Getting to the facility’s roof was simple enough, but there was nothing there.
“Tali…”
“I know, Captain.
They’ve burrowed into the snow.
Be careful.”
“Into the snow, huh?”
I thoughtfully surveyed the snow-covered roof and, with a gesture that was mostly for show, created a Singularity over a particularly large drift.
It immediately sucked in the nearest antenna — there were many of them — snow, and a couple of Rachni.
The Rachni shrieked like mad, which forced the other creatures, still hidden, to burst out of the snow and charge toward us.
No need to explain tactics.
I simply created a barrier that covered us and prevented the Rachni from breaking into the facility.
Everyone else opened fire.
Well, almost everyone.
The twins preferred to control the Rachni with biotics, slowing or pushing them back so the others could shoot.
“I am krogan!”
I expected Wrex to charge forward with that cry and start tearing the ancient enemy apart, but no — he kept pumping bullets into the creatures with mechanical precision.
One trigger pull, one burst, one Rachni down on the roof.
“Don’t aim at the bodies!
Aim at the legs!
The legs!”
Unable to contain himself, he gave us advice on the best way to deal with these creatures, and things immediately picked up.
If earlier it took a significant amount of ammunition to take down a Rachni, now it was enough to just shoot off their legs, and these roaches turned into completely harmless carcasses.
“They’re kind of simple…”
Williams’s voice carried a note of mild bewilderment.
“Simple?
It’s always like that at the start of their invasion.
If you repel their offensive and destroy the queen that arrived on the planet, it all ends there.
But if you miss the moment of their arrival…
if the queen had even a year to build an army…”
There was tension in Wrex’s voice.
“…imagine a wave of bugs stretching to the horizon…
that’s the least of what’s waiting for you.
I won’t even mention how they can dig tunnels…”
“That’s…”
“Williams, quiet.”
Jane cut her off before she could say anything more.
Sure, she might not have blurted out anything bad, but apparently, Jane decided not to test how well the young woman controlled her tongue.
The first wave of creatures ended, the automatic weapons fell silent, and we listened.
“Lissi, Missi, use singularities to clear the bodies…”
“Understood.”
They answered in unison and created fairly large singularities that sucked in the legless, squealing bodies along with a few more antennae.
“Wrex?”
I turned slightly toward the krogan, who was staring thoughtfully at the ceiling.
“They’re still here…”
“And how did you figure that out?”
“Hear those quiet clicks?
That’s their mandibles…
For the most part, they’re brainless — at least, the queen definitely wasn’t controlling these ones — but they do have a self-preservation instinct, so they won’t rush us head-on anytime soon.
However, the moment we turn our backs to them…”
“So, maybe we should?”
“Huh?”
He looked at me in confusion.
“Well, I’m not dropping the barrier, and few of these creatures have had the chance to get acquainted with it.
So we’ll turn our backs, pretend we’re leaving…”
“Not a bad idea…”
Wrex’s mouth stretched into a satisfied grin.
“Let’s do it.”
At my gesture, Jane began issuing orders, and soon we turned and headed for the exit from the roof, hearing behind us as the Rachni burst out of the snow and charged toward us with a wild screech.
This time there were also a few spitters that shot acid our way, though after the first spit, most of their lives ended, as Garrus simply mowed them down with his sniper rifle.
And judging by what I saw, he fired at the exact moment of the spit, straight into their mouths, rupturing the acid-storage organ right inside the bug’s body, and they died from their own acid!
“That turian’s not bad!”
Approval sounded in Wrex’s voice.
“You’re not bad either…
though you shout a lot…
all that ‘I AM KROGAN!’ of yours makes my ears ring.”
“His ears ring…”
Wrex clearly found a reason to grumble.
“…don’t listen if you don’t like it.”
The second wave was destroyed just like the first, after which we blocked the door to the complex and walked across the roof, checking every suspicious snowdrift, but found no further signs of Rachni life.
“Tali, how could Rachni have ended up here?”
“From that laboratory we need to head to.
At least, while I was trying to repair the VI, I stumbled across fragments of information about the Rachni.
But right now, it’s impossible to make sense of it all.”
I smiled inwardly.
“If they’re growing Rachni there…”
Wrex shook his head.
“…then this could be the end of Citadel Space, because this time my people won’t fight for a bunch of pyjaks.”
“They’d be a threat to you too, you know.”
“Oh, we’ll defend our world somehow — at least we’ll watch from the front row as the turians and salarians get wiped out, and then we can leave too.”
“I can’t say I approve of that approach…”
Garrus didn’t stay out of it.
“…but I can understand it.”
“Ha…
he can understand…
you don’t understand a damn thing.”
Wrex got a bit angry at Garrus’s words, but didn’t start a fight — he just started acting a little more aggressively.
And after we’d triple-checked that there were no more Rachni upstairs, we headed back to Tali.
“How’s it going here?”
Jane addressed Chifuyu, who shrugged indifferently.
“Quiet.
The little one’s working, and we’re bored.”
“I’m not little…”
“Sorry, sorry, didn’t mean to offend you, but when you’re in that exoskeleton, you really do look like a little one next to us.”
Tali didn’t comment on that.
“Alright, is the monorail working?”
“Yeah, after the VI started functioning properly, the monorail began working too.
I was also able to connect to the cameras at Rift Station…
something not very good is happening there right now.”
“Something like what?”
“Rachni…
they’re attacking the part of the complex where there are still survivors, and there’s also some kind of disease that’s taken down some of the beings.
At least, that’s the conclusion I came to from my observations.”
“Send the disease data to Chakwas — let her analyze it.”
“On it.”
Tali immediately sent the data to the doctor, while we headed toward the monorail.
“By the way, I disabled the anti-orbital defenses above the complex, so we won’t have to go back to the port.
We can call a shuttle right to the roof and fly out without any trouble.”
“Now that’s good news.
Only, it’s pointless, since we still need to pick up the Mako, which means we’ll have to drive out of the complex anyway.
Plus, I still have business to finish with Benezia and Aria, so we’ll need the port too.”
Tali’s shoulders slumped a little.
“Hey, don’t worry, it’s fine.
You did great.”
I carefully put my arm around her shoulders.
“Stop.”
Raising my hand, I stopped everyone just before we boarded the monorail car, which was actually quite large — we could all fit inside.
“We’re waiting for Chakwas’s response.”
“But just in case, seal all helmets.
We’re operating under biological weapon protocol.”
Jane supplemented my order, after which came the clicks and soft hisses indicating everyone had followed her command.
A couple of minutes of silence, then Chakwas’s reply came through.
It visually resembled the effects of some kind of bio-weapon, but she couldn’t say exactly what was going on there.
“Tali, maybe…”
“No, I’m going with you.
You need a technician, and my suit won’t let any contamination through to me.”
“Liara…”
I realized I wouldn’t convince Tali, and she was right — we’d really need a technician.
“I’ll take responsibility for her protection.
She’ll have a personal biotic barrier on her at all times.”
“Good girl.”
I nodded approvingly, after which Jane oversaw the boarding of the monorail car, and soon we were on our way to Rift Station.
To where the laboratory was — the one where Saren had been doing…
something, and where, according to canon, the Rachni queen was located.
Anticipation…
And I also wanted to understand who exactly was on Saren’s side, who he’d managed to lure into his web, if Benezia was on my side.
“What are you thinking about?”
Jane lightly tapped my shoulder to pull me out of my thoughts.
“Thinking about what else might come in handy for our brave company.”
“Well, overall…”
Jane surveyed our landing party with some bewilderment.
“…I’d make an individual hardsuit for Tali.
Hers is decent enough, but it’s not a Helldiver hardsuit.
Two pistol shots and it’s done…
nothing but holes, not a hardsuit.”
“Hey!
Everyone on the Migrant Fleet wears hardsuits like this!”
“And that’s the problem, little one.
That’s the problem…”
Jane turned her head slightly to face Tali and said this with a touch of sadness, making it clear despite her lowered visor that she didn’t approve of that approach. This chapter is updated first at novelping dot com.
“And anyway, I added extra protection to it!
See?”
She patted the chest plate she’d attached to the hardsuit.
“Only the hardsuit itself still isn’t a Helldiver-grade one because of that.
So…”
“I’ll take care of it.
Tali, send me all the data on your hardsuit — everything.
And don’t be shy; if there are systems you wish you had but aren’t in this suit, write them in.
I won’t go broke building you a perfect hardsuit.”
“Mhm…”
A shyly grateful sound was my answer.
“Hey, will you make me something too?”
Liara appeared next to me and peered into my helmet visor.
“Submit a list of what you need…
and if you’re talking about a gift, you’d better make a list for that too, because as you probably remember, I’m not very good at choosing gifts myself.”
“Hmph…”
Liara smirked contentedly and took a step back, but then froze and slowly turned to Jane, who, judging by her clenched fists, wasn’t very happy with what was happening.
“You should make a gift list too…”
“Huh?”
Liara’s words caught her off guard.
“John is a complete zero when it comes to gifts, so if it ever occurs to him to give you something, it’d be better if he had a list of things you at least need — or better yet, things you’d actually want.
Because back then, he gave me a cat suit for those…”
She snapped her fingers a couple of times.
“…cosplays.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s interesting, but useless for me.”
I demonstratively turned away from Liara, showing how offended I was by her words.
After all, she never even put it on so I could take pictures.
“Uh…”
“So it’d be better for both you and Tali to make gift lists, since John has decided to turn his attention to you.
Because right now he doesn’t have time…”
I demonstratively looked at the ceiling — I wasn’t about to say that I’d already ordered the first gifts for Jane and Tali, as well as another gift for Liara…
but the latter was too boring, and I already had a wishlist.
“…although no, you’re already too late.”
“Huh?”
“When you receive your first gifts, you’ll understand that it’s better to make a list.”
Liara lost interest in the conversation, while Jane and the quietly dying-of-embarrassment Tali clearly had no idea what was going on.
Just then, our car reached the final stop, and we began to disembark.
“Gunfire ahead…”
Garrus drew our attention to what we could already hear.
“John, shields on you.
Everyone else, act according to the situation.
Go, go, go!”
And we literally sprinted through a few corridors, ending up in a large room where someone was fighting Rachni.
Without orders, we opened fire on the Rachni, who were thrown off by the appearance of another enemy.
Meanwhile, one of the twins created a shield in front of the laboratory’s defenders, so we very quickly dealt with all the roaches.
“Stop!”
As soon as we took a few steps forward, the defenders aimed their weapons at us.
“Who are you?!”
“Spectre Shepard, here on Council business.”
“Judging by the armor, you’re human, and there are no humans in the Spectres.”
“Captain, I’m sorry, but you’re wrong.
Before the connection went down, there was information over open channels that a human had been accepted into the Spectres.
I don’t remember the name, but…”
The man’s subordinate hesitated.
“And even so, I can’t let you through.
I have orders…”
“Get ready…”
One command from me, and all the guns were aimed at our opponents, while a barrier appeared in front of us.
“You know, Captain…”
I pronounced his rank with a touch of irony.
“…frankly, I don’t care whether I walk in over your dead body or you let us through.
But think about it…
if we fight now…
I think you understand the outcome.”
He frowned.
“And then who’ll protect the civilians?
Because I’m not here to wipe their noses — I’m here on Council orders.”
“Tch…
let them through…”
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