before first contact. So they gave him the diplomatic reigns to negotiate the trade agreements.”

Wrex nodded as he stretched one final time. It sucked getting old as he was, and he was glad the General wasn’t one of those warriors despite his more youthful age, that didn’t know how to take a break after getting their asses kicked. He said, “I’m good if you are Sheppard.”

Jon nodded and picked up his rifle to continue deeper into the shuttle bay basement, wary of the corners. The sensors were clear and they read no contacts, but he wasn’t taking anymore chances.

Liara called out over the comms, “We would need Tali to crack these Geth terminals. I see another exogene terminal.”

Wrex said, “Looks like a control there for that door the claw is sticking though. We might be able to throw the thing off if we unstuck that claw with the bay door.”

“Do it.” Jon said as he finally cleared the area, then took a watch.

Wrex found a repair ticket, and configured the hydraulic pressure to what it said would make the door sheer metal. Ships were made of metal, so he figured it would probably work. Liara finished her quick hack and pulled the next file from the terminal.

She said, “A personal log. About a group named Cerberus. Perhaps its not the Enclave, but something different.”

“It’s the Enclave. Cerberus is another front.”

“I’m good here.”

“Execute.”

Wrex hit the activation, and the door slammed up into the bottom of the claw, knocking it from its resting position. It resisted a moment, then continued it’s sheer straight though before slamming shut. The building rumbled, and debris fell and scattered about as the rest of the claws began detaching. It continued for a few moments before the rest of the appendages got the hint, and the ship fully separated from the side. It sparked across it’s hull as the power was violently disconnected and through the clouds to the ground below.

“Boss to gunny. How copy.”

“Gunny here. We’ve been trying to reach you boss.”

“Report.”

“We had to fall back. Something happened to the settlers after we did a couple tasks for them. They’re trying to claw their way into the ship right now. No ones been shot, yet, but we did have to fire off some warnings to buy us some space to retreat.”

“Do what you have to. Protect the Normandy and prevent the spread of that spore at all costs.”

“Hasn’t been necessary yet, but will do boss. You on you’re way back?”

“Yeah, after I deal with the thing holding the colonists hostage. Boss out.”

“Gunny out.”

“Lets move.”

Wrex started off first, not distrusting Sheppard as he did previously. The team backtracked again and into the room where the barrier once was. Lizbeth had obviously registered the geth ship detaching, and was waiting at the door to the garage bay for the tower.

“There you are! We should get out of here. There may still be more geth around.” She said.

Jon casually marched up to her and stared down into her. His tone was unfriendly, “What exactly was you’re involvement in this?”

She froze and went pale. The only thing that came to her mind was the truth, Jon would judge. She said, “I-I tried to stop it. Well more like complain until they assigned me to oversee settler safety. They threatened me and told me I would be next. When the geth attacked I had stayed behind to send a message to Alliance Settler Affairs. To expose this.”

“And the Enclave?”

“The Enclave? What? No it’s Cerberus. At least that’s what I heard.”

“No, its the Enclave.” Jon said, his tone even more harsh.

“I promise, I don’t know anything about the Enclave. Just Cerberus that I’ve heard a couple things about. Mostly that they’re good for their threats. I had to shut up.”

Jon believed her, and nodded so. He said, “Lets go.”

As they walked towards the entrance, Lizbeth said, “The Thorian is in the sub structure of Zhu’s Hope. The settlers moved a freighter over the entrance.”

“Thanks for the intel.”

“EDI to shore party, geth comm chatter has increased a significant amount. They are heading your way.”

“Move!” He called out.

The party moved to a run and out the garage to the parked Mako. Wrex took his driver seat, Liara her co-pilot, and Jon on the main gun again with Lizbeth riding in the crew compartment with him. Wrex powered it on and jammed the throttle. All six tires spun freely as the Mako turned back towards the colony. The IFV accelerated hard and away when they caught traction again. The heart of the place waited to be cut from it after they fought though the geth awaiting them.