“Well, there we go!”
It hadn’t even been five minutes when the door opened and we could enter.
Unfortunately, the doorway was too narrow for the Mako, so we had to leave the vehicle behind.
That was a bit inconvenient.
A quick scan showed the main room was clear of enemies, so I let myself relax slightly.
Only slightly.
“Alright, Tali, you’re the technician.
What would you suggest we tackle first?”
“Well…”
Tali gave me a quick glance.
“First, I’d head toward the VI core.
If it’s having this many problems, it’ll be easier to extract information from it.
Then we can deal with everything else.”
“Great, that’s where we’re going.”
I nodded toward one of the signs that promised to lead us to the core.
Ten minutes later, we were there.
Tali opened the core room quickly, but I grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and pulled her back from the entrance.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“But…”
“First, the armored uncles and aunties check the room for enemies.
Tali, don’t forget — your main job in this team is technician, not combatant.
Please leave the risk-taking to everyone else.”
“I guess…
we take the risks while she tinkers with machinery.”
Williams muttered it under her breath, but I heard her.
“Williams!”
Jane managed to cut her off before I could deal with it myself.
“Yes!”
She even snapped to attention, responding to her direct superior’s command tone.
“Tell me, my dear — since you allow yourself remarks like that, you must be very good with technology?”
“N-no, ma’am…”
“No?
Then you must be a wizard at programming.
You’ll have no trouble dealing with the facility’s core?”
“N-no…”
Again, with a slight stammer.
“Then what the fuck are you criticizing the only specialist who actually knows what she’s doing?!”
“I…”
“The hell you are!
If you can’t do it, what the fuck?
Or do you think all problems can be solved with explosives?
That won’t help with the VI!”
“But she…
she…”
Ashley was clearly struggling for words but realized everyone was looking at her with disapproval.
“Alright, three extra duties.
And you remember our agreement?
That’s the second warning.
A third, and you’re off the ship.”
“Yes.”
Ashley was clearly upset, and I was tired of it all.
I ordered Rebecca and Chifuyu, under the twins’ cover, to check the room.
Only after they confirmed it was clear did I let the flustered Tali in.
She didn’t know where to put her hands.
“Everyone waits outside.
Only Tali and I go in.”
Liara winced almost imperceptibly at my words and cast a thoughtful glance at Tali but said nothing.
“I…”
The moment we were alone, Tali started to say something while working very quickly.
“…thank you.
I saw you wanted to defend me too, but Jane beat you to it.
It means a lot to me.”
“Tali, you’re part of the team and a nice girl.
I couldn’t help but be annoyed by that lady’s behavior — she’s barely hanging onto this team as it is.
Tell me, how long will it take you to crack this VI, and in a way that after all systems are restored, everyone thinks we just fixed it, with no suspicion of a break-in?”
“Well…
two to three hours…
minimum.
That’s if I’m careful.
But there’s another way.”
“Which is?”
I looked questioningly at the girl, who was thoughtfully surveying the VI core room.
But they might try to blame us for losing important data.”
“Let them try.”
I said it with a smirk.
“Here’s a list…”
A list of corporations and laboratories I was interested in appeared on Tali’s brand-new Omni-tool, which she treated like a precious gem.
“Extract everything you can from this list.”
“Understood.”
“Will it bother you if we try to restart the reactor?”
“No…
I mean yes, but it’s better if you’re nearby and restart it on my command.
That way, we can blame the data loss and VI reset on a power surge.”
“Perfect.
You work then.
I’ll leave Liara, Chifuyu, and…”
I thought for a moment.
“…Rebecca to watch over you.
The three of them can handle your security.”
“Thanks, but I could just lock the door.”
“Then lock it.
They’ll stay in the room in case someone tries to break in.”
“Alright.”
Tali didn’t argue, and soon I left the VI core room, sending the girls inside.
“Jane, next target — the reactor.”
“Got it…”
Five minutes of moving through the complex corridors — which turned out not to be that large — and we reached the entrance to the reactor section.
“Too bad Tali’s busy…”
Jane said, looking at the locked door.
“Tali, we’ve got a problem — the reactor room door is locked…”
“I could come over…
but then my work here stops.”
“No, I wanted to ask if you can do anything from the VI core?
If not, I’ll just blow the door to hell.”
“One moment…”
It took a bit longer than a moment — a few minutes, actually — before Tali spoke again, this time with a note of guilt in her voice.
“…sorry, Captain, I can’t do anything from the core.
I mean, I could, but I’d need to finish with the VI and take control first.
Until then…”
“No problem.
We’ll handle it ourselves.”
With that, I gestured for everyone to move back and was about to create a small Singularity, but Wrex tapped me on the shoulder.
“Step aside, kid, let the old man show he’s still useful.”
I looked at him in surprise and didn’t interfere.
He took a short run-up, covered himself in biotic sparks, activated his helmet, and then charged — slamming his shoulder into the door, causing it to buckle outward.
“Huh…
it’s tougher than I thought.”
He stepped back and charged again.
The door nearly flew off its frame.
Then he gave it a powerful kick, and it crashed to the floor.
“There.
Learn something, rookies.”
“Old-timer…”
Lissi’s voice carried a hint of mockery.
“…that’s all well and good, but you must’ve lived in the days before Singularities were invented, huh?”
Wrex, who had already opened his helmet, frowned at the girl.
“And you didn’t need to damage your armor.”
“I didn’t damage anything…”
The big lizard’s voice had a note of offense.
He clearly didn’t want to argue with a young asari, and what she’d said was essentially true.
“Oh, come on, big guy — Lissi’s just teasing…”
Missi tapped his shoulder with her fist.
“…don’t be mad at my sister.
She’s a bit of a fool sometimes.”
“Alright, you can flirt later, but just so you know, as captain of this ship, I bless your relationship.”
I allowed myself a bit of sarcasm, which made Wrex and the twins slightly flustered, then signaled and entered the corridor with a biotic barrier raised in front of me.
The corridor was safe, and the next door — the one leading to the reactor — wasn’t locked at all, so…
I opened the door and caught several shots on my barrier.
“Oh, we’re being welcomed.”
A grin spread across my face, and I took a couple of steps forward so Jane in her exoskeleton could squeeze into the room.
“Fire at will.
But be careful — there’s a reactor in here, and if we damage the wrong thing…”
Garrus stepped forward, readied his sniper rifle, and fired almost from the hip at a geth that was shooting at us with an automatic weapon.
A few more shots ended the existence of several geth platforms, but then a Prime emerged from behind a column…
“Fuck…”
“Keep shooting.
I’ll handle the big one.”
“We’ll handle it.”
The twins cut Jane off and immediately created two Singularities on either side of the Prime, literally tearing it in half.
“Oh…”
Wrex was clearly impressed by the girls’ abilities.
He knew they were assault troopers, which meant they were strong, but tearing a Prime apart like that — that was far beyond standard biotic levels.
No more unpleasant surprises.
We cleared the room — or rather, Garrus cleared the geth — and entered the reactor control room.
“Tali, we’re in position…
My modest knowledge and a large sign saying ‘Reactor Restart Required’ suggest the reactor just needs a restart.
And based on what I see, it’s done by pressing a single button.”
“Wait…”
The girl’s voice was tense.
“…I’m not done here yet.”
“Now—”
Williams didn’t finish the sentence, quickly catching herself, but something told me she was about to say something unflattering about Tali and how we had to wait for her.
I glanced at Jane and only saw her shaking her fist at her subordinate.
I began to think I’d made a mistake going along with Jane.
We would’ve been better off with Jenkins — that juvenile idiot at least didn’t argue with orders.
“Almost done…
John, there should be a big red button labeled ‘Reactor Restart.'”
“Yeah, I see it.”
“Don’t touch it under any circumstances.
That button is currently rigged to detonate the reactor.”
“What?!”
Everyone near me said it simultaneously, and something told me Tali’s words had the same effect on her end.
“Find the button labeled ‘Self-Destruct’ and press it.”
“Tali, are you sure?”
Liara’s voice came through the common channel.
“Positive.
It’s not hard to spot that a couple of buttons were reassigned.
So if John presses the button I told him to, everything will be fine.”
“Found it…”
I didn’t argue and got ready to press it.
“Three, two, one…
now!”
I pressed the button, and the reactor immediately shut down, along with the lights.
Our armor suits’ flashlights automatically turned on.
The darkness didn’t last long — soon the reactor restarted, followed by the lights.
“Strange — why didn’t the emergency lights kick in?”
Rebecca’s voice carried confusion.
“The VI was malfunctioning.
It simply couldn’t respond to an emergency…
Tch.
The VI reset to factory settings.
Some data lost.
Actually, most of the data.”
“Doesn’t matter.
Can we get to the monorail?”
“Yes…
but there’s a problem…”
“What problem?”
“Some roaches on the roof are messing with the comms.
The comms themselves can’t be fixed quickly, but I think we should deal with the roaches first.”
“Now we’re fighting roaches?”
“Well…
we don’t have to…”
Tali wasn’t in the mood for Williams’ mockery.
“…but the database I transferred from my old Omni-tool — which I inherited from a very, very successful quarian scientist — tells me they’re Rachni.”
“Rachni?!”
Wrex perked up at that.
“Alright, Rachni are a threat.
Find out where they’re coming from, and we’ll take care of the ones on the roof.”
“Got it.
By the way, I’ve unlocked the path for you, so it should be easier this time.”
“Thanks.”
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