Mass Effect - A Hero Rises Ch. 61

Book 3, Chapter 12 - An Old Wound

*****

Mordin was still hard at work getting the cure ready. I didn't ask him every day about progress, as I knew it was going to take time, but he would inform me whenever he'd made the sort of breakthrough that suggested he'd cut a few days here or there. Wrex was getting restless, so I sent him down the armoury whenever that happened, as we had a shooting range and also dummies he could use to take out some of his aggression.

But it was Eve who was the best surprise. The krogan who had seemed so determined to just wither and die on Sur'Kesh now had hope, which pretty much echoed the outlook of the krogan themselves. Though she didn't give too many personal details, she knew how important she was to her people, but also knew how important my overarching mission was and why I needed the krogan to help us.

Joker had the ship on approach to Utukku when we boarded the shuttle, ready to take it down to the ground, Cortez at the controls. I was taking everyone except the marines. If we were possibly meeting up with a substantial krogan force, I didn't think we'd need our marines. Could be proven wrong, but my judgement was usually sound.

"Any word from the ground team?" I asked EDI.

"Nothing, Shepard. We're trying every channel open but nothing but static."

"Wrex, when did you last hear from Grunt and his squad?"

"Weeks, Shepard. We knew sending them here that they'd be out of contact until they returned. Given how long they've disappeared, they're either quad deep in rachni bodies or they're all dead."

"Well, if they're not dead..." I muttered under my breath.

"Read reports from your time earlier, loco. If anyone can stay alive on what seems like some godforsaken hellhole," Vega stated.

I nodded in agreement. "Conditions on the ground verge on intolerable," Miranda added, "Wild temperature range, little to no flora or fauna. I think hellhole is being polite."

Cortez had coordinates for a krogan camp that EDI had found during her examinations of the surface. A few buildings that appeared habitable, suggesting something had made a home there. The planet was otherwise rather barren of life and no species had attempted to colonise the planet. The krogan might have given it a shot, had they been allowed to do so, but even they have baulked at such an opportunity.

Feeling the shuttle touch down, I was first off as always, assessing the danger alongside Vega. Once satisfied, I gestured for everyone else to follow. The encampment was only five or so minutes away, and I couldn't help grin when, in the crowd of krogan warriors, one stood taller and prouder than most.

"Shepard?" he asked, before he shouted, "Shepard!"

I strode towards him, grin on my face, but he ignored that. Instead, I found myself in what could only be described as a krogan bear hug. "Shepard, my friend!" he roared. I heard the laughter from the others as he finally placed me down, resting a heavy hand on my shoulder. "You've come to help?"

"Wrex said you might have been in a little trouble. Thought we'd come investigate."

He beckoned us to follow with his head, gathering around an upturned crate, upon which laid a holographic map of the area. He explained the situation. Their journey from Tuchanka, following in the footsteps of a previous expedition that had disappeared. They had been planetside for a couple of weeks now, and he was fairly sure what rested somewhere within the bowels of the ground under our feet.

"Rachni!" he roared, "The old enemy." He looked at his fellow warriors. "But there is something wrong with this world, Shepard. Something lurks beneath our feet. With any luck, it'll be a queen."

"Probably the only queen, Grunt," I explained, "Remember what you read about Noveria?"

"Should have killed her there and then."

"Many might have done, but for some reason, I thought I'd extend an olive branch of trust. Wiping out an entire species is a big thing."

"What will you do now if it is her?"

"Depends on the situation. I've got a bad feeling Reapers are involved."

"Read more than one argument that the Reapers were responsible for the original war," Liara added, "It adds up in my mind. They, being the rachni, seem susceptible to indoctrination because of the way they communicate."

"Okay, Grunt. There's a main chamber far below us there."

He made an approving noise. "We think that's where the nest is. But trying to get close has been impossible. Even burning our way forward only provoked the bastards."

I looked over the map again and could see how it would work. I didn't want to rush this operation, but the quicker we dealt with the issue, the better. I had a feeling Grunt would agree, particularly as he'd been there for a while by now. "Okay, we've got a passage here, and a passage there. I say we split our forces, take one passage each, and we hit the main chamber from both sides."

The passage we needed to take was near the other end of the encampment. And the sort of luck I occasionally experienced came to bite us in the arse quickly. Passing through one of the small buildings, likely ancient from a previous colonisation attempt but now used by the krogan as a barracks, there was an ominous groan before we all shared a glance.

"Ah shit," Miranda muttered before we felt it groan again. Then it simply slid over the side of the giant crater.

How we all managed to survive the fall, I don't know. Some of us needed a slap of medi-gel, but there wasn't even a broken bone among us, which was fortuitous. Grunt leaned over the edge of the crater, asking us if we were okay. Assuring him we were, I was pleased to see that we were not trapped, at least. Grunt said he'd take his team and approach the other entrance, to keep in contact, and we'd eventually link up.

What I didn't expect to find so quickly was a krogan body. Radioing into Grunt's team, he explained they were from a previous expedition, and that we'd find plenty of more bodies as we explored. There was also plenty of some weird webbing, reminding me of spider webs, and I wasn't the only one to worry at the idea of big fucking spiders inhabiting the tunnels.

"Found this, loco," Vega said, handing me a weapon I'd never seen before. Pulling the trigger, I felt my eyes light up.

"Fucking flamethrower!"

"Ah shit, here we go again," Garrus muttered.

"Don't worry, big guy, I'll keep the scary monsters away from you."

Aside from the curious webbing, the occasional krogan body, we also found strange looking pods. Ever inquisitive, Liara approached one carefully. Thankfully, she didn't get too close when it exploded, and hearing the sizzle on the ground suggested each pod was full of acid. I thought they were eggs, perhaps full of rachni. Maybe there would be eggs further in. I had to stop the shudder flowing though my body at such a thought.

I heard more than one comment from a colleague about how creepy it all was. I generally hated the silence. I preferred a proper battlefield, the constant crack of gunfire, howling of incoming shells, and all the other horrific signs of battle. At least it felt alive. Utukku didn't feel dead, but the silence was sinister, almost foreboding, like it was hiding a horrific secret.

"Shepard, I like to think I'm brave, but this place scares the shit out of me," Miranda finally admitted.

Liara sighed with relief. "Thank the goddess I'm not the only one feeling that way."

"Shit, I've got massive armour and a gun that'll kill nearly anything, and even I'm hating this place," Vega added, "No-one else heard that, right? Just between us guys here."

"You'll be fine, Vega," I said with a chuckle.

"Ah, Shepard with his BDE, of course," Miranda said. Giving her a curious glance, she grinned. "Big Dick Energy. Can't be acting scared as the leader, right?"

"Noveria. Not knowing what the rachni were and seeing them the first time? Fucking hell, stuff of nightmares. Had trouble sleeping for a week after that. Ugly, multi-tentacled fuckers."

"Feros wasn't much better with those creatures the Thorian had summoned. Remember, Shepard, those green things that spat the acid?" Liara asked.

"Yeah, those were fucked up too but didn't send a shiver down my spine like those rachni."

Grunt was keeping us up to date with the progress of his team. No major contacts yet, but that same sense that something was wrong. "Like an old wound," he muttered over the radio, "There's something in the air, Shepard. Something wrong."

"I hear you, Grunt. Keep in contact."

Our worst fears about the Reapers being involved were well-founded when we ran into husks. And husks being there suggested the Reapers were actually transporting captured humans across the galaxy. That pretty much just pissed off all the humans in my team, while I'd like to think the non-humans, even Javik, would be pissed off in empathy.

But it wasn't the husks that posed the problem. Sure, if husks swarmed, they could be a problem, but all I needed to do was charge into a pack of them, sending most flying, blast a couple away with my shotgun, the rest being mopped up by my colleagues. No, the concern was the new monster we discovered. Ugly things. Not a spider, but a giant sac on its front, and the bastards fired... something at us. Something that caused shields to start failing immediately.

Breaking into cover, the firefight was soon in full swing. Grunt reported contacts as well. I had a feeling we'd been lured into the tunnels, but thankfully we were not being flanked just yet. We figured out very quickly that the fleshy sac was vulnerable, and a few well-placed shots, with added incendiary fire, brought them down. Not quickly, but certainly quicker than anything else at our disposal.

As soon as there was silence, we searched the area for further evidence of the Reaper presence, and it didn't take long to find more than enough to suggest they'd been preparing for something. If they had the rachni under their control again, considering the rate a queen could apparently lay eggs...

Finding another flamethrower, I had to burn our way through even more webbing. We discovered more krogan scouts, evidence they too had been lured to their deaths. There were signs they'd fought bravely, but the fact there were no remaining bodies of the enemy suggested the rachni cleaned up the area or something else entirely. Again, it didn't really bear thinking about.

The further into the tunnels we ventured, the heavier the resistance. Grunt reported in the new monster we'd seen, stating they had taken to calling them 'ravagers'. Suited me just fine. We ran into plenty of them, lining up as a form of artillery, with plenty of husks and cannibals. The latter two we could handle with ease but the ravagers were tricky to take care of if we were otherwise engaged. I was left thinking the queen or Reapers sensed us reaching the central chamber, as wave after wave was sent forward to stop us.

We started to take wounds. Again, nothing that a dose of medi-gel couldn't fix, but it had already been a long slog. The heat and humidity was oppressive. I could feel my entire body covered in sweat. Miranda's black hair was plastered to her forehead. Asari didn't particularly sweat but Liara had taken on a rather reddish hue.

"Shepard, we are approaching the central chamber. Are you close?" Grunt asked over the radio.

"Think so, Grunt. Don't have any maps. EDI, can you assess?"

"A couple of hundred metres at most from this position, Shepard."

"We're fighting every step of the way, Grunt. We'll link up when we can."

"Copy. We're holding back a horde of the fuckers right now. Lost a couple of men to a sinkhole. Bad way to go."

The deeper into the tunnels, the closer to the central chamber, the more Reaper technology we found. Liara would have had a field day investigating, perhaps even experimenting. Javik insisted we destroy it all. I figured, long as were not indoctrinated, we'd observe but not mess with it. I just wanted to know what waited for us in the central chamber. If it was what I thought it was, I knew I'd have to make one hell of a decision.

Linking up with Grunt and his team, we formed a line of fire from a ledge, allowing he and his men to cautiously retreat in a line. The number of monsters we left on the ground beggared belief. The smell was horrific. There'd been a pungent odour most of the way, but as the bodies piled up, it got even worse. I heard both Miranda and Liara gag as they needed to breathe, and our helmets were not sealed. There was enough atmosphere that we wouldn't suffocate. That meant smells could still sneak in.

If the queen was in the central chamber, she was hidden well by the Reapers. We had to fight our way through what seemed to be the last ditch defences, a series of defended nodes that we needed to destroy. Grunt said he'd watch our backs as we got to work. How we all survived the next few minutes without some of us dying, or at least losing limbs or organs, I'll never know. But while bodies piled up around us, we took wounds but we lived to fight another battle, another day.

Upon destroying the third node, the barrier dropped to reveal the rachni queen. I'll admit, she was a little more terrifying this time than last I'd seen her, mostly because of the situation. Last time, she'd been in some tube. This time, she was relatively free, though kept in place by restraints... that looked capable of being snapped rather easily.

What concerned all of us was the krogan bodies that surrounded us. Likely the remaining corpses of the original scouting party. No doubt killed by the Reaper creatures, but was the rachni queen in control or not...

"Javik, can you sense any indoctrination on the queen?"

He stepped forward, noticing him concentrate. Then he turned and shook his head. "She is free, Commodore. No Reaper indoctrination presence. She is of sound mind."

The rachni queen spoke to us, using the krogan scouts as her voice. They were a chorus, speaking of a maddening voice that was now silent, of her children that had been taken by the machines. Evidence the Reapers had captured the rachni queen and used her to their own ends. Saren had done the same thing back on Noveria. Now the Reapers were doing it themselves.

I'll admit, I can be a hard hearted bastard at times, particularly when it comes to my enemies. But there was no doubt in my mind that she'd been forced to do what she'd done on Noveria, and would certainly have had no choice with the Reapers. Could I blame her for what happened here? But that didn't mean I could ask questions.

"I remember you," I said, "We spoke on Noveria. I let you go, let you live. But you were supposed to disappear. How the hell are you here now?"

"We remember you in return. We remember your words. We kept our promise, retreated through the relay. We started a new home. Beautiful children. Harmony. But... the machines came. They heard our song. Their shriek of sour notes drown us out."

"Javik, are you sure she's not indoctrinated?"

"I'm certain, Commodore."

"Shepard... sir... are you sure..." Vega started to ask. I glanced at him and understood the reaction. The rachni queen was an intimidating species. Hell, she would have been the perfect antagonist from movies two hundred years ago. Big and ugly, and something we couldn't quite understand, so humans in their infinite wisdom would destroy it instead.

Then we heard noises above that suggested we hurry up the conversation and make a choice. Grunt let us know his concerns over the radio, contacts with the enemy resuming.

So there was only question I needed to ask. "Will you fight the Reapers?"

"Yes. We hate the machines! We will fight for our unborn children. Please, release us!"

She was terrified. This was not a creature bent on the destruction of the galaxy, nor was she a creature capable of great evil. Hell, I think there were plenty of species capable of that not of the rachni. "She's wounded, Shepard," Liara added, "She's going to need time."

"Then we give it to her." I looked across the rest of my colleagues. Even Vega nodded, aware at what we were required to do. "Grunt, you need to hold the line while the queen escapes. Long story, tell you later over a beer."

He grunted a couple of times. "Okay, Shepard. It had better be worth it."

Firing into the node, she collapsed to the ground once released from the restraints. I think we all took a step back as she carefully rose to her feet. Larger than all of us put together. She released a sound that sounded like a shriek but... wasn't. I pointed with my weapon. "Exit is that way. We'll give you time to escape."

I liked to think the next noise she made was her way of saying 'Thank you'.

We linked up with Grunt and his men nearby. We entered separately but we would leave together. But the rachni, under the complete influence of the Reapers, were not going to let us leave without a fight, without drawing a lot of blood as a price for our escape. The tunnels were infested by now, the gunfire incessant, biotics flowing from those of us capable. I liked to think our progress was inexorable, that we'd all make it to the shuttle, but war was not like that. A lot of people were going to die during this war.

I didn't even count how many ravagers waited for us. The chance of us making it through was minimal at best. All of us took cover as we assessed our options. "Fuck," I muttered.

"Take your people and get out of here, Shepard," Grunt said, gesturing with his shotgun, "That tunnel there will get you topside. You get your people to your shuttle, then when you get back to your ship, you tell them about Aralakh Company."

"You sure?"

"If I'm going to die here, Shepard, I will die knowing it's against the old enemy. The krogan were born to fight the rachni. It's what we're good at, and it's good to know I'll die doing it."

I gestured with my head as his men formed up in cover, getting ready to charge. "You're crazy, you know that right?" I exclaimed, shaking my head.

"One last thing, Shepard. We krogan don't really believe in religion. We have our rituals and our deities, but I know we believe in an afterlife. I certainly do."

"What are you getting at?"

"Once you became my battlemaster, I took an interest in all your human rituals and history, particularly anything to do with warriors. I remember reading of this place called Valhalla."

I couldn't help chuckle. "You read up on Norse mythology?"

"Imagine, Shepard. Fighting across the heavens during the day, knowing you would never die, then you would spend the night drinking and eating with comrades, singing and maybe even fucking. And waking up the next day without wounds, without a hangover, ready to go out and fight once again. What a way to spend eternity."

"Well, if there was a people who match what you'd expect in Valhalla, it would be the krogan." I offered my hand, gripping each other by the forearm. "It was an honour, soldier."

"Tell Wrex to kick some Reaper arse when he heads to Earth with you."

"I'll pass on the message."

"Aralakh Company! Form up!" he ordered. I headed to the tunnel, taking one last look back at he and his men. He turned my way and dipped his head. Returning the gesture, I turned away and jogged after my companions.

It took a couple of hours to finally make our way to the surface. No idea where we were but Cortez found us easily with the shuttle. He landed and I asked him to wait. No-one boarded the shuttle until I ordered us to depart. We checked the time occasionally, but otherwise it remained silent and still. No movement from the tunnel we'd exited.

"If anyone can survive it..." Garrus started to say.

"Seemed intent on sacrificing so we'd survive," I murmured with a sigh.

"How long has it been?" Miranda wondered.